More than Writers

  On the 25 th April 1992, I clung nervously onto the arm of my Dad as he walked me down the aisle to marry the man I loved. It was an amazing day, a lovely family celebration, and over far too quickly. Then the reality of being married really set in. That first year was 'interesting' – not least because we found ourselves unexpectedly expecting our first child and I was very, very sick. Morning (day and night) sickness. But looking back I would not change a thing. It was the start of an adventure that has enriched my life beyond anything I could have imagined. So today is my 30 th Wedding Anniversary. Going by my social media feed I am not the only ACW member to have celebrated a milestone wedding anniversary this year. And wedding anniversaries, especially the significant ones, are really worth celebrating. We will be celebrating ours, low scale this year, just close family, which suits us fine. But it did get me thinking about what we are actually celebrating: 1.  ...

2016 is a notable year for literary anniversaries. April marked 200 years since the birth of Charlotte Brontë (21st) and 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare (23rd). July 28th is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter. This summer also marks 200 years since the eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley dreamed up Frankenstein and his unruly creation, and September 13th is the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl’s birth. But there is another literary figure with an anniversary this year, one whom perhaps few of us have heard of, but I guarantee we are all familiar with some of the words he wrote. February 13th 2016 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of John Ernest Bode. Bode was born into a well-to-do family, and was educated at Eton, Charterhouse and Oxford before being ordained, serving as a vicar in both Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire. He wrote a number of books of poetry, and was in fact beaten to the post of Professor of Poetry at Oxford by Matthew Arnol...