Word: aubrey
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
DEAD MAN IN THE SILVER MARKET (203 pp.)-Aubrey Menen-Scribner...
...that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble," lamented Job. But trouble fairly brims over when a man is born, as was Aubrey Menen, of an Irishwoman and a Hindu, is registered as a native Briton and educated like a true-born Englishman. Beset by so many distorting mirrors, such a man is bound to see the baffling jigsaw puzzle of his identity with either tears or laughter. Novelist Menen (The Prevalence of Witches, The Duke of Gallodoro) chooses laughter...
...retiring to a dark corner to eat, they engorged grossly at a public table, where all & sundry might witness the repellent act of mastication. Nothing, concluded Grandma, could redeem Menen's Irish mother (to whom she always referred flatly as "the Englishwoman," much irking Mrs. Menen). but if Aubrey wanted to become a true son of Malabar and inherit the family wealth, it was not too late. He had only to quaff a goblet of sacred cow's urine and "the sad accident of being born in London" would be forgotten...
...biggest impetus came from being born into a family of musicians. Grandfather A. E. Brain was a horn man; so were his three sons: Alfred, who played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Edward, who finally gave up and joined the London police force; and Aubrey,** England's best before the war, who played with the BBC Symphony. Aubrey's sons are Horn Player Dennis and Leonard, an oboist...
...Composer Haydn, overworked and burdened with family troubles, got the notations on the last page of his score all mixed up. Later, he corrected his mistakes, wrote at the bottom of the score: "1m Schlaf geschrieben" (Written in my sleep).** Aubrey, who had outstanding breath control, once bet Violinist Harry Blech that he could sustain a note longer than Blech. Violinist Blech, drawing out one stroke as long as possible, lost to Aubrey, who held one note for 75 seconds...