WINNER 2024
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH
The twenty-seventh Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2023.
The Joint Winners
Allison Pearson, for Equity? More like a hit wicket for cricket’s racial harmony, from The Daily Telegraph, Features, page 7, 28/6/2023.
This was so full of terrific sense, beautifully expressed, that one judge wanted to quote about half of it. Allison sees and describes the issues so clearly, whereas the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket has produced a report of absurd stupidity, avoiding all the evidence that cricket does so much for racial harmony until trouble-makers revel in publicity instead of being slapped down. This superbly written polemic should be read by everyone, as its advice is relevant to much more than cricket. The long opening sentence is a masterpiece.
Some days, it feels like there are forces at work that will not rest until everything we love about this country, every tradition, every harmless pastime, every innocent aside, every sweet courtesy, every thrilling sport, every beloved book, every patriotic song, every “You gotta laugh, aincha?”, are forced to prostrate themselves before our mirthless enemies and beg forgiveness. ...
... The diversity, equality and inclusion brigade may be cloaked in the garb of liberal reasonableness but, make no mistake, their goals are Marxist. Like woodworms, they gnaw away at the foundations of our society, hoping the whole damn thing will one day come tumbling down. And the brainwashed powers-that-be conspire to help them. ... Yet, instead of actively sticking up for what they are already promoting, they [the England and Wales Cricket Board] cravenly capitulate to the new report.
Simon Heffer for George Orwell’s prediction has come true – and Dahl’s the tip of the iceberg. The censorship of books, states and history is an attempt to eradicate the past and enforce a single point of view, from The Daily Telegraph, 22/2/2023.
The subtitle accurately describes the theme of this very well argued and written, forceful and important article.
... The vandalism of Roald Dahl’s writings for children by “sensitivity readers” to make them “suitable”, has brought the wickedness of rewriting, or eliminating, the past and evidence of it, to the forefront of our discourse. ...
... whole historical ideas must now be modified to please ill-educated and inexperienced tyros, if they are allowed into the public area at all. Are we really so delicate? Why tolerate this lunacy?...
... We have arrived at our own endless present, or Year Zero, where the record, historical or otherwise, is readily falsified. Its rules are designed to prevent what that arrogant and self-regarding minority who feel obliged to police and alter the thoughts of the rest of us consider the ultimate crime: giving offence. ...
... Like Pol Pot, that minority feels a moral duty to erase the past to attain Year Zero. Sadly for us, their main qualifications are an overbearing self-righteousness, a profound ignorance of history and a deep misunderstanding of the idea of liberty that few of us share.
The other four finalists, in random order
Vicki Beeby, for ‘The Girls of Bomber Command’, Chapter 22, pages 230-236, London: Canelo, 2023.
This has terrific fictional descriptions of actions during a bombing raid on Germany in WW2, with entirely believable accounts of the Australian pilot’s thoughts throughout the raid. One almost feels part of the action as it seems so realistic. The dialogue between the crew is crisp, friendly, practical and urgent at times. This was a joy to read with excellent use of English for describing action and thoughts under pressure.
... The moment they crossed the Dutch coast, Greg’s fears of heavy flak were borne out. Brilliant flashes burst close to the aircraft, buffeting them wildly, and searchlights scanned the skies. ‘Navigator’, he called over the intercom, meaning to ask for a course that would take them round the worst of the explosions, but at that moment a cry came from one of the gunners.
‘Lanc going down to port!’
Even as the words tore across the intercom, Greg saw a streak of scarlet plummet only yards from the tip of C-Charlie’s port wing. He instinctively banked, and in doing so probably saved their lives, for a fighter appeared out of nowhere, spitting glowing streams of tracer fire at the point where C-Charlie’s tail would have been if Greg hadn’t made his sudden manoeuvre. ...
... He had barely completed the manoeuvre when there came a loud crash, and the Lancaster rocked violently. Greg felt the shock through the control column and had to fight to stay on course.
‘Report!’ he yelled.
There was a lengthy pause, long enough for Greg to fear the worst. Then came: ‘Tail gunner here, Skip. There’s a hole in the fuselage the size of Lincoln Cathedral. Sid and George are down.’
Kathy Lette for What all working women need is a wife, from The Daily Telegraph, 11/2/2023.
