Gimson's Heroes

I've really enjoyed reading this book of fifty well written short biographies. They vary appropriately in length and in the type of person chosen. From politicians like Ernest Bevin to poets like John Betjeman; from the famous, such as Nelson and Churchill to the lesser known, such as Burke and Shaftesbury, to some I was unaware of - such as Stan Hollis and Michael Wharton. There are ten women (Boudica, Bess of Hardwick, Elizabeth I, Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Fry, Grace Daring, Florence Nightingale, Octavia Hill and Noor Inayat Khan) by design or happenstance. They are all British except the last, Nelson Mandela. The approach is fairly amoral and so one or two sneak through who I would not be keen on. When I was a boy my mother expected me to know about people like Alfred, Raleigh, Drake, Nelson, Livingstone and probably Shackleton. That way of thinking is less popular today but people likeGimson are still writing on thos elines and it is interesting to note.

Day Off Week 23 2020

I had a nice day off this week. I managed to get my 10,000 steps in again and I finished Gimson's book on the presidents and read most of Dale Ralph Davis's latest book on the psalms, which lives up well to its usual standards. I also listened to Louis Theroux interviewing KSI, which was interesting, enlightening and in the end quite disturbing in some ways. (KSI is a YouTuber with a massive audience mostly of young people). Let me repeat that I try to report on the day off because I think it might encourage others in ministry to try and keep some pattern in their lives. Therefore, I should add that I began the day making a to do list and some of those things just had to be done on that day so I did them.

Day Off Week 22 2020

It was half term last week and so I shouldn't have really had a day off as such but I did. I did some walking, which has been conspicuous by its absence until last Friday when Eleri and I did some walking in Regents Park and I got over the 10,000 mark. I managed it again on my day off. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Caffe Nero is now open in Golders Green and so I got a takeaway cuppa when I went to the Post Office. Reading wise it was Private Eye, the paper and a book on American presidents I had for my birthday. I have enjoyed Gimson on our PMs and sovereigns and he seems to have this sewn up too. I think there was a bit of TV later in the day.

Quotation about the British

In the Gimson book I read recently I came across this description of the attitude of most British people given in a  book on Queen Victoria by the historian Cecil Woodham-Smith (who turns out to be a woman born in Tenby and writing in the seventies).

British belief in the superiority of the British nation knew no bounds. It was an article of faith that one Englishman could beat six Frenchmen, more than six of any other foreign nation, and it was an almost religious conviction that the British possessed a sense of justice and fair play to be found nowhere else. An Englishman stood up for the weak, faced disaster without losing his head, kept his word and never kicked a man when he was down.

My grandfather was a Victorian and even in the seventies when I grew up this attitude was sometimes in the air. it is not hoow people think today.

The White Book, Kings and Queens and Fortunate Son

I saw The White Book the other day and was immediately attracted. I'd never heard of Han Kang but I like that whole eastern minimalist thing and snow (which features in the book, of course). Now one part of me feels I have been had. When you pay £9 for a book called the white book and you realise that half of it is white because there is no writing on many pages, you have to be suspicious. Along with the poorly executed black and white photographs there is plenty to complain about. On the other hand I did enjoy the series of prose poems that focus on things white and tell the minimalist story of a girl from Korea whose older sister and brother died when her mother miscarried and who travels to the west. It made me want to read more.

Having read Andrew Gimson's book on prime ministers I was attracted to his one on kings and queens too. I feel I ought to know such things. I am well up on about half the monarchs in this book but there were plenty of gaps in my knowledge and it was good to fill them in. It's a good book.

I have also recently read the biography of John Fogerty Fortunate son. I have two albums of the best songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival and am aware of some of Fogerty's subsequent material and most of the book was news to me. It was more than I really wanted ot know about the man really but it is(ghost) written very well. Fogerty is an admitted perfectionist and control freak and an obsessive. He speaks frankly about his alcohol abuse and other faults. He was clearly badly treated by Saul Zaentz with whom he signed a contract as a young man. He has not a good word to say for his drummer and bass player. He is slightly superstitious and also turns out to be a pantheist. When I read a book like this I tend to feel - so your life has been a bit of a mess too, I wish you knew what I knew.

A day off for reading, etc

I kept my usual day off this week, a Tuesday. Monday was tough for some reason, a typical minister's Monday. I was glad to have a proper day out, therefore. My main thing today was reading. I finished three books - a book on British Kings and Queens which I have been reading for a while, the biography of John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival on kindle and a novel by the Korean writer Han Kang The white book. I'll write more about them another time. I didn't do much walking (I failed to do 10000 steps) just sat and drank coffee. Practically, I also arranged a plumber to come and do a job for us and started measuring for some blinds I need to buy. I did a little blogging too and in the evening Eleri and I watched a TV drama for an hour.

Gimson's Prime Ministers

I have enjoyed reading this recently published book. Andrew Gimson, who previously wrote on kings and queens, gets this about right going through the list giving you his assesment and the salient facts with surefootedness. I found there were some PMs who I know of because they have served in my own life time (Wilson, Heath, Blair, etc) others I know from the history books (Gladstone, Disraeli, Attlee, etc). Some I had heard of but knew little about (Walpole, Balfour, MacDonald, etc) others I had practically never heard of (Henry, Pelham, the Earl of Aberdeen, etc). I was interested to read of the evangelical convictions of Spencer Perceval, of which I was not aware. It is surprising to see how much the parties have changed down the years. Martin Rowson's cartoon portraits are a little hit or miss. They add to the attractiveness of the book.