Your answers
With reference to your feature on the Barchester
Chronicles (Features, 17 April), does anyone
recall the name of the bishop who once announced to his clergy that
there was nothing he enjoyed more than going to bed with a good
Trollope? [
Answers, 29 May]
The diaries of Sir Henry ("Chips") Channon MP name the bishop
concerned as the Rt Revd Francis Underhill, who was born in 1878
and was Bishop of Bath & Wells, 1937-43, the year of his
death.
I quote from the diary entry for 4 April 1942: ". . . at Wells
we went over the Cathedral, and then went to the Palace where we
lunched with the Bishop. . . Much talk of Barchester, 'there is
nothing I like better than to lie on my bed for an hour with my
favourite Trollope', the Bishop said, to everybody's consternation.
. ." (Chips: The diaries of Sir Henry Channon, edited by
Robert Rhodes James, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967).
Over the ensuing years, the sentiment expressed by the Bishop
seems to have passed into episcopal folklore.
Jon. Thorne, Bristol
Your questions
Nearly one year ago, our church bought the new
Ancient & Modern hymn book. What intrigues me is the
number of hymns by Timothy Dudley-Smith. Out of 846, 41 are by him.
Since most are completely new to me, where have they been until
now? Every one has a new message expressed in simple
terms.
M. S. H.
Every saint, seemingly, has his or her day. St John the
Baptist has two (24 June and 29 August), while our Lady has
several. How is it that St Peter - "the rock on which I build my
Church" - shares 29 June with St Paul, whose Conversion is already
observed on 25 January?
P. S.
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