This is very amusing, with good jokes and wry comments. There are unusual similes and metaphors, subtle turns of phrase, and sustained use of English to express humour and frustration.
Working mums juggle so much we could be in the Cirque du Soleil.
Before marriage, I fantasised about becoming one of those superwomen who could balance a cheque book with one hand and a baby with the other, while whipping up an entire gourmet meal for the kids plus their friends, even though all I had in the fridge was some eczema cream and half a bulb of garlic....
... But what females can’t understand is why a bloke can determine the exact mile to the gallon ratio of a five-hour trip to the south of France, where he effortlessly locates the remote fishing village that’s not even on the map – yet can’t find the mop, toilet brush or vacuum cleaner, which have been kept in the same place for the past, oh, 20 years. ...
... we no longer want man’s seat on the bus, we want his seat on the board. But for any woman who does crave a FTSE 100 job and a family, I suggest you marry a man who likes to shop and mop.
... it’s also scientifically proven that no woman ever shot her husband while he was vacuuming.
Madeline Grant for Guys, I wanna be straight with you, said our pally PM. It was pure Blair, from The Daily Telegraph, page 4, 23/6/2023.
This is full of good descriptions, jokes and phrases. Pithy, accurate and amusing.
Alas, poor Rishi – he seems destined to be haunted by PMs past. A whole week trying to exorcise Boris Johnson, only to be possessed by the poltergeist of Tony Blair. It was uncanny. “Getting” became “gedding”, almost every “g” was dropped. Matey verbal tics –“look” and a quizzical “right?” punctuated each sentence. There were no ladies and gentlemen in this audience, only “guys”.
Like his muse, the PM seems to particularly favour the rolled-up shirt sleeves look. He probably thinks this says, “approachable, but still a man of action”. In fact, it makes him look like an out-of-his-depth gynaecologist. ...
In fact, the whole address ... has the manner of a soon-to-be-divorced parent explaining to the children why it was that Daddy would be sleeping on the sofa from now on; plenty of emphasis on it not being anybody’s fault, but also that it wasn’t going to be easy.
Dominic Sandbrook for How absurd for the BBC’s cancel tsars to demonise P. G. Wodehouse while glorifying crude comedians, from The Mail on Sunday, page 25, 5/3/2023.
This was good, with very sensible views. His attack on the BBC is well written and sustained.
Of all P. G. Wodehouse’s wonderful gallery of blundering oafs, terrifying aunts and all-knowing manservants, the monocled Psmith – the P is silent – is one of his most endearing creations. ...
No sane person, no matter how suffused with the mania of wokery, could possibly find Psmith offensive. Or so one might think. ...
But when I tuned in, the first thing I heard wasn’t Wodehouse’s peerless comic prose. It was a BBC announcer, piously warning that I was about to hear ‘some dated attitudes and language’. ...
But when people are sticking warning labels on P. G. Wodehouse, something is seriously wrong. Indeed, you could hardly find a more ludicrous target, because he was one of the most tolerant, generous-spirited writers imaginable.
Entries for items published in 2024 should be sent to Dr Bernard Lamb at
by the end of May 2025, and those published in 2025 should be sent to Dr Lamb by the end of May 2026.
All entries must be of prose, fiction or non-fiction, published in the specified year, with a named author or authors, and must be sent in by members of the KES. The writers need not be British or members of the society, and may be professional writers or amateurs. Any long works, such as books, must be represented by a short extract only. All entries are read by each of the three judges, who are members of the KES and experienced writers with diverse backgrounds and tastes in writing.
Judges: Bernard Lamb (chairman), Ray Ward and John Bennett
WINNER 2023
THE TWENTY-SIXTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH
The twenty-sixth Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2022. All entries were read by each of the three judges, who are members of the QES and experienced writers with diverse backgrounds and tastes in writing. This year we welcomed a new judge, John Bennett, replacing Adrian Williams, who retired after 25 years of meritorious service.
For the first time ever, one writer’s pieces have been placed first, second and third. We congratulate Allison Pearson (a previous winner in 2011) on this great achievement.
The Winner
Allison Pearson for Angela Rayner is patronising – we all deserve good grammar, from The Daily Telegraph, 5/7/2022.
The views expressed are extremely sensible in support of good grammar and are put in such clear, decisive English. There is delightful touch of vernacular hyperbole, Ange expectorating.
