On 30 November 2007 Chris Green wrote: > Allen has such a dry sense of humo(u)r! Yes, this is exactly what I > meant by "howling." :-) [...] > I agree that it would have been good of them to include a couple > of scientists, but I hardly think that is a requirement for one > to be an expert on "Britain."
Ignoring Chris's neat evasion of the questioning of his oft-repeated expectation of "howling" (or similar) when he cites something favourable to Freud, perhaps he will point out where I suggested anything remotely like being a scientist "is a requirement for one to be an expert on 'Britain'." > I apologize for not knowing about the distinction between the Times > and the Sunday Times. No need to apologise. As I tried to indicate by saying it was a minor point, I wouldn't have expected anyone outside the UK to appreciate the distinction. >Is this John Gray the now-right/now-left/now-neither political theorist? I don't know quite how one would categorise Gray, but yes, he is the guy you have identified. I've just done a Google check on him, and only now know that he is Professor of European Thought, School of Government, London School of Economics. >And I must object: Orwell's /1984/, /Animal Farm/, and /Essays/ have >nothing "virtually nothing about Britain"? That seems a rather >overly-literalist sentiment. You're right to object. After having checked through the article paragraph by paragraph to pick out the names on the panel, and having in mind that they had each to choose 5 (single) books and that the sub-heading says "an expert panel chose Orwell's *1984* above all", I took it (without re-checking) that *1984* was at the top of the list. Now this has come up, there's some ambiguity here. The list is supposed to be "books", but they have listed authors. The first three cite two or more books by the author in question, so is *1984* the most listed, or is it that Orwell is the author whose books are most listed? Stephen Black wrote: > > Must it only be books?? I nominate to the list a wonderful musical > > called "Blood Brothers." <snip> > > It's a really enjoyable musical, but also very > > telling about the British class structure. > Like Marilyn Monroe Glad you've found your way back to the computer, Stephen, even if your contribution is too cryptic for me. Annette Taylor wrote: > [...] I can't understand why Shakespeare and Conan Doyle didn't > make the list... Having just seen a TV programme about Conan Doyle, which dwells on the fact that many people around the world thought that Sherlock Holmes was a real person (he used to get letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes, including some asking for the great man's signature), I'm surprised that Holmes didn't make the BBC poll's top ten "Great Britons" list. -: ) Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org ---
