The Huxleys are remembered as a scientific dynasty, but they are at least as significant as a literary family.

The Huxleys are remembered as a scientific dynasty, but they are at least as significant as a literary family. They wrote in multiple genres and for different audiences, in private and public. That the Arnolds grafted onto the Huxleys in the middle generation, meant that this became a conjoined highly regarded literary figures – Matthew Arnold, Aldous Huxley, Mary Augusta Ward – and of essayists, memoirists and science writers - Thomas Henry, Leonard and Julian. More privately, though still intermittently in published form, all of the Huxleys were poets. This was a family of professional wordsmiths.

A. Bashford, An intimate history of evolution (2022), 30

Mary still suggested popery for most English people

Mary still suggested popery for most English people. Indeed, one explanation for the failure to develop a stronger Marian devotional tradition in Anglicanism may be that those who had the strongest feelings about Mary became Catholic.

G. Woodman, 'The blessed Virgin Mary in Seventeenth Century Anglican Theology: a study in doctrine and devotion', Sobornost 46:1 (2024), 20

'Homemade' begs one question. Whose home? Have you actually seen people's homes?

'Homemade' begs one question. Whose home? Have you actually seen people's homes? Why should biscuits made at home be better than those baked in a factory, a factory that specialises in biscuits? I'm thinking here of Nairn's Oatcakes, Rakusen's Matzo Crackers and Carr's Water Biscuits. We don't seek treatment from amateur surgeons and Sunday dentists.

J. Meades, The plagiarist in the kitchen (2017), 143

Unpeeled potatoes are an abomination

SAUTE POTATOES

Do peel the potatoes - unpeeled potatoes are an abomination

Do not blanch them let alone boil them

Cut them into pieces the size of a malnourished walnut

J. Meades, The plagiarist in the kitchen (2017), 121

He promised to remove these carrots in a re-issue of the book, but they are still wrongly and redly there.

It [Lancashire Hotpot] needs very slow cooking in an oven. Into a family-sized, brown, oval-shaped dish with a lid, you place the following ingredients: best end of neck of lamb, trimmed of all fat; potatoes and onions thickly sliced. These go in alternate layers. Season well, cover with good stock, top with oysters, or, if you wish, sliced beef kidneys. There is no need for officious timing: you will know when it is done. Serve with pickled red cabbage and a cheap claret. In his novel The human factor, Mr Graham Greene has the effrontery to add carrots to the dish. He promised to remove these carrots in a re-issue of the book, but they are still wrongly and redly there.

Anthony Burgess, cited in J. Meades, The plagiarist in the kitchen (2017), 83-4

Avoid. Stick to acid and opium

The best known recipe in the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook is for hashish fudge. She got the recipe from Brion Gibson who had got it in Tangier where it would have ben known as mahjoun. It is of Berber origin. The problem with it is the problem of cannabis in any form - it turns the most delightful people into dull obsessives or insensate, giggling bores or borderline psychotics. Protracted exposure to the wretched stuff causes brain damage. Avoid. Stick to acid and opium

J. Meades, The plagiarist in the kitchen (2017), 71 

They agree to license the song, then donated all the money - very publicly - to its striking workforce

IN the years since, there have been endless request to license the song [Tubthumping]. Almost always, the band say no. On specific occasions, they do make exceptions. One year, the US car company Chrysler offered them £100,000 to use the track on a TV ad. The band knew there'd been a long-running dispute at Chrysler's Detroit plant, it's workers striking for better wages, improved conditions. They agree to license the song, then donated all the money - very publicly - to its striking workforce. 'Chrysler were infuriated,' Whalley notes.

N. Duerden, Exit stage left: the curious afterlife of popstars (2022), 262-3

Doing funerals is better than doing an acoustic gig any day

In Liverpool, Brian Nash [from Frankie Goes to Hollywood] - Nasher - is a very good funeral celebrant.

'I tell you, doing funerals is better than doing an acoustic gig any day,' he says, 'because at least every cunt shuts up while you're talking, and there's no on standing at the bar with beer bottles chatting shit cos they're full of coke.'

 N. Duerden, Exit stage left: the curious afterlife of popstars (2022), 112

I know some artists struggle with the idea of being relevant, [but] I stopped buying that a long time ago

In 1993, Billy Joel released his last album, River of Dreams, and aside from one further album of classical piano pieces, has felt no compulsion to write anything else. He still enjoys playing his catalogue live, he's sold hundreds of millions of records, and he's proved his worth. What else is there to say?

'I know some artists struggle with the idea of being relevant, [but] I stopped buying that a long time ago,' Joel told Billboard magazine in 2019.