Allison starts by asking What is working class grammar? This previously unknown variant of the English language has been coined by Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party. ...
I’m afraid Rayner is confusing authenticity with ignorance – the former is to be celebrated, the latter holds back children from poorer backgrounds. Telling them that “talking proper” is a betrayal of their working-class roots is cruel and delusional. Few professional careers are open to applicants who lack the rudiments of grammar. ...
It would certainly have come as a surprise to great working-class Parliamentary orators such as Aneurin Bevan to hear that using good grammar is some kind of class betrayal. … Thank the Lord, Nye Bevan never had to listen to Ange expectorating at the despatch box. ...
Yet the mastery of good English remains the one great engine of social mobility. When I was an English teacher, the ambitious Asian children in the front row wielded a thesaurus as though it were their ticket to a new world (it was). Meanwhile, it was the white working-class kids skulking in the back who never acquired grammar. ...
Sorry, Angela, there is no such thing as working-class grammar, only good or bad grammar. Knowing the difference could change your life. It changed mine.
The Runner-up
Allison Pearson for Trans hype is gripping schools – it’s time we learned what our children are taught, from The Daily Telegraph, 6/7/2022.
This is a clearly argued exposure of a dangerous current trend. The consistently good English carries one easily along with her well-marshalled facts and arguments, showing that trans hype is damaging and unnatural.
The teacher ... tells me it felt deeply wrong and uncomfortable to be talking to parents who had no idea their beloved child had adopted a whole new identity at school and was, in some cases, taking the first steps to casting off their girlhood altogether.
It’s chilling. We send our daughters to school to be educated and helped to grow into capable, happy, confident young women who can compete on an equal footing with any male. What we don’t expect is for schools to secretly facilitate their pupils to make major, life-altering decisions while keeping parents in the dark because they might be “transphobic” bigots.
Recently, the category of bigot seems to have expanded to mean anyone who doesn’t feel they can enthusiastically affirm their daughter’s decision to bind her breasts as a possible prelude to “top surgery”. That is a cringe-making jaunty term for a double mastectomy performed on a healthy young female. Affirmation is the only permitted reaction to this brutal mutilation. ...
This pernicious ideology has rapidly taken root here in the UK. Look at Liz Laybourne, the head of Burgess Hill Girls near Haywards Heath, West Sussex, who said that she now thinks twice about using the word “daughter” in letters to parents. “I don’t call pupils ‘girls’ because there are too many gender options,” chipped in this useful idiot for the increasingly militant trans cause. ... too many teachers and cluelessly liberal parents have been indoctrinated in this way of thinking.
Third
Allison Pearson for Our leaders broke Britain, but we’re getting the blame. Politicians expect voters to be grateful for ‘handouts’ made necessary by their own scandalous failures, from The Daily Telegraph, 12/8/2022.
This was written with great skill, vigour and feeling, keeping the momentum of the arguments well. It has a well-planned series of complaints that ordinary people are blamed for government and corporate failings, with good rhetorical questions and a varied sentence length.
It could be the heat, but I find myself fuming at the use of the word “handouts”. It’s as if Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were Victorian benefactors who, out of the goodness of their flinty mill-owner’s hearts, were minded to drop a few coppers into the outstretched cloth cap of the millions who can no longer afford their gas bill. ...
The coming recession? All down to Peter and Jane in Sutton Coldfield for going over the top with terracotta pots... Nothing to do with Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England. Did you seriously think it was his job to keep inflation to 2 per cent? The poor man’s only paid £495,000 a year. You can’t get much for that. ...
Lacking any droplet of shame, Thames Water, the leakiest supplier in the country...
I hope I speak for many when I say they [the gilded, frictionless “Nothing To Do With Us” class] can stick their solar panels where the sun doesn’t shine. Oh, and the next time some patronizing politician vows to give “handouts” for the horrible energy bills which their net zero fanaticism and economic mismanagement helped to inflate, don’t scream and shout. Simply smile and say: “Thank you so much, but it’s not a handout. It’s our money, which you mis-spent. And we’d like it back.”
Other finalists in random order
Charles Moore for Christianity’s retreat has left the West vulnerable to harmful new beliefs, from The Daily Telegraph, 24/12/2022.
