Only Remembered by Michael Morpurgo

Author:Michael Morpurgo
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448174942
Publisher: RHCP

He ran his finger along the list.

14143, Smith, D., Royal Fusiliers

14275, Dempster, C. K., Gloucestershire Regiment

15496, Wallaby, A., Seaforth Highlanders

15700, Crosston, J., Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment)

He breathed a sigh of relief and put the paper down, sipping his tea, trying to think of something else.

John Boyne

ANNE HARVEY – Writer, biographer and actress

Eleanor Farjeon, one of the most famous twentieth-century children’s writers, wrote many novels, books of short stories, plays and poetry for adults. She also wrote the lyrics for the hymn ‘Morning Has Broken’, and an award in her name is presented annually for excellence in the world of children’s literature.

Eleanor always said that the greatest love and most special friendship in her life was with the writer Edward Thomas, whom she first met in a café in the Strand, London, in 1912. The two instantly liked each other, met frequently, and in between wrote to each other. Eleanor became friends with his wife, and close to his three children, and when he began writing poetry, typed his poems for him.

Edward Thomas burned many letters before he went to France as a soldier with the Artists Rifles, but 200 letters that he sent to Eleanor form her memoir Edward Thomas: The Last Four Years. The Book unfolds important moments in their friendship. Eleanor was one of the first people to ask him: ‘Haven’t you ever written poetry, Edward?’ His answer was ‘Me? I couldn’t write a poem to save my life’!

She writes that later, she asked him why he had joined the army, and what he was fignting for:

‘He stopped and picked up a pinch of earth. “Literally for this.” He crumbled it between finger and thumb and let it fall.’

In that action he had expressed to her his love for his country felt by so many men who subsequently joined the army.

Eleanor Farjeon was known for her generous present-giving to friends and family, and she ordered, from the London store Fortnum and Mason, a box of Cox’s Orange Pippins and a silver-wrapped Easter egg to be sent to Edward in France, for Easter Sunday – 8 April 1917.

Edward Thomas was killed during the Battle of Arras on Easter Monday – 9 April 1917 – and Eleanor was puzzled to receive a letter from him after this, dated 3 April – six days before the battle. ‘Edward’s last letter of all came after his death. It was begun in ink, six days before the battle, and finished in pencil five days later . . .’

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