David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :
'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)
(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.
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Yonks ago, when Saturday midday meant The Goons on the radio, Thursday nights were for the happy strangeness of League Teams. Three former greats of Aussie Rules football announcing the weekly line-ups of the (then) VFL teams. Doesn't sound like much. Black and white, one or two cameras, no razzamatazz. They sat there, side by side, and talked. Not even that. Mostly it was only two of them talking, Bob Davis (Geelong) and Lou 'The Lip' Richards (Collingwood), while Jack 'Captain Blood' Dyer (Richmond) looked ahead blankly, possibly bemused. What was going on in that old ruckman's head, we wondered?
click to enlarge
Jack, Bob and Lou on the set of League Teams
If you got it, if you liked it, you loved them.
Jack died in 2003, aged 89. Now Bob's gone, last night, aged 82.
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
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