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Village Tales
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The ongoing series of novels by GMW Wemyss is a cozy, Slice of Life, Troperiffic saga set primarily in the Arcadian, if always threatened, Barsetshire of The West Country, in Southwestern Wiltshire on its borders with Dorset and Somerset.In publishing order, the books are: Cross And Poppy (2013) Evensong (2015, in two volumes or in a Doorstopper omnibus) The Day Thou Gavest (early 2016); Ye Little Hills Like Lambs (late 2016); Sermons In Chalk (late 2018); Ordinary Time (2020).The series chronicles, in more or less real time, the current lives and doings of the villages, market towns, and hamlets of the district, and their inhabitants (sheep included), often against Ripped from the Headlines backgrounds (floods, referenda, planning issues, and the like). (There are occasional side-jaunts to London, Oxford, ducal holdings in Shropshire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, Perthshire, and the Highlands, and in later volumes to old Lord Mallerstang's beloved Westmorland note Do ''not'' call it "Cumbria" in his or the Duke's hearing, but these are minor.) The villages are "The Woolfonts," Woolfont Magna, Woolfont Crucis, and Woolfont Abbas, with little Woolfont Parva, and the nearby market towns of Beechbourne and Chickmarsh; the wider district includes, as of Evensong, the "Downlands" parishes – sheep country with very small settlements and a Shrunken-not-Deserted-Mediaeval Village. (These are Somerford Mally, Somerford Canons alias Canonicorum; Somerford Tout Saints with Lamsford; Cliff Ambries; Shifford Ombres; Combe Woddley als Waddlycombe; Chalford Mallet; Hawksbourne; Harstbourne Fitzwarren; Harstbourne Sallis; and Harstbourne Fratrum als Friars. And, yes, their history is in their names, and duly explored in the series.) They only look chocolate-box....The land is (and possibly the great numbers of sheep are), really, The Protagonist and The Hero, and the Backstory of the land to Palaeolithic times is coming out more and more in each volume, and especially now that the In-Universe archaeologists have been let loose on it (a major sub-plot). But there are many supporting characters: the local nobility and gentry, an entire deanery of the Church Of England (Diocese of Salisbury), the local clergy (Anglican and otherwise, notably including The Vicar, who is a defiance of all the vicarish tropes), shopkeepers, farmers, servants, and those working for the community brewery and community heritage steam railway. And they all get time in the spotlight. (A character sheet is in preparation, but with a Cast-O'-Thousands will naturally take some time.)Primary characters include the good-hearted but often exasperating and Machiavellian (on the side of the angels) Duke of Taunton (an historian, Fellow of All Souls, former aide to Mrs T, decorated Intelligence Corps officer, and very much a throwback to his Stuart ancestry); his humorless and much-tried sister-in-law Lady Crispin; her aged-but-sharp cousin Lord Mallerstang; the Duke's old right-hander the Nawab of Hublinote The title is Indian. Its holder the Nawab is British Pakistani. There's a reason for that (they were respectively captain and vice-captain in their day of the Eton First Eleven, Oxford Authentics, and OUCC Blues); the perfectly nice and not at all thick ducal nephews and niece, Rupert, James, and Hetty; the ducal servants, led by the imposing Mr Viney, and Rose James the Rectory housekeeper; that old-fashioned painter, the Royal Academician Sir Ben Salmon, and Ben's nephew Lew and Lew's wife Melanie; Sir Thomas Douty; Snook, the most useless sexton in history; Mr Kellow, who runs (with a ham-like fist and No Damned Bar Brawls) the Boar ("A Free House / Real Ale & Cider"); the RC padre in Beechbourne, Mgr Folan; sweet, sexy, widower Fr – nowadays Canon – Paddick and his Good Shepherd curates, at the combined benefice (very High Church and so trad they're under a Flying Bishop); the Bishop, the Archdeacon, and the Dean; the local vet – and his brother, who's Headmaster of the Free School (level pegging with Eton); the tradesmen and farmers; the brewery and railway personnel, led by Noel Paddick's parents and former in-laws (lured down from Wolverhampton by the Duke, naturally, allegedly to run these, in fact to be close to Noel); "Hipsta Chef" Teddy Gates, now a County councillor, and his husband the retired Premier Leaguer Edmond Huskisson, a mouthy, recalcitrant Yorkshireman; Brian "The Breener" Maguire, that Irish-born England cricketer now being charming on Test Match Special and the lecture circuit; The Breener's no-nonsense Welsh wife the Hon. Gwen, who runs the local racing stud; the Nawab's nephew, Sher "Even the Guys Want Him" Mirza, who teaches at the Free School and is one half of a conscientious, conscience-based Chastity Couple with Fr Paddick; and, increasingly, that charming, attractive, wise, and (unadventurous) archaeologist and female don, Millicent, Lady Lacy. | |
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Dropped link to Evensong: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
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Dropped link to OneDirection: Not a Feature - IGNORE | |
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| Village Tales / int_101254d3 | type |
Barsetshire | |
| Village Tales / int_101254d3 | comment |
Barsetshire: Played straight as far as being – most of the time – a place "for a quiet, relaxing time." Not infrequently subverted as far as crime and tragedy being "muted," or the events being only "gently amusing." | |
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| Village Tales / int_10e866aa | type |
Fangirl | |
| Village Tales / int_10e866aa | comment |
Fangirl: Hetty is one, in spades. She's about thirteen as the series begins; it's normal. Embarrassing to everyone else, and perhaps to her in a few years, but normal. | |
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| Village Tales / int_1282bf4f | type |
No Celebrities Were Harmed | |
| Village Tales / int_1282bf4f | comment |
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Lampshaded again and again as a Running Gag. And, | |
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| Village Tales / int_130436b9 | type |
Annoying Younger Sibling | |
| Village Tales / int_130436b9 | comment |
Annoying Younger Sibling: Averted. Hetty – Henrietta Maria – can be a bit tiresome, but she's loved all the same, even by Rupe and Jamie (although with some rolling of eyes). And no one is well-advised to vex her if her brothers find out, not that she'd tell them. | |
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| Village Tales / int_161f1ebf | type |
Relationship Upgrade | |
| Village Tales / int_161f1ebf | comment |
Relationship Upgrade: As of The Day Thou Gavest, this is the burning question as regards the Duke and Professor the Baroness Lacy. People who don't understand their reasons for chastity want one, In-Universe, for Sher and Noel, but that's an Anchored Ship. Not say holed below the waterline and on its way to the bottom of the North Atlantic. | |
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| Village Tales / int_1c6dc230 | type |
Dad the Veteran | |
| Village Tales / int_1c6dc230 | comment |
Dad the Veteran: It's Wiltshire, Home of the British Army. The only recent group to arrive, as a group, in the District are retired Gurkhas and their families. Mr Kellow down the pub? The Falklands. His (Majorly Awesome) Grace? Iraq, Iraq, Afghanistan. His Grace' late father? The Brigadier. The newest curate Fr Bohun? Late Major, the Blues and Royals, and has the MC. The Headmaster? Was a subaltern on ops in Sierra Leone … a subaltern of 1st PARA. The Maths Master? They call him "Sapper" for a reason. Admiral Collingbourne? Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Lord Mallerstang? A Gunner officer in WWII. Who survived Singapore. And then Chang-I and the Burma Railway.... Hari Dhillon Singh, manager of the local quarry? A retired Warrant Officer, who remembers Helmand Province quite well, thank you. Suffice that we say there are plenty of fathers and father figures who qualify. | |
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| Village Tales / int_1c751b35 | type |
The Vicar | |
| Village Tales / int_1c751b35 | comment |
The Vicar: Strenuously averted and subverted in the series. The Rector and Fr Campion are Good Shepherd Sexy Priests ("Becks in a biretta" and "a young Jonny Wilkinson in a cassock", respectively), and inclined to demonstrate that Good Is Not Soft and Good Is Not Dumb. Incoming curate Fr Bohun is a Retired Badass with a Military Cross to his name; a baronet; and a long-time Home Missionary living in deliberate poverty: Real Men Love Jesus; incoming curate Fr Harry Gascelyn Levett is a Cambridge Fellow, a newly-retired professor, member of numerous learned bodies, and the primary expert on church architecture in Britain. Canon Judith Potecary in Beechbourne is tough as nails; the Dean and the Archdeacon are not to be trifled with; and even the Bishop has a spine … and, although a Grauniad-ista, is a former chaplain RN. Hardly surprising that plenty of people, not only Sher Mirza as to the Rector, Fr Paddick, are, as to the Rector and Fr Campion, Hot for Preacher. | |
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| Village Tales / int_1d029135 | type |
Fictional Document | |
| Village Tales / int_1d029135 | comment |
