The reason one heads straight for the obituary column when one is confronted by the Daily Telegraph is the abundance of rarefied mischievousness one finds therein. If it is grovelling hero-worship you crave, then Telegraph obituaries will disappoint. In Chin Up, Girls! we delight in a portrait of Dame Barbara Cartland: ‘In her later years, she cut an unmistakeable figure in a froth of pink ball gown with extravagant, almost clown-like make-up — her cheeks pulled back with sadly visible bits of sticking plaster … She was a formidable fairy queen.’ Ah! A morning devoid of sunny Telegraph obituaries is a morning misspent.
I was slightly apprehensive about the idea behind Chin Up, Girls!. Why women’s obituaries? Don’t we need a touch of dear departed male company to spice up our breakfast times? My apprehensions were unfounded. The sheer range of Dear Departesses in this volume is breathtakingly entertaining. We meet wartime nurses, athletes, femmes fatales and pioneering surgeons, all of whom have died in the last 20 years.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in