References for the novel Cheerfulness Breaks In, by Angela Thirkell.
‘Relusions’ compiled by Jan Gore and Hilary Temple.
“I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but I don’t know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in”.
– From a remark by Oliver Edwards in 1778, quoted by James Boswell in his life of Samuel Johnson.
Chapter 1
9 “Haste to the Wedding” (chapter title): a three act comic opera by W. S. Gilbert.
10 Las Palombas: probably Montevideo, Uruguay, though Buenos Aires, Argentina, is only just on the opposite bank of the River Plate (see p. 260 below).
13 ocarina tree: Somerset Maugham was the author of a collection of short stories published in 1926, entitled “The Casuarina Tree”.
Ocarina: an ancient flute-like wind instrument, often ceramic, which became popular in the 1930s.
Hop o’ My Thumb: fairytale by Charles Perrault.
14 Paris Exhibition of 1900 celebrated the achievements of the past century, and its universal style was Art Nouveau. Art Nouveau fireplaces are now fashionable once more.
15 the dreadful Ferris who became an H M Inspector of schools (now Ofsted): teachers may appreciate the nuance.
18 Camberley: Staff College for the Army until 1997.
21 leapt lightly to the breach: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends” is from the ‘Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’ speech of Shakespeare’s Henry V, Act III, 1599.
22 The Emperor Augustus (63 BC-14 AD) was born Gaius Octavius Thurinus and was known as Octavian between 44 and 27 BC.
23 Warbury: Naturalised German family, known as Gissing in the American edition of the book. Son Fritz, parents Oscar and Gloria. They were originally named Warburg and were Jewish, but when Alfred Knopf, Angela Thirkell’s American publisher, complained, the name and identity were changed. (Later: “The Warburys only changed their name from Warburg in the last war” p. 166).
24 the Dagoes: Spanish people. The term was deemed less offensive in the 1930s.
Chapter 2
27 Radio Luxembourg: English-language service began in 1933. It had the most powerful transmitter in the world in the late 1930s. Many of the programmes were sponsored by incongruous organisations, such as the Zam-Buk broadcast, the latest dance music sponsored by a medication “for cuts, burns and bruises”. The station was closed down by the Luxembourg government on 21 Sept 1939, but the invading German forces took it over in 1940 and they were/it was used for propaganda broadcasts including Lord Haw Haw.
Glamora Tudor is thought to be the American actress Gloria Stuart (1910-2010), Tudor and Stuart being two consecutive royal families in England.
28 Botticelli’s Flora – the nose of the goddess of spring in Primavera is perhaps too aquiline for mischief as she scatters her blooms?
31 VAD: Volunteer Aid Detachment, providing field nursing services, mainly in hospitals.
33 champagne nippers: Angela Thirkell regarded these as key to successful opening of these bottles. More than once the neck of the bottle is broken for want of them. Has champagne technology changed that much?? They were used for cutting the wire cage that held the champagne cork in place, according to an Internet forum on corkscrews (!) They may include a corkscrew and a brush. Wonderful quote here:
“Don’t ask questions,” Enid cried. “Go and get me the champagne nippers. The champagne nippers at once. If you can’t find them, then bring me a pair of pliers. Then come to me on the leads outside the bathroom. It’s a matter of life and death.”
– From: The Crimson Blind, by Fred M White, 1905.
35 Jehu: The king of Israel of the time. “The driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for he driveth furiously”. Bible, 2 Kings chapter 9 verse 20.
37 the nuptial hour drew on apace: Theseus says this in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1 scene 1: “Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace” Act 1 Scene 1. Why is it so exactly the kind of expression that an earnest school chaplain or jolly minister who goes for hikes with “lads” would use??
38 Miss Squeers and Mr and Mrs Browdie: Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby. Also Growing Up page 35 {Ralph}; A Double Affair page 257{Mrs); Love At All Ages page 100.
