Goodbye, Mr Chips

Much has been written about Chips’s lack of political judgement, moral turpitude, snobbishness, vanity and hypochondria. All I can add is he was devoid of any sense of humour.

Volume II ends in July 1943, eighty years ago. I have been playing a game noting people whom I met. I exclude the Royal Family largely because I haven’t met them, although the Duke of Kent maybe. Many are children like John Julius Norwich and Christopher Lennox-Boyd. I suppose Vol III will yield more. Contradicting a previous post, Chips does sometimes write about food. Rationing began to bite or rather the opposite.

The RSPB Big Birdwatch reminds me of Professor Peach (Benny Hill) in The Italian Job. The former is an exercise in mass observation. Here’s the count from Margravine Cemetery on Sunday morning.