Portion I (Prologue. Chapters 1-3)

Pre-reading activities

1. Browse the Internet or look up the dictionaries and make sure you know the following things and names.

The Lord Chancellor - formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The lord chancellor is appointed by the sovereign on the advice of the prime minister.

Red benches/green benches - Visitors to Parliament always notice a striking difference between the debating chambers of the two Houses: the Commons benches are green; the Lords are red. More on the different colours (pdf 118KB).

The Palace of Westminster - also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, in London, England is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (the House of Lords and the House of Commons) meet to conduct their business. The Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the London borough of the City of Westminster, close by other government buildings in Whitehall.

The Commons - is the democratically elected house of the UK Parliament, responsible for making laws and checking the work of Government. ... Find out what’s on today at the House of Commons and House of Lords. Track current bills, keep up with committees, watch live footage and follow topical issues.

The Lords - The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK Parliament. It is independent from, and complements the work of, the elected House of Commons. The Lords shares the task of making and shaping laws and checking and challenging the work of the government. The Lords has three main roles: Making laws In-depth consideration of public policy Holding government to account Making laws.

The Chief Whip - is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. In British politics, the Chief Whip of the governing party in the House of Commons is usually also appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, a Cabinet position. The Government Chief Whip has an official residence at 12 Downing Street.

Oliver Cromwell - (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the British Isles. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and latterly as a politician.

The Law Lords - Peers in the British parliament who have held high judicial office, or have been distinguished in the legal profession; i.e. a puisne judge of the High Court or higher office … Black's law dictionary. (the) Law Lords — the Law Lords UK US noun [plural] the members of the British House of Lords who are important lawyers and judges and form the highest court of law in the UK

Gilbert and Sullivan (Gilbert and Sullivanesque outfit) - was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado are among the best known.

The King’s Speech – speech before a new session of parliament.

The Woolsack - The Woolsack is the seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords, the Upper House of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Before 2006, it was the seat of the Lord Chancellor. In the 14th century King Edward III (1327–1377) said that his Lord Chancellor whilst in council should sit on a wool bale, now known as "The Woolsack", in order to symbolise the central nature.

The Distinguished Strangers’ Gallery - The Visitors' Gallery, formally known as the Strangers' Gallery, is set aside for members of the public at the British House of Commons, and is intended for both invited and uninvited members of the public to watch the proceedings of the House. A similar gallery exists in the House of Lords. Members of the public may obtain tickets from their Member of Parliament.

The Right Reverend - The Most Right Reverend (abbreviated as The Rt Rev'd or The Rt. Rev.) is an honorific style given to certain religious figures and members of a clergy. In the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church in Great Britain, it applies to bishops, except that The Most Reverend is used for archbishops (elsewhere, all Catholic bishops are styled as The Most Reverend). In some churches with a Presbyterian heritage, it applies to the current Moderator of the General Assembly, such as.

Thomas More - Sir Thomas More is commemorated with a sculpture at the late-19th-century Sir Thomas More House, Carey Street, London, opposite the Royal Courts of Justice. More supported the Catholic Church and saw the Protestant Reformation as heresy, a threat to the unity of both church and society. ... And surely if Tyndale had either never taught them, or yet had the grace to revoke them: then should Tyndale be my dear darling too. But while he holds such heresies still I cannot take for my darling him that the devil takes for his darling.

Visitors’ gallery - The Visitors' Gallery is the raised area of seating at the back of this picture. The Visitors' Gallery, formally known as the Strangers' Gallery, is set aside for members of the public at the British House of Commons and is intended for both invited and uninvited members of the public to watch the proceedings of the House. A similar gallery exists in the House of Lords. Members of the public may obtain tickets from their Member of Parliament.

St Bede’s school - is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form in the English town of Redhill, Surrey. In the most recent Ofsted inspection, the school was graded as "outstanding" in all areas. It now has over 1700 male and female pupils aged 11–18 (Years 7–13), with around 330 students in the sixth form. Classes have an average of 28 pupils. The latest Ofsted report listed in the references provides further background information about the school, as does the school website.