This eloquent article deals with very important issues for the West and for humanity. The sentences are beautifully calm and measured, with good use of rhetorical questions.
... Worse, this intense interest in the exact language we use, which now obsesses universities and other institutions across the West, is not expansive, but restrictive. Far from rejoicing in the multiple possibilities of language, it fears them. It sees free speech as dangerous – which indeed it is, but so is all freedom. ...
Why, when so much of the world is in such pain, is such emotional and intellectual energy in the West being wasted on this exercise in thought control? Mightn’t our obsession with harmful language be, well, harmful? ...
If the West, once known as Christendom, is to maintain its capacity to lead the world in culture, security, freedom and civil peace, it needs to recover its language to express those things. This will not be done by taking a dentist’s drill to words it considers harmful, but by reconsecrating the words that convey the truth.
Suzanne Moore for “Wo-man”. When did this become the hardest word? If a politician can’t give a clear definition of what a woman is when asked on Woman’s Hour, we have a problem, from The Daily Telegraph, 10/3/2022.
This important and topical issue is well-researched and clearly expressed with great feeling. The sub-heading sets the scene well.
... In what context is a woman not a woman? I am not sure. Yvette Cooper, who is no fool, was asked the same question next day and refused to be drawn, only saying she “was not going down that rabbit hole”. I can only conclude that women are rabbits. Or they may as well be. ...
So there we have it, scientifically explained: the thing that cannot be named by female politicians. Women have babies and men don’t. This does not mean all women can or want to have children, but biologically this is the reality of sexual difference. ...
Is “woman” now a dirty word? Actually, it is, because women’s bodies are a messy affair, what with blood, milk, babies and all sorts of goods that we produce. ...
The place for women in the Tory Party may be to make cream teas or be Prime Minister.
Rod Liddle for O grammar community, help me rescue yourselves from the seven deadly syntaxes, from Thetimes.co.uk, 15/5/2022.
This lively, well-written piece has some excellent descriptions, such as deep-frozen dead fellow passengers, and some curious original phrases, such as ectoplasmic notions.
I reached peak “myselfism” last week while on the phone to a fabulously annoying woman. I was trying to locate a rug I had ordered online, which she – I blame her – had lost somehow. She not only referred to herself as “myself” but also addressed me as “yourself”. And then, in a moment of crowning glory, referred to my wife as “herself”. ...
Or perhaps I can at least make a start on a lexicon of syntactic witlessness and deviousness and leave other people to complete the work. ...
Sometimes “vulnerable” is used as a euphemism, or synonym, for “thick as a plate of mince”.
Then there’s “survivor”, one of my favourites. This noun was once employed to describe
someone who, say, had been a passenger on a plane that crashed in the Andes and had crawled from the wreckage, eaten a couple of deep-frozen dead fellow passengers and then made her way down 15,000 feet to a village of Peruvian peasants to alert her family that she was still alive.
It is now routinely applied to someone who, several years ago, was subjected to an
inappropriate sexual remark by an ageing and tipsy Liberal Democrat peer...
Excellent English Prize 2021
The Queen’s English Society changes its name
At its Annual General Meeting on 24 September 2024, The Queen’s English Society voted on a Resolution to change the Society’s name to The King’s English Society.
The Resolution was carried by 75 votes to 7.
Over the next few days, this change will become apparent in the changing contents of this website, as each section is modified to take account of the implications of the Resolution. The website address will become: kingsenglishsociety.org
Why the change? Four years ago, the Society began to consider the course it should take following the inevitable death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Sentiment at that time steered the members towards wanting to keep the name unchanged indefinitely. Since the Queen’s death in September 2022, the Society has noticed a marked downturn in applications for membership.
“It’s simple,” says Chairman Adrian Williams. “Most of our new members find us via the Society’s website. Before now, they have found the website by searching ‘Queen’s English’. Now they’re searching ‘King’s English’ – and not finding us. We need new members, to keep the Society active and growing in its mission to promote worldwide appreciation of the English language. Respect and affection for our late Queen are understandable; but now we have a King, and members of the public are becoming accustomed to a new era.”
WINNER 2022
THE TWENTY-FIFTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH
The twenty-fifth Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2021.
The Joint Winners
Kathy Lette for Dear daughter, you can take me away any time…. The Sunday Telegraph Travel Section, 14/3/2021.
