01273 302170 www.staubynsschoolbrighton.co.uk - Viva Lewes

henty’S 20
postcards from Angela Carter
People often ask me why I collect things and
what I would recommend them to look out for.
There’s one Lewes suggestion below, but, for the
sake of simplicity, I usually offer this answer: ‘An
elephant never tires of carrying his own trunk’.
Actually, this came from a pack of prawn curry
which I purchased recently in Cook on Cliffe but
it sums things up nicely for me.
Footballer Eric Cantona would have approved -
bearing in mind his seminal statement in 1995;
“When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because
they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.”
Nice one Eric.
These surreal thoughts would also have appealed
to an author colleague of mine, Angela Carter,
who was in her literary prime when she died 20
years ago from lung cancer, at the age of 51. I read
that her friend and literary executor, Susannah
Clapp, has just written an intimate, insightful
memoir of this remarkable woman, inspired by a
series of postcards she received from Angela during
the 1980s. You may have heard extracts from
the book on Radio 4’s Book of the Week during the
early part of February.
Angela and I were reporters on the Croydon
Advertiser group of newspapers in 1960 and in my
autobiography I recalled that she was way ahead of
her time. “She wore wild, ethnic gear... liberally
used four-letter words to pep up her enthusiastic
conversation and she had what I can only describe
as a wicked witch’s cackle of a laugh. She smoked
‘roll yer own fags’ and ate lots of yoghurt.”
We were all fond of ‘anarchic’ Angela in the
reporter’s room and when she left the paper to
study at Bristol University, we did our best to keep
in touch with her and her first husband Paul. No
emails, of course, but even then, zany postcards
were her preferred means of communication and
you will see at the top of this page one such card
which she sent to invite me and friends, Joe and
Peter, to visit in November 1961.
www.vivaLewes.CoM
anTiques
Typically, she wrote: “Bring your hat, camera,
dark glasses and copy of the Baltimore Sun”. That
was our Angie and just imagine if I had decided,
all those years ago, to bin the card rather than put
it away carefully in an album of similar one-offs.
It’s called ‘collecting’ and thanks to a surprise
Christmas present from my splendid granddaughter,
Nina, I am now embarked on a new collection.
Apparently, she was insistent that Grandpa should
be given a presentation pack of eight Harveys
beers ranging from Armada to Bloomsbury
Brown. Until this point I had always opted for
Best Bitter when in a pub but now I may have to
be weaned off the bottled stuff so to speak. I love
the variety, flavours and textures and the bonus is
that the empty bottles make an excellent display
in the collector room.
In fact, the Viva Score (£20) this month is going
to purchase a further two packs, as I get 5p back
for every empty bottle and a 5% Rooks membership
discount too. I told you collecting was fun.
Ardingly Fair 6th, 7th. Town Hall Tuesday Market
6th, 13th. Gorringes, North Street 21st, 22nd.
A Card From Angela Carter by Susannah Clapp
is published by Bloomsbury, £10, available from
Skylark.
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