Vera Thomas nee Maconochie: Mezzo Soprano

Spotting the intriguing gravestone of mezzo soprano Vera Taylor (nee Vera Maconochie) in Isfield led me down an internet rabbit hole that revealed her to have been a star of stage and the burgeoning TV industry of almost a century ago. Born in 1904, Vera Elizabeth Jean Maconochie was best known for performing in a 1930s show called Old Song Pictures, in which she and Guelda Waller dressed in period costumes to sing traditional folk songs, carols and other music. The idea came to them when they were in the cast of The Beggar's Opera at Hammersmith's Lyric theatre a few years earlier. Guelda and Vera toured internationally and were among the first people to appear on television, as well as being featured on BBC radio between 1930 and 1940. One of her concerts even gets a mention in Keith Stuart's historical fiction 'The Frequency of Us'. In 1944 Vera founded the Uckfield Music Club, which still exists today. She had three siblings: 

• Archibald, who took over his family's Maconochie Bros food manufacturing business (later it became part of HS Whiteside, then was acquired by Rowntree and finally Nestle);
• Margi (Margaret Jean), a racing driver - the 'Miss MJ Maconochie' who won at Brooklands in 1928;
• Jean Constance, who - Wikipedia tells me - went to RADA, although sadly I can find nothing online about her stage career.

Vera died in 1993 and is buried in the churchyard of St Margaret of Antioch in Isfield.

Hemingway and happiness

Here's a quote. Here, also, is a quote that annoys me.

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know” - Ernest Hemingway.

— READ THIS! (@ReadItPlx) June 19, 2018

'Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know', said Ernest Hemingway, according to Twitter and an assortment of quotation databases. Dear old Ernie, the Nobel Prize-winning writer who killed himself in 1961 after treatment for depression. It's almost like he was talking about himself, isn't it? A portent.

Or perhaps these are the words he gave a character in one of his novels and aren't necessarily what he believed at all. Yes, that's what's really going on here. The words are spoken by Marita in 'The Garden of Eden', a book constructed from Hemingway's unfinished notes and published after his death. And, yes, they're the words Hemingway wrote. But they're no more a definitive example of Hemingway's viewpoint or mantra than any of his other pieces of fiction.

That's what annoys me. Picking a sentence spoken by a character and stating it as though the words reflect the author's personal opinion. I might as well quote J.K.Rowling as saying "You know, I really hate children".

Why I don't care about you quitting Facebook

You say you're giving up Facebook? That's an intriguing perspective: the world's biggest social media network has faced plenty of criticism in recent years. In fact, for the past decade many of my own Facebook posts have been about the negative effects of using it. Oh, the irony, eh?

What's the best thing about leaving, do you think? The freedom from intrusive advertising? An escape from being tracked when you visit other sites across the web? Getting away from having your viewpoint manipulated by activists based in foreign states?

Nope, none of those. Apparently it's a bit of schadenfreude, delighting in Facebook's emailed attempts to win you back. That's like telling me you've become a vegan because lamb's too chewy. 

Anyway, surely, after you've quit, Facebook can't keep sending... Oh, I see. Despite your opening line, it seems like you've not actually left. You've not pressed the big red button and jettisoned your account into the void. You've just turned your back for a moment to see what divorce feels like. And, unlike millions of people, you're in the fortunate position of not relying on Facebook for much of your online access.

But let's put my cynicism aside for a moment. You feel as though there are now "new acres of mind opening up". That's positive, even though you offer no objective evidence for it. When I'm a bit sad I'll sometimes have a cup of tea and a piece of cake but I wouldn't claim it as a cure for depression.

One of the genuinely interesting points here -  about the way that Facebook keeps reminding us about the past instead of letting memories fade naturally with time - is lost in the middle, tied up with stuff about mental decluttering (you might as well recommend that we don't read The Guardian every day) and enjoying events in the moment (which could as easily be warning me off using a camera). And, like everything else, it's unsupported.

I know, it's an opinion piece. But I'd like a bit more proof, please. Where's the meat?