The humour and philosophy are superb throughout, with a terrific first paragraph.
Teenagers are God’s punishment for having sex in the first place. Living with a teenage daughter is like living with the Taliban; mothers aren’t allowed to dance, sing, flirt, laugh or wear short skirts. When my daughter, Georgie, was 13, I was sashaying toward the front door in high heels when she stormed after me, exclaiming, “What are you wearing? You are not going out like that. Go back to your room and change immediately!”
… Ouch. I wilted like day-old salad. Low self-esteem is hereditary – you get it from your teenage daughters.
… A mother delivers her child once vaginally, but then by car forever afterwards.
… Kids can be a great comfort in your old age, but they sure as hell make you reach it faster, too. Especially teenage girls taken hostage by their hormones. But, despite the exhaustion that comes with supervising digital detoxes, discouraging tattoos, side-boobs, piercings and the perception that Love Island contestants are role models, we mums love our progeny unconditionally.
Roger Lewis for Oozing and palely loitering. The Daily Telegraph, 6/2/2021.
This is a witty, scathing demolition-job in which the reviewer pillories the author for her hapless choice of banalities in pursuit of easy familiarity with the reader. The opening paragraphs are typical.
Situated for two centuries in the icy silence of his tomb, in the Cimitero Acattolico, Rome, John Keats at least hasn’t had to confront the Keatsians – the scholars, academics and other buffoons who have published books and papers about Keats’ Post-Newtonian Poetics, The Etymology of Porphryo’s Name, The Dying Keats: A Case for Euthanasia?, and, not forgetting, Keats, Modesty and Masturbation.
Now comes Lucasta Miller’s Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph (Jonathan Cape, £17.99), which is one big farrago of cliché, jargon, mixed metaphor and general sloppiness. Page upon page is filled with phrases like under the skin, scruff of the neck, strapped for cash, cocked a snook, one fell swoop, punches far above the weight. Ad infinitum…
… His romantic imagination, we are vouchsafed, was “elastic, winged, capricious”, which conjures in my mind a picture of Ena Sharples’s knickers.
… I also wonder why Miller has taken Keats as her subject, as she is worried that he is already “canonised as a dead white European male”, which implies that only live black or Asian women are truly morally upright, possess fortitude and humility, and hence are permitted a voice.
Four other finalists, in random order
Nikki Haley for We could use some of Thatcher’s confidence and conviction. The Daily Telegraph, 6/11/2021. This is a brilliant and persuasive exposition of why capitalism has done and is doing wonders throughout the world. Her opening is sharp, eloquent and sums up her theme in a few words. It is a stirring political tour-de-force with fired-up rhetoric and sustained logical arguments in very clear English.
Capitalism is the greatest driver of prosperity and destroyer of poverty in history. It’s the single best way to help families, boost wages, create jobs, and discover the breakthroughs that improve all our lives.
…The Right must recapture its passion for economic freedom. It’s the only way to stop the socialist wave crashing over our country. Inspiring leaders show the way.
… Democrats are on the verge of creating the first cradle-to-grave welfare state in US history; a country where dependency is the default. It’s a guaranteed recipe for national decline.
… It’s time to face the truth: Spending trillions of dollars won’t solve our problems. Spending trillions of dollars is the problem.
… We need to describe what capitalism has done – namely, lifting more people out of poverty than anything else in human history. Economic freedom has doubled American life expectancy from 40 to 80. It has cut infant mortality from a third of children to practically none.
… America is not rotten. America is not racist. Freedom and the rule of law are not tools of oppression. They are essential to providing opportunity for all.
Allison Pearson for The Church of England is abandoning its flock. The Daily Telegraph 14/7/2021.
She argues well on an important topic, with good rhetorical devices and a great build-up of rage within paragraphs.
… Having lost faith in the eternal verities, the CofE now makes stipendiary clergy redundant – some rural benefices of 10 churches have to share one vicar! – while lunging for relevance with lectures like the one immortally entitled “The Church and the Clitoris”. Er, it’s been a while since I was a Sunday school teacher but isn’t the G in “G-spot” supposed to stand for God?
… The new “growth strategy” is called Myriad. It means getting rid of the clergy with their tedious theological knowledge about, you know, the Bible.
