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W
ELCOME to the first Mediawatching of summer, and fittingly we begin with a piece from
the New European on the “double life” of Swallows and Amazons author, Arthur Ransome. Ransome found fame through his series, which sees children head out on endless adventures during the long summer holidays. But the article (https://
bit.ly/3fLP07F) focuses not on Ransome’s series of children’s stories, but instead looks at how the British Government suspected he could be a Russian Agent (although it turns out he may also have been a double agent). Ransome was working as a correspondent in Moscow for, first, the Daily News and then the Manchester Guardian. His 1917 dispatches were considered a little too closely aligned to the Bolsheviks, and he became a watched man.
However it is the final paragraphs that bring the story to Mediawatching’s attention, thanks to Alison Million who wrote saying: “I hope you enjoy the finishing anecdote in the last two paragraphs as much as I did. I know it’s hardly current news but it’s great.” The final section refers to Carnegie Medal-winning Ransome attempting to make his way across border checkpoint between Russia and Sweden. “When guards seemed reluctant to let Ransome pass he tutted impatiently and thrust a letter at them. It was in a language they didn’t understand but, looking at the high-quality paper, embossed letterhead and flamboyant signature, the border officials assumed Ransome to be a man of great importance and waved him through. “The letter was from the chief librarian at the London Library enquiring after some books Ransome had borrowed that were now overdue.”
From the frozen Russia border to the balmy climes of Scotland and Gabriella Bennett of The Times’ Alba Section, with a piece entitled “This can’t be the final chapter for our libraries” (https://
bit.ly/3ieqLR5). The article sees her warning that “depriving readers of their sanctuaries is a step back for the country.” She goes on to point out that
June 2021
Anecdotes about Piers Morgan are a turn off.
“no one could describe libraries as a savvy business venture. That is not what a library should be. A library is a place where a waitress will not lurk at your elbow if you’ve overstayed your welcome, tutting at you to buy a muffin.” She adds: “I can be curious in a way I cannot be in a bookshop, where I need to be sure I’ll enjoy a book before I buy it. When I take home a Jeanette Winterson from the library and discover that I am bemused by its sci-fi oddness I am poorer in no other sense than time.” Thanks to Alan Jesson.
Alan Bullimore has also been in touch with a double whammy of library-related goodness. First it is former MP and erstwhile rail traveller Michael Portillo, whose latest Great British Railway Journey took him to Hatfield, and the nearby Camfield Place. Alan explains that “Barbara Cartland wrote many of her 723 novels in the library here, or at least dictated them from her chaise longue. Surely then the most prolific example
of great literature being produced in a library? Unless you count that Karl Marx bloke in the British Library Reading Rooms I guess.” Alan admits he can’t remember “whether Michael Portillo was wearing a snazzy face-mask and trouser combo.” Alan’s second piece brings us journalist Samira Ahmed, who appears to have been playing a variation of the game practised by professional sports players in post-match interviews – shoehorning in references to specific, but unrelated topics such as song lyrics or film titles.
Samira, however, went down the library route during her stint in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4’s Countdown. According to Alan she mentioned them at least three times. He adds: “What a shame when the wonderfully entertaining journalist and broadcaster was replaced on the show by Richard Madeley with his anecdotes about Piers Morgan.” IP
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