Fictional Document: These abound, including items from The Torygraph and the Grauniad, historical documents attributed to Wordsworth, Pope, Addison, Johnson, and Grey (and the Duke's late In-Universe godfather, Sir John Betjeman), and parliamentary speeches printed in Hansard. Some chapters, particularly in Evensong, edge towards Scrapbook Story and Epistolary Novel. Similarly, there are plenty of fictional paintings and so on by Real Life Old Masters.... | |
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| Village Tales / int_1dfbbf31 | type |
Heterosexual Life-Partners | |
| Village Tales / int_1dfbbf31 | comment |
Heterosexual Life-Partners: Plenty. There's the Duke and his butler, Viney (although Mr Viney is more a steward, X.O., 2i/c, and G2, and is in fact His Grace' fellow churchwarden and vice-captain to the Duke of the Woolfonts Combined 1st XI, than a butler); to a lesser extent, the Duke and his fellow Rail Enthusiast Sir Thomas Viney, nowadays; and, in excelsis, HG the Duke of Taunton and HH the Nawab of Hubli: or, rather, Charles and Nobby; or, specifically, as those who played for the Eton 1st XI or OUCC Authentics or OUCC Blues can attest, "Tempers" and "Tigger", captain and vice-captain respectively of those old sides. The Duke being the Duke, and everyone he knows being fairly witty and often deadpan s(n)arky, these relationships are also instances of Vitriolic Best Buds. Like an Old Married Couple, in the case of the Duke and the Nawab. Without the vitriol, describes the sibling relationship between the ducal nephews, Rupert and James. The Breener tends to be this to the rest of "The Lads" (Teddy Gates, Edmond Huskisson, Sher Mirza, and the Rector, Fr Paddick), but it's mostly subsumed in the True Companions dynamic for the five Lads. Steve Paddick, the Rector's father, and the Rector's former father-in-law Jack "Dad" Stamford, are becoming this if they weren't already, as of Literature/The Day Thou Gavest. | |
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| Village Tales / int_1ed05659 | type |
No Hero to His Valet | |
| Village Tales / int_1ed05659 | comment |
No Hero to His Valet: The Duke and his Staff, particularly Mr Viney his butler, are on a firm basis of mutual respect (infuriating though the Duke can be). At the Rectory, Fr nowadays, Canon Paddick is a sort of hero to his housekeeper, Rose James, who also discreetly mothers him when she can get by with it. | |
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| Village Tales / int_21ef4ccd | type |
Good Is Not Dumb | |
| Village Tales / int_21ef4ccd | comment |
Good Is Not Dumb: Applies to the local clergy – all of them, including the Nonconformists; Mgr Folan; and Dr Jettou the nearest imam –, pressed down and running over. (Patricia Mullin, the Methodist Local Preacher, is wise as well as clever; Canon Potecary is sharp as an awl; Mgr Folan is a T.C.D. man, a Doctor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, and rather an obvious choice to have been named a Chaplain of His Holiness, and thus monsignor; the Rector and Fr Campion are both Oxonians; Dr Jettou is, wait for it, Dr Jettou....) The Duke is a good man, and very nearly an obtrusively evident (although not self-aware) Insufferable Genius (which bewilders the rest of the peerage: the genius, not the being insufferable bit); but, being insufferable; a Knight in Sour Armor; and a grump given to Brutal Honesty; and being, ah, not precisely a Nice Guy unless he wishes to be (or has been given a rocket by the Rector), he's in less danger of being mistaken by others as thick (or soft) than of edging into Good is Not Nice with a side of Magnificent Bastard. Most of the people in the District who are good, are Not Thick. | |
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| Village Tales / int_21f60711 | type |
Good Is Not Soft | |
| Village Tales / int_21f60711 | comment |
Good Is Not Soft: Primary component of the narrative fuel in the series. True to a large degree of the Rector and his curates (one of whom, as of The Day Thou Gavest, is a Retired Badass, of the Majorly Awesome variety, with the Military Cross to prove it), and of the villagers, and of Mgr Folan in Beechbourne, and of the nearest imam, Dr Jettou, and of almost everyone in sight; hit for six by the Duke of Taunton and his old offsider and Heterosexual Life-Partner the Nawab of Hubli. To those not playing with a straight bat, the clergy bring the Word and a call to repentance. The Duke and the Nawab will simply beat you silly with a cricket bat, a stump, and a copy of the Spirit and Laws of Cricket. And twenty bound volumes of Wisden. Usually metaphorically. Usually. And you really don't wish to run afoul of Lady Crispin. | |
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| Village Tales / int_242f638e | type |
Pastiche | |
| Village Tales / int_242f638e | comment |
Pastiche / Parody / Homage: As it happens, an historian moonlighting as a novelist can do a clever job with a 16th Century wool-trader's letter, a magisterial pronouncement from Dr. Johnson, a letter from Addison to Steele, a forgotten elegy by Gray, and a waspish stanza from Alexander Pope. Not to mention snippets from The Torygraph and the Grauniad. And Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe is carefully averted. | |
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| Village Tales / int_24cdd048 | type |
Arcadia | |
| Village Tales / int_24cdd048 | comment |
Arcadia: Even with the "et ego," the countryside is simply better. | |
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| Village Tales / int_2937826d | type |
Hurricane of Puns | |
| Village Tales / int_2937826d | comment |
Hurricane of Puns: Not unknown – with its cast of snarkers of all types – in the series generally; exaggerated at the end of The Day Thou Gavest when Edmond says he's working to create a gay-friendly footer team … and all the non-straight people at the dinner table, plus his mum, begin suggesting names for it. | |
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| Village Tales / int_297ab1b9 | type |
Parental Abandonment | |
| Village Tales / int_297ab1b9 | comment |
Parental Abandonment: Lord Crispin bunked, leaving Lady Crispin with three children. Of course, as her brother-in-law, Crispin's brother, is the Duke of Taunton.... Cue Charles Taunton going from Cool Uncle to Parental Substitute. | |
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| Village Tales / int_2dc0d2bf | type |
Hidden Depths | |
| Village Tales / int_2dc0d2bf | comment |
Hidden Depths: Everyone. Smarter or more powerful or less innocent or more nuanced than they look, and most of them have what they and only they refuse to consider a Dark and Troubled Past. | |
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| Village Tales / int_2df4fa08 | type |
Omniglot | |
| Village Tales / int_2df4fa08 | comment |
Omniglot: Lots of them, all justified. The Duke (there's a reason he was in Int Corps); Fr. Paddick (there's a reason he was up at Keble, and theologians are expected to read Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, and if possible French and German); Teddy "Hipsta Chef" Gates (who trained in France: there's a reason he's a celebrated patissier); Sher Mirza (it's an irony that the only other Urdu-speaker in sight for much of the series is the Duke); HH the Nawab and his Begum ( Sher's aunt), when they stop by…. Edmond has a Belgian gran, but all that seems to have given him is his forename. | |
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| Village Tales / int_2fcf9bbc | type |
Gratuitous Foreign Language | |
| Village Tales / int_2fcf9bbc | comment |
Gratuitous Foreign Language: Lashings of it, as you might expect of highly educated characters, many of them Oxbridge sorts. Smart People Know Latin, after all. | |
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| Village Tales / int_3126c34a | type |
Insufferable Genius | |
| Village Tales / int_3126c34a | comment |
Insufferable Genius: The Duke of Taunton, not that he's altogether aware of it. (Or is he? It may be a calculated bit of acting – the insufferable bit, not the genius.) Can, though, justify it (the genius, not the being insufferable). He'd be a Gentleman and a Scholar, if he weren't too much the Duke, the aristocrat, to be a mere gentleman. Or polite to equals and any superiors he doesn't respect. (He is always Nice to the Waiter.) | |
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| Village Tales / int_31c3bb94 | type |
Firemen Are Hot | |
| Village Tales / int_31c3bb94 | comment |
Firemen Are Hot: The Rector, briefly, when he charged a burning cottage – with holy water – to rescue Sher Mirza: which is why he is now, and was begged to be, chaplain to the local fire brigade. | |
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| Village Tales / int_355e858b | type |
Clothing Reflects Personality | |
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The Duke remains fond of waistcoats, although somewhat more subdued ones nowadays. In that Clothing Reflects Personality, the Nawab tends equally to Savile Row and Barbour … but when he does have occasion to wear a sherwani, he makes it a Badass Longcoat simply by donning it: and the lining is in the MCC colours. | |
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Brits Love Tea | |
| Village Tales / int_375e702b | comment |
Brits Love Tea: The villagers practically flood themselves with tea. It's a very British series, after all. | |
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Wide-Eyed Idealist | |
| Village Tales / int_3ed17fe0 | comment |
Wide-Eyed Idealist: In his way, Edmond. At least as to practicalities. He does tend to saunter vaguely across the line towards Principles Zealot rather too often. | |
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| Village Tales / int_3f11ef74 | type |