Flog the vicarages! Abandon the churches, centre of our communities for centuries and a beloved part of the spiritual geography of these islands! Dispense with those annoying old parishioners – the ghastly people probably vote Tory anyway!
… Apparently, there is no easy way for sacking bishops, even ones who despise half their congregation. How terribly convenient. Make no mistake, the Church is abandoning its flock and expects to get away with it.
Ariella Budick for Drawn to darkness and light. Financial Times ‘Life and Art’, 19-20/6/2021.
This is a well-written review of a show of Cezanne’s drawings, showing insight into the artist’s personality and versatility. There are good descriptions and turns of phrase.
In the dim light of a drawing gallery at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Cézanne’s jagged strokes flicker and twist, refusing to cohere. “There is no line,” the artist insisted and he avoided defining contours or marking out boundaries between substance and air. A bather’s leg dissolves in a nest of twigs. A melon on a table quivers with pleasure or dread. The cumulative effect is electrifying.
… He was gripped by apples, obsessed with a specific mountain, bedevilled by bevies of nudes. With a mixture of fervour and labour, he produced sheaves of doodles, cramming dozens of separate drawings on to a single page that he sometimes kept working on for many years.
… Bloodthirstiness was never far from Cezanne’s imagination, even though he later buried it beneath veneers of peel or rind. In “Still Life With Apples, Pears and a Pot” (1900), the handle of a blue-black knife hovers menacingly above the carnal cleft of blushing pears.
Tom Chivers for London Clay: Journeys in the Deep City. London: Doubleday, 2021, starting at page 208.
This is well-researched and well-written book, presenting many interesting facts in an easily digested form. This chapter starts with an excellent paragraph about rain.
The rain begins at midday and doesn’t stop till after nightfall. At first it’s a gusty mizzle, then torrential, monsoon-heavy, soak-to-the-skin. On a day like this, I’m finding lost rivers everywhere. They bubble up between paving slabs, gurgle from raging manholes, pool in the gutters. They run down my waterproof jacket and into my shoes, persistent rills of rainwater from London’s toxic skies.
… Around the turn of the twelfth century, de Mandeville donated the manor to the Abbey, a down payment on eternal salvation.
I fold up the Streetfinder and wedge it between the Sullivans. Bits of map keep falling off and working their way to the bottom of my rucksack, to the place where biros go to die.
… Could this be a lost river, hiding in plain sight in the streets of Pimlico? Or a culvert from the draining of the marsh? A dog goes sniffing at my leg, a bull terrier with an eye patch.
… Language is like a rock; it comes in many forms. Some can be eroded, chipped away, others changed by heat and pressure. Here language is durable as diamond. A millennium has passed and yet this name, Longmore, persists.
WINNER 2021
THE TWENTY-FOURTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH
The twenty-fourth Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2020.
The Joint Winners
Oz Clarke for English Wine: From Still to Sparkling, A tour of the regions, South-East (London, Pavilion Press, 2020).
This has wonderfully lyrical descriptions of wines, tastes and places. The fascinating facts are brilliantly and digestibly presented, with real purple patches of prose. It is well-structured, starting with a mystery and leading the reader into an unknown region that is only six miles away from ‘the only certified desert in Britain’.
I was tasting the new releases from an outfit called Gusborne, above all their amazingly rich but dry, imposing Blanc de Blancs, with the thrilling flavours of sticky crème fraiche and croissant crust that you often hear tell of in Champagne, but rarely find. … That’s a piece of Kent where few people live, few people visit, where the mists linger late into the morning and the sodden soil squirts and squelches underneath your boots. Flat, strangely forbidding, dominated by the smugglers’ paradise of Romney Marsh, only famous for sheep and will o’ the wisps and shadowy figures going about their silent business.
… The sun hung low in a cold blue sky, that mid-winter sun which is so bright it near blinds you with its glowing whiteness but is suggestive of the brittle tingle of an ice world untouched by warmth. Steamy breath, a feathering of snow glistening in the sharp raw light, eyes searching for any sign of a pub across the crisp silent distance stretching away to the sleepy slovenly surf of Dungeness Beach.
Tim Ecott for The Land of Maybe: A Faroe Islands Year, Chapter 2, Westernmost (London, Short Books, 2020).
