{"id":329,"date":"2011-06-15T09:10:56","date_gmt":"2011-06-15T09:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.knebworthhouse.com\/blog\/?p=329"},"modified":"2011-06-15T09:10:56","modified_gmt":"2011-06-15T09:10:56","slug":"june-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knebworthhouse.com\/blog\/?p=329","title":{"rendered":"June 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was interviewed last week by BBC Radio for a programme on first lines of novels \u2013 the programme was interested in the notoriety of Edward\u2019s Bulwer Lytton\u2019s famous opening line to his novel <em>Paul Clifford<\/em>:\u00a0 \u201cIt was a dark and stormy night, the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets\u2026 etc. (it goes on for 58 words)\u201d\u00a0 The line is notorious because it has led to an annual competition for silly opening lines to be named the \u201cBulwer Lytton Contest\u201d. \u00a0I was able to defend my great-great-great-grandfather to the interviewer by pointing out that the line was intended as a joke.\u00a0 There is a character in the novel \u2013 the heroine\u2019s father \u2013 who speaks in absurd sentences like this, and clearly Bulwer Lytton intended it for comic effect.<\/p>\n<p>The reality is, however, that Bulwer Lytton is rarely read nowadays because of the florid style of much of his writing.\u00a0 So when asked which of his works I would recommend to a new reader, I usually say his play <em>Money<\/em>, where you will find his great wit and brilliance in a form most palatable to a modern audience.\u00a0 Thus I am very pleased to tell you about a BBC Radio production of <em>Money<\/em> that will be broadcast on 19<sup>th<\/sup> June on Radio 3.\u00a0 It is the radio directorial debut of the well-known actor Samuel West and stars Celia Imrie, Roger Allam and Ian McDiarmid \u2013 and was recorded at Knebworth House.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be surprised how many of the jokes are still funny 170 years on, especially when delivered by these wonderful actors in the spirit of fun in which they were intended.<\/p>\n<p>Henry Lytton Cobbold<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.knebworthhouse.com\">www.knebworthhouse.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was interviewed last week by BBC Radio for a programme on first lines of novels \u2013 the programme was interested in the notoriety of Edward\u2019s Bulwer Lytton\u2019s famous opening line to his novel Paul Clifford:\u00a0 \u201cIt was a dark &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/knebworthhouse.com\/blog\/?p=329\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - 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