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1rainpebble
Jan Struther (June 6th, 1909 -- July 20th, 1953)
Author of Mrs. Miniver and Try Anything Twice.
Jan Struther was the pen name of Joyce Anstruther, later Joyce Maxtone Graham and finally Joyce Placzek (June 6, 1901 – July 20, 1953), an English writer remembered for her character Mrs. Miniver and a number of hymns, such as "Lord of All Hopefulness".
She was the daughter of Henry Torrens Anstruther and spent her childhood in Whitchurch in Buckinghamshire, England.
In 1923 she married Anthony Maxtone Graham, a broker at Lloyd's, by whom she had three children. In the 1930s she started to write for Punch magazine, and this brought her to the attention of The Times newspaper, where Peter Fleming asked her to write a series of columns for the paper, about "an ordinary sort of woman who leads an ordinary sort of life - rather like yourself". The character she created, Mrs Miniver, proved a huge success, and the columns were subsequently collected into book form in 1939.
Upon the outbreak of war, this book was used as the basis for a patriotic and sentimental film about Mrs Miniver, released in 1942, which won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
By this time, Struther had herself gone to America as a lecturer. In the 1940s she was a frequent guest panelist on the popular American radio quiz show Information Please, where she provided a warm and witty presence. She was one of the few women panelists to appear repeatedly on the program.
Her long marriage to Anthony Maxtone Graham eventually failed, and she started an affair with Adolf Placzek, a Viennese art historian 12 years her junior. She married him as her second husband, 5 years before her death.
Her final years were marked by severe depression, leading to a five-month stay in a psychiatric hospital. Following a mastectomy for breast cancer, she died of cancer in New York in 1953 at the age of 52. Her ashes are buried beside her father in the family grave at St. John The Evangelist Church, in Whitchurch.
As well as the creation of the character Mrs Miniver in a fortnightly column in The Times, she is remembered for her hymns for children, including "Lord of All Hopefulness", "When a Knight Won His Spurs" and "Daisies are Our Silver". These resulted from an approach by Canon Percy Dearmer of Westminster Abbey, who in 1931 was commissioned by Oxford University Press to compile a collection of hymns. Ironically, she herself was an agnostic, although she did go to church.
Struther is the subject of a biography, The Real Mrs. Miniver, written by her granddaughter, Ysenda Maxtone Graham. ISBN 0-7195-5541-8
(information gleaned from Wikipedia)
Author of Mrs. Miniver and Try Anything Twice.
Jan Struther was the pen name of Joyce Anstruther, later Joyce Maxtone Graham and finally Joyce Placzek (June 6, 1901 – July 20, 1953), an English writer remembered for her character Mrs. Miniver and a number of hymns, such as "Lord of All Hopefulness".
She was the daughter of Henry Torrens Anstruther and spent her childhood in Whitchurch in Buckinghamshire, England.
In 1923 she married Anthony Maxtone Graham, a broker at Lloyd's, by whom she had three children. In the 1930s she started to write for Punch magazine, and this brought her to the attention of The Times newspaper, where Peter Fleming asked her to write a series of columns for the paper, about "an ordinary sort of woman who leads an ordinary sort of life - rather like yourself". The character she created, Mrs Miniver, proved a huge success, and the columns were subsequently collected into book form in 1939.
Upon the outbreak of war, this book was used as the basis for a patriotic and sentimental film about Mrs Miniver, released in 1942, which won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
By this time, Struther had herself gone to America as a lecturer. In the 1940s she was a frequent guest panelist on the popular American radio quiz show Information Please, where she provided a warm and witty presence. She was one of the few women panelists to appear repeatedly on the program.
Her long marriage to Anthony Maxtone Graham eventually failed, and she started an affair with Adolf Placzek, a Viennese art historian 12 years her junior. She married him as her second husband, 5 years before her death.
Her final years were marked by severe depression, leading to a five-month stay in a psychiatric hospital. Following a mastectomy for breast cancer, she died of cancer in New York in 1953 at the age of 52. Her ashes are buried beside her father in the family grave at St. John The Evangelist Church, in Whitchurch.
As well as the creation of the character Mrs Miniver in a fortnightly column in The Times, she is remembered for her hymns for children, including "Lord of All Hopefulness", "When a Knight Won His Spurs" and "Daisies are Our Silver". These resulted from an approach by Canon Percy Dearmer of Westminster Abbey, who in 1931 was commissioned by Oxford University Press to compile a collection of hymns. Ironically, she herself was an agnostic, although she did go to church.
Struther is the subject of a biography, The Real Mrs. Miniver, written by her granddaughter, Ysenda Maxtone Graham. ISBN 0-7195-5541-8
(information gleaned from Wikipedia)
2CurrerBell
Ironically, she herself was an agnostic, although she did go to church.
Maybe not really so "ironic," Belva. She might have been a better believer than most churchgoers.
I had never heard of these hymns, so I googled for the lyrics and came up with this page from the University of Pennsylvania that includes the three hymns mentioned in the article as well as several more. (It also includes a link to the complete e-text of Mrs. Miniver.)