39 the paths of glory which lead but to the grave: Thomas Gray poem ‘Elegy written in a Country Churchyard’.
41 celluloid fish: a bath toy.
Sparrowhill Camp: Larkhill Camp, Salisbury Plain. Training ground for the Royal Artillery.
Chapter 3
42 Go, Lovely Rose [chapter heading]: poem by Edmund Waller (1606-1687).
Little Ease: a type of small dungeon eg. Little Ease in the Tower of London which measured 1.2 metres square.
43 dim religious light: John Milton poem ‘Il Penseroso’. “And love the high embowed roof, With antique pillars massy proof, And storied windows richly dight; Casting a dim religious light. “(+3S&10 135).
44 registry offices – with pointing out of error: although they are officially register offices everyone says “registry”. A registry office is where you go (or went) to hire a servant.
for conscience or convenience sake – does anyone else use these forms? What does Fowler say? The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 3rd ed., 1996, edited by R.W. Burchfield, states:
“Practice varies widely in for conscience’ sake and for goodness’ sake, and the use of an apostrophe in them must be regarded as optional.” The Virago reprint (2020) supplies an ‘s for each. Also The Old Bank House page 79; Love Among the Ruins page 135; Close Quarters page 81; Three Score & Ten pages 23,24.
45 in forma pauperis: in the form of a poor person.
51 Simnet in all his glory “Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Bible, St Matthew’s Gospel chapter 6 verse 29).
59 The late Lady Hartletop when she married Lord Dumbello (Griselda) Also Happy Returns pages 20 and 35. how would Mrs Morland know about the moiré antique? – or did she read it in Anthony Trollope?
“Moiré antique”; a superior type of thick moiré. Moiré, a watered or moiré fabric (usually silk). Trollope Framley Parsonage: ch. 48, p. 255:
“Mrs. Grantly kissed her and blessed her in the hall as she was about to step forward to her travelling carriage leaning on her father’s arm, and the child put up her face to her mother for a last whisper.
“Mamma,” she said, “I suppose Jane can put her hand at once on the moiré antique when we reach Dover?” Mrs. Grantly smiled and nodded.”
60 PG: paying guest.
Chapter 4
62 The Storm Begins To Lower [chapter heading]: first line of ‘The fatal sisters: an ode’, by Thomas Gray.
63 Bissell carpet sweeper: probably a libellous remark as this was a real trade name.
65 Field-marshal’s baton in his knapsack – said by Napoleon , allegedly. “Every French soldier carries a marshal’s baton in his knapsack” (“Chaque soldat français porte dans sa giberne un baton de maréchal”).
66 schoolmasters conversant with dinner jackets. This is a genuine quotation from a correspondent to AT.
72 L.C.C.: London County Council
73 Ryke: Reich, the German empire. Also page 156.
Chapter 5
77 A Room With a Picture [chapter heading]: variation of A Room With a View, 1908 novel by E. M. Forster
80 mild versus bitter [beer]: Angela Thirkell appears to regard mild as more middle-class than bitter, which runs counter to my own observations (HT). Mild was the largest selling ale till the 1950s; since then bitter has been more popular in the South of England. “Old” is a stronger style of dark malty beer, like a Winter Warmer. (see also page 38).
81 Recording Angel expunging Philip’s lie: Recording angels are assigned by God (in Jewish, Christian and Islamic angelology) to record the events, actions, and/or prayers of each individual human.
French, Italian: types of vermouth. Gin and French = gin and Noilly Prat or Ricard, a dry vermouth. Gin and It = gin and Italian (sweet) vermouth.
84 Smigly-Rydz: Edward Smigly-Rydz, Marshal of Poland (1886-1941), took responsibility for Poland’s military defeat in September 1939.
Benes: Edvard Benes (1884-1948), leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement
Schuschnigg: Dr Kurt von Schuschnigg (1897-1977), Chancellor of the first Austrian Republic.
Zog: Zog of Albania (1895-1961), king of the Albanians 1928-1939.
