POETRY IN MOTION

War poet Rupert Brooke 1887 - 1915

A book may be compared to your neighbour: if it be good it cannot last too long; if bad, you can't get rid of it too early.

If you've ever had a problem with your neighbours or, like me, you  just love reading books, you'll appreciate this quote from my favourite war poet Rupert Brooke, an exceptionally talented (and good looking) man who died in 1915 aged just twenty eight.

So how would it feel to buy a house where the celebrated poet once lived? This week's Bricks and Mortar supplement in The Times newspaper tells us of his former home, Orchard House in the village of Grantchester, about three miles from Cambridge.

Orchard House, which has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, is being auctioned in March with a guide price of £950,000. Rupert Brooke did not own his home but lodged at the house from 1909 to 1911 after graduating from Kings College, Cambridge.  He later moved to the Old Vicarage in Grantchester, which gave its name to the title of his well-know poem.

Brooke's parties at Orchard House were attended by other literary heavyweights, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes and  EM Forster, as well as philosophers Bertrand Russell and and Ludwig Wittgenstein. They became known as the Grantchester Group.

'Grantchester is one of the most desirable villages in Cambridgeshire,' says Richard Freshwater, a director of Cheffins, the estate agency running the auction. It is surrounded by the beautiful Grantchester Meadows, with the famous Byron's Pool.' (where Lord  Byron once swam.)

If you appreciate properties with historical significance and are a lover of poetry, (oh, and have a million pounds to spare,) what are you waiting for?

TOO CUTE TO BE CRIMINAL!

Actress Madge Meredith

'She's too cute to be criminal!' said Humphrey Bogart  of forties star Madge Meredith whose life story was more  dramatic than any of the films in which she  appeared.

Madge, who died at the end of 2016, was convicted of  kidnapping her manager and given a three year jail sentence in 1946. Astonishingly she returned to films when her sentence was complete.This unlikely story was revealed in an obituary in The Times newspaper this week, of the actress  born Marjorie May Massow in Iowa in 1921.

As a young child she suffered from a stammer but this did not deter her from going on the stage.
She studied acting in New York before making her way to Hollywood. She took a waitressing job with 20th Century Fox and waited to be discovered.

Along came Oscar-winning star Jennifer Jones who agreed that the waitress had potential and recommended her for a screen test. Soon 20th Century Fox had signed her up and cast her in supporting roles in several films including Otto Preminger's In the Meantime Darling released in 1944.   When they eventually let her go, Madge got her own manager, a Greek called Nicholas Gianaclis.

All went well until Gianaclis lent Madge some money towards the purchase of a house in the Hollywood Hills. This led to arguments over ownership which ended up in court. The judge ruled in the actress's favour. Fighting back, her manager  went to the police and alleged that Madge had tricked him into following her car to a quiet place in the hills, where she had arranged for him and his companion to be kidnapped at gunpoint. They were beaten up and taken to a different location from where they escaped.

After a four-week trial Madge and three men were convicted of various offences, but there were doubts over the conviction. When the conduct of the trial was questioned the California /State governor ordered her release saying: 'This is a bizarre case, perhaps more fantastic than any moving picture in which the defendant acted.'

She was released on her 30th birthday when, as the Los Angeles Times reported, 'She ran from the main entrance and refused to look back as the big chain-link gates, topped with barbed wire, clanged shut on the past.'

Between her arrest an release she had spent just over three years in prison. Madge resumed her acting career but effectively had to start over again.  When she finished filming she worked in television into the 1960s, then married and worked as an estate agent in Hawaii.

At the time of her conviction Madge said: 'I know in my heart I am innocent of any crime. Some day, someone will believe the truth about what I say.'

Among her supporters was Humphrey Bogart who was known for his outspoken views on social issues...

NB If Humphrey said she was too cute to be criminal, who are we to argue? ;)

Happy memories of a Guernsey girl far from home. Here's to 2018!