CS Lewis, The Last Battle and The Total Eclipse

Back in 1999 when Britain was getting ready to watch only the second total eclipse of the twentieth century, the Daily Mail ran an article about the first one which took place on June 29th 1927.
The best place to view it was the Yorkshire Dales, and to quote the paper, people arrived there 'by plane, ship, railway, car, charabanc, omnibus, motorcycle and pushbike'.
Virginia Woolf even arrived by train with other members of the Bloomsbury set.
The Mail included the report of their very own correspondent who described seeing the total eclipse through a break in the clouds with a crowd of fifty thousand on Richmond racecourse.
He (or she!) described the increasing chill in the air as the light 'insensibly decreased', until the sun hung in the east like the brightest and most splendid new moon. The world now waited, dark and cold in a 'ghastly grey-yellow, gloom'.
'The waves of blackness, accompanied by an icy breath, were rushing on faster and faster as though the sky was full of groups of lights that were being put out one by one, and suddenly, as if with one fell swoop, it was night - night dense, sinister, an muffled in silence'.
Anyone watching the eclipse could not help believing, for the few minutes of totality, that the end of the world was at hand.

It was interesting to read that amongst the crowds heading for Yorkshire, the Daily Mail correspondent mentioned that there were some 'college dons'.
Now, in 1925, CS Lewis became a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Magdelen College, Oxford, so it's quite possible that he made the trip up to witness the eclipse.
This is even more likely if you read his account of  the end of Narnia, in The Last Battle.
In the chapter, Night Falls on Narnia, he describes the moon coming up close to the sun and how the sun's great red tentacles reach out for it and surround it until they were like one huge ball of burning coal. Then Aslan asks a giant to squeeze the sun as he would an orange. And instantly, there was total darkness.
It's nice to think that that CS Lewis might have witnessed the eclipse in 1927 and made some notes to be used nearly thirty years later in his final Chronicle of Narnia.

CS Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia

Fifty years ago today, the news bulletins were full of the assassination of President Kennedy, which understandingly overshadowed the death of CS Lewis.
Although I can remember Emergency Ward 10 being interrupted by the news reports about Kennedy, I hadn't yet heard of the quiet Oxford don who wrote those magical stories about Narnia.
Looking at my books now, I can see that my first one, The Magician's Nephew, was a 1964 reprint. They are now all looking a bit tatty, but very well loved because they've been read so many times. Some are covered in sticky-backed plastic, and others not; I can't remember why!
I do remember that I borrowed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe from my friend and enjoyed it so much I didn't want to give it back, and the book you see in the photo is the replacement I bought with my pocket money.
I certainly read The Silver Chair and The Horse and his Boy as library books, not realising at first that they were about Narnia, but very pleased that they were.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was one of my favourites after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I bought it on a Saturday morning and went home and read it all in one go. I loved the idea of sailing to the islands and felt right there with Lucy on the poop deck feeding the hens!
So much of the land of Narnia lives on. Who hasn't tapped the back of wardrobe to see if it would melt away to snowy trees? Or watched the snow falling past an old fashioned lamp post, and imagined Mr Tumnus hurrying by with his parcels? Or thought about Edmund and the White Witch when presented with a box of Turkish Delight?
So let's not only remember the awful events in Dallas that day, but also give thanks for CS Lewis and his wonderful Chronicles of Narnia.
Which is your favourite book?

How Paul McCartney, CS Lewis, and Reading on the Toilet got me into Writers' Forum this month!

It's been a good writing week for me in Writers' Forum: I've been mentioned three times!
Recently, Paula Williams was asking for writers to tell her about how their day job had inspired a story or a novel for her 'Ideas Store' column.
I wrote in and told her how working at a hotel where The Beatles had stayed in 1963 had prompted me to write about fourteen-year-old Molly who wanted to tell Paul McCartney that she loved him. (You can find out what happened in my collection of summer short stories, Postcards and Suntan Cream!)
I was really pleased to see that Paula had included my story. It was quite funny because a few years ago, I heard about her column and how it could inspire you to write and so I became a subscriber to the magazine. Now here I am in it myself!
There has also been a series by Douglas McPherson, helping you to break into non-fiction article writing. I never thought that I could do it. However, one day I watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on TV, and remembered that CS Lewis had died 50 years ago, in November 1963, so began to write an article for practice. I saw that a free magazine had a few articles each month of local interest, and so, because Lewis lived in Oxford for many years, I pitched it to the editor. I was thrilled to be asked to write 500 words and afterwards told it would be in the November issue. On the back of this, I decided to write a letter to the 'Writers'Circle' letters page about it, and they printed it as well!
Lastly, I saw an article in the Metro newspaper reporting on a survey that said that one in 10 men and one in 30 women read their books on the toilet. It also went on to talk about the British people's lack of knowledge of Shakespeare and Dickens. I wrote it up for the 'Newsfront' digest and got it published too with my own byline!
I just shows what you can do, if you look for opportunities and act on them!