Extract from I NEVER KNEW THAT ABOUT ENGLAND, by Christopher Winn
Read the following passage and on lined paper, answer the questions.
COCKAYNE HATLEY, Bedfordshire
Long John Silver and Peter Pan’s Wendy
Turn east off the A1 near Sandy and you find yourself in an empty landscape of big skies and open hills. Down a lonely lane, on the crest of a rise, embowered in trees, is the church of St John, Cockayne Hatley, slumbering at the gates of an ancient hall. Step inside the church and gaze at the startling interior, which is a feast of medieval woodwork, carvings and stained glass, all imported from the Continent by a 19th-century rector, a display unrivalled by any country church in England.
But what really tums this remote and lovely spot into a special place of pilgrimage is the simple, grey tomb of WILLIAM HENLEY (1849-1903) and his family, which stands beneath an ash tree in the churchyard. William Henley was a Victorian poet. As a boy, he suffered from tuberculosis, which led to the amputation of one leg. While recuperating in Edinburgh, he befriended another young writer who suffered from ill health, ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. When Stevenson wrote Treasure Island, published as a book in 1883, he drew inspiration for his peg-leg villain, LONG JOHN SILVER, from the redoubtable Henley.
William Henley wrote these famous lines in his poem ‘Invictus’:
“Under the bludgeoning’s of fate
My head is bloody but unbowed
and
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul”
A memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism—the “stiff upper lip” of self-discipline and fortitude in adversity, which popular culture rendered into a British character trait—”Invictus” remains a cultural touchstone.
MARGARET HENLEY, William’s much-loved daughter, was known to everyone as the ‘golden child. With her flaxen hair, merry laugh and bright eyes, she captivated all who met her. William, by now editor of the National Observer, was mentor and confidant to many of the prominent writers of the age, including J.M. Barrie, who quickly fell under Margaret’s spell. She noticed how her father would call Barrie my friend and, whenever he visited, she would fling herself into his arms crying ‘Fwendy, Fwendy! It was thus that Peter Pan’s Wendy came by her name.
- Who was William Henley?
- How did Henley meet Robert Louis Stevenson?
- What inspiration did Stevenson get from William Henley?
- What was the name of the villainous character created by Stevenson in book, Treasure Island?
- What was the name of the poem written by Henley?
- What is meant by the “stiff upper lip”?
- Who was Margaret Henley?
- Who did Henley mentor while editor of the National Observer?
- How did the character Wendy, in the novel Peter Pan, get her name?