Inky Fool

While I was researching Rhyme & Reason (available in all good and goodishbookshops), I came across a little anecdote that tells us something TerriblyImportant (I think) about history.
It's a anecdote about T.S. Eliot and the young -indeed future - Queen Elizabeth the Second. There is a story, which is recountedas history in several perfectly respectable books, about a reading of The WasteLand at Windsor Castle during the Second World...

A fortnight ago, in a little break from launching Rhyme and Reason, I took a young lady for a walk in a woods, and returned with a muddy left knee and a fiancée.
I have been told that it is important that I understand the meaning of this engagement. So I have checked up. Engagement is closely related to a mortgage (note the gage in both), and to a wager, which I would have suspected. The original sense was to...

People like to release animals. They release lions onto the savannah, or orcas into the ocean, or beavers into the wild, or organ-grinders' monkeys onto the street, or bulls into china-shops.
But I like to release books. I like to think of them creeping, taking their first little steps, sniffing the air of the market place, and then galloping off into the wild, neighing proudly. This is why I have just released a new book: Rhyme and Reason...

Distinctly tropical
I recently discovered that the Seychelles were named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, a Frenchman, who never set his gallic, garlicky, eyes upon the islands that bear his name.
The Seychelles were named in his honour because he happened to be the minister of finance when the islands were acquired by France in 1756. He had been in the post for a whole two years, and then he had a stroke and was replaced. His life was not extraordinary...