N. Duerden, Exit stage left: the curious afterlife of popstars (2022), 14

The utter inability to comprehend the questions of morality or ethics raised by his actions

When they [Johnson’s Lawyers] gave clients advice, the clients usually followed it. Lyndon did not follow it. During the next few days in that September 1948 – those days of crisis – he was to display vividly many of the most striking qualities of his nature. One was the fierceness and determination with which he grabbed for political advantage, grabbed it and, one he had it in his grasp, held onto it. … Another was the utter inability to comprehend the questions of morality or ethics raised by his actions, an utter inability to feel that there was even a possibility that he had violated accepted standards of conduct and might be punished for that violation. But, during this conference and during the following days, Lyndon Johnson was also to display many of the qualities that made him a leader of men. [These were responsibility, decisiveness and force of personality] 

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2: means of ascent (1990), 357

When the election is over, you have to sit on the ballot boxes

Lyndon, apparently you Texans haven’t learned one of the first things we learned up in New York State, and that is when the election is over, you have to sit on the ballot boxes.

FDR, cited in R. Caro, the years of Lyndon Johnson, volume 1: the path to power (1982), 742

His power base wasn’t his congressional district, it was Herman Brown’s bank account

The new power he possessed did not derive from Roosevelt’s friendship, or from Rayburn’s. It did not derive from seniority in the House, not even – despite the relationship that power in a democracy bears to the votes of the electorate – to his seat in it. His power was simply the power of money. To a considerable extent, the money was Herman Brown’s…. His power base wasn’t his congressional district, it was Herman Brown’s bank account

R. Caro, the years of Lyndon Johnson, volume 1: the path to power (1982), 659

And all over the Hill Country people began to name their kids for Lyndon Johnson

One evening in November, 1939, the Smiths were returning from Johnson City, where they had been attending a declamation contest, and as they neared their farmhouse, something was different.

 “Oh my God,” her mother said, “The house is on fire!”
But as they got closer, they saw the light wasn’t fire. 

“No, Mama,” Evelyn said, “The lights are on.”
They were on all over the Hill Country. “And all over the Hill Country,” Stella Gliddon says, “people began to name their kids for Lyndon Johnson.”

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, volume 1: the path to power (1982), 528

This whole chapter on electrification and the impact it has on poor, rural communities, is outstanding. And these final lines are a superb end.

Embarrass his Holiness by associating with any Methodists in Rome

The Vatican advised that Pope Pius X would grant him an audience on the fifth of April, providing that he did not embarrass his Holiness by associating with any Methodists in Rome

E. Morris, Colonel Roosevelt (2010), 35

Preferably diamond trinkets

“Trinkets,” Alice said, when asked if she was still short of anything. “Preferably diamond trinkets.”

E. Morris, Theodore Rex (2001), 436

This is bullier!

[At Yosemite, in 1903] For the next forty-eight hours, the boy in Roosevelt, never quite supressed, reveled in his wild surroundings. “This is bully!” he yelled, when Muir burned a dead tree for him and the sparks hurtled skyward. After another night our, he awoke at Glacier Point, and was intrigued to find himself buried under four inches of snow. “This is bullier!” 

E. Morris, Theodore Rex (2001), 238

The president usually had an open book on his desk, and was quite capable of snatching it up when conversation flagged

Petitioners visiting the Executive Office learned to keep talking, because the president usually had an open book on his desk, and was quite capable of snatching it up when conversation flagged.

E. Morris, Theodore Rex (2001), 108

Few, if any Americans could match the breadth of his intellect and the strength of his character

Yet there was no doubt that Theodore Roosevelt was peculiarly qualified to be President of all the people. Few, if any Americans could match the breadth of his intellect and the strength of his character. A random survey of his achievements might show him mastering German, French and the contrasted dialects of Harvard and Dakota Territory; assembling fossil skeletons with paleontological skill; fighting for an amateur boxing championship; transcribing birdsong into a private system of phonetics; chasing boat thieves with a star on his breast and Tolstoy in his pocket; founding a finance club, a stockman’s association, and hunting-conservation society; reading some twenty thousand books and writing fifteen of his own; climbing the Matterhorn; promulgating a flying machine; and becoming a world authority on North American game mammals. Any Roosevelt watcher could make up a different but equally varied list.

E. Morris, Theodore Rex (2001), 11

If it had been I who had been shot, he wouldn’t have got away so easily … I’d have guzzled him first

Sincere, if slight, grief for McKinley – a cold-blooded politician he had never much cared for – struggled in Roosevelt’s breast with more violent emotions regarding the assassin, Leon Czolgosz. In his opinion, those bullets had been fired, not merely at a man, but at the very heart of the American Republic. They were an assault upon representative government and civilized order. Unable to contain his rage, he leaned forward and blurted a excoriation of Czolgosz in to the rain. “If it had been I who had been shot, he wouldn’t have got away so easily … I’d have guzzled him first.”

E. Morris, Theodore Rex (2001), 4

Unwilling to disturb his sleeping family, he had no choice but to break into his new home

On the icy midnight of Sunday, 1 January 1899, the silence brooding over Eagle Street, Albany, was disturbed by the sound of smashing glass. Theodore Roosevelt, Governor, had stayed out late after dinner (talking too much, as usual), with the result that forgetful servants had locked him out of the Executive Mansion. Unwilling to disturb his sleeping family, he had no choice but to break into his new home.