Maybe not really so "ironic," Belva. She might have been a better believer than most churchgoers.
I had never heard of these hymns, so I googled for the lyrics and came up with this page from the University of Pennsylvania that includes the three hymns mentioned in the article as well as several more. (It also includes a link to the complete e-text of Mrs. Miniver.)
3rainpebble
She could well have been Mike. She may have been like my father who, though proclaiming himself to be agnostic, did believe.
Thank you for finding the page of hymns. I was not familiar with them either. And it is very cool to have Mrs. Miniver available at our fingertips for those who do not have it on hard copy or in e-book form. You are a ROCKSTAR!~!
Thank you for finding the page of hymns. I was not familiar with them either. And it is very cool to have Mrs. Miniver available at our fingertips for those who do not have it on hard copy or in e-book form. You are a ROCKSTAR!~!
4gennyt
The hymn Lord of all hopefulness is still in frequent use in Anglican churches in England today (and probably not thought of as a hymn for children). It's a common choice for weddings and sometimes funerals as well as general use. I guess it works well because of how it portrays the pattern of an ordinary day ( waking, working, resting, sleeping) which can also be a metaphor for a whole lifetime.
5LyzzyBee
Ahhh - happy memories of squeaking out "When A Knight Won His Spurs" at primary school! But we did "Lord of All Hopefullness" at secondary school, I'm sure. It's a lovely hymn. I don't know the other one.
6rainpebble
On this day in 1873 Willa Cather, author of My Ántonia was born in Gore, VA. During her lifetime she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction.
"There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they have never happened before."
~ O Pioneers!
7kaggsy
I have yet to read any of the Cathers on Mount TBR, Belva, so I am glad she is one of our Great War authors!
8CurrerBell
One of Ours (the WWI novel) won the Pulitzer, but O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and Death Comes for the Archbishop rate a lot more highly for me. (I'm not that crazy about Song of the Lark, but it is highly regarded.) Some while back I went on a real Cather tear and worked through a good bit of my Library of America set.
I've really got to give My Ántonia a reread. As for what Cather I've read, I right now place My Ántonia second behind Death Comes for the Archbishop, but I'm not sure My Ántonia's something you entirely "get" on a first reading because of humor I may have missed in the character of the slightly "dim bulb" male narrator.
I've really got to give My Ántonia a reread. As for what Cather I've read, I right now place My Ántonia second behind Death Comes for the Archbishop, but I'm not sure My Ántonia's something you entirely "get" on a first reading because of humor I may have missed in the character of the slightly "dim bulb" male narrator.
9Heaven-Ali
I haven't got One of Ours yet but it's one I want to get hold of next year. I have Song of the Lark and Alexander's Bridge Tbr and read O Pioneers 2 years ago and re-read My Antonia about a year and a half ago. Since then I have been meaning to read more Cather, just not managed to get around it.
10kaggsy
I have a nice copy of One of Ours fortunately, and also have Death Comes for the Archbishop somewhere - maybe a good one to explore next!
11CurrerBell
Something not to be forgotten is that Cather also wrote quite a bit of short stories, so anyone who's too tied up right now to go for a novel could browse through the short stories. The third volume of the LoA has a good listing in its ToC page (though I don't consider Alexander's Bridge a "short story"), and there's also Cather's earlier "Troll Garden" anthology. Several Cather story collections are available on Project G.
I've read quite a bit of Cather's short stories, but I could do for a reread one of these years.
I've read quite a bit of Cather's short stories, but I could do for a reread one of these years.
12romain
I agree with Mike that Death Comes for the Archbishop is superb. One of my top 50 books of all time.
13rainpebble
Born on this day in 1907: Rumer Godden
Margaret Rumer Godden OBE was an English author of more than 60 fiction and nonfiction books written under the name of Rumer Godden.
Born: December 10, 1907, Sussex, United Kingdom
Died: November 8, 1998, Dumfriesshire, United Kingdom
Some of her books made into movies are: Black Narcissus, The Greengage Summer, The River, The Peacock Spring, Enchantment, and In This House of Brede.
Margaret Rumer Godden OBE was an English author of more than 60 fiction and nonfiction books written under the name of Rumer Godden.
Born: December 10, 1907, Sussex, United Kingdom
Died: November 8, 1998, Dumfriesshire, United Kingdom
Some of her books made into movies are: Black Narcissus, The Greengage Summer, The River, The Peacock Spring, Enchantment, and In This House of Brede.
14aluvalibri
Thank you for this wonderful thread, Belvina!
I still have to read Rumer Godden, and now, thanks to you, she got to the top of my list :-))
I still have to read Rumer Godden, and now, thanks to you, she got to the top of my list :-))
15rainpebble
You are welcome Paolina but I am no Cate. It's just a now & then thing when I think of it.
HOWEVER: I have truly enjoyed &/or loved everything of Godden's that I have read to the point where I snag every unowned one I come across. She wrote some really marvy books for children as well.
HOWEVER: I have truly enjoyed &/or loved everything of Godden's that I have read to the point where I snag every unowned one I come across. She wrote some really marvy books for children as well.
