Stephen Fry's love of Georgette Heyer
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ย. 2018
- Stephen Fry pays a typically eloquent tribute to the historical novelist, Georgette Heyer as he unveils a blue plaque at the author's childhood home. Stephen has described Heyer's regency romances as one of his "guilty pleasures" and has even adopted some of the writer's meticulously researched 18th century slang in his own conversation.
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I read Arabella when I was 14. I'm still reading it at 71. I love Georgette Heyer's books and have read them over and over again.
Arabella is one of her best.
Good grief I am 80 and still love her books over and over again
I’ve read and reread Georgette Heyer for 50 years! Cottilion still makes me smile! I’ve learned so many British phrases …yes, like Woodhouse…wonderful wit!!! East coast US
Love Georgette Heyer, and pleased that Stephen Fry shares my taste in literature--glad to have my opinion backed by a competent authority!
Thanks Elise. It's such a brilliant summary of her work, yet delivered extempore and without notes. Do feel free to share. Tim
I’m 81 and have been reading her for decades. Never get tired of re-reading her novels. For wit with romance ..she cannot be rivaled.
Oh! So pleased to have seen this! I have been reading (& re-reading) Georgette Heyer books for over 45 years! As Stephen says, her books never get old! 🤗
Her books travelled with me - from Birmingham UK to Dublin, to Birmingham to Waterford, to Birmingham to Pescara, to Montesilvano. They never get old and the vocabulary is never limited to a few words. I love her language too! Idiotish is a particular favourite
As a high school girl in the 1960s in South Africa I read her novels over and over.. .. even in the history class under the teachers's nose My first language was Afrikaans. It not only improved my English and sense of period comedy but gave me a love of history - English history. I loved Fredericka, the Civil Contract, the Convenient marriage and
her historical novels. I often think they should have made more movies of her books.
Oh, you like The Civil Contract? That one makes me so sad (although not as sad as Cousin Kate). Love Frederica!
Same here from a high-school girl in Zimbabwe in the 1970s.
@@coloraturaElise I know what you mean about The Civil Contract, but it's far more realistic 😄
Lovely tribute by Stephen
Hi from Southern California. I discovered Heyer in the early 70s when I bought a paperback of The Foundling. I was so charmed by the characters, the language and the humor. I've read all her novels many times and believe - hands down - she is the best of the regency romance authors. Her mysteries are wonderful as well, and are worth a reread every few years.
Welcome to the club. Resign yourself to never recovering from this pleasure.
she wrote a series of murder mysteries that are absolutely fabulous! For any Agatha Christie fan - its a must read !
Agree, Soraiya. I'm a fan of them too.
I didn't enjoy them as much as the historical romances, especially with the intergenerational relations.
My favourite author. I read These Old Shades at age 12 and fell in love with her writing. I read her books again and again. I really wish she had allowed them to be made into films.
And the two sequels tho OS is my fave
Me too! (In response to Heather Groves). I didn't realize that there were movies made from three of her books. How can I get hold of them to watch? Would. Dearly LOVE TO SEE THEM❣
My first was Beauvallet and I can still quote it! Many thanks to the Kind people who upload audiobooks too - when space is limited and there's no public library
@@kathyswalve6108 I had heard there was only one made into a movie and that they did a terrible job with it. Hopefully, if they make anymore, they’ll do a better job and also capture the humor and fun of the novels.
I have nearly the whole collection and know them almost by heart. Still turn to them when I need comfort, relaxation and a chuckle, and to move out of time.
Stephen loves Georgette's prose, making a cake of oneself. I love Stephen's prose "Wedding cake White".
Love her mystery stories 😊😊
I must be the only 19-year-old who loves Georgette Heyer book far more than the books that have people raving these days. Her books are so well written. She never imposed any emotion in her characters, always built them gradually
I'm near to your age. I'm 22, I love her books, I love the stories and the way they are written so well. She's one of the writers that inspires me in my own writings.
@@RegencyLady-ho2ik And I am going on 80 in a couple of months and losing my eyesight just in time to discover these wonderfully narrated and many-voiced unabridged audiobooks. A shame that profit making corporations should be able to take away the access to such pleasure, especially in these shut-in times. Not all of us can afford to purchase all of them. We don't want to own them. Just listen ... just once more.
I'm 17 and I can't fathom why these books don't get made into movies! Or perhaps it's better off not seeing them ruined
So happy to read younger readers are discovering Georgette Heyer’s novels. Im 59.
A friend and colleague told me a few years ago that Heyer novels just a delight to read that at her girls school in Co Kerry Ireland Heyer’s books were studied for English.
I discovered these wonderful works in the library at school. It opened up a world of colour and romance and hearing the voices of the characters. I think that’s a great strength of Heyer. Here dialogue. So funny. The comedic situations and scrapes.
The books I listen to on audio books and they’ve been my brain and mind retreat after a bad day, keep reading Fatima. Your spot on they are well written books.
@@annelawton6783 Thank you so much Anne! Your comment means so much to me!
I found my mum’s Heyer’s Friday’s Child when I was abt 13 years old. Never looked back although am a Malaysian 😃.
Began reading her lovely books as a child. I love her gentle love stories filled with fascinating detail of the times and lives of the people from the past, bringing them to vivid life.
Just discovered her. Glad I did.
Welcome to a group of people who enjoy going back in time - repeat trips are as pleasurable as the first.
50 years of reading and re-reading her books and I still don't get bored.
