1890's version of iTunes

[abu nuwas]

Marcel Proust (who was not in the habit of leaving his bed) used the Theatrophone to hear opera. It is fascinating that in those days, it was available in London from an opera house in Paris -- in stereo! We seem to have lost something along the way!

We have most certainly lost something... but I must apologise, I can't even think about Marcel Proust without the instant association with Monty Python's Fish Licence sketch:

"I am not a looney! Why should I be attired with the epithet looney merely because I have a pet halibut? I've heard tell that Sir Gerald Nabardo has a pet prawn called Simon - you wouldn't call him a looney - furthermore, Dawn Pailthorpe, the lady show-jumper, had a clam, called Stafford, after the late Chancellor, Allan Bullock has two pikes, both called Chris, and Marcel Proust had an haddock! So, if you're calling the author of 'A la recherche du temps perdu' a looney, I shall have to ask you to step outside!"

For your sake, Leanne, I hope that you have not committed that to memory -- that really would be a sign of a mis-spent youth!

I don't think Proust is a person you can caricature --- he was as bizarre as it is possible to be, haddock or no. And people brand the English as eccentric! But now I think of it, do you not have a custom of snail-racing, with good money being placed on the winner? Hmmm.....