Lust in the countryside
QUESTION What is meant by the term ‘loam and lovechild’ literature?
THESE novels were tales of poverty and doom and gloom set in the countryside.
The first, and best, purveyor of this literature was Thomas Hardy. Far From The Madding Crowd, The Mayor Of Casterbridge and, bleakest of all, Jude The Obscure set the tone.
The idea was that people in rural communities had poetic souls and animal passions. Everything was emotionally wrought, metaphors were heavy, plans were thwarted and dreams dashed.
Loam and lovechild novels proved extremely popular and there were many copycat authors. Among the best were Mary Webb’s Precious Bane and Sheila Kaye-Smith’s Sussex Gorse.
The bubble was burst brilliantly by Stella Gibbons’s novel Cold Comfort Farm in 1932.
This tells the story of sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste who, orphaned at 19, moves in with relatives, the Starkadders, of the aptly named Cold Comfort Farm.
All the tropes of the genre are there: cousin Judith, heaving with remorse for unspoken wickedness; Amos, preaching fire and damnation; their sons, lustful Seth and despairing Reuben; child of nature Elfine; and mad old Aunt Ada Doom, who has kept to her bedroom for 20 years.
As the satirical magazine Punch put it: ‘The kind of story in which peasants have babies in cowsheds and push each other down wells.’
Emma Brooks, Winchester, Hants.
QUESTION Who invented the shower?
THE first mechanical shower was patented in 1767 by William Feetham, a stove maker from London.
A hand pump forced water into a chamber above the user’s head and a chain was pulled to release it. The cold water had to be recycled repeatedly.
In 1810 came the English Regency Shower, a 10ft-tall cage-like assemblage of metal pipes painted to look like bamboo. A basin suspended above the pipes fed water into a nozzle that poured the water over the head and shoulders. The inventor is unknown.
There were design improvements throughout the century as showers became increasingly popular.
In 1850, reliable indoor plumbing allowed free-standing showers to be connected to a running water source, providing a continuous flow.
The first hot water shower was invented by Benjamin Waddy Maughan, a London painter, in 1868. Named the Geyser, water was heated by a gas burner. However, it lacked a flue, which made it dangerous.
Edwin Ruud, a Norwegian mechanical engineer working for Westinghouse in the U.S., built the first gas water heater with a storage tank in 1889.
A. P. Lewis, Stroud, Gloucs.
QUESTION Jo Brand used to be a psychiatric nurse. What other comedians had interesting careers before stand-up?
GREAT to see miner and footballer turned comedian Charlie Williams mentioned in the earlier answer. He famously told a racist heckler: ‘If you’re not careful, I’ll come and live next door to you.’
T. Phillips, London E10.