Post
by mariana44 » Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:03 am
Today is my birthday—but I find it hard to celebrate these special occasions without George. Being able to write about him helps, so thank you for allowing me to remember him on these pages.
George loved poetry, and learning verses. He would recite the whole of “Albert and the Lionâ€, and because he could capture the Lancashire accent so well, he did as good a job as Stanley Holloway, [which is where he learnt it]
And as for “Brown Bootsâ€â€”sorry—I mean “Brahn Bootsâ€, because he was still a typical East Londoner, he had the perfect voice for that---and although I heard it many times—every time he came to this line, he was just so expressive
“We didn’t know---he didn’t say----he’d give his other boots away….â€
George was also very fond of the poems of Christina Rossetti, and learnt many of her poems by heart, and in fact, I had 2 of his favourites read at his funeral.
He was also fascinated by “Elegy in a Country Churchyard†written by Thomas Gray, and was very pleased with himself for learning all 32 verses---and if he had a sleepless night, he would recite them until he dropped off. He tried to teach me, but I never got beyond 5/6 verses. But George became so word perfect, that he loved to surprise his friends at work, by giving them the poem, and asking them to pick a verse, a line, a word, a letter, and he would tell them what that letter was .
So the 11th verse; 2nd line; 4th word; 3rd letter---was “nâ€.
They would try to catch him out, but he was correct 99% of the time.
So that is just one little memory, among many, of George that I like to recall.
Mariana