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Out of the question

by
19 June 2015

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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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