SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Sir John Major urges people to ‘pick up a Trollope’ as part of campaign to boost the Victorian writers’ novels
Fancy picking up a Trollope? Sir John Major does and is urging everyone to follow suit.
The former prime minister, who is vice-chair of the Trollope Society, is backing a campaign to encourage everyone to read more novels by the celebrated author of the Chronicles of Barsetshire and the Palliser novels.
Like Major, Anthony Trollope achieved his greatness from lowly beginnings — he started his career as a Post Office employee.
Major is not the first Tory premier to relish the Victorian writer. Harold Macmillan famously ‘enjoyed going to bed with a Trollope’.
Sir John Major is calling for people to pick up books by Victorian author Anthony Trollope
Sir John was only 13 when the Victorian author became his ‘companion for life’ and in 10 Downing Street he backed a successful campaign to honour the writer with a coveted plaque in Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner.
So what are Sir John’s favourite Trollopes? ‘I would recommend The Warden to enjoy the principled life of the Reverend Septimus Harding,’ he tells me. ‘To my mind, Harding is the first gentleman of fiction, although Plantagenet Palliser, later Duke of Omnium, must run him close.
‘Harding and Palliser are the two characters most likely to convince the reader that goodness and decency do exist, and can prevail.
‘However, if the wish is to explore the lives of less principled, more duplicitous characters, I would suggest The Way We Live Now. The book is centred around a corrupt financier, Augustus Melmotte: a swindler on a grand scale.’
The ‘Pick Up A Trollope’ campaign is being launched with WH Smith and is supported by writer Joanna Trollope, a fifth-generation niece of the novelist.
Sadly, the Trollope Society trip to Florence in April has been cancelled due to travel restrictions. So it might be a question of staying at home with a Trollope this year.
Victorian author Anthony Trollope was a companion to Sir John since he was ten years old
Passionate feminist Keira Knightley, who is married to singer James Righton, is delighted her world view has rubbed off on their four-year-old daughter Edie.
‘When we watched Sleeping Beauty, she said, ‘It’s not OK that man kissed her without her permission!’ I can’t tell you how pleased I was. If I don’t do anything else, I’ve managed to drum that in.’
Fox outfoxed at awards but Emma sees Strictly win
Silent Witness star Emilia Fox had a spring in her step at the TRIC Awards in London yesterday, despite having to leave empty-handed.
The BBC drama, in which she stars as forensic pathologist Nikki Alexander, was nominated for best crime programme but lost out to its rival, Line of Duty. The 45-year-old wore a floral blue dress and returned to her natural blonde hair following a stint as a brunette for another role.
Meanwhile, Viscountess Weymouth, 33, was flying the flag for Strictly Come Dancing — in which she starred last year — and was delighted when it won the award for best reality programme.
She described the lunch at Grosvenor House — where she sat next to a fellow ex-contestant, actor Kelvin Fletcher — as a ‘reunion’.
Emilia Fox and David Caves attend the TRIC Awards 2020 at the Grosvenor Hotel yesterday
Life On Mars actor Philip Glenister stars in Belgravia, ITV’s new period drama written by Julian Fellowes, who created Downton Abbey.
The new series, which was co-produced by American cable network Epix, was filmed in 75 locations, with 2,000 extras.
‘The Americans gave us a few quid to film,’ Glenister says. ‘Otherwise we’d have been in a two-up, two-down in Bermondsey.’