C. S. Lewis.

Yes Vince, I was aware of the fact that he refused to be publicly honoured in 1952 by refusing the CBE. I have discussed it previously.

Having met the man, and looking back all those years it doesn't really surprise me, as he was a very private man shunning the local community, whilst keeping himself, and his older brother Warnie to themselves so to speak.

Thanks for mentioning it Vince as I am sure there are plenty that wouldn't have known that.

Wandered around his home (the Kilns) brushed his jacket tails, with Douglas Gresham (stepson through marriage to Joy) as a ten year old boy until I went to work at the age of 15 years, and Douglas went off to Hereford to study after the death of his mother. So yes, a regular visitor.

And by the way, sorry to be a spoilsport...... there wasn't a wardrobe in his loft (attic).

If everybody practiced Christianity the way CS Lewis did, the world might very well be Christian by now, and not hung up in all the religious knots, including the Christian ones.  He was a brilliant Christian thinker and didn't let "religion" affect his relationship with the Lord.

 It is another moment for I did not know that !!!

  Found out today that C S Lewis had connections to Great Bookham. It seems he spent time in private study with William T Kirkpatrick between 1914 & 1917 before enlisting. I have worked in the village for the past 33 years and only just discovered the fact. It just begs the question, just how well do you know the area where you live and work?

         Also discovered that Roger Waters ( of Pink Floyd fame in the early years) was born in Great Bookham.

          Dig deeper and find out more about where you are.

I was surprised  to read that C.S  Lewis and his brother Warnie saw no special necessity for ash trays since they reasoned that cigarette ash would keep the moths away.They merely ground their ashes into the carpet.(Poe,H.L 2009 The Inklings of Oxford).Surely there were better ways to keep moths away? Who would want a filthy carpet? The ceilings in their house were stained with forty years of nicotine from their two-pack-a-day habit.Back then they didn't know smoking causes heart disease.C.S. Lewis drank beer ,wine and whiskey on a daily basis.

C.S.Lewis went on walking tours with his brother or his friends through the Berkshire and Wiltshire Downs, the Salisbury Plain, the Cotswolds, Exmoor, Dorset, the Quantocks in the West Country,along the River Wye, the Chiltern Hills near Oxford, Derbyshire, Dulverton in Somerset, the Welsh Marshes and a 54 mile walk starting at Chepstow.They certainly saw some great scenery.

Back when smoking was in its hayday...I came across some Plate ash trays, used in big social functions....they clipped right on the side of the dinner plate..ones I have are white bone china edged in gold, though someone broke an couple of them over the years. I've only ever seen them in one black and white photo though of an Hollywood event where everyone all showed up. Looked kind of like an small kidney bean shape clipped ot the plate and you couldn't see where it clipped on from the top of the dinner plate...held maybe an couple of cigarrettes...probably why they went out of style. I would guess they served the meal in courses...so each plate that came in had an "new" one clipped on it. No sharing an ash tray though with everyone at the table.

I don't know about moths,,,but they use to sprinkle carpets with salt to rid them of fleas and thier eggs. I knew one lady from England that use to wash her floor and then laid down newspapers to disinfect it..and of course no one could walk on the newspaper untilt the floor dried, so it didn't get ink stains, they took the alcohol out of the ink and long time ago...that was maybe in the early early 50's.

Like everyone else of that era, she wore an bandana or towel wrapped around her hair to do housework in and an large apron.  Use to use hair pins to pin up the curls, so the ladies kept thier heads covered...blow driers had not been invented as of yet..