CROSSWORDReadmoreaboutBritaininthesegreatnewhardbacksFootnotesbyPeterFiennes
MagazinepublisherandauthorPeterFiennes
positsherethatto treadanywell-travelledpathis
to stepuponlayersof historyandto addto them.
It is notthehistorybooksthathedelvesintohere,
butratherthepagesof Englishliteratureashe
choosesthelikesof EnidBlyton,CharlesDickens
andTheWomanin WhiteauthorWilkieCollins
ashis“companions”fora seriesof illuminating
walksaroundtheBritishIsles.(Oneworld,£16.99)GentlemenofUncertainFortunebyRoryMuir
Aneldestsonof a richfamilywasin a privileged
positionin RegencyEngland,safein the
knowledgethathewouldinheritthefortunes
whilehisyoungerbrotherswereleftto find
a wayto retaintheirwealthylifestyle.Jane
Austen’sbrothersareamongtheexamples
consideredhere,astheoptionsareexploredin
fascinatingdetail.(YaleUniversityPress,£25)TheLandoftheWhiteHorsebyDavidMiles
TheWhiteHorseat Uffingtonis oneof Britain’s
mostelusiveicons,carvedintothegreenof the
NorthWessexDownsforalmosttwomillennia
andyetstillnevertrulyunderstood.
Devotinganentirebookto thelandmarkis
a boldmove,yetarchaeologistDavidMileshas
dugupenoughin thewayof fancifulmythsand
historicdetailto satisfyevena casualreader.
(Thames& Hudson,£24.95)Across
9 Plaster of lime, cement and gravel,
used on outside walls (9)
10 Empress of ———, title assumed
by Queen Victoria in 1876 (5)
11 Village of Upper Swaledale, once a
centre for hand knitting (5)
12 Town in Kent opposite Tilbury (9)
13 Leading 20th-century architect who
designed the Cenotaph in Whitehall (7)
14 Historic county town of Suffolk (7)
17 The Tale of Timmy (^) ———,
a Beatrix Potter story (7)
20 Castle in the Cotswolds, once the
home of Catherine Parr (7)
21 Edith ———, poet born in
Scarborough in 1887 (7)
22 Royal residences (7)
24 Apiarist (9)
26 Scotland’s national poet (5)
28 Sections of a canal closed off to
control the water level (5)
29 Celebrated victory of King Henry V
against the French in 1415 (9)
Down
1 Drake’s (^) ———, an oft-quoted
patriotic poem by Sir Henry Newbolt (4)
2 A long-barrelled muzzle-loading gun
formerly used by infantrymen (6)
(^3) ——— Park, superb Tudor house and
deer park in Warwickshire (10)
4 Traditional Scottish dish (6)
5 Small city in Pembrokeshire (2,6)
6 River that flows through Malhamdale
in the Yorkshire Dales (4)
7 The first pitched battle of the English
Civil War (1642) (8)
8 Archbishop of Canterbury executed
for treason in 1645 (4)
(^13) ——— Cary Manor, National Trust
property in Somerset (5)
15 Mountain in Cumbria, also known
as Blencathra (10)
16 Town, historically part of Middlesex,
now part of the London Borough of
Hillingdon (5)
18 A Gilbert and Sullivan operetta (8)
19 Pertaining to Shropshire (8)
(^22) ——— Warbeck, 15th-century
claimant to the English throne (6)
23 Cloud formed at high altitude as
delicate white wisps (6)
24 Acton, Currer and Ellis ———,
pen-names of the Brontë sisters (4)
25 The Gaelic language, especially
Irish Gaelic (4)
27 A paving block of stone or wood (4)
Crossword no 212
Solutions to crossword 211
Across: 9 Charlotte, 10 Poole, 11 Egton, 12 Kedleston,
13 Balfour, 14 Vanessa, 17 Cobbler, 20 Rutland,
21 Staines, 22 Whitsun, 24 Pen-y-ghent, 26 Groat,
28 Epsom, 29 Trafalgar.
Down: 1 Acre, 2 Mantel, 3 Llangollen, 4 Stoker,
5 Wendover, 6 Apse, 7 Southsea, 8 Dean, 13 Bucks,
15 Nottingham, 16 Aidan, 18 Beau Nash, 19 Rossetti,
22 Witham, 23 Slough, 24 Pier, 25 Game, 27 Tarn
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