A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE New Year's Honours, thanks largely to the inclusion of a number of persons who helped to make the Festival of Britain what it was, are rather more interesting than usual. It may be noted that of the four new peers, two, Sir John Anderson and Sir Archibald Sinclair, will permanently enlarge that body, for both of them have sons; Mr. Brendan Bracken and Lord Winterton have not. For the rest the list is so catholic that most people can find someone there whose for- tunes they are accustomed to follow. Among names which struck me particularly are those of Mr. Allen Lane, whose creation of Penguin Books fifteen years ago may fairly be said to have changed the reading habits of the English people; Pro- fessor Woodward, one of the most distinguished living authorities on international affairs; and the too much forgotten Percy Lubbock, who appears not to have published a book since 1929, but whose Earlham, covering different ground from Augustus Hare's classic Gurneys of Ear!ham, has made itself a permanent, if modest, place in twentieth century literature. And the inclusion of Miss Flora Robson and Miss Anna Neagle was welcome.
* * * *
Previous page