E. Morris, The rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979), 723

Happiest when he conquers, but quite happy if he only fights

Teddy is consumed with energy as long as he is doing something and fighting somebody … he always finds something to do and somebody to fight. Poor Cabot must be successful; while Teddy is happiest when he conquers, but quite happy if he only fights.

Cecil Spring Rice, cited in E. Morris, The rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979), 486 

The only personality whose lusty presence stamps every page is that of Theodore Roosevelt

Today the book [Roosevelt’s biography of Benton] is dismissed as historical hackwork. This reputation is not fair. Benton may be unread, but it is not unreadable. Certainly there are long stretches of of rather dogged narrative, such as the chapters devoted to the politics of nullification and the redistribution of federal surplus funds. One can read the book from cover to cover without finding our what its subject looked like. Secondary characters, such as Andrew Jackson and Daniel Webster, are merely referred to, like names in an encyclopedia. The only personality whose lusty presence stamps every page is that of Theodore Roosevelt. Herein lies the book’s main appeal, but its scholarship is so dated to be spurious now. 

E. Morris, The rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979), 329

Puzzled by a shopkeeper’s refusal to sell him, on sight, a full pound of arsenic

[at 14, Roosevelt was] puzzled by a shopkeeper’s refusal to sell him, on sight, a full pound of arsenic. “I was informed that I must bring a witness to prove that I was not going to commit murder, suicide or any such dreadful thing, before I could have it!”

E. Morris, The rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979), 37

He no sooner thinks than he talks

I am told that he no sooner thinks than he talks, which is a miracle not wholly in accord with an educational theory of forming an opinion.

Woodrow Wilson, cited in E. Morris, Colonel Roosevelt (2010), 349

Mark Twain is not alone in thinking the President insane.

Mark Twain is not alone in thinking the President insane. Tales of Roosevelt’s unpredictable behavior are legion , though there is usually an explanation. Once, for instance, he hailed a hansom cab in Pennsylvania Avenue, seized the horse, and mimed a knife attack upon it. On another occasion he startled the occupants of a trolley-car by making hideous faces at them from the Presidential carriage. It transpires that in the former case he was demonstrating the correct way to stab a wolf; in the latter he was merely returning the grimaces of some small boys, one of whom was [his son] the ubiquitous Quentin

E. Morris, The rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979), xxii

Tonight Lucullus dines with Lucullus

When dining alone, we should all be a bit more like Lucullus. Lucullus was an ancient Roman general known for his extravagant hospitality. One night, his chef presented Lucullus with a small and inexpensive dinner, because he was not expecting any guests. The general exploded with rage. ‘What? Does thou not know that tonight Lucullus dines with Lucullus?

B. Wilson, The secret of cooking (2023), 325

Can I bear to wash it up?

Go through every item in your kitchen and ask yourself six question

1. Do I find it beautiful?
2. Is it useful?
3. Do I like the way it makes me feel when I use it?
4. Can I bear to wash it up?
5. Does it do anything I can’t do better with a knife and my bare hands?
6. Do I have room for it?

Anything that gets all or mostly ‘Nos’ needs to go. Yes. Even if it was given to you as a wedding present.

B. Wilson, The secret of cooking (2023), 122

What does ‘from scratch’ really mean, anyway?

What does ‘from scratch’ really mean, anyway? It is all relative. We do not tell ourselves we are cheating when we buy packs of ready churned butter and bags of ready-ground sugar and flour, even though to cooks of earlier generation these would have seemed unimaginable luxuries. If a Victorian cooks wished to make a dish involving sugar, he or she would first have to chisel off a lump of hard sugar from a larger loaf and then grind this into a powder before finally pushing it through a series of sieves until it was fine enough to use

B. Wilson, The secret of cooking (2023), 13

She would have enjoyed cooking, if only it weren’t for her children

I got chatting to a woman who said she would have enjoyed cooking, if only it weren’t for her children. They were picky about eating lots of things, including onions, and this put her off trying new recipes because ‘what recipe doesn’t start with an onion?’

B. Wilson, The secret of cooking (2023), 4

Leave thy preaching, for it is not worth a fart

Dissent could come into church itself. Michael Maunford of St Botolph without Aldgate, London, in 1497 shouted ‘Leave thy preaching, for it is not worth a fart’, after which he was hauled before a Church court.

N. Orme, Going to church in medieval England (2021), 252

Thomas Lipton gave his potential customers a circus elephant parading a massive block of Cheddar through the streets

Modern British towns might start Christmas with a vaguely heard of ex-celebrity switching on the civic light display. Thomas Lipton gave his potential customers a circus elephant parading a massive block of Cheddar through the streets. The promotion of cheese as a Christmas food has continued ever since. Sadly cheese parades are no longer part of it

A. Gray, At Christmas we feast (2022), 93

Mince Pies were Reliques of the Whore of Babylon

Plumb-pottage was mere Popery, that a Collar of Brawn was an abomination, that Roast Beef was Antichristian, that Mince Pies were Reliques of the Whore of Babylon, and a Goose, a Turkey, or a Capon, were marks of the Beast

John Taylor (1652) on Puritans. Cited in A. Gray, At Christmas we feast (2022), 56