Parental Substitute | |
| Village Tales / int_3f11ef74 | comment |
Parental Substitute: The Duke to his brother's children. Sometimes to the point at which his sister-in-law is annoyed. Even after his parents were lured down, the Rector is mothered, subtly, by the Rectory housekeeper (and everyone who knows him: he has that charm). The Rector and his curates are fathers in God, ex officio, to everyone, the Duke included; amongst and between The Lads, though, | |
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| Village Tales / int_44fc28e8 | type |
Honor Before Reason | |
| Village Tales / int_44fc28e8 | comment |
Honor Before Reason: His Grace tends this way … with a Combat Pragmatist twist, tempered by equal applications of Screw the Rules, I Have Money!, Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!, and Screw the Money, I Have Rules!.... He's an Officer and a Gentleman … except he's a Duke, and a former Intelligence Corps officer. He has and follows a strict code of ethics; it's merely a happy accident when it conforms to everyone else's, and the spirit, at least, of the laws. As for rules, he thinks the word refers to one of the only three London restaurants he'll eat at. | |
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| Village Tales / int_469e3e2f | type |
In-Universe | |
| Village Tales / int_469e3e2f | comment |
People who don't understand their reasons for chastity want one, In-Universe, for Sher and Noel, but that's an Anchored Ship. Not say holed below the waterline and on its way to the bottom of the North Atlantic. | |
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Smart People Know Latin | |
| Village Tales / int_47e9e5c6 | comment |
Smart People Know Latin: They'd better, with the Duke around. And, rather subversively, Father Paddick, who was a scholarship boy, is proudly of working-class antecedents, and has no qualms about Latin in sermons. | |
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Big Fancy House | |
| Village Tales / int_4814d132 | comment |
Big Fancy House: The series has its (possibly un-)fair share, although they're all in the best of taste and rather restrained, really, dontcherknow. The Duke of Taunton, naturally, has several: Wolfdown House outside Wolfdown Abbas being his primary seat. His father wisely bought in the rectories and vicarages, to preserve them, during the Great C of E Fire Sale, so Noel is as comfortably housed as is Sir Tom at Davill Court or the Salmons at Charltons or Teddy and Edmond at Chalkhills. The Mirzas, Sher's parents, end up with one locally, having given one up in Adel to move closer to Sher: which is fair enough, as the Nawab has several all over the UK. (His family may have left India for Pakistan at Partition, and then Pakistan for Blighty, but they damned well sent the nawabal treasury to Coutts before anything else.) And then there's Hellgill Hall, in the River Eden valley, which was once in Lady Crispin's family. The Duke gets it back: nephew Rupert is by then heir presumptive to his ancient cousin Lord Mallerstang, whose family's place it was. The Duke's other holdings, which get some page-time in Evensong, include – include – his town house in London, Taunton House, W1 (Grade I); his scheduled town houses in Salisbury and in Bath; in Worcs, Clentwood House (Grade II*); in Salop, Melverley Court (Grade I); in Cheshire, Tidnock Hall (Grade II*); in Perthshire – with its own distillery – Camserney Castle (Grade A); in the Highlands, Luineag Lodge (Grade B); and such lesser holdings as Moors Lodge, N Derbs (shooting box); Renburgh, Cumbria (same); Rawheadgill, Durham (same); Mains of Balvurie, Angus (shooting box & fishings); Linmoor Lodge & Coquetmoor, Northumberland (shooting box); Penbrynllech Estate, Gwynedd (same, &c); Crosby Meaddendale, Westmorland (Cumbria) (fishings); Mottiswell, Hants (same, on R Test); and so on. Previous Dukes were acquisitive, and tended to enjoy a rivalry with the Devonshires and the viscounts Cobham. What pays for it all is the London property and the ground-rents from shopping centres in Dudley and grubby ports in Essex. HH the Nawab has his own share of places to which His People can go for his counsel and aid: Hordern Old Hall, near North Turton, in Blackburn with Darwen; Boisbridge Court near Holme Pierrepont; "Yardley Hall (that oasis amidst the Brummishness of Brum); and rather a nice house – Osier House, on a 999-year peppercorn rent from the Taunton Estate – in W4, Chiswick Mall." And then there's Hellgill Hall, in the River Eden valley of what the government calls, 'Cumbria', and Mallerstang and the Duke insist remains Westmorland: which the Duke forced the National Trust to give back, and which the Duke's nephew and heir Rupert is presumptively to inherit along with the barony of Mallerstang and Swarthfell. | |
| Village Tales / int_4814d132 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_4814d132 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_4814d132 | |
| Village Tales / int_48d9e12d | type |
Funetik Aksent | |
| Village Tales / int_48d9e12d | comment |
Funetik Aksent: Avoided, with two exceptions. It's otherwise subtly indicated with word choice and grammar. For The Breener, it's justified and subtly lampshaded by his keeping up a Stage Irishman turn for the sake of his lucrative after-dinner speaking engagements and his role on TMS as a retired Irish-born England cricketer. For Mr. Kellow, the jovial landlord of the Blue Boar and aging fan of Northern Soul, it's justified – and has more lampshades than a Chinese restaurant – in that, even though his old dad had had him apprentice in every pub from Land's End to John o' Groats (including Noel's native Wolverhampton, where Mr. Kellow danced all night), he himself realizes that trippers and tourists expect a West Country publican to sound like someone out of Hot Fuzz. And he gives them that, exaggerated, to the point he can't turn it off. | |
| Village Tales / int_48d9e12d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_48d9e12d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_48d9e12d | |
| Village Tales / int_49d59be9 | type |
Scenery Porn | |
| Village Tales / int_49d59be9 | comment |
Scenery Porn: The series don't stint. Or, as it might be, stop. The West Country scenery is almost a character in its own right, and has been from the off, in Cross And Poppy; with Evensong, and then The Day Thou Gavest, Cheshire, the Peak District, Shropshire and the Marches, Wolverhampton, the Black Country, Worcestershire, London, Westmorland, Perthshire, the Highlands, and Oxford have had their turn. In addition to the natural world, church architecture, war memorials, canals, heritage railways, breweries, distilleries, cottages, and castles have been lovingly detailed: including their art and furnishings: | |
| Village Tales / int_49d59be9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_49d59be9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_49d59be9 | |
| Village Tales / int_5067fd81 | type |
Everyone Is Bi | |
| Village Tales / int_5067fd81 | comment |
Everyone Is Bi: Edmond believes everyone is to some extent (which may be Truth in Television) and that when it comes to Noel or Sher, Even the Guys Want Him. Which may also be Truth in Television. | |
| Village Tales / int_5067fd81 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_5067fd81 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_5067fd81 | |
| Village Tales / int_50f848cc | type |
Technology Porn | |
| Village Tales / int_50f848cc | comment |
Technology Porn: Because there's not an actual Railway Porn trope. Also applies to farming, distilling Highland single malt whisky, and the Woolfonts real ale brewery and the maltings, with lashings of Shown Their Work.note The cam-boy operating from the Yarncombes, down in the Vale beyond the Downlands parishes, is an example of Porn Technology, not of Technology Porn. | |
| Village Tales / int_50f848cc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_50f848cc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_50f848cc | |
| Village Tales / int_5327b609 | type |
Badass Driver | |
| Village Tales / int_5327b609 | comment |
Badass Driver: The Duke, whose "spirit animal is Richard Hammond"; although he'll tell you it's his driver, Ponton, known to the duke's nephews as The Stig. All the same, the Rector has been in the motorcar with His Grace several times, and refers to him as 'Stirling Moss on C roads': from Cross And Poppy, | |
| Village Tales / int_5327b609 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_5327b609 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_5327b609 | |
| Village Tales / int_55bd649c | type |
Boy Band | |
| Village Tales / int_55bd649c | comment |
Boy Band: With extra years and mileage, a Running Gag for Father Noel Paddick and the rest of The Lads (Edmond, Teddy, The Breener, and Sher). Particularly at the Village Concert. Played straight, these are the only interest (other than horses and boys) the Duke's adolescent niece Hetty has. Hetty is a massive One Direction Fangirl … and not the only character to notice that The Lads: Cllr Gates, Mr Huskisson, Deputy Headmaster Mirza, The Breener, and the Rector, mind: make a pretty good older iteration of its classic line-up. Naturally, the Duke, as they can all sing and are in want only of a ducal Basso Profundo, has them singing Northern Soul at every Fête and Village Concert, and doing charidee appeal C.D.s. With a truly sardonic ducal smile. | |
| Village Tales / int_55bd649c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_55bd649c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_55bd649c | |
| Village Tales / int_55ec42d7 | type |
Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe | |
| Village Tales / int_55ec42d7 | comment |
Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Averted. Each Fictional Document is correct for its time, whether a Yorkist Age document concerning the wool trade or Dr. Johnson's being a smartass about the then Duke, to Boswell. | |
| Village Tales / int_55ec42d7 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_55ec42d7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_55ec42d7 | |
| Village Tales / int_57a9e2af | type |
The Four Loves | |
| Village Tales / int_57a9e2af | comment |
The Four Loves: The primary element in the narrativium. | |
| Village Tales / int_57a9e2af | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_57a9e2af | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_57a9e2af | |
| Village Tales / int_582564f5 | type |
The Gadfly | |
| Village Tales / int_582564f5 | comment |
The Gadfly: Edmond likes to think he's this, and sometimes even a Devil's Advocate. Bless. | |
| Village Tales / int_582564f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_582564f5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_582564f5 | |
| Village Tales / int_583ec33e | type |
Snark-to-Snark Combat | |
| Village Tales / int_583ec33e | comment |
There are inevitably a fair few instances of Snark-to-Snark Combat. | |
| Village Tales / int_583ec33e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_583ec33e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_583ec33e | |
| Village Tales / int_5a23602 | type |
Big Ol' Eyebrows | |
| Village Tales / int_5a23602 | comment |
Big Ol' Eyebrows: Present and significant. The Rector's are well-trimmed but impasto. The Duke … is going for the Gandalf look, apparently. His first entrance, on the first page of Cross And Poppy, is (ahem) revealing: | |
| Village Tales / int_5a23602 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_5a23602 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_5a23602 | |
| Village Tales / int_5cd4cebb | type |
No Badass to His Valet | |
| Village Tales / int_5cd4cebb | comment |
No Badass to His Valet: Averted: the Duke and Viney respect one another completely. | |
| Village Tales / int_5cd4cebb | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_5cd4cebb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_5cd4cebb | |
| Village Tales / int_5d7cfc66 | type |
The Jeeves | |
| Village Tales / int_5d7cfc66 | comment |
The Jeeves: Mr Viney. Indeed, most of the Staff. Viney is less a Battle Butler, though he is (for Int Corps values of, 'battle'), than a Battle Bunter. Fortunately, for all his foibles, His Grace is a hero to his … you take the point. | |
| Village Tales / int_5d7cfc66 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_5d7cfc66 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_5d7cfc66 | |
| Village Tales / int_5fcedca | type |
Big Eater | |
| Village Tales / int_5fcedca | comment |
Big Eater: That Boisterous Bruiser and Genius Bruiser, The Breener. And, to general exasperation, doesn't gain an ounce. Does gain the bemused admiration of Supreme Chef Teddy Gates, though. | |
| Village Tales / int_5fcedca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_5fcedca | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_5fcedca | |
| Village Tales / int_64265de8 | type |
Multigenerational Household | |
| Village Tales / int_64265de8 | comment |
Multigenerational Household: At Wolfdown: the Duke, his sister-in-law at the Dower House, his two adult nephews when down from Oxford, and their sister, still at school. And that's ignoring when Lord Mallerstang turns up (at Tidnock, in Evensong) or Cousin Agatha emerges from the wilderness beyond Builth Wells.... | |
| Village Tales / int_64265de8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_64265de8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_64265de8 | |
| Village Tales / int_64e975cf | type |
Manly Tears | |
| Village Tales / int_64e975cf | comment |
Manly Tears: Blink and you'll miss them amidst the Heroic BSoD at Rage-Breaking Point, followed by Rage Against the Heavens, after the Duke attends his brother, Lord Crispin's funeral and hears one inane condolence too many, in Evensong. | |
| Village Tales / int_64e975cf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_64e975cf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_64e975cf | |
| Village Tales / int_6537cc1a | type |
All Girls Like Ponies | |
| Village Tales / int_6537cc1a | comment |
All Girls Like Ponies: The Duke's niece Hetty. Her only interests are uncharitably claimed to be boys (and boybands: specifically, being a One Direction Fangirl), and horses. Her mother Lady Crispin prefers that she obsess over the latter. Her uncle the Duke makes a number of Thelwell jokes under his breath, but has already registered racing colours for her and bought her an interest in several National Hunt runners. And Professor Lady Lacy … has got her interested in archaeology by casually mentioning Epona, chalk horses, and horse cults. Crafty woman, Millicent, the Baroness Lacy. | |
| Village Tales / int_6537cc1a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_6537cc1a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_6537cc1a | |
| Village Tales / int_692c48c4 | type |
Navel-Deep Neckline | |
| Village Tales / int_692c48c4 | comment |
Navel-Deep Neckline: Spear counterpart: Teddy Gates, when not actually in the kitchen or schmoozing guests, dislikes buttoning more than one or two shirt buttons. Which is just fine with Edmond. | |
| Village Tales / int_692c48c4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_692c48c4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_692c48c4 | |
| Village Tales / int_6b7e3069 | type |
Birth-Death Juxtaposition | |
| Village Tales / int_6b7e3069 | comment |
Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Happens a lot, and most notably in The Day Thou Gavest. Then again, that one is a Day in the Life of a whole rural District. | |
| Village Tales / int_6b7e3069 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_6b7e3069 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_6b7e3069 | |
| Village Tales / int_6bccf2ba | type |
Supreme Chef | |
| Village Tales / int_6bccf2ba | comment |
Supreme Chef: Teddy Gates, the Celebrated Hipsta Chef and owner-manager of The Woolford House Hotel in Woolfont Abbas. Master of Wine, Bocuse-trained, surprisingly even-tempered … he can do it all. But all he really wants to do is to be the pâtissier. Preferably with rainbows involved. Rose James, the Rectory housekeeper, trained in ducal service, and Mrs Woolley the Duke's cook at Wolfdown, may just be a trifle better. (Teddy suspects so, particularly when it comes to such things as liver and onions, or jugged hare.) | |
| Village Tales / int_6bccf2ba | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_6bccf2ba | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_6bccf2ba | |
| Village Tales / int_6d5fb1e0 | type |
Waistcoat of Style | |
| Village Tales / int_6d5fb1e0 | comment |
Waistcoat of Style: His Grace, HH the Nawab, Rupert, and James have all had their days. Specifically, in their successive generations, at Eton. Pop, after all.... The Duke remains fond of waistcoats, although somewhat more subdued ones nowadays. In that Clothing Reflects Personality, the Nawab tends equally to Savile Row and Barbour … but when he does have occasion to wear a sherwani, he makes it a Badass Longcoat simply by donning it: and the lining is in the MCC colours. | |
| Village Tales / int_6d5fb1e0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_6d5fb1e0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_6d5fb1e0 | |
| Village Tales / int_6fc21d06 | type |
Fiction 500 | |
| Village Tales / int_6fc21d06 | comment |
Fiction 500: Averted. The Duke is not yet quite as rich as the Grosvenors (dukes of Westminster). Not. Yet. | |
| Village Tales / int_6fc21d06 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_6fc21d06 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_6fc21d06 | |
| Village Tales / int_7263b4ea | type |
Car Porn | |
| Village Tales / int_7263b4ea | comment |
Car Porn: The Duke's Bristols.note No, not like that. For, lo, they are inherently Cool Cars, and specially so with a discreet ducal crest painted on their doors. And, the Duke regarding motorcars in the same fashion as he does his tweeds, something to be made to last, each is a Hero's Classic Car as well. If you regard His Grace as heroic, of course. | |
| Village Tales / int_7263b4ea | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_7263b4ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_7263b4ea | |
| Village Tales / int_7881f335 | type |
Chekhov's Armoury | |
| Village Tales / int_7881f335 | comment |
For one thing, it's useful for camouflaging Chekhov's Armoury. | |
| Village Tales / int_7881f335 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_7881f335 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_7881f335 | |
| Village Tales / int_79b5677 | type |
Belief Makes You Stupid | |
| Village Tales / int_79b5677 | comment |
Belief Makes You Stupid: Not in the Woolfonts, it doesn't. | |
| Village Tales / int_79b5677 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_79b5677 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_79b5677 | |
| Village Tales / int_7a0374eb | type |
Impoverished Patrician | |
| Village Tales / int_7a0374eb | comment |
Impoverished Patrician: The Duke was one as a schoolboy, for certain values of impoverished, until his father succeeded when the abeyance was called out. Hugo Mallerstang was one all his life, until very recently, owing to death duties in the Fifties … when he wasn't even the near heir. And so was the Hon. Constance, the future Lady Crispin: which is why she married Crispin. | |
