Patrick Scrivenor
Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them
Among much else, Graham Hoyland is a mountaineer. As such he has no doubt spent many vivid waking moments wondering if that little flake of ice will support his weight as he swings out over the abyss. His approach to matters of fact is, as a consequence, robustly practical. The first 169 pages of his book weigh up the evidence for and against the yeti. The remaining 141 pages do the same for other ‘cryptids’, such as Bigfoot, Nessie and even UFOs. On all counts he enters a firm verdict of not proven.
It must immediately be said that, socially, the yeti is a cut above Bigfoot. We associate the yeti with old-school Brits roaming the Himalayas in tweed breeks and stout boots, smoking pipes and cracking jokes about Ovid. That’s class. Bigfoot is the territory of rednecks in pick-ups and baseball caps. Both ‘creatures’ are vanishingly unlikely to exist.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Only in Britain, perhaps, could spy chiefs – conventionally viewed as masters of subterfuge – be so highly regarded as ethical guides.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-spy-who-taught-me
In this month's Bookends, @AdamCSDouglas looks at the curious life of Henry Labouchere: a friend of Bram Stoker, 'loose cannon', and architect of the law that outlawed homosexual activity in Britain.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-gross-indecency
'We have all twenty-nine of her Barsetshire novels, and whenever a certain longing reaches critical mass we read all twenty-nine again, straight through.'
Patricia T O'Conner on her love for Angela Thirkell. (£)
https://literaryreview.co.uk/good-gad