[Gregory Dowling]

Steve, The Quest for Corvo is a fascinating book - but Richard sounds an infinitely pleasanter person than Baron Corvo ever was.

Good to hear he's keen on Chesterton. Those two books are very good - and I'm very fond of The Napoleon of Notting Hill as well (well, I'm very fond of almost all Chesterton, even at his most slapdash).

[Steve Bucknell]

Just a quick update for all you R.P. Lister fans. Richard celebrated his 97th birthday in November. He is still enjoying life, music and poetry. He still keeps notebooks full of poems and ideas for poems, which even he now finds difficult to decipher, a fact that causes him great amusement. He enjoys the fact that people continue to rediscover his works, and I relay to him the delight The Idle Demon has brought to many friends and acquaintances.

There will be a performance of Richard’s poems in London at The Poetry Cafe http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/cafe/ on the 15th. I can’t get, but I thought any nearby Sphereans might be interested.

A TEMPTATION TO
Spend An Hour With
THE IDLE DEMON
Listening to the humorous verse of
R.P. Lister
Performed by Donald Pelmear
R.P. Lister wrote for Punch, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly
3.00 p.m. 15th December 2011
At The Poetry Café
22,Betterton Street, Covent Garden, WC2
Free! Will cost you nothing but your time

I am still enjoying exploring Richard’s works, and it is great fun meeting up with him when I can. http://www.flickr.com/photos/5663025...57627221609285

[Ann Drysdale]

Thank you, Steve!

[Ed Shacklee]

Thanks, Steve. It's too much to hope for, but here's hoping it's recorded!

Best,

Ed

[John Whitworth]

I too bought The Idle Demon. And much enjoyed and admired it.

[Bill Carpenter]

Sorry to miss the Lister reading. Thanks for the many tips. Best wishes to the poet!

How is the Chesterbelloc exploration going? I just read The Man Who Was Thursday, which a friend told me would illuminate Orthodoxy; and Belloc's Four Men and his Milton, both delightful. In the poetry department, Chesterton's Ballad of the White Horse, a long narrative poem about Alfred the Great, shows a mastery and finesse that should impress fairly demanding readers. The Belloc poetry I have heard recited was hilarious. Best, Bill

[Steve Bucknell]

Thanks Ann, Ed, John, Bill. I will pass your best wishes on to Richard and read him some of your poems!

Bill, I find the Chesterbelloc an intimidating beast and haven't wrestled with it yet. Steve.

[Jayne Osborn]

There will be a performance of Richard’s poems in London at The Poetry Cafe http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/cafe/ on the 15th. I can’t get, but I thought any nearby Sphereans might be interested.

A TEMPTATION TO
Spend An Hour With
THE IDLE DEMON
Listening to the humorous verse of
R.P. Lister
Performed by Donald Pelmear
R.P. Lister wrote for Punch, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly
3.00 p.m. 15th December 2011
At The Poetry Café
22,Betterton Street, Covent Garden, WC2
Free! Will cost you nothing but your time

Hi Steve,
I'm going to The Oldie lunch next Tuesday and will be hot-footing it back down to London to hear the reading of Richard's poems on Thursday. If only it had been the following day - I could have slept in a bus shelter and made do with one train ticket!

Anyone else planning to go?

[Allen Tice]

Shake a leg and get somebody clever there with a microphone and an Ampex (or better) recording deck, and then burn a CD for all of us to buy.

You do have electricity in UK?

[Charles Albert]

What a marvelous thread to have stumbled upon one cold and dreary night. Now I'm going to bed far too late, but with a silly grin, at least. And another book on the Xmas list.