| Village Tales / int_7a0374eb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_7a0374eb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_7a0374eb | |
| Village Tales / int_7a77148 | type |
Close-Knit Community | |
| Village Tales / int_7a77148 | comment |
Close-Knit Community: Set in one. Or two, if one counts the Downland parishes now added to the Woolfonts in the same benefice, and being slowly integrated as of Evensong and The Day Thou Gavest. And then there are adjoining Beechbourne and Chickmarsh.... This is why all the sprogs are Free-Range Children and safely so. | |
| Village Tales / int_7a77148 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_7a77148 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_7a77148 | |
| Village Tales / int_7d7a5f3 | type |
Carpet of Virility | |
| Village Tales / int_7d7a5f3 | comment |
Carpet of Virility: The Duke apparently has one (as one might expect, granting his huge mustache and Big Ol' Eyebrows): he certainly complained bitterly that the worst part of recovering from triple heart bypass surgery was having the hair grow back and being unable to scratch. Edmond, who has seen every male of legal age in the district in one or another changing room, and (although utterly faithful to Teddy) can't not look, keeps a running tally of this … and other attributes … throughout the series. This annoys Sher. Fr Noel Paddick pretends he hasn't heard about it. | |
| Village Tales / int_7d7a5f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_7d7a5f3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_7d7a5f3 | |
| Village Tales / int_7f6a0b31 | type |
All Jews Are Ashkenazi | |
| Village Tales / int_7f6a0b31 | comment |
All Jews Are Ashkenazi: Averted: Sir Ben Salmon RA, his nephew and eventual heir Lew Salmon, and Lew's wife Melanie, are, like many British Jews, descended of Ashkenazim (mostly Baltic traders) and Sephardim (mostly via Amsterdam). As Lew – a retired City gent – reflects in The Day Thou Gavest, | |
| Village Tales / int_7f6a0b31 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_7f6a0b31 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_7f6a0b31 | |
| Village Tales / int_842426f3 | type |
Grande Dame | |
| Village Tales / int_842426f3 | comment |
Grande Dame: Lady Douty, in a Helen, Duchess of Denver sort of way. The Duke said she did good works in the parish in such a fashion as to make virtue intolerable. That was before she died, of course. Nil nisi bonum and All That. Both Canon Judith Potecary in neighboring Beechbourne ("I need your validation like a fish needs a chasuble"), and Lady Crispin, the Duke's sister-in-law, will be, the minute they're old enough … as Lady Crispin increasingly is. They still have work to do to get anywhere near to the levels reached by Cousin Agatha and by Flora, Dowager Countess of Freuchie. | |
| Village Tales / int_842426f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_842426f3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_842426f3 | |
| Village Tales / int_84c5ec0b | type |
Free-Range Children | |
| Village Tales / int_84c5ec0b | comment |
This is why all the sprogs are Free-Range Children and safely so. | |
| Village Tales / int_84c5ec0b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_84c5ec0b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_84c5ec0b | |
| Village Tales / int_853df68b | type |
Rail Enthusiast | |
| Village Tales / int_853df68b | comment |
The Rector's father and brothers-in-law (well, his sisters' husbands and the brothers of his late wife) all work either for the W&CR or for the community real ale brewery which does its Rail Ale scheme, out of sheer Rail Enthusiast devotion. | |
| Village Tales / int_853df68b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_853df68b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_853df68b | |
| Village Tales / int_86bb7d97 | type |
Cultured Badass | |
| Village Tales / int_86bb7d97 | comment |
Cultured Badass: The Duke, now he's retired from being a Cultured Warrior, has his moments. Usually involving his not having actually to fight, as in Evensong, when a City oik was berating a Sikh undergraduate. There are advantages to being a Duke; there are more advantages yet to being, in an understated fashion, The Dreaded. | |
| Village Tales / int_86bb7d97 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_86bb7d97 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_86bb7d97 | |
| Village Tales / int_87629455 | type |
No Communities Were Harmed | |
| Village Tales / int_87629455 | comment |
No Communities Were Harmed: The work is discreet with place-names. Roads and topography and rail stations … not so much. | |
| Village Tales / int_87629455 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_87629455 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_87629455 | |
| Village Tales / int_88fd6847 | type |
Converting for Love | |
| Village Tales / int_88fd6847 | comment |
Converting for Love: Averted: the Hon. Gwen remains an Anglican (Church in Wales variety, when young) and The Breener remains a Good Oirish Catholic; and – Chastity Couple though they are, and even were they not – Sher is not about to leave Islam for the C of E, nor should Noel allow him to do so: Not averted in the case of Emily Mirza, Sher's English mother (and an illegitimate descendant of the Methwold family, now represented by the Marquesses of Breckland). Some generations before, equally not averted, when a young lady of the Nawab's family, in the days of the Company Raj, made a runaway match with a young Ensign Clare, and ended her days as Lady Clare, and an ancestress of Lady Crispin's and Uncle Hugo'snote Lord Mallerstang (and, if you overlook some likely Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe illegitmacies, although legally legitimate, of the Duke's). | |
| Village Tales / int_88fd6847 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_88fd6847 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_88fd6847 | |
| Village Tales / int_89975510 | type |
Everyone Is Christian at Christmas | |
| Village Tales / int_89975510 | comment |
Everyone Is Christian at Christmas: Averted as to Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, and unchurched characters and the retired Gurkhas now living in the District]. When does everyone attend a technically Christian and indeed specifically C of E service? Remembrance Day, and no bones about it. | |
| Village Tales / int_89975510 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_89975510 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_89975510 | |
| Village Tales / int_8e92e125 | type |
Lawyer-Friendly Cameo | |
| Village Tales / int_8e92e125 | comment |
Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The Duke's a duke. He knows everyone. From MPs to Royals. And entertainers, which makes for an interesting Village Fête and Village Concert year after year. | |
| Village Tales / int_8e92e125 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_8e92e125 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_8e92e125 | |
| Village Tales / int_91df3195 | type |
Military Brat | |
| Village Tales / int_91df3195 | comment |
Military Brat: The Duke and his brother are sons of a brigadier; Lady Agatha, daughter of an admiral; old Lord Mallerstang, son of a Great War VC (although his case is subverted in that his father died before Hugo was born). It's typical of the class, really.... | |
| Village Tales / int_91df3195 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Village Tales / int_91df3195 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_91df3195 | |
| Village Tales / int_98d3f973 | type |
Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe | |
| Village Tales / int_98d3f973 | comment |
Some generations before, equally not averted, when a young lady of the Nawab's family, in the days of the Company Raj, made a runaway match with a young Ensign Clare, and ended her days as Lady Clare, and an ancestress of Lady Crispin's and Uncle Hugo'snote Lord Mallerstang (and, if you overlook some likely Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe illegitmacies, although legally legitimate, of the Duke's). | |
| Village Tales / int_98d3f973 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_98d3f973 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_98d3f973 | |
| Village Tales / int_98ff7254 | type |
Long-Haired Pretty Boy | |
| Village Tales / int_98ff7254 | comment |
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The 'annoyingly ever-youthful' Teddy Gates, though a local councillor by now and the Celebrated Hipsta Chef, maintains this appearance. Much to the delectation of his civil partner and later spouse Edmond Huskisson. | |
| Village Tales / int_98ff7254 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_98ff7254 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_98ff7254 | |
| Village Tales / int_99390db0 | type |
Saintly Church | |
| Village Tales / int_99390db0 | comment |
Saintly Church: The C of E; Dr Jettou's masjid in Trowbridge; the Roman Catholic Church; the Nonconformists; Judaism; Sikhism; Nepali Hinduism-with-Buddhist-accretions as followed by Retired Gurkhas; and, for that matter, humanism, agnosticisim, irreligion, and atheism. So long as the believers therein observe the Spirit and Laws of Cricket, which may be the real religion for them all. | |
| Village Tales / int_99390db0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_99390db0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_99390db0 | |
| Village Tales / int_99b2613a | type |
Oop North | |
| Village Tales / int_99b2613a | comment |