Selassie: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (1892-1975), emperor of Ethiopia.
I have looked everywhere but still can’t identify the breed of dog with any certainty. Perhaps a Scottish or a cairn terrier? The “stumpy tail” (p. 189) may be a clue.
86 Esme Bellenden could be either male or female, which Angela Thirkell thinks appropriate for this gay couple.
On Ilkley Moor with or without hat. ‘On Ilkley Moor baht [without] hat‘, traditional song in Yorkshire dialect.
92 O.T.C.: Officer Training Corps.
94 deteriated: deteriorated, to emphasise Mr Bissell’s working-class origins (along with ‘up to we schoolmasters’).
Chapter 6
95 Conscientious Objector: someone who refuses military service or participation in war because of religious or moral beliefs.
97 Pleasant custom in the country of keeping the outer door of the house open. Also The Headmistress page 55; Enter Sir Robert page 43, page 78, page 245; A Double Affair page 130; Love At All Ages page 287.
101 Single pair of scissors passed hand to hand like the eye of the Graiae – whom Perseus had to overcome in Greek mythology. There are three Graiae, sharing a single tooth and a single eye. Perseus had to seize the eye from them in order to get information about where to find the sea nymphs.
Running and felling: types of stitch (straight and appliqué, respectively).
103 Like Niobe all ears: “Like Niobe, all tears”, Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2. Argus was all eyes rather than ears.
104 Liberty: the Regent Street store, famous for Liberty fabrics in Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles.
110 Paderewski: I J Paderewski (1860-1941), Polish pianist, composer and politician.
Royal Oak: HMS Royal Oak was sunk by a torpedo at Scapa Flow on 14 October 1939. 833 of her crew died.
116 British warm: military greatcoat for British officers.
117 Richard Hannay: The hero of five novels by John Buchan, appears in Constantinople in his Greenmantle. Also Summer Half page 243; The Old Bank House page 153; County Chronicle page 257; Close Quarters page 81.
122 ladylike pronunciation on the BBC: a frequent target of Angela Thirkell ( Joan etc in Wild Strawberries). Also awfulness Marling Hall page 22; Enter Sir Robert page 173; Close Quarters 218; Love At All Ages page 252.
Chapter 7
126 Dean Arabin: character in Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Towers. Also The Old Bank House (Mrs) page 95; County Chronicle page 212, Happy Returns page 43, Close Quarters page 277; Three Score and 10 page 138.
127 Sleep several in a bed: alternating heads and feet? This comes in elsewhere I think? But I can’t trace where.
129 Gaiters’ Library: Boots the Chemist circulating library.
P. B. Baker & Son, Ltd: W.H. Smith, chain of newsagents, booksellers and stationers. In 2025 some branches were renamed T. G. Jones as, alas, the company did not consult the Angela Thirkell Society.
133 Catherine Barlass (appears as Katherine in County Chronicle): Catherine Douglas who tried to save King James from attack by barring the door with her arm. Mentioned in Rossetti’s ‘King’s Tragedy’: “‘Twas Catherine Douglas sprang to the door, But I fell back Kate Barlass.” Also County Chronicle page 84.
136 St Gingolph: small town on the south bank of Lake Geneva.
141 rather hoping that they might argue about the Thirty-Nine Articles: The 39 Articles [of religion] were established in 1563, defining Anglican doctrine as part of the Reformation. Also County Chronicle page 100.
143 Pentateuch: first five books of the Old Testament.
145 Church Lads’ Brigade: The Anglican church’s uniformed youth organisation established in 1891.
Busman’s holiday: a holiday that is not a real break from work.
146 Day of National Prayer: October 8th 1939. Also page 149.
Chapter 8
150 A.D.C.: Aide de Camp (personal assistant, secretary or adjutant).
157 Nothing will stop me saying St Petersburg – the city was renamed Leningrad in 1924. But Mrs Morland was right eventually – it was changed back to St Petersburg in 1991!
