.... went as well as Day One but I had even more trouble staying awake. I bought the Independent to help that situation but had finished reading the interesting bits, the quick crossword and the easier sudoku by 11.45.
After that I put back Stevie and took out Dorothy Sayers who, despite being a rabid Christian is/was much more fun.
I loved the furore caused by her plays on the life of Christ, 'The Man Born to be King' written for the BBC, originally for children but as she refused to write 'down' to them that has, as far as I can tell rather been forgotten. Certainly whole families listened to them and either hated or loved them. When the man who was to produce he play left town and his female secretary read the earlier episodes this foolhardy woman commented to Miss Sayers that a particular sentence would fly straight over the heads of the children and indeed of most adults. D replied, acerbically, that it would certainly fly over adult heads and she was well aware of what the assistants reaction would have been to it, but that children 'are still open and sensitive to the spell of poetic speech... the thing they react to and remember is not logical argument but mystery and the queer drama of melodious words...'
Dorothy seems to have thoroughly enjoyed the bagarre. When the plays went out they were called blasphemous by some and even accused of causing the fall of Singapore. It was feared that Australia would follow if they were not stopped immediately.
The performances were broadcast live before the 6 O'clock news on a Sunday which meant the cast often found themselves having to read faster and faster toward the end in order to be done in time for the chimes of Big Ben.
1 comment:
this is one of the quotes of the day
Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.
- Jules Renard
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