Hey! I Know Who That Is!

Post by **ColleenMc** » February 15th, 2019, 6:39 am

I'm rewatching Downton Abbey season 2 (in preparation for watching the rest of the series from mid season 3, when I was spoiled for several upcoming character deaths by some jerk who had already seen it in the UK, and was so bummed I stopped watching...). This is the season during which World War I is going on, and the Abbey temporarily becomes a convalescent home for officers. At one point, one of the daughters of the main family, Edith, is "making herself useful" helping the soldiers with various comforts, including obtaining books for them to read. She says, "We have lots of G.A. Henty." And I was very excited because I knew who Henty is and why he would be a popular reading choice with the men -- thanks to Librivox!

So have you heard a reference out there in the world that made you say "Hey! I know that!" because of volunteering here at Librivox?

Colleen

PS Just checked the line in an online version of the script and she actually says, "I don't know about Marryat, but we have lots of G.A. Henty." Still don't know who Marryat is!

Post by **annise** » February 15th, 2019, 6:44 am

Marryat wrote "the Children of the New Forest" and "Mr. Midshipmen Easy" - books of my childhood

My great things I've learnt are answers to crossword puzzles. Impresses family no end

Anne

Post by **ColleenMc** » February 15th, 2019, 6:47 am

I've heard of Midshipman Easy! Just didn't know who wrote them. I imagine that both Marryat and Henty were books of Julian Fellowes' childhood or one of the other writers (or maybe lurking on the library shelves of the place where they filmed the show) because they are kind of obscure references--they could just as easily have said something like, "I don't know about H.G. Wells, but we have lots of Robert Louis Stevenson" or something more common knowledge...

Colleen

Post by **annise** » February 15th, 2019, 6:56 am

Henty wrote about 100 "boys books" with a historical background. I'd never heard of him before here. Dad used to get me books from 2 libraries each week, so I probably read more oldfashioned boys books that a girl would normally get

Anne

classicsforever · February 15th, 2019, 10:25 pm

I've read a handful of Hentys and Percival Keene by Marryat. I didn't become a fan, but they're interesting authors in their own way, especially Marryat who was a real-life sea captain and acquainted with Charles Dickens.

commonsparrow3 · Post by **commonsparrow3** » February 15th, 2019, 10:39 pm

In the LibriVox First World War Centenary Prose Collection, I read a pamphlet called 'Soldiers, Sailors, and Books', about providing books for the troops. The authors who are mentioned as particularly popular with the men included Zane Grey, Jack London, Rex Beach, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, O. Henry, Mark Twain, Conan Doyle, G. B. McCutcheon, Booth Tarkington, Rider Haggard, E. P. Oppenheim and Robert Chambers. According to the author of the pamphlet, "They tell good stories in vivid, virile fashion. They buck a man up. The more of this kind of fiction that goes into camp the better." A few paragraphs later, Henty gets a mention also -- "For the very young soldiers, boys' books of the better type are in demand. They even read Henty with avidity. In fact these boys' books are read by some mature majors and colonels. Such books rest the mind, the officers explain." I see most of these authors are well represented in the LibriVox catalog!