LIFE'S PLEASURES

 

LIFE’S PLEASURES

We get a bucketful of misery from so many aspects of our existence that it is worth remembering that our lives are enriched too by a catalogue of delights, many of which are free. I set out a small list below which reflects my no doubt old-fashioned personal tastes – make your own list, it will cheer you up!

1.      Scotland

I had the good fortune to be born in handsome Aberdeen and educated in lovely, if chilly, Edinburgh. Away from the Central Belt, Scotland is the sparsely populated playground of Europe.

Oh for the crags that are wild and majestic

The steep frowning glories of dark Lochnagar (Byron)

We rejoice in the beautiful Road to the Isles – Sure by Tummel and Loch Rannoch and Lochaber I will go – and no visitor should miss Mull and sacred Iona, among whose ruins your piety will grow warmer, according to Dr Johnson. You can trek, climb, golf, drink, fish, sail or philosophise. Whatever, Scotland punches well above her weight.

2.      Hollywood

My father’s family business included a local chain of 12 cinemas and in the interval between school and going home I sat in in a cinema watching every second feature in the 1946-50 era – Abbott and Costello, The Bowery Boys, Francis the talking mule, Roy Rodgers or Gene Autrey Westerns. Later, as my tastes changed, my celluloid education took in Doris Day, Judy Garland, Howard Keel, Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly musicals and blossomed with Humphrey Bogart classics and Bette Davis dramas.

I spent many happy hours of my life watching films. I do not agree with everything America does but Hollywood for me was a great civilising engine.

3.      Buildings to die for

From my European standpoint there are a handful of buildings which have the “wow-factor”, rooting you to the spot, yet easily enough accessible.

 I first nominate La Sainte Chapelle, Paris, the rayonnant chapel built by Louis IX in about 1350 to house

 

his Passion Collection including the purported Crown of Thorns. Its Upper Level has the most stunning display of medieval stained glass in the world.

 

Then there is Ottobeuren Abbey in Bavaria, fabulously Rococo, exuding rapt devotion, with a riotous profusion of plaster saints in joyful ecstasy.

 

Rococo is not much seen in the UK, but I find this dynamically flamboyant style irresistible.

My other wow-factor building is Amiens Cathedral, surely the finest Gothic cathedral in Europe. It is the largest cathedral in France, double the size of Notre Dame de Paris. Mainly dating from the 13^th Century, its sculpture and carvings are admirable, and its proportions give it majestic solemnity. A 19^th Century restoration overseen by Viollet-le-Duc was a triumph.

                                      

                                                                      Amiens Cathedral

4.      English “Laugh out Loud” Writing.

Beneath a thin layer of reserve the English are a boisterous race given to joking, tomfoolery and farce. Tudor and Jacobean writers were notably unfunny (sadly including Shakespeare) but 18^th century novelists could easily raise a titter and by the first half of the 19th century we were experiencing the irrepressible genius of Charles Dickens where a tumult of  rich characters like Pickwick, Mr Micawber, Sarah Gamp, Sam Weller, Mr Bumble, Uriah Heep and Ebeneezer Scrooge make his pages dance before our eyes.  But Dickens was a crusader and few of his novels are flawless – convoluted plots, unconvincing female characters, sentimentality and regular dull patches.

The 20th century produced 2 brilliant comic writers in the UK, P.G. Wodehouse and Arthur Marshall. Wodehouse created his own fictional world populated by imperious Aunts, absent minded aristocrats like Lord Emsworth, Mr Mulliner’s unique anecdotal vignettes, worldly manservants like Jeeves, fairly brainless men about town in the Bertie Wooster mould, and an enormous hilarious oeuvre, recording his creations’ madcap activities - be they gossiping at the Drones Club, playing golf or having adventures chasing determined young ladies around stately homes. PGW is incomparable.  

My other favourite is Arthur Marshall (1910-89), frustrated actor, schoolmaster at Oundle, post-war radio turn as Nurse Dugdale, reviewer, columnist, TV personality on Call my Bluff. Arthur perfected the acute short piece deriving high comedy from ordinary matters, British Rail, Devon resorts, puddings, the West End theatre, (where his acquaintance was matchless). In later life on TV, chins a-wobble, emanating good humour and sunshine, Arthur revealed his true worth – a blessed National Treasure.

                                                               Arthur Marshall

5.      Human Genius

My catalogue of uplifting pleasures is endless – we humans have created so much beauty and culture that this conclusion is inevitable. High Art is our proud achievement. The poetry of Wordsworth and Keats, the paintings of Rembrandt and Tiepolo, the music of Purcell, Charpentier, Beethoven and Mozart or the 26 ancient Anglican Cathedrals. I will receive criticism that my taste is pale, male and stale, but it would not be a surprise if the old favourites are in fact the best. Drink in the achievements of our forebears -they invigorate and sustain us!

 

SMD

26.5.25

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2025