Charlie Daniels....

Charlie Daniels was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. In his teens, he was already a skilled musician. He formed a band…which mostly played rock and roll. In the early 60s, he was working as a session musician in Nashville. He married his wife Hazel in 1964 and they had a son, Charlie Daniels Junior. He worked as a session musician on albums by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. In the 1970s, he performed country and Southern Rock music, and he had his biggest hit, the Devil went Down to Georgia. It’s a brilliant fiddle song where the Devil and a young man have a fiddling contest…. the song was a huge crossover hit and appeared on the sound track of the film Urban Cowboy. He began to perform gospel songs and produced several gospel albums and enjoys country sports like hunting. He also likes fishing and snow mobiling…and has a farm in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.

Beds and Blue Jeans on Amazon

Beds and Blue Jeans –a realistic contemporary Romance about a young man and woman who find they have to get to know each other, after they have got together. Sam is a handsome young man who has a band, and finds that there are plenty of girls who want to sleep with the lead singer.  Pattie never quite expected to become a housewife.  She is stormy and difficult…  But the 2 of them come to learn that love is about learning to compromise, working out the best way to do things and growing to love each other.   

http://www.amazon.com/Beds-Blue-Jeans-everyday-mayhem-ebook/dp/B01370SMFO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443265304&sr=8-2&keywords=nadine+sutton

Classical Names

I haven’t blogged on names for a while, so I’m going to write about names from the classics. For centuries, the British upper and middle classes were educated largely by studying the classical languages of Rome and Greece. The British admired the Roman Empire, and studied its history and literature. So, from the eighteenth century onwards, upper class children were often given Latinate names. Augustus or Augusta means majestic and was a title given to Roman Emperors starting with Octavian… The name was common among the British upper classes. It was the name of one of George III’s sons – Augustus Duke of Sussex. His sister was Princess Augusta. Another name was Claudius, which was anglicised as Claud, and the female version was Claudia. (There are also French versions such as Claudine and Claudette). The famous philosopher Marcus Aurelius was well known... and the name Aurelius means golden. It never became popular, but the female version, Aurelia, is occasionally used. Camilla (from Camillus) has also been used at times, mostly an upper class name. It is now the name of King Charles' queen. Hortensius comes from the Latin for Garden, and Hortense is an occasionally used name. It was also the name of Napoleon’s step daughter. The Roman General Quintus Fabius Maximus gave his name to the Fabian socialist society. His name was not much used in England, but Fabia occasionally was and as Fabiola, it is the name of the late Queen of Belgium. Felix was a nickname in Rome, meaning happy or lucky, and it has been used in England, together with the feminine version of Felicity or Felicia. Lucius comes from the word for light. It is popular and common as Luke, and female versions include Lucy, Lucia, and Lucilla, and Lucinda. Marcus probably derives from the Roman god of War, Mars.. and has become common. The female versions are Marcia, or Marcella. Another male version is Mark. Alexander is a Greek name, which has become very popular in Europe and means Defender of the people. The best known bearer of the name was Alexander the Great. Andrew, with the female version Andrea, means “manly” and is the name of the patron saint of Scotland. Chloe which means green shoot, was a very popular girls name in recent years. Daphne has also been very popular and means Laurel. Theodore means “gift of God”. Its feminine version is Theodora which has never been much used. However, the reversed version of the name is Dorothea or Dorothy, which has been extremely popular. George means farmer and is the patron saint of England.. It has several female versions, such as Georgina, Georgette and latterly Georgia. Philip means “lover of horses” and has the female version Philippa.. sometimes shorted to Phil or Pippa. Just a few names, here among the many. I hope to return to this some other day.

Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859. His father and mother were of Irish descent, but living in Scotland. His father was an artist and also a civil servant, but he had psychiatric problems and became dependent on alcohol, so he sank into poverty. Arthur and his family suffered from this, but he had richer uncles who helped out, and sent him to Stonyhurst, a famous Jesuit school. He didn’t enjoy the school as the discipline was harsh and the teaching was old fashioned. He began to drift away from the Catholic faith he had been reared in, and became an agnostic… But in later years, he turned to various mystical beliefs, including spiritualism... which suggested that he needed some otherworldly dimension in his life. As a boy, he went to a school in Austria to learn German. In 1878, he went to Edinburgh University to study medicine. While studying, he took an interest in botany and also began to try writing short stories. When he graduated, he continued to study for further qualifications but took jobs as ships' doctors. After a couple of years, he set up his own medical practice but it was not a success and he had a lot of spare time, waiting for patients. He began to study ophthalmology, but his efforts to make a career in this were also unsuccessful. He had begun to write the Sherlock Holmes stories, about a cool minded, scientific genius detective who was partly based on Doyle’s teacher at University, Joseph Bell. In the early 1890s, he began to get them published in the Strand Magazine and they took off, becoming very popular. However, while he was making good money, he wanted to write other things. He wrote science fiction and historical fiction as well as Holmes. He was particularly interested in historical fiction. He began to become irritated that Holmes was so much more popular than his other work, and he tried to kill the character off. But the public demand was so great, that after having Holmes fall over the Reichenbach Falls and die, he had to bring him back. In 1903 he published his new Sherlock story, and he had to “retcon” the fall which had killed him, explaining that only Moriarty, his great enemy had fallen. Holmes had survived and lived secretly for a few years. He wrote novels and plays based on the Napoleonic wars. His hobbies were games, including football, cricket and golf... And he worked as a doctor during the Boer war. More follows-

Richmal Crompton and Just William

Richmal Crompton was a novelist, who wrote many novels for adults, but she became most famous for the creation of William Brown, a scruffy anarchistic schoolboy, who won the hearts of the reading public. She was born in 1890 to a clergyman and teacher, Edward John Sewell Lamburn. The family lived in Lancashire. She used her middle names as her pen name. She had a good education, like many clergymen’s daughters. Boarding schools for middle class girls were becoming popular and Richmal had decided to become a teacher. She was sympathetic to women’s rights and eager to have a career of her own. So she went to University in London. In 1914, she left University and took a job as classics mistress at her own old school. Some years later she moved to Bromley, near London, to work at another school and began to write seriously. In 1923, she contracted polio, which left her with a damaged leg... but she was now writing full time. She never married, but had siblings and nieces and nephews of whom she was very fond. She spent some time in a wheelchair because of her limited mobility… but during World War 2, she still found time to do war work. She wrote over 40 novels, about adult life, mostly set in villages in the Home Counties. Such fiction was popular in the 20s and 30s but became dated as time passed. But her William stories seem to have a timeless appeal. William is the son of an exasperated Conservative Father, and a patient mother... who puts up with his antics while his father gets cross about them. Although the family are middle class, with servants, this doesn't seem to put off the readers. William has no respect for authority. He has a dog, Jumble and several friends – the “Outlaws” who help him in his schemes. He is frank and honest, not understanding grown up hypocrisy and manners. His social rival in the village is Hubert Lane, who is more of a hypocrite and has a rival gang, whom he bribes with his liberal pocket money. William says he “hates girls”. He is irritated by his older sister Ethel, and her many suitors… and she’s embarrassed by her awful little brother. In spite of disliking girls, he rather likes his next door neighbour Joan... But he is often bested by the enfant terrible Violet Elizabeth Bott. Violet us the daughter of a nouveau riche businessman in the town. She has a lisp, is spoiled and self-willed and is able to cow the Outlaws into letting her join their adventures. She claims that she will “scream and scream until she’s sick” The boys dread feminine hysterics and are unable to outwit her... so they often give in. William is not much good at school, but he is always active at some scheme... such as putting on a circus, or editing a newspaper. He has little idea of what’s going on in the world and usually gets things wrong. He sometimes tries to “help people” like PG Wodehouse’s Boy Scouts, who insist on doing “kindly deeds” regardless of whether people want them done or not! The books have been adapted for radio, film TV and theatre. One of the most famous TV adaptations was in the 1970s, with a young Bonnie Langford as Violet Elizabeth Bott. Dennis Waterman played William as a boy actor in the 1960s.