This chapter has a superbly evocative beginning and continues well. It is good at describing activity, such as hauling supplies up a hundred steep concrete steps, the dramatic scenery and local history, and adds a reminiscence of how his family lived there in former years.
The island’s only village, Mykinesbygd, is set well above the ocean, but when a stiff south-westerly blows, the Atlantic roars like booming thunder into the tiny harbour at the foot of the cliffs. It swamps the double breakwater and paints it white with spume. Then it inundates the rough-hewn jetty, kicking up a wall of spray, pure and delicate as a sunlit snow flurry high against the sky. The waves have cracked into fragments, temporarily separated but desperate to be rejoined. The sea now bubbles and froths across the harbour as foam. Cunningly and quietly, it slides up the foot of the steep concrete staircase leading to the village path above. Seconds later, the water withdraws like a tongue, disappearing swiftly under the rolling arc of the next run of breakers with a lisping whistle. … The boulders that form a small inhospitable beach rasp and cough as they scour the base of the cliff, rubbing away the rock a little bit more with each rolling wave. If they can’t attack the village from above, they will undermine it from below.
Four other finalists, in random order
Jackie Wullschläger, for England’s visionary chronicler (Financial Times ‘Life and Art’, 31October/1 November 2020). This has excellent descriptions of Turner’s paintings and of the feelings they inspire. Some great images of moods are appropriately impressionistic to match the style of painting.
Lesser known, a phantasmagoria of a skeleton falling off a galloping steed tilts menacingly towards us, titled “Death on a Pale Horse”, it was until 2016 assumed to be a Rider of the Apocalypse painted in response to the 1832 cholera epidemic. Tate renames it “The Fall of Anarchy” and substitutes political reference – the Reform Act. Either way, it is a hallucinatory dream-like painting inspired by a recent event.
… Late seascapes abstract tempest-whipped waves and baleful skies into vertices of terror. “Whalers”, “Snow Storm – Steamboat off a Harbour’s Mouth”. With shattering biblical intensity, all declare the mutability of society and nature, man sucked into the whirlpool of fate, as Turner’s theme for epic drama.
… The bridge’s steep foreshortening, a dynamic anchoring diagonal, hurtles our eyes to the horizon while, as if seen from a rushing train, swirls, smears, sprays of paint evoke how the trio of “Rain, Steam and Speed” blur the countryside; a rowing boat on the river, dancing girls of classical myth on the embankment, the plough in a distant field – the gradual fading of old life.
Melanie Phillips for Race radicals want to abolish standard English (online, thetimes.co.uk, 1 September 2020).
Her sensible views were very clearly expressed, although her use of so many short paragraphs seemed strange. The topic is of particular concern to the QES. She clearly argues that the proposals would harm most those they are intended to help.
Where to start? Far from being “racist”, standard English is a great leveller. Instead of a babel of dialects which erect linguistic barriers and can set us apart from each other, it helps us speak a common language. Attempts to undermine it would only damage our shared culture.
… Many ambitious working-class parents of all ethnicities have sought to ensure that their children speak grammatically correct English with received pronunciation in order to be taken seriously and become upwardly mobile. I should know – I was one such child.
… It’s a move that also devalues the evil of true racism. If reasonable people are deemed racist merely because they are white, actual racists can hide in plain sight.
Lucy Kellaway for A different education (Financial Times ‘Life and Art’, 11/12 July 2020).
She describes her experiences of race, as a white person, with disarming candour. Her matter-of-fact style suits this topic well. She describes how race has become the great taboo subject of our time and how those concerned must feel they are walking on eggshells.
My ignorance of these communities was humiliatingly obvious from the first time I tried to take a register. There were 32 names on the computer screen in front of me, of which only 10 I could pronounce without effort. … I felt I had a large sign over my head that read: this woman is a complete idiot.
What I am being paid to do is to teach economics and make students believe that a positive externality is a wondrous thing. If I make a good fist of that, I’m helping all my students – the boy who shares a two-room flat with his Bangladeshi mother and five siblings as well as the girl who lives in a big house on Victoria Park and whose father is a high-exec at the BBC.
Simon Schama for The two Americas (Financial Times ‘Life and Art’, 31 October/1 November 2020).
He writes in fine style and marshals his thoughts in an orderly way, bringing his arguments to a conclusion with a masterly concluding paragraph and sentence (not quoted here).
