Book of the Month - July

Fly fishing

J.R. Hartley

© 1991 Michael Russell

Stanley Paul & Co

Oh dear, but this month, I do apologise! Sorry we had no new Book of the Month for June. The truth is I am still reading the John Gierach title from May. However, this month I have chosen an old favourite, a cultural oddity and something of an icon.

In 1983, Yellow Pages ran an TV advertising campaign featuring an old gentleman looking for a book. The book in question was "Fly Fishing, by J.R. Hartley", and the old gentleman searching for the book was, of course, J. R. Hartley. The role was so convincingly played by one-time successful opera singer turned actor, Norman Lumsden, that the whole episode entered into the public imagination. People really wanted the book. So, in 1991, just in time for Christmas, Fly Fishing, by J. R. Hartley made it into the shops.

The book was actually written by Michael Russell, with illustrations by Patrick Benson. The angling content was edited by none other than Peter Lapsley, angling author and frequent magazine contributor. and there it might have ended, a cynical attempt to cash in at Christmas, except that it really is a very good book. Lapsley's attention to detail coupled with the credible and easy style of the writing make this a hugely enjoyable read. There was even a sequel - "J. R. Hartley Casts Again" and a third book, "Golfing, by J. R. Hartley".

The J.R. Hartley persona was so successful that Lumsden actually took up fly fishing at the age of 85, and was frequently invited to speak as a guest at fishing functions.

Norman Lumsden died in 2001 at the age of 95. He was actually a remarkable man who had enjoyed a succession of careers as a Commercial Artist (he designed book covers, most notably for Lesley Chartis's "Saint" novels), an opera singer, described by Benjamin Britten, with whom he worked extensively, as "that rare item, a true English bass", a film and TV actor (appearing in Clint Eastwood's "White Heat, Black Mischief", amongst other roles) it seems only right that he should be so fondly remembered in an equally remarkable way, as life followed art, as JR Hartley.