This second episode in Richard E Grant’s exploration of three areas of Europe and the books associated with them (lucky Richard E Grant – I always spend ages reading books about anywhere to which I’m travelling, but it’s now 20 months since I’ve been outside Britain) saw Richard travelling around the South of France. The first book on his list was one of Robert Louis Stevenson’s less well-known books, “Travels with a donkey in the Cevennes”, about his own journeys. Stevenson’s donkey had been called Modestine. Hey, that rang a bell! Yes, I’d definitely heard of that book. Gosh, was I cultured and well-educated or what? Then it dawned on me that the only reason I’d heard of it was that, in “Exploits of the Chalet Girls”, the Chalet School borrows a donkey to star in its Nativity Play, and Head Girl Jo Bettany nicknames it “Modestine” after the one in Stevenson’s book. I hadn’t the first clue what the actual book was about, other than what it said in the title. So much for being cultured and well-educated. Oh well.
This sort of thing has happened a few times recently. Another example was when an book from the 1860s, “Mopsa the Fairy”, was mentioned, and I thought I’d heard of it … until I realised that I only knew the name because it was given to one of Amy Ashe’s dolls in “What Katy Did Next”. I always thought that Amy had just made it up. Another of Amy’s dolls was called Effie Deans, and, whilst I do now know that Effie is a central character in Walter Scott’s “Heart of Midlothian”, I certainly didn’t when I first read the “Katy” books, and, TBH, I think I was into my teens before I realised that “Heart of Midlothian” was a book as well as a football team. Oh, and yet another of Amy’s dolls was called Peg of Linkinvaddy, and I still don’t know where that name came from. I’ve just tried doing a Google search on it, but, for some very strange reason, I got a load of answers about, er, male medical issues.
Then there was Ellen Tree, the name given by the March girls in “Little Women” to a fallen branch which they use as a pretend horse. Ellen Tree was the name of a 19th century British actress. Did you know that? No, nor did I until recently. I’m making myself sound ridiculously ignorant, aren’t I? I may not have read the donkey book, but I read both “Kidnapped” and “Treasure Island” as a kid, and I can still recite most of “From A Railway Carriage” after being forced to learn it off by heart by an old-fashioned primary school teacher who thought that making kids learn poetry off by heart was still appropriate in the 1980s.
Anyway, we learnt a bit about the Cevennes, and how the Presbyterian-raised Stevenson got stressed out about having to kip in a Catholic monastery because there was nowhere else to stay. Then we moved on to Marseille, and the prison which inspired Dumas to write “The Count of Monte Cristo”. I know all about Dumas. “One for all and all for one, Muskehounds are always ready” … er, OK, I did actually know the story of the Count of Monte Cristo! Blue sky, blue sea. Lucky Richard.
Next up, “Tender is the Night” by F Scott Fitzgerald. Er, I’m afraid that I didn’t know this one. I did once get a good mark for an essay about F Scott Fitzgerald, although I’m not sure why because I got completely off the point and started waffling about the American Civil War in the middle of it. I don’t really get Fitzgerald. I didn’t get that Leonardo di Caprio film adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” either. Anyway, this gave Richard an excuse to swan about at very posh hotels on the French Riviera, so it made for rather good viewing.
And then on to Carol Drinkwater, who used to be in “All Creatures Great and Small”, and her books about growing olives in Provence, where she now lives with her French husband. This was lovely. I don’t actually like olives, but I love olive groves. Not quite as much as I love lemon groves and orange groves, but even so. Gosh, I do miss Southern Europe. I would give a great deal to be in a Tuscan olive grove just now. Please, please, let’s get these travel restrictions lifted soon.
And finally, Grasse, the perfume capital of the world. Ah, lovely! I love Grasse. The book concerned was “Perfume”, by Patrick Suskind. I didn’t know this one, but it sounded very sunny and romantic. Er, no. Apparently it was about a man who went around murdering young girls. Why would you write about so nice a place as Grasse and make it so horrible a story?! Oh well, we still got to see the parfumeries.
It was a very aesthetically-pleasing programme, and I love the idea of combining books and travel – it’s something I like to do myself. I just feel sad that I’ve lost two years’ travel opportunities because of this horrible virus. We only get the legal minimum number of days off work, so it’s not as if I’ll be able to make up for that at such time as, hopefully, overseas travel gets back to some sort of normality. But it was nice to watch!
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