Record Number: 4549
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'It is equally possible for the same reader to adopt different frames for the same story, relishing it on one level while seeing through the claptrap on another. In his youth Aneurin Bevan enjoyed the Magnet and Gem surreptitiously (his father forbade them) and devoured H. Rider Haggard at the Tredegar Workmen's Institute Library. But during the 'Phoney War' he lambasted the government's stupidly optimistic predictions in precisely the same terms: "Immediately on the outbreak of war, England was given over to the mental level of the Boys' Own Paper and the Magnet..." In 1944 Bevan freely admitted that "William le Queux, John Buchan and Phillips Oppenheim have always been favourites of ours in our off-moments. Part of their charm lies in their juvenile attitude".'
Century:1900-1945
Date:unknown
Country:Wales
Timen/a
Place:city: Tredegar
specific address: Workmen's Institute Library
other location: Library
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Child (0-17)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:15 Nov 1897
Socio-Economic Group:Labourer (non-agricultural)
Occupation:miner's son, later Labour politician
Religion:n/a
Country of Origin:Wales
Country of Experience:Wales
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:[unknown]
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceread in situ
read at Tredegar Workmen's Institute Library
Source Information:
Record ID:4549
Source:Jonathan Rose
Editor:n/a
Title:The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes
Place of Publication:New Haven
Date of Publication:2001
Vol:n/a
Page:332
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 332, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=4549, accessed: 07 October 2024
Additional Comments:
See Michael Foot, Aneurin Bevan (London, 1962) Vol I, pp. 22, 307, 395