Oop North: Whence many of the characters new to the Woolfonts have moved: Edmond Huskisson, Sher Mirza, the elder Mirzas, Teddy Gates (even though Cheshire is The Lost Home County), Edmond's mum and sister, as of the end of The Day Thou Gavest.... It doesn't bother the Duke, except insofar as it changes the local West Country idiolect and accent: he has property and titled relations Oop North as well as everywhere else, and no local prejudices. (Bar the East of England: he's in favor of global warming if it means Cambridge drowns beneath the waves. But only after they lose the Varsity Match and the Boat Race to Oxford one last time.) The West Midlands: The other main source for recent incomers to the Woolfonts. Meaning, the Rector is from Wolverhampton, and the Duke then lured his entire family and that of his late wife down to the West Country out of sheer fondness for his incumbent parish priest. And is making a dead set at that retired Apron Matron, the Rector's nan. | |
| Village Tales / int_99b2613a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_99b2613a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_99b2613a | |
| Village Tales / int_9e1548b4 | type |
Old Retainer | |
| Village Tales / int_9e1548b4 | comment |
Viney, Mrs Viney, Mrs James, and all the rest would be classical Old Retainers did not the exigencies of working for slightly mad employers militate against too much starch. | |
| Village Tales / int_9e1548b4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_9e1548b4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_9e1548b4 | |
| Village Tales / int_9f970427 | type |
Secret-Keeper | |
| Village Tales / int_9f970427 | comment |
Secret-Keeper: The Duke keeps a good many. Especially when he is left Lord Crispin's unexpurgated memoirs: finding a fellow Privy Counsellor (and/or Counsellors of State) to discuss these matters with is dicey when so many of them are implicated in old dirt. Keeping Secrets Sucks. Fortunately, once he's sure the accounts might be true, and the importance, worth possibly casting suspicion on the innocent, he can and does tell Prince Charles, Prince William, and Frank Field MP. Meanwhile, Fr Paddick and his curates – it's a very Anglo-Catholic parish – hear as many confessions as Mgr Folan does, and under the same seal (whatever the rather complex law may say). | |
| Village Tales / int_9f970427 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_9f970427 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_9f970427 | |
| Village Tales / int_a201dad2 | type |
Passive-Aggressive Kombat | |
| Village Tales / int_a201dad2 | comment |
Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Er. Snark-to-Snark Combat in a World of Snark between Blue Bloods? Why, yes; yes, it does happen, now that you ask. Frequently. | |
| Village Tales / int_a201dad2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a201dad2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a201dad2 | |
| Village Tales / int_a24670a4 | type |
Benevolent Boss | |
| Village Tales / int_a24670a4 | comment |
Benevolent Boss: His Grace. Of course. Yet more obviously, the Rector. Rather surprisingly, Teddy Gates is one … for a chef. (Surprising in that, while he may be a happy-clappy Lib Dem hipster … he's a chef.) | |
| Village Tales / int_a24670a4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a24670a4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a24670a4 | |
| Village Tales / int_a39d6056 | type |
Nice to the Waiter | |
| Village Tales / int_a39d6056 | comment |
Nice to the Waiter: The Duke, notably, is perfectly lovely to tenants, shopkeepers, servants, and so on. His nephews take after him, in varying degrees and fashions: The Rector and his curate[s] are kind to everyone: unless reproving an erring parishioner. Usually the Duke, who gets it both barrels, regularly, from the Rector. (And His Grace is not undeserving.) | |
| Village Tales / int_a39d6056 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a39d6056 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a39d6056 | |
| Village Tales / int_a3a7c41 | type |
Black Sheep | |
| Village Tales / int_a3a7c41 | comment |
Black Sheep: Crispin, of course, the Duke's brother. | |
| Village Tales / int_a3a7c41 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a3a7c41 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a3a7c41 | |
| Village Tales / int_a5d92fce | type |
Celibate Hero | |
| Village Tales / int_a5d92fce | comment |
Celibate Hero: Thus far, the Duke. Love Hurts for him and all: he wasn't much pursued in his youthnote partly because he's The Napoleon: as he says, generations of tall aristocrats thinking it charming in them to marry Miessen porcelain dolls as wives was bound to catch up with the family some time … until the Dukedom was called out of abeyance and he was suddenly a courtesy marquess, heir to a Dukedom, and rolling in the readies. It left him with a jaundiced view of romance, or at least of debs. For obvious religious reasons, the Rector, as a widower who hadn't considered any other possibilities before he met Sher Mirza, and Sher Mirza because he wants only Noel, are these, and a Chastity Couple. | |
| Village Tales / int_a5d92fce | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a5d92fce | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a5d92fce | |
| Village Tales / int_a632f7fa | type |
Cool Train | |
| Village Tales / int_a632f7fa | comment |
Cool Train: The rolling stock, and particularly the locomotives, of the Woolfonts & Chickmarsh Railway in the Village Tales series are these: traditional-seeming steam … which His Grace the Duke of Taunton got designed by the Swiss at DLM … with contributions from James Dyson and James May. | |
| Village Tales / int_a632f7fa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a632f7fa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a632f7fa | |
| Village Tales / int_a63f45d5 | type |
Cool Uncle | |
| Village Tales / int_a63f45d5 | comment |
Cool Uncle: The Duke manages this even after becoming also a Parental Substitute to his niece and nephews. And as godfather to the Rector's niece, who has a Cool Uncle in the Rector already. | |
| Village Tales / int_a63f45d5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a63f45d5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a63f45d5 | |
| Village Tales / int_a8559a9f | type |
RealLife | |
| Village Tales / int_a8559a9f | comment |
Similarly, there are plenty of fictional paintings and so on by Real Life Old Masters.... | |
| Village Tales / int_a8559a9f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a8559a9f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a8559a9f | |
| Village Tales / int_a8a5e4ed | type |
Christianity Is Catholic | |
| Village Tales / int_a8a5e4ed | comment |
Christianity is Catholic: Averted good and hard. Monsignor Folan, of Our Lady and S Edith of Wilton in Beechbourne, has a (smallish) congregation (in The Day Thou Gavest, Mrs Agnini's death and funeral occur, according to Roman rites; there are Nonconformists in plenty; but so far as there is any active Christianity in the District, it is, as By Law Established, by far predominately Church of England. (In the Duke's Scots holdings of Luineag and Camserney, the locals are mostly Kirk o' Scotland; the Family are of course Scots Episcopalians, North of the Border.). | |
| Village Tales / int_a8a5e4ed | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a8a5e4ed | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a8a5e4ed | |
| Village Tales / int_a8adc5a0 | type |
Like a Son to Me | |
| Village Tales / int_a8adc5a0 | comment |
Like a Son to Me: The Duke makes no bones about his quiet satisfaction in having his nephews and niece as his heirs. Or that the Lads … even, sigh, Edmond … are the sort of sons he'd have been pleased to have had. | |
| Village Tales / int_a8adc5a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_a8adc5a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_a8adc5a0 | |
| Village Tales / int_abe4d7b | type |
Blue Blood | |
| Village Tales / int_abe4d7b | comment |
Blue Blood: Well, the Duke, obviously; and his Heterosexual Life-Partner HH the Nawab of Hubli; and a fair few others. Dukes, marquesses, viscounts, earls, Scots Lords of Parliament, barons, Scots lairds, Senators of the College of Justice, baronets, knights, courtesy titles – including a Scots "Master"; post-nominals everywhere; even a Nawab. And Lady Lacy's may be a Life Peerage, but she's a Lacy all the same. Brush up your Debrett's. | |
| Village Tales / int_abe4d7b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_abe4d7b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_abe4d7b | |
| Village Tales / int_ae3d6438 | type |
Deadpan Snarker | |
| Village Tales / int_ae3d6438 | comment |
Deadpan Snarker: Forget its Cast Full of Pretty Boys, the series is stuffed to the gunwales with Deadpan Snarkers. The Duke of Taunton, Gentleman Snarker, alone had been enough for most books. Hint: he's not alone. Even his humourless Grande Dame sister-in-law gets in a fair few. There are inevitably a fair few instances of Snark-to-Snark Combat. | |
| Village Tales / int_ae3d6438 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_ae3d6438 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_ae3d6438 | |
| Village Tales / int_b1ed0e0c | type |
Rank Up | |
| Village Tales / int_b1ed0e0c | comment |
Rank Up: In Evensong, the Rector is made a canon, and Yates becomes first footman, general valet, and under-butler-designate. | |
| Village Tales / int_b1ed0e0c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_b1ed0e0c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_b1ed0e0c | |
| Village Tales / int_b2f4114e | type |
