I saw the death annouincement in yesterday's Times - there is sometimes a delay, isn't there? perhaps they are waiting until after Easter. We've told the bees here
Well I, at any rate, feel diminished - he was challenging and funny and I loved his language and jokes and the way he didn't write down to children. My (3) copies of the choir school books are amongst my treasures, and when my aunt came to stay some years ago she used my room and stayed up half the night re-reading Cathedral Wednesday because it lives on the shelf next to my bed. I shall mourn his loss despite his failings.
William Mayne
anonymous
April 2 2010, 08:26:28 UTC
I appreciated reading this account about William Mayne, both fair and interesting. William was never a pupil of King's School, Canterbury. He was a chorister in the Choir School at Canterbury Cathedral, they are very separate, although they live side by side. Researcher into Choral Music at Canterbury Cathedral 1873-1988.
Re: William MaynecallmemadamApril 2 2010, 08:52:42 UTC
Thank you for putting me right! I love all the details in the books about the cathedral buildings and the singing routine. Yet the way Mayne writes it, you don't realise you're learning anything.
William Mayne
anonymous
April 12 2010, 21:23:01 UTC
William died early on the 24th March 2010 after a short period of ill health in his own home as he would have wished. He was watched over during his illness by people who cared about him and his welfare. He was a man who wrote beautiful books, a wordsmith. He loved Wensleydale where he lived for over fifty years and left English Literature a treasure chest of over 100 books. He spent many Saturday mornings sat in our kitchen next to the aga, drinking coffee and chatting about a great many subjects he will be greatly missed.
Re: William Mayne
anonymous
November 11 2012, 00:51:43 UTC
This is a tribute from someone who clearly believes they knew him well. I also knew him. I was one of the girls groomed by William Mayne to stay with him at Thornton. This tribute is comparable to those relatives of Jimmy Savile who at first refused to believe that "Uncle Jimmy" was a child abuser.
William Mayne was a paedophile.
If you pretend he wasn't then you are complicit in the problem. Victims don't come forward because they are intimidated by those friends of the abuser who will testify to the impossibility of the abuse.
The writings are inextricably linked to the man. If you read carefully you will see that mystery is interwoven with duplicity. The sense of acceptable magic is a function of the deception and innocence of children who are too young to understand reality. William Mayne preyed on this emotionl response, on puns and the adult belief that a child cannot distinguish reality and truth from inappropriate behaviour.
i read some of William Mayne's books as a child, I think Earthfasts was my favourite, and Royal Harry. DIdn't read the Choir School stories utnil years later, when there was a film of Swarm in May on the telly which got me interested. i agree that knowing what he got up to with little girls doesn't invalidate his writing. does make me feel a bit weird though that I was exactly tthe right age to have been one of those little girls, if it had ever occured to me to write to him, which it didn't.
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We've told the bees here
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Researcher into Choral Music at Canterbury Cathedral 1873-1988.
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I love all the details in the books about the cathedral buildings and the singing routine. Yet the way Mayne writes it, you don't realise you're learning anything.
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He was a man who wrote beautiful books, a wordsmith. He loved Wensleydale where he lived for over fifty years and left English Literature a treasure chest of over 100 books.
He spent many Saturday mornings sat in our kitchen next to the aga, drinking coffee and chatting about a great many subjects he will be greatly missed.
Reply
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William Mayne was a paedophile.
If you pretend he wasn't then you are complicit in the problem. Victims don't come forward because they are intimidated by those friends of the abuser who will testify to the impossibility of the abuse.
The writings are inextricably linked to the man. If you read carefully you will see that mystery is interwoven with duplicity. The sense of acceptable magic is a function of the deception and innocence of children who are too young to understand reality. William Mayne preyed on this emotionl response, on puns and the adult belief that a child cannot distinguish reality and truth from inappropriate behaviour.
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