John Galsworthy

John Galsworthy was not just a writer; he also had an interest in political and social reform. He was born to a well-off family in Surrey in 1867. He had a good education and read Law at Oxford. But he did not want to practice law, he wanted to write. For a time, he managed the family’s shipping business but he befriended Joseph Conrad, whom he met in Australia. Conrad would later become a novelist. John began to write novels and plays. In the 1890's, he fell in love with Ada, the wife of his cousin Major Arthur Galsworthy. Her marriage was not a very happy one - but divorce was still a scandal. Besides, John didn’t want to hurt his parents, by marrying his cousin’s ex-wife. He and Ada pursued an affair for several years. He supported many liberal causes and was sympathetic to the poor, to trades unions and the cause of prison reform. In the Forsyte Saga, he created a bourgeois family, the Forsytes, who have risen into wealth and prosperity. But they live by a narrow code. Soames Forsyte, the protagonist, is a solicitor and a wealthy man. He marries the beautiful Irene, because he admires her beauty, but she does not return his love. Irene marries him for financial security, but he has promised to let her go if their marriage is a failure. Soames however is far too possessive, and can’t tolerate the idea of losing his wife. So she feels trapped and he won't let her go. Irene falls in love with Philip Bosinney, a young Bohemian architect who is engaged to June, Soames’ younger cousin. Philip begins a secret affair with Irene and neglects June. Then Soames forces Irene to have sex with him. His act drives Irene to leave him, and it takes Soames many years to get a divorce (as was the case with Ada).

EF Benson socialite writer

Edward Frederick Benson (Fred) was the son of Edward Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, and a prominent figure in the Victorian Church of England. His parents had 6 children, all of whom seem to have been eccentric but talented. None of them married, or had children, and some had mental health issues. Fred was different to his very serious father, wanting to be a writer and a society figure. He was highly intelligent and his first novel, Dodo, was an instant success. It was a comic satirical novel, loosely based on the well-known socialite Margot Tennant, who married Henry Asquith, the Prime Minister. He was a prolific writer, but enjoyed society life. He also wrote ghost stories and children’s fiction and biographies. But his most famous works were his light novels about "Lucia" Lucas, a middle aged widow, of genteel birth, who dabbles in the arts, and wants to be the social "Queen Bee" of her little town Tilling. Tilling is based on Rye, where Benson was Mayor....Fred was gay but not much is known about this. He fell in love with men during his life. In the “Lucia” books, there are some sly references to homosexuality… “Quaint” Irene, an artist, dresses in men’s clothes and acts like a boy. George Pillson, who marries Lucia, is an effete effeminate man who dabbles in the arts, as does his wife... and is dominated by her. The plots revolve around social one upmanship in the town, with Lucia battling with Elizabeth Mapp, a spinster lady who was the “Queen Bee” of the town’s social circle before Lucia’s arrival. Lucia pretends to be much more proficient at music than she really is, and pretends to be able to speak Italian fluently. She uses baby talk to appear "cute." It is said that Lucia is based a bit on the rather bizarre novelist, Marie Correlli, who also pretended to be more learned than she really was, who showed off a good deal but was very naive and silly. Elizabeth Mapp outflanks her, by getting married, in middle age to Major Benjy, and pretending to be pregnant. Lucia is furious at this. She then marries Georgie, restoring her ascendancy, but it is an unconsummated marriage. She is not interested in sex, though she and Georgie enjoy each other’s company and love each other as friends. Lucia’s main interest is in social power. Benson spent many years in Rye, where there was an artistic community and he lived in Lamb House, which had belonged to Henry James. He died aged 72 in the early part of World War II.