What other author are you reading at the moment?

[Poppy]

I'm really enjoying Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson. Have you read it yet, Poppy?

I was interested to discover that S (Steve). J. Watson was born in Stourbridge: my home area. I was born in Stourport-on-Severn, which is about ten miles away.

Yes, I have read and reviewed it! Glad you're enjoying it, Eddie. I was really impressed with it - it was a fantastic story and I'm really pleased I came across it. I hope you continue to enjoy it - the ending is really clever!

[Eddie Muir]

Thanks for your response, Poppy. I have just printed your review and will read it once I have finished reading the book. I also have the film on DVD, starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth, and I look forward to watching this after I've finished the book.

[Poppy]

Ooh, I would be interested in what you think of the film! I am considering getting the DVD.

Hope you like my review!

[Moonraker]

maybe those catchphrases were associated with a radio personality who was of Welsh origin, or someone like that, so they became well-known?

I think you're right, Anita. There was a Welsh actor who spoke a little like that. Was he in Please Sir? I remember him accentuating the accent to sound more Welsh than the Welsh. I think it is Richard Davies (Mr Price). 40 seconds into this YouTube clip he appears, although he doesn't say 'whateffer'.

[Eddie Muir]

Ooh, I would be interested in what you think of the film! I am considering getting the DVD.

Hope you like my review!

I'll let you know once I've watched the DVD, Poppy. I bought my copy from Sainsbury's for £3.99. I'm sure I'll enjoy both the film and your review.

[KEVP]

In Shakespeare's play Henry V, there is a Welsh officer in Henry's army named Fluellen, who constantly says "look you". So this particular stereotype is fairly old!

One theory I have heard is that back in olden times, most Welsh people spoke Welsh as their native language, and when they were speaking English they were effectively speaking what for them was a foreign language. So when a Welsh person was speaking English but then had to take a pause to remember a specific English word or phrase, they would cover the pause by saying some interjection like "look you".

KEVP

[Anita Bensoussane]

Gosh, yes, I'd forgotten about Fluellen! I wonder if "Whateffer" also goes back that far?!

[Courtenay]

In Shakespeare's play Henry V, there is a Welsh officer in Henry's army named Fluellen, who constantly says "look you". So this particular stereotype is fairly old!

I would guess "Fluellen" must be an English attempt at spelling Llewelyn from its Welsh pronunciation. Anyway, nice to know Enid was merely taking a leaf from the Bard's book, to gootness!

[pete9012S]

I'm reading 'Three Act Tragedy' by Agatha Christie.
Although I have read it before,it's amazing to see how she weaves her plots,clues & red herrings right in front of you.

[KEVP]

Yes, the name "Fluellen" seems to derive from the Welsh name "Llewelyn".

[Machupicchu14]

I have just bought "The Man in the Iron Mask" by Alexandre Dumas. Has anyone read it before? I think it's the sequel of The Three Musketeers. By reading it so far, it's a very interesting novel.

[Daisy]

I have read it, but it was many years ago. I remember being interested in the story though.

[Chrissie777]

I have just bought "The Man in the Iron Mask" by Alexandre Dumas. Has anyone read it before? I think it's the sequel of The Three Musketeers. By reading it so far, it's a very interesting novel.

Yes, it's a wonderful novel!!! You will enjoy it.
I've read both sequels to the Three Musketeers decades ago and they are as well written & translated as the first one.
Did you watch one of the Iron Mask movies? There's one with Richard Chamberlain and one with Leonardo DiCaprio.

BTW the tiny prison island Château d'If really exists and lies in the bayclose to Marseille, France. I've been there in the 1970's and they even have a prison cell from the Man with the Iron Mask. You might find tourist's videos on Youtube (they have some on the isle of Monte Christo in Italy, too).

Close to Cannes, France, are the Iles des Lérins, two isles, very beautiful. On the one isle stands a tiny little fortress built by Irish monks who were persecuted because of their religion in Ireland and fled to Southern France. On the larger of the two isles (Ile Sainte Marguerite) is another prison where the Man in the Iron Mask was held in custody first, before they transferred him to Château d'If.

[KEVP]

There are a number of sequels to the Three Musketeers. The first one was called "Twenty Years After". The next sequel can be published as one volume, three volumes, or four volumes. When published as one volume it is titled "The Vicomte of Bragelone: Ten Years Later". When it is published as three volumes, the volumes are usually called "The Vicomte of Bragelone", "Louise de la Valliere" and "The Man in the Iron Mask". When published as four volumes, the fourth volume is usually called "Ten Years Later" and goes between "Vicompte" and "Louise".

Thus, "Man in the Iron Mask" is one of many sequels to "The Three Musketeers", it is effectively the last of quite a few sequels.

KEVP

[timv]

The Alexandre Dumas series on D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers is one of my favourites - though the later books, espcially 'Louise de la Valliere' and 'The Viscomte de Bragelonne', are rather hard-going and I only read them as an adult, years after the earlier ones, the 'Three Musketeers' and 'Twenty Years After', and the final one, 'The Man in the Iron Mask'. I first came across the 'Three Musketeers' as a serial in a comic, I think probably 'Look and Learn', in the late 1960s and then saw the film which had Christopher Lee as Cardinal Richelieu and I think Michael York as D'Artagnan. The films of 'Three Musketeers' usually cover the first half od the TM book; the second half was covered by the second Michael York film, 'Return of the Musketeers'.

The story of 'Three Musketeers' is set in the late 1620s and based on real-life people and events, which made it especially interesting to me as a history enthusiast; 'The Man in the Iron Mask' is set around the time of the British 'Restoration' of Charles II in 1660 . Some people my age may also remember the late 1960s BBC? showing of a (dubbed) French TV 'swashbuckler' with a parallel story featuring sword-fighting young French nobles combating the invading Spaniards , 'The Flashing Blade'. Dumas , who wrote the 'Three Musketeers' series, based the early books on the supposedly genuine (this is debated) memoirs of the real Charles D'Artagnan, a French officer who fought in the King's Musketeers regiment from c.1640 to his death in battle in 1673. By this account, Charles D'Artagan and his friends really did fight the duels with the Cardinal's guards as in the films and book. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis - and the villainess 'Mildady De Winter' - were apparently based on real people too, as was the 'Man in the Iron Mask' - though Dumas 'tweaked' facts and dates as needed.