Loved her books since I was a teenager….the language and history❤
How wonderful. I’ve loved Georgette Heyer’s books since I was 13. I’m happy to see she has been honored with a plaque. These Old Shades and Devils Cub are two of my all time favorite books.
Also I love her brilliant setting of fictional characters into factual and momentous times - The Conqueror and An Infamous Army, particularly. I started reading her as a child in the sixties. In fact our history teacher would reference her quite often. We studied the agricultural revolution and people like Mr. Coke of Holkham Hall who pioneered crop rotation and the scientific study of soil amendment and drainage. We were recommended to read one of Heyer's novels in which the main character, a soldier who had fought Napoleon, studied the new agriculture to bring back his ancestral lands to profit. We avidly read the romance and imbibed the history painlessly without even trying. I'm told the British Army used An Infamous Army to inform military officer cadets at Sandhurst about the battle of Waterloo! She was a wonderful, literate, historically accurate, and very humorous writer. I still have all her historical novels.
Arabella got me hooked - and how ! For a spell her books were my opium. I was barely earning and yet I would wait every month so I could buy two more of her books until I had them all. All her romances -that is. I love Frederica, The Grand Sophy, Arabella , Devil's Cub and Faro's Daughter a little more than the others.
Dear Anindita, So glad you found Stephen's speech interesting. I took my mum along for the filming since she's loved the books all her life and it was a lovely day. Is there a big following for Georgette Heyer in India? If so, do feel free to share the video with as many of your friends as possible - it's good to have the ratings!
@@MrTBrearley thank you for your reply. I do not know many fans of Ms Heyer in India but I will certainly share the video with the fans I do know.
I first read her books after finding them on my mother’s bookshelf’s and she encouraged me to read them as well as Richmal Compton p’s Just William books. I was about 11-12 at the time and absolutely loved them. My mother was extremely well read and I was quite surprised that she had so many of her romance novels, until I found how amazing they were. Now at 55 I recently got rid of my smart phone as I was too addicted and have found myself reading again a lot more. I found a number of second hand CD collections of Heyer’s books well narrated by famous English actors and have been listening to them every day on my commute. They are even better than I remember and will be encouraging my 22 & 20 year old daughters to give them a try. My 20 yr old loves K-drama romances on Netflix as only Korea seems to be still producing well plotted, romance drama in 2023. The need for romance novels and Georgette Heyer will never die, she was so talented and her writing is so witty, well researched and a joy. A wonderful gift to the world.
My most beloved books ever since I first read them, in my teen years, and re-read them again and again till the present time, now in the latter half of my life. Love her wit and subtle humour, which I didn't fully appreciate, when I first read her books.
When will someone make a good adaptation of one of her books - or some of them?? She had so many good ones! I love them!
A movie was made based on The Reluctant Widow in 1950 (it's on youtube) but it's not as good as reading the book.
I disagree KayJuli. If all there is to it is plot, then it doesn't matter what you do to it, but the true joy of reading is to feel an entire era in all its myriad characters and language that enchants the imagination and excites all the senses, not just one person's view of what their budget can fit on the screen. In the case of Heyer, the
"adaptations" have all been inferior and will always be so. Only the brain is a time machine.
Like so many devotees, I’ve been reading Georgette Heyer’s wonderful works since my early teens - 65 years. Like Mr Fry, I love her language and the depth of her research into every aspect of the roughly 50 years her books cover. I have heard her books dismissed as ‘bodice rippers’ or ‘light love’. No, no, no. Those epithets can refer to her innumerable plagiarists who range from Barbara Cartland to Mills and Boon. Miss Heyer’s use of the language of the period is amazing. It is totally painless to have learned so much history by reading her books.
I'm lucky to share the same first name of this brilliant author. I discovered her books on Audible. My favorite is "An Inconvenient Marriage." :)
Mr Fry (whose performance of the Harry Potter books still rings in my grown daughters’ ears) didn’t mention her, but my favorite Heyer heroine is Venetia. Always imagine her as young Jean Simmons with her then husband Stewart Granger the sardonically wicked lord.
She never disappoints!😍
Venetia ❤
Stephen Fry!!!
I agree that we need more Heyer adaptations for the screen. Fesrure films of miniseries
I love Austen, a great author. But she died young and left only a few books. Even the best adaptations have a touch too much romance and twee have been a couple of missteps
So why not use Heyer to feed the public thirst for historic romance?
I'm starting to read her works to get closer to my mother (who told me my grandfather, her father, enjoyed her books too)
I love Georgette Heyer and have only been reading her for about 20 years. Not long compared to many of her fans...I have just recently been buying some of her hardbacks with the Barbosa(?) artwork on. They are wonderful drawings. And it got me thinking about how great it would be if these hardbacks were republished. Or even hardbacks published with newer but tasteful art on them. I dislike the newer covers that are around today. But thats just my opinion. Loved watching this.
😊
The Devil's cub and Friday child are my favourites. Dominique and Mary made me fall in love with Georgette Heyer. Is there any movy of the Devil's cub?
You open up a can of worms with that question! Famously - or notoriously - there's only one (bad) film adaptation of a Georgette Heyer novel. Nobody can quite understand why, as you'd think they be brilliant on large or small screen. Perhaps it's the language that doesn't transfer well to another medium?
@@MrTBrearley As I understand it, Georgette Heyer hated the adaptation and refused to allow any of her other works to be adapted. And to be fair, it really isn't a good representation of the novel. I think it's floating around on youtube. But I agree, I'd love to see adaptations of her work that are well done.