157 Idles of the King by heart: even now “idyllic” is often pronounced with a long initial i. Elaine is Mrs B’s first name. Is this the only occurrence?
160 Panderer must have been his sponsor [Smigly Rydz]: Pandora, who “had a casket with nothing but hope at the bottom of it” in Greek mythology. Also Prometheus (page 173 below).
160 If I had to pay income tax on Hampton’s income tomorrow I would be proud. We perhaps tend to forget that issues about marriage and gay marriage date back quite a long way!
160 Rory Freemantle: lesbian heroine of Extraordinary Women by Compton Mackenzie, published 1928.
162 Battle of Jutland: 31 May-1 June 1916. Battle between Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet and Imperial German Navy’s High Seas Fleet, off Jutland, the largest naval battle in WW1.
163 China station: the China Station complement of the Royal Navy usually consisted of several older light cruisers and destroyers.
Iron class: there are some wonderful “real life” names for destroyer classes, such as Ferret, Banshee and Sturgeon, but I cannot find an equivalent of Angela Thirkell’s Iron class.
169 British Israelites: those who believe that people of Western European descent are also direct descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Often also believe that the British Royal Family is directly descended from King David. I suspect the latter idea was what appalled Tubby et al.
173 Pandora: Mrs Morland realises what Mr Bissell really meant on p. 160.
Chapter 9
179 Mixo-Lydia: a small Balkan country, which has elements of Romania, such as the –cu suffix and the use of French as a second language.
182 like a red rug to a bull: Mme Brownscu means ‘red rag’, of course.
183 What happened to the maiden? As a result of her relationship with Gradko, she becomes a mother and gives birth to four sons. The first is called Achmet, because he is a Turk, the second Boris because he is a Bulgar, the third, who is Russian, Ivan, and the fourth, who is the most handsome of all and has his father assassinated, along with his mother and his three older brothers, is called Gradko, like his father.
186 Rachel: Surely Mrs Warbury was called Gloria?
Mad, bad and dangerous to know: Lady Caroline Lamb’s description of Byron
187 petit point: needlepoint.
190 Lithuania: Lietuva in Lithuanian, hence Mrs Morland’s confusion with Latvia.
191 Queen’s Hall: concert hall in Langham Place. London’s principal concert venue and home of the Promenade concerts until 1941.
Return of: Handel’s Return of Tobias? (Haydn’s “other” oratorio).
194 Mais ce n’est pas . . .: But it is not the custom in his country and this affected his liver. He has to be careful about his health, and since then he has had a horror of English nurses. It’s an involuntary response, but what can you expect? It’s like that with us.
199 The Dean… came down like a shepherd on the fold: Parody of “The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold”, the famous opening line from Lord Byron’s poem ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’ which dramatically describes the Assyrian army’s devastating but ultimately divinely thwarted siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE, contrasting their initial predatory might with their sudden superanatural demise.
bell, book and candle: method of excommunication, described in Marlowe’s Faustus.
200 Thirty-Nine Articles: established 1563, defining statements of Anglican doctrine (see also p. 141 and 316).
203 Madame Brownscu: joke for Ionescu (=Jones-cu) – two of the three (supposedly) commonest English surnames, the first being Smith which would clearly not be euphonious. See p. 179: “There were even unbelievers who said that Brownscu was not a Mixo-Lydian name, nor indeed a name at all”
204 Tu entends … : You hear, my friend, this chap is a friend of Moscow, of these filthy Russians.
205 Et savez-vous … : And do you know why he says this? …The Russians have also violated his mother, his four sisters, his cook (and he loves good food) and his wife…It gave him quite a turn.
206 Octavia … in her mother’s dining-room: Margaret Whaley points out that this is the Birketts’ dining-room, not that of Octavia’s mother, which is the Deanery.