Heir Club for Men | |
| Village Tales / int_b2f4114e | comment |
Heir Club for Men: With a side of Succession Crisis. The reason why there was a long hiatus between the death of the 9th Duke (at the Somme) and the accession of the present Duke's father as the tenth, in the Seventies; and why it's the recent death of one of Lady Crispin's cousins which makes Rupert, already heir presumptive to his uncle the Duke, the heir presumptive to his mother's cousin Lord Mallerstang. (That barony would otherwise have been abeyant for a time.)note The succession to the Dukedom of Taunton, like that of Roxburghe, follows that of an underlying earldom, which was the first title handed to James II's bastard who was later made the first Duke; that is why it can become abeyant, as no other Dukedom save Roxburghe can. Of course, in the ducal instance, it did mean that the estates were preserved in trust (and the Woolfonts with them: in amber and time-locked) during the abeyance, avoiding most of the crushing Labour death duties of the period. Subverted in that the present Duke is not at all fussed at the prospect of Rupe's succeeding him. (Had it been the Duke's brother Lord Crispin, on the other hand....) In fact, His Grace can't think of a better heir. Also affects the childless Nawab until he settles on his brother-in-law and not terribly distant cousin, Sher's father. | |
| Village Tales / int_b2f4114e | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Village Tales / int_b2f4114e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_b2f4114e | |
| Village Tales / int_bb0c0a4d | type |
Fiery Redhead | |
| Village Tales / int_bb0c0a4d | comment |
Fiery Redhead: Averted by the placid though ginger Mgr Folan. Rupert, the Duke's nephew and heir, is blondish-reddish, and too level-headed to be fiery. Rupert's mother Lady Crispin, however.... | |
| Village Tales / int_bb0c0a4d | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_bb0c0a4d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_bb0c0a4d | |
| Village Tales / int_bbf11c0 | type |
Genius Bruiser | |
| Village Tales / int_bbf11c0 | comment |
Genius Bruiser: The Breener, though he'll never admit the "genius" part. A man who kept wicket for England, Misses Nothing. | |
| Village Tales / int_bbf11c0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_bbf11c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_bbf11c0 | |
| Village Tales / int_c313d43a | type |
True Companions | |
| Village Tales / int_c313d43a | comment |
The Breener tends to be this to the rest of "The Lads" (Teddy Gates, Edmond Huskisson, Sher Mirza, and the Rector, Fr Paddick), but it's mostly subsumed in the True Companions dynamic for the five Lads. | |
| Village Tales / int_c313d43a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_c313d43a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_c313d43a | |
| Village Tales / int_c3cb84e2 | type |
Simple, yet Opulent | |
| Village Tales / int_c3cb84e2 | comment |
Simple, yet Opulent: The Duke – having started (the title was in abeyance and the land and cash in trust until his father was middle-aged) as an Impoverished Patrician who could only dream of being Land Poor – is this in his personal style. When it comes to handing out dosh to others, though, he's very much the Eccentric Millionaire. | |
| Village Tales / int_c3cb84e2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_c3cb84e2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_c3cb84e2 | |
| Village Tales / int_c489934e | type |
Apron Matron | |
| Village Tales / int_c489934e | comment |
Apron Matron: Lady Crispin is on the Proper Lady / Iron Lady / Grande Dame side of this; as of The Day Thou Gavest, Edmond's tough, Yorkshire mum, due to remove to the Woolfonts as the new Health Visitor and midwife, is arriving to bring a touch of no-nonsense to the District. | |
| Village Tales / int_c489934e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_c489934e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_c489934e | |
| Village Tales / int_c57293d6 | type |
Chastity Couple | |
| Village Tales / int_c57293d6 | comment |
Chastity Couple: Sher and Noel. One is the only devout Muslim in Britain who is also, as a musicologist, an expert on Anglican church and choral music; the other is the Rector, a widower who’d never thought himself particularly bisexual. They love each other, but God and honor come first. | |
| Village Tales / int_c57293d6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_c57293d6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_c57293d6 | |
| Village Tales / int_c76f81b8 | type |
Non-Idle Rich | |
| Village Tales / int_c76f81b8 | comment |
Non-Idle Rich: The Duke. And Sir Thomas. And the Nawab. | |
| Village Tales / int_c76f81b8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_c76f81b8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_c76f81b8 | |
| Village Tales / int_ca895242 | type |
Officer and a Gentleman | |
| Village Tales / int_ca895242 | comment |
Officer and a Gentleman: Subverted with the Duke. Technically, he's both; but he's a duke, and consequently insufferable at times: being a kindly gentleman is for the upper-middle classes, damn it all. There's a reason why the Duke of Edinburgh described him as having "a refreshing lack of diplomacy." | |
| Village Tales / int_ca895242 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Village Tales / int_ca895242 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_ca895242 | |
| Village Tales / int_caf8c66c | type |
The Chains of Commanding | |
| Village Tales / int_caf8c66c | comment |
The Chains of Commanding: The Rector regards God's service as perfect freedom. His Grace, not so much. Of course, the Duke keeps meddling so as to load more and more chains upon himself.... He's honestly persuaded he'd much rather potter about with a fly-rod or a gun; in fact, it would bore him witless, and a bored Duke is a danger to himself and the District. It doesn't change the fact that he stresses himself unduly: there's a reason why he had a heart attack in Evensong. | |
| Village Tales / int_caf8c66c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_caf8c66c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_caf8c66c | |
| Village Tales / int_d03fc3f1 | type |
Good Shepherd | |
| Village Tales / int_d03fc3f1 | comment |
Good Shepherd: The series runs on this trope, without distinction of faith or denomination. | |
| Village Tales / int_d03fc3f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_d03fc3f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_d03fc3f1 | |
| Village Tales / int_d080f396 | type |
The Napoleon | |
| Village Tales / int_d080f396 | comment |
The Napoleon: The Duke is vertically challenged. And is the Duke. You do the math(s). You might say … he's short with everyone. | |
| Village Tales / int_d080f396 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_d080f396 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_d080f396 | |
| Village Tales / int_d7fc9fd0 | type |
Vitriolic Best Buds | |
| Village Tales / int_d7fc9fd0 | comment |
The Duke being the Duke, and everyone he knows being fairly witty and often deadpan s(n)arky, these relationships are also instances of Vitriolic Best Buds. Like an Old Married Couple, in the case of the Duke and the Nawab. | |
| Village Tales / int_d7fc9fd0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_d7fc9fd0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_d7fc9fd0 | |
| Village Tales / int_d959d421 | type |
Rotating Protagonist | |
| Village Tales / int_d959d421 | comment |
Rotating Protagonist: Nice hat, Village Tales series; very fetching. The ducal Staff, the Duke, the publican, the Rector, the farmer, the Headmaster, the train-driver.... | |
| Village Tales / int_d959d421 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_d959d421 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_d959d421 | |
| Village Tales / int_d9d8fd35 | type |
Battle Butler | |
| Village Tales / int_d9d8fd35 | comment |
Battle Butler: The Duke's butler, Viney – Mister Viney to you, unless you're the Duke or his family – and indeed all the staff at Wolfdown House. Viney's the other churchwarden (with the Duke), Vice-Captain (with the Duke) of the Woolfonts Combined XI, the overall XO for everything, and runs rings around the local constabulary for intel and investigation. As the Duke says, 'I haven't a network of informers, really, I've a staff' – and the Duke was an Intelligence Corps officer at the sharp end in Iraq and Afghanistan. Viney's less a Battle Butler than a Battle Bunter. | |
| Village Tales / int_d9d8fd35 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_d9d8fd35 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_d9d8fd35 | |
| Village Tales / int_da46a2c0 | type |
Hollywood Atheist | |
| Village Tales / int_da46a2c0 | comment |
Hollywood Atheist: Averted: Dr Emily Witchard the GP and Edmond Huskisson have tendencies towards this, but they are too intellectually honest to fit the trope; and subverted in that, although Dr Emily is dismissive, as a rationalist, of religion as such, and Edmond considers that if there is a God, and he really did create species that could be other than heterosexual and then damns them for it, he is not a god worth following, neither is fool enough to dismiss the faith or the intelligence of Canon Potecary or Mgr Folan or the Rector or Sher Mirza. | |
| Village Tales / int_da46a2c0 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Village Tales / int_da46a2c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_da46a2c0 | |
| Village Tales / int_df2b3ec | type |
Kindly Housekeeper | |
| Village Tales / int_df2b3ec | comment |
