Th think that Miss Climpson should have been in The Nine Tailors

[Jemima232]

Miss Climpson did not appear in this book.

The purpose of this thread is to examine why this oversight occurred.

The Chalet School books may be mentioned if people wish.

@jemima Years ago, when she came to a women's group meeting at my college. Looking back, it was incredibly good of her to schlep up to Oxford to talk to about 10 of us. She was extremely gracious and never gave even a hint that she was more used to performing to audiences of thousands (or millions when on TV)

Did she not come to the Gaudy? In whatever frock we decided she actually wore? Did she receive an anonymous note? Is the earth flat?

It occurs to me that perhaps part of the reason I’ve avoided seeing any of Harriet Walter’s excellent work is a lingering resentment that she isn’t actually Harriet Vane. I just cannot face the disappointment - though I’m sure she’s lovely.

I used to have a knee length, bracelet sleeved equivalent of the black frock. Jil Sander; the finest wool crepe, cool even on the hottest summer day; no fastenings, slipped on, fitted perfectly. Was £500 in the mid nineties. I loved Harriet’s care over clothes and willingness to spend money on dressing ...

Do you think Ian Carmichael or Edward Petherbridge was a better LPW?

For starters Petherbridge is blonde and resembles Peter as described in the books.

EP looks the part and has that slightly delicate, effete look that is very Peter. I was a bit shocked by the Bunter actor though. I always imagined Bunter much older than Peter- but of course he wasn’t.

And Bunter must have been quite good looking - ref his success with cooks and parlour maids.

Richard Morant was a far better Bunter than Glyn Houston.

Did anyone see the Ian Carmichael TV series of Five Red Herrings?

It was awful.

Come to that, does anyone understand the plot of Five Red Herrings? All those different train times gave me a clusterfuck of a headache.

Petherbridge just looked like him. Ladies, and Miss Climpson, are you familiar with this group: The Lord Peter Wimsey Appreciation Society on FB?

IC read the audiobooks really well. Much better than the woman Audible have now who doesn’t know how to pronounce posh things.

IC read the audiobooks really well. Much better than the woman Audible have now who doesn’t know how to pronounce posh things

I've never heard any of the audiobooks, @BertrandRussell. What can't she pronounce? (My seven year old is currently taking issue with Stephen Fry's pronounciation of 'Malfoy' and a couple of other key Potterisms because I put the emphasis on a different syllable etc.)

Trying to remember the worst ones. “Baliol” was one.

Oh, and she read “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga. Din” They’ll be coming back to me all morning!

I’m just listening to a Harry Potter and I thought the way he said Malfoy was a bit odd.

Wimsey of Bally-oll sounds rather less impressive, I suppose.

Yes, SF says 'Mal-FOY' and I've always said 'MAL-foy'. And I can't remember whether he says 'troll' to rhyme with 'doll', whereas I'm 'troll' to rhyme with 'dole'.

(I don't get the Gunga Din one? Though I'm not sure I could reda Gunga Din aloud at all without actually coughing up hairballs.)

Sayers wipes a couple of years off Harriet's age between Strong Poison and Have His Carcase so she's about 35 at marriage.

I subscribe to the timeline that puts the events of The Nine Tailors concurrently with Strong Poison (although it was written and published later) so Peter drives into a ditch when he's just spent Christmas with his family after Harriet's first trial (entirely understandable). The answer to why Miss Climpson isn't in The Nine Tailors is that by the time Peter is back at Fenchurch St Paul investigating the body, he feels he has asked a bit much of Miss Climpson recently, making Miss Murchison do burglary and Miss Climpson herself whizz about the country impersonating mediums, and it's time they had a bit of a rest.

I adore when the bit where Peter takes Miss Murchison hymn-singing with the born-again burglar who teaches her to pick locks. Obviously, not nearly as brilliant as Miss Climpson rapping, going into trances and wobbling tables around, having previously displayed her iron-bladdered tea-shop visiting and discreet gossipping credentials.

I think that Miss Climpson seance chapter should be pinned at the top of every “woo” thread on here.

Does anyone know if IRL DLS wore strange clothes? I'm thinking of Vane's gold wedding dress as well as her widow's weeds in GN.

Vane's gold wedding dress as well as her widow's weeds ...

Strange? These are not strange clothes! They were and are the height of perfection. It’s everyone else that’s wrong.

Some days the thought of Harriet’s cloth of gold is all that keeps me going.

The bridesmaids in academic dress would have been striking too. I should have made my own bridesmaids wear their work clothes - I'd have saved a fortune if they'd worn surgical scrubs.

IRL Dorothy was regarded as an eccentric and was known for wearing slightly "arty" clothes.

But she wanted to be Harriet so much.

I agree with QuaterMiss about the wedding dress - it sounds lovely.

The BBC never made Busman's Honeymoon for TV - it is a source of great regret for me - I would've loved to have seen that dress.

Always wondered how Bunter coped on the wedding night, sitting underneath the star-crossed lovers who were shagging for the first time in a room in a small cottage, while he wrote a letter to his mother and slept in a chair.

Poor old Bunter. He may have had dalliances with maids and cooks but only to further whatever investigation LPW was engaged upon.

Did Bunter have an actual sex life?

@XXcstatic

I'd have saved a fortune if they'd worn surgical scrubs

And how handy if there had been a fist fight at your wedding or someone went into labour and delivered on the spot. This seems to happen a lot in TV soap operas.

The cloth-of-gold was Worth, wasn’t it? Or did I make that up?

Oh, and the wedding night wasn’t their first shag was it? . That happened before they had dinner with the Dowager and Naughty Uncle Paul...promoting one of those irritating speeches in French so the lower orders don’t see the rude bits.

No I don't think they shag until their wedding night, Bertrand - otherwise the aforementioned Ruth Rendell-disapproved sex scenes don't make sense - they're all about Peter's first impressions of Harriet in bed and her gratitude that he doesn't shag her like a rutting donkey (I paraphrase) - boak.

The incident you refer to is supposed to be a near miss, I think.

Something about ‘shabby tigers’ Bert? I was always a bit puzzled by that episode.

Did Bunter have an actual sex life?

I’m sure we can assume he was as cavalier as his master (particularly when they were on the continent. They did go abroad together didn’t they?).

But (SPOILER) he does get married in the JPW sequel. There’s a lovely meeting between Harriet and his not-yet-wife.