206 Oh, celle-là … : Oh, her. She wasn’t unhappy. After all, the Russian was her lover.
207 Les Russes … : The Russians? … It was Gogo’s wife that they raped; but in any case it was the Russian colonel, who was her lover.
Chapter 10
210 The path of duty: tale by Henry James.
215 ARP: Air Raid Precautions.
216 Crown: the rank insignia for a major.
221 Ingoldsby Legends: collections of ghost stories, myths and legends from c. 1840 (+ Love At All Ages page 65 – and probably more).
224 Steamer: the Brandon was sunk in early December 1939 (8th or 9th, depending on which account you select).
Chapter 11
236 Wearing her heart on her sleeve for young Mr Warbury to peck at: Othello, Act 1, Scene 1, 55-65. (More usually daws to peck at).
237 Three Sillies who worked themselves into a panic on finding an axe stuck in the beam of the cellar: English Fairy Tales, by Joseph Jacobs.
239 Flag Lieutenant: a lieutenant acting as an admiral’s aide-de-camp.
240 Trincomalee: port in what is now Sri Lanka.
242 Mannerheim: Baron Mannerheim (1867-1951), who had just become Commander in Chief of the Finnish Army.
Kalevala: Finland’s national epic poem.
243 ci-devant: former.
Chapter 12
260 That marvellous battle: the battle of the River Plate, 13 December 1939 (see p.10 above). After the battle the crew of the scuttled Admiral Graf Spee were taken to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the captain committed suicide. HMS Achilles returned to New Zealand – whether the officers came ashore as Rose hoped is not known.
262 ride the whirlwind : Addison: The Campaign, 1704 “An angel…rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm”. Also Private Enterprise page 138; The Old Bank House page 135, page 146; County Chronicle page 100
263 rose-petal jelly baby: similar to the heroic epithets used in classical literature. Or is it the pink colour of the jelly? Also Love At All Ages page 57 +?
265 struck all of a heap: suddenly very surprised or confused.
270 Giddy harumfrodite: Rudyard Kipling, describing a Royal Marine: “ ‘E isn’t one o’ the reg’lar line, nor ‘e isn’t one o the crew,/’E’s a kind of a giddy harumphrodite – soldier and sailor too” . Also Close Quarters page 40.
Chapter 13
271 The winter of 1939-40 was exceptionally cold.
grateful hearts for benefits conferred: could not trace [unless Tolstoy’s War and Peace, where “the serfs…seemed touchingly grateful for the benefits conferred on them”, or Psalms]
273 ribald rumour had it that the Bishop’s second best gaiters had been washed onto the front door steps of Canon Thorne. Also [Thornes] Happy Returns page 42; [Mary] Jutland Cottage page 19; A Double Affair page 94; Love Among The Ruins page 138, page 299 [Doctor] The Headmistress page 15.
275 Death’s Head Hussar: Prussian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars, who struck fear into the enemy for many years
279 Solitaire et glacé: from poem by Paul Verlaine.
“Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé,
Deux formes ont tout ā l’heure passé.” ….
Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé
Deux spectres ont évoqué le passé.”
Colloque sentimental, set to music by Debussy as part of Fetes galantes 2.
Chapter 14
282 long winter of everyone’s discontent dragged its slow length along: Shakespeare, Richard III, opening line “Now is the Winter of our Discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York…Also Love Among The Ruins page 38.
violation of Norway’s highly un-neutral waters: The Altmark incident of 16 February 1940. Churchill sent a flotilla of destroyers to intercept the Altmark and free the captive merchant seamen on board. Incidentally, the Altmark was on its way back from the Battle of the River Plate.
288 One crowded hour of glorious vice – with capitals! “One crowded hour of glorious life/Is worth an age without a name”, from poem ‘The Call’ by Thomas Osbert Mordaunt. Often attributed to Sir Walter Scott, who borrowed it for his poem ‘Answer’.
