Brief Diversions: Being Tales, Travesties and Epigrams
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J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley was born in Bradford in 1894. He fought in the First World War and was badly wounded in 1916. He went on to study at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and, from the late 1920s, established himself as a successful novelist, playwright, essayist, social commentator and radio broadcaster. He is best known for his 1945 play, An Inspector Calls. J. B. Priestley died in 1984.
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Brief Diversions - J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley
Brief Diversions: Being Tales, Travesties and Epigrams
EAN 8596547246589
DigiCat, 2022
Contact: DigiCat@okpublishing.info
Table of Contents
TALES
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EVERYONE
A MOVING STORY OF REAL LIFE
THE TRUE ACCOUNT OF A QUARREL BETWEEN A MAN WE ALL KNOW AND A VERY OLD FAMILY
AT THE ‘RED LION,’ RAMPLE STREET
THE DANGER OF ACCEPTING GIFTS WHILE HOLDING MUNICIPAL OFFICE
THE HUMILIATING EXPERIENCE OF A FORGOTTEN GOD
HOW THE RATIONAL AMUSEMENTS OF THE GREAT ARE LIMITED
THE IMPRUDENCE OF A POLITICIAN IN TRAVELLING FURTHER THAN THE NEWSPAPERS
THE WRONG WORLD
THE VALUE OF A NEW POINT OF VIEW
THE UNINVITED GUEST
HOW I MET WITH A FAMOUS CHARACTER IN A CAFÉ
THE MUTINY
DEATH AND THE FIDDLER
THE COLLEGE OF IMMORTAL FAME
THE LONELY SOUL
THE LOST PATH
THE LAST GLIMPSE OF A WELL-KNOWN FIGURE IN SOCIETY
ADVANCED THOUGHT AND THE FOOLISH IDLER
THE WONDERFUL VIEW
THE ROOM OF LOST SOULS
THE CYNICISM OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHIES
THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD GOVERNMENT
THE MORAL
TRAVESTIES
A SONG IN THE MANNER OF MR WALTER DE LA MARE
‘Æ’: THE INEFFABLE SPLENDOUR OF THINGUMBOB
SIR WM WATSON: ON RECEIVING AN ÉDITION-DE-LUXE OF ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
PROFESSOR SAINTSBURY: FROM THE HISTORY OF THE THREE BLIND MICE (PERIODS OF EUROPEAN NONSENSE)
MR JAMES STEPHENS: ‘SEUMAS BEG AGAIN’
A LECTURE NOT YET WRITTEN OR DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR SIR A. T. QUILLER-COUCH: ON THE DIRECT METHOD
LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI: NEW STYLE. AS IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE WRITTEN BY MR LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE
THE LATER MANNER OF MR W. B. YEATS
A SONG: NOT IN THE COLLECTED POEMS OF MR ALFRED NOYES
FROM A GREAT POLITICAL-BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA, ‘BUBB BODINGTON’ NOT YET WRITTEN BY MR JOHN DRINKWATER
AN EPILOGUE TO ‘TRIVIA’ (With apologies to Mr Logan Pearsall Smith)
EPIGRAMS
TALES
Table of Contents
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EVERYONE
Table of Contents
A PROFITEER, a Priest of Nebt-het, from Heliopolis, and a Fool were walking together one day, when they met the grim figure of War belching flame and fury.
‘Who is that?’ asked the fool and the priest of each other, quickening their pace. But the profiteer raised his hat, bowed humbly, and stayed to chat for a few moments with the terrible figure, before rejoining his companions.
Presently, they came upon Death, mumbling to himself by the roadside. The fool and the profiteer raised their eyebrows, and passed on, but the priest of Nebt-het touched his forehead and made certain strange signs with his hands, to which Death replied in like manner.
Then the three spied a beautiful woman who sat among the wildflowers. It was Love, combing her hair and singing all the love-songs of the