Infuriated footsoldiers will take to the streets and the cold cultural war that has been rumbling for years will ignite, in some places violently. Up until now it is yard signs that have been set ablaze (or, in one startling case in central Florida, systematically bulldozed by a Trumpian zealot who stole a backhoe to do the damage). In that no man’s land between the initial vote-count and a conclusive result, Trump, who has run as grievance warrior, will light new fires while Joe Biden, who has run as conciliator and unifier, will be holding the hose. The flames may not go out until trust in the democratic transfer of power has been burnt beyond recognition.
The current programme
Thursday 16 January commencing at 7.00 pm, finishing by 9.00 pm.
Roffey's short stories
Harold Roffey will be reading some of his short stories.
Zoom only.
Zoom meetings are open to members and non-members alike. If you would like to join the meeting, please notify Bernard Lamb at
bernardlamb@btinternet.com
who will send you the joining details.
**********
Offers to give talks or suggestions of topics will be most welcome. Please contact Bernard Lamb at bernardlamb@btinternet.com; further details inside the front cover of Quest.
He will also be happy to receive nominations for the King’s English Society Prize for Excellent English. They must be of prose published in the particular year, with long items such as books represented by a short extract. Closing date for items published in 2024 is 31st May 2025.
Bernard Lamb, Head of the talks and readings subcommittee
Peter Tompkins
Peter Tompkins was born in Liverpool in 1959 but has lived in the South-East since 1982, these days splitting his time between London and Cambridge and occasional trips to the Lake District.
Peter is a consulting actuary with Callund Consulting and spends his time consulting to overseas governments and international agencies on pension plans and their reform. Prior to that, he was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and before that a partner at Lane Clark & Peacock.
His other interests include beekeeping, sundials, chamber music, rowing and hill walking. He is a trustee of the City Music Foundation and of the New Music Players and he is a Court Member of two liveries, the Wax Chandlers (of which he is a Past Master) and the Actuaries.
Facebook launch
Debbie le May
Debbie has been a freelance journalist for nearly twenty years and has edited Quest, the journal of the Society, for more than twelve years. Despite having an interest in politics, she does her best to ensure that Quest is apolitical in line with the Society’s charitable status, although contentious issues surrounding the English language are sometimes included in the journal. She welcomes communication from Society members, and indeed from anyone in the world at large, on any aspect of the English language.
WINNER 2024
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH The twenty-seventh Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2023. The Joint Winners Allison Pearson, for Equity? More like a hit wicket for cricket’s racial harmony, from The Daily Telegraph, Features,...
WINNER 2023
THE TWENTY-SIXTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH The twenty-sixth Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2022. All entries were read by each of the three judges, who are members of the QES and experienced writers with diverse backgrounds and tastes in writing. This year we welcomed a new judge, John...
The Queen’s English Society changes its name
At its Annual General Meeting on 24 September 2024, The Queen’s English Society voted on a Resolution to change the Society’s name to The King’s English Society. The Resolution was carried by
WINNER 2022
THE TWENTY-FIFTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH The twenty-fifth Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2021. The Joint Winners Kathy Lette for Dear daughter, you can take me away any time…. The Sunday Telegraph Travel Section, 14/3/2021. The humour and philosophy are superb throughout, with a terrific first paragraph. Teenagers are God’s punishment for having sex in the first place....
WINNER 2021
THE TWENTY-FOURTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH The twenty-fourth Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2020. The Joint Winners Oz Clarke for English Wine: From Still to Sparkling, A tour of the regions, South-East (London, Pavilion Press, 2020). This has wonderfully lyrical descriptions of wines, tastes and places. The fascinating facts are brilliantly and digestibly presented, with real purple...
The current programme
Thursday 16 January commencing at 7.00 pm, finishing by 9.00 pm. Roffey's short stories Harold Roffey will be reading some of his short stories. Zoom only. Zoom meetings are open to members and non-members alike. If you would like to join the meeting, please notify Bernard Lamb at bernardlamb@btinternet.com who will send you the joining details. ********** Offers to give...
Facebook launch
In 2022, the Society celebrated its 50th anniversary and half a century of promoting clear and elegant expression of the English language. As we enter our sixth decade, we are delighted to have launched our updated Facebook page on which we will issue regular bulletins relating to the society’s activities, one of which will be a regular...