290 Germany invaded Norway and Denmark on 9 April 1940.
291 Nansen: Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), Norwegian explorer and diplomat who devoted himself to the League of Nations and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
If they called a dog Nansen she would hate it: “If you call a dog * I will dislike it” Source? Also County Chronicle page146.
Quotation from Longfellow, The Musician’s Tale: the saga of King Olaf: “that is Norway breaking ‘neath thy hand, O King!”
292 Haakon: King Haakon VII of Norway (1872-1957).
Andersen: after Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author.
292 Aurora Freemantle and nice cup of tea: could not trace the exact reference. Aurora Freemantle was the lesbian heroine of Compton Mackenzie’s Extraordinary Women, 1928. (See also above, page 160).
295 Niobe to whom Apollo had spared the last of her brood: in Greek myth Niobe was turned into a waterfall because of the tears she shed over her dead children. Also Enter Sir Robert page 138.
296 Pays du Tendre: the Carte du Tendre was a seventeenth century French map of an imaginary country called Tendre. It showed the different stages of the path towards romantic love.
Followed hard upon: Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2, Horatio: Indeed, my lord, it followed hard upon.
299 Hiram’s Hospital: the scandal about the pay of the warden of this charitable institution is the theme of Anthony Trollope’s novel The Warden. A true-life version occurred at the Hospital of St Cross in Winchester.
300 eating other people’s mental bread and treading strange stairs: W. B. Yeats ‘Ego Dominus Tuus in The Wild Swans at Coole (1919). Also The Headmistress page 42; Happy Returns page 184; Close Quarters page181[+ bread bitter and stairs hard]
To climb that stair and eat that bitter bread.
Also: Oscar Wilde in ‘Reading Gaol’ has a reference to bitter bread: And the bitter bread they weigh in scales. Is full of chalk and lime, …
And: Swinburne: ‘Tiresias’ “The steepness of strange stairs had tired his feet.”
Also Swinburne: ‘Ave atque vale’ “Thy lips indeed he touched with bitter wine,
And nourished them indeed with bitter bread.”
302 Juggernaut: (Hindi) Vishnu – ties in with shrine.
303 Battle of the Marne: First World War battle, September 1914.
304 Ha-ha inside herself: “Ha! Ha! among the trumpets” Bible, Book of Job chapter 39 verse 25.
307 tucked up her wristbands: Dickens, Sam Weller in Dombey and Son.
309 the Old Adam: natural tendency toward sin.
Gallows gape: Shakespeare, Henry V Act 3 scene 6 “Let gallows gape for dog”.
312 goat’s cheese: Not a delicacy in wartime England.
313 G.F.S.: Girls’ Friendly Society.
315 French for warming-pan is chandelier.
316 congé: dismissal.
Thirty Nine Articles: See also above p. 141 and p.200.
Chapter 15
320 death of Mr Keith: by January 1940 nearly twice as many Britons had been killed on the roads since the blackout started than by enemy action.
322 Bedfordshire: Up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire, nursery phrase for going to bed.
betrayal of a little army: “The Belgian Army in obedience to the command of Leopold the king, who acted in defiance of his Ministers, capitulated to the enemy.”
“a middle-class woman of 37”, from A Mass Observation Anthology, 1937-45, Wartime Women.
On May 10 1940 Germany invaded Holland and attacked Belgium; Neville Chamberlain resigned and Churchill became Prime Minister. The German invasion of France followed swiftly.
323 Wistaria: alternative spelling for wisteria.
324 Daisy-Chain-ish: Novel by C M Yonge (1856) about the large, motherless May family, with a theme of missionary work at home and abroad and self-sacrifice.
328 little army…friendly sea: allied forces moving back to Dunkirk.
328 Fifth columnist: A group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group from within. (From the Spanish Civil War) . A very popular term at the time. See also p. 331: people thought to be Fifth Columnists were interned on the Isle of Man.
330 Dunkirk: Evacuation of allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk was between 26 May and 4 June 1940.
Thousand ships – number of ships used in the evacuation of Dunkirk (technically 850).
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