Alan Watkins
I most enjoyed two dissimilar books by similar historians, Gwyn A. Williams's When Was Wales? (Black Raven Press) and Richard Cobb's People and Places. Professor Williams is that rarest of anim- als, a Marxist with a sense of humour. He is also a Welshman — very much a South East Walian — who can get angry but does not harbour resentment. This is rare too, though the South Welsh, as Professor Cobb notes, are a distinct race. This observation occurs in a piece on his lectur- ing days at Aberystwyth in the mid-1950s. I Particularly enjoyed his account of the two professors sharing digs who kept their Whisky in a teapot. The landlady was amazed by the strange ways of academics: 'Would you, Mr Cobb, drink whisky out of a teapot?' Though I do not share Cobb's enthusiasm for low life in France, he has Produced a most entertaining collection Which hangs together and can be read straight through. An honourable mention too for Cousin Randolph by the late Anita Leslie, which manages to be affectionate, even moving, but does nothing to conceal Randolph Churchill's manifold sins.
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