Kindly Housekeeper: Any ducal housekeeper, especially Mrs Viney – aunt, not wife, to Viney the butler. Rose James at the Rectory. And, although long since ranked up, Emily Lane, sub-manageress at Teddy's gourmet hotel and eatery.note In fact, she runs the place; but foodie politics dictates, as duly lampshaded in the series, that Teddy be the Chef-Proprietor-Manager. The fault, dear Brutus, is in our Michelin stars.... The Rector is very fond of Rose James, at the Rectory; but is dubious about having a servant at all (still, when the patron of the living and your churchwarden all in one is the Duke, you sigh and accept these things). As Sher Mirza takes as many of his meals as he can at the Rectory, and tea, Rose James is happy to mother them both. Viney, Mrs Viney, Mrs James, and all the rest would be classical Old Retainers did not the exigencies of working for slightly mad employers militate against too much starch. | |
| Village Tales / int_df2b3ec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_df2b3ec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_df2b3ec | |
| Village Tales / int_e3739de7 | type |
Cast Full of Pretty Boys | |
| Village Tales / int_e3739de7 | comment |
Cast Full of Pretty Boys: The Rector, Teddy, Edmond, The Breener, Sher, the ducal nephews…. | |
| Village Tales / int_e3739de7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_e3739de7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_e3739de7 | |
| Village Tales / int_e5484d58 | type |
Soul | |
| Village Tales / int_e5484d58 | comment |
Northern Soul: A major plot point in Fr. Paddick's acceptance and the creation of the Five-Man Band, through the Village Concert. And of making Sher drool over him. Of course, almost every Northern Soul song is a case of Intercourse with You, so.... | |
| Village Tales / int_e5484d58 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_e5484d58 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_e5484d58 | |
| Village Tales / int_e83f211c | type |
O.O.C. Is Serious Business | |
| Village Tales / int_e83f211c | comment |
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When the Rector turns into the personification of the Church Militant … run. When the peppery Duke of Taunton switches to Tranquil Fury mode, run and hide. | |
| Village Tales / int_e83f211c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_e83f211c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_e83f211c | |
| Village Tales / int_e9e28bd7 | type |
Sexy Priest | |
| Village Tales / int_e9e28bd7 | comment |
Sexy Priest: At the very least the Rector, a young widower often described by others as "Becks in a biretta" (and, for that matter, "Captain Carrot in a cassock"), and the senior curate Fr Campion, sometimes called "a young Jonny Wilkinson in a dog-collar", qualify. Or over-qualify. | |
| Village Tales / int_e9e28bd7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_e9e28bd7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_e9e28bd7 | |
| Village Tales / int_ea262717 | type |
Remittance Man | |
| Village Tales / int_ea262717 | comment |
Remittance Man: Lord – wait for it – Crispin. Before his redeeming death. | |
| Village Tales / int_ea262717 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_ea262717 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_ea262717 | |
| Village Tales / int_ea44cd34 | type |
Britain Is Only London | |
| Village Tales / int_ea44cd34 | comment |
Britain Is Only London: Averted … and vociferously rejected In-Universe. Not only is the setting neither London nor the Home Counties, the characters generally detest going up to London, which they do only if forced. | |
| Village Tales / int_ea44cd34 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_ea44cd34 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_ea44cd34 | |
| Village Tales / int_ec200a54 | type |
Steam Never Dies | |
| Village Tales / int_ec200a54 | comment |
Steam Never Dies: At least not in the Woolfonts. The Woolfonts & Chickmarsh Railway (sneakily begun as a preserved heritage railway and then microfranchised to become indispensable to the entire British rail network) runs Cool Train steam locos … which look quite traditional, but are marvels of modern engineering. The Rector's father and brothers-in-law (well, his sisters' husbands and the brothers of his late wife) all work either for the W&CR or for the community real ale brewery which does its Rail Ale scheme, out of sheer Rail Enthusiast devotion. | |
| Village Tales / int_ec200a54 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_ec200a54 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_ec200a54 | |
| Village Tales / int_ec212e4d | type |
Ensemble Cast | |
| Village Tales / int_ec212e4d | comment |
Ensemble Cast: Unless one counts The Land as the protagonist. | |
| Village Tales / int_ec212e4d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_ec212e4d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_ec212e4d | |
| Village Tales / int_ecc643 | type |
But I Would Really Enjoy It | |
| Village Tales / int_ecc643 | comment |
But I Would Really Enjoy It: Sher Mirza and Canon Noel Paddick are a Chastity Couple owing only to considerable discipline. And far too many people who wish them well and ought to understand better why this is so, wish they'd give themselves a Relationship Upgrade. | |
| Village Tales / int_ecc643 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_ecc643 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_ecc643 | |
| Village Tales / int_ef20dac5 | type |
Servile Snarker | |
| Village Tales / int_ef20dac5 | comment |
Servile Snarker: Viney, the Duke's butler, would be one … only he's not servile. On duty, he and the Duke may be butler and Duke; but they are also the two churchwardens for the combined benefice, and vice-captain and captain, respectively, of the District Eleven. | |
| Village Tales / int_ef20dac5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_ef20dac5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_ef20dac5 | |
| Village Tales / int_f23ad6de | type |
Food Porn | |
| Village Tales / int_f23ad6de | comment |
Food Porn: Between the ducal kitchens, Rose James as Fr Paddick's housekeeper at the Rectory, and Supreme Chef Teddy Gates, this is a given in any work in the Village Tales series. (The pub grub down the Boar's not bad, either.) It will surprise no one if the franchise in time runs to a cookbook. Or three. | |
| Village Tales / int_f23ad6de | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_f23ad6de | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_f23ad6de | |
| Village Tales / int_f24d830f | type |
Redheads Are Uncool | |
| Village Tales / int_f24d830f | comment |
Redheads Are Uncool: Lampshaded. Mgr Folan may have been this as a schoolboy … if The Breener, who was at Downside with him, is to be believed. | |
| Village Tales / int_f24d830f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_f24d830f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_f24d830f | |
| Village Tales / int_fccd06b6 | type |
Beware the Nice Ones | |
| Village Tales / int_fccd06b6 | comment |
Beware the Nice Ones / Beware the Quiet Ones: This is Rule Number One in the Woolfonts. Particularly with the clergy. | |
| Village Tales / int_fccd06b6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_fccd06b6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_fccd06b6 | |
| Village Tales / int_fea42091 | type |
Badass Preacher | |
| Village Tales / int_fea42091 | comment |
Badass Preacher: The default setting for the C of E – no, really – as well as the Roman Catholic Church. And the Nonconformists. Spiritually and when called upon to be; physically if pushed to it. (The Rector used to box, after all; curate Fr Campion rowed for Keble; incoming curate Fr Bohun is, formally, Retired Badass the Revd Sir Gilbert Bohun Bt MC – yes: Military Cross –, late Major, the Blues and Royals.) And then there are the Sikhs, obviously. Lew Salmon is not to be trifled with, either. And the only Hindus and/or Buddhists in the District (there's a lot of syncretism with this particular group) are retired Gurkhas. So.... If you want a near-pacifist in the Woolfonts … send over to the Trowbridge masjid for Dr Jettou, the imam. (Whose wife, by the way, is an academic lawyer whose specialism is the law of armed conflict.) | |
| Village Tales / int_fea42091 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_fea42091 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_fea42091 | |
| Village Tales / int_ffad4e9f | type |
Shown Their Work | |
| Village Tales / int_ffad4e9f | comment |
Shown Their Work: You can almost book your own rail journey by following the characters' own when they take them; the Technology Porn, whether it involves sheep, barley, brewing, or steam trains, is spot on; and the series is a quick course in history, ecclesiastical architecture, archaeology, the canons of the C of E, and the British peerage and Honours System. And the pastiches, in Evensong, of Pope, Addison, and the other Augustans skewering a previous Duke are magnificent. Johnson, to Boswell: | |
| Village Tales / int_ffad4e9f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_ffad4e9f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_ffad4e9f | |
| Village Tales / int_name | type |
ItemName | |
| Village Tales / int_name | comment |
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| Village Tales / int_name | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales / int_name | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Village Tales | hasFeature |
Village Tales / int_name | |
| Village Tales / int_name | itemName |
Village Tales |
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