The Oldie, 23–31 Great Titchfield Street, London, W1W 7PA letters@theoldie.co.uk To sign up for our e-newsletter, go to www.theoldie.co.uk
My Elizabethan poetry
SIR: The Old Un’s memories of the Elizabethan magazine (May issue) brought a blush to my cheeks. In the early 1960s, my class at school was given the challenge of writing a parody of a well-known poem. Being short of time and inspiration, I remembered one published in the Elizabethan and stole a few verses, which I now discover were probably written by a (then) future newspaper editor or playwright.
To my horror, the teacher regarded my efforts as good enough for the school magazine, where my plagiarism was promptly spotted by another avid reader of the Elizabethan. Cue subsequent shame and mumbled excuses. I still have on my bookshelf today a copy of Under the Sun (Constable Young Books, 1964), an anthology including material from the Elizabethan – and, fortunately for my blushes, no parodies of poems.
Kind regards,
David Lashbrooke, Looe, Cornwall
It’s great up north
SIR: Patrick Barkham makes his – all of which featured walks in the south – and I wonder if he would consider a venture further north from time to time – a sort of ecological levelling-up – even though he is Norfolk-born and probably lives south of Watford.