City Hall - is a building in Southwark, London which previously served as the headquarters of the Greater London Authority (GLA) between July 2002 and December 2021. It is located in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge. In June 2020, the Greater London Authority started a consultation on proposals to vacate City Hall and move to The Crystal, a GLA-owned property in Newham, at the end of 2021.

Pulitzer Prize - is an award regarded as the highest national honor for outstanding achievement in print journalism, literature, and musical composition; Pulitzer fellowships are also awarded. The Prizes were established by Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian-American journalist and newspaper publisher, who left a gift of $500,000 to Columbia University upon his death in 1911; a portion of his bequest was used to found the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.

Brooklyn Bridge - is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. ... To provide sufficient clearance for shipping in the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge incorporates long approach viaducts on either end to raise it from low ground on both shores.

2. Harry Clifton, a successful writer, and his wife Emma spent their honeymoon in Scotland, roaming the hills together during the day, and in the evening, they sat by a roaring log fire reading Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene and Harry’s favourite, P. G. Wodehouse. Match those writers with the novels they wrote.

3. Browse the Internet and find a few interesting facts about these writers. What can you say about their writing style?

Evelyn Waugh	Graham Greene	P. G. Wodehouse
Men at Arms; Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder; The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold; Sword of Honour.	Our Man in Havana; The Quiet American; Brighton Rock.	Thank You, Jeeves; The Code of the Woosters; A Damsel in Distress.

Evelyn Waugh - was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires Decline and Fall (1928) and A Handful of Dust (1934), the novel Brideshead Revisited (1945), and the Second World War trilogy Sword of Honour (1952–1961). He is recognised as one of the great prose stylists of the English language in the 20th century.

• Evelyn Waugh ended his schooldays by winning a scholarship to read Modern History at Hertford College, Oxford, and left Lancing in December 1921.

• Evelyn Waugh's first name caused confusion. Waugh was often mistaken in print for a woman, thanks to his first name. In 2016, a TIME poll even named him the 97th "most read female author in college classes," a mistake that inevitably went viral.

• Waugh had quit teaching. His income from part-time writing and journalism was barely enough for survival. In 1927, he began a relationship with Evelyn Gardner, which was opposed by her parents, Lord and Lady Burghclere. The couple was popularly known as "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn."

• Waugh was hallucinating and hearing voices. He believed that the Devil had possessed him. His medical reports suggested that he had bromide poisoning. A change in his medicine routine treated the issue. Waugh fictionalized the experience in 'The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold' (1957).

Style: Evelyn Waugh is probably the most enduring satirist among British modernists, even though he refused this statement. All his works are satirical and psychological. Among his popular books, “A Handful of Dust” has a great significance. In this novel the writer uses lots of stylistic devices and their combinations make the novel comic and satirical. By using stylistic devices and other tools Waugh succeeded in bringing out the real negative problems of the society. On the one hand, his sentences are comic, but, on the other hand, they are satirical.

Graham Greene - was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them).

• Graham Greene visited Chaplin often, and the two were good friends.

• Graham Greene Quits His Job to Pursue Journalism. After the mild yet favorable reception of his first novel, 'The Man Within', Graham Greene decided to quit his job as a sub-editor at The Times and pursue journalism as a full-time profession. This marked a major turning point in Greene's career, as it allowed him to focus solely on his writing and explore the themes of morality and redemption that would become hallmarks of his work. His decision to leave The Times was a bold move, but one that ultimately paid off, as Greene went on to become one of the most celebrated authors of the 20th century.

• Graham Greene, the renowned British author, was no stranger to mental illness. He suffered from bipolar disorder, a condition that had a profound effect on both his personal life and his writing. Greene's works often explored themes of guilt, morality, and redemption, which can be seen as reflections of his own struggles with his mental health. His novels, such as The Power and the Glory and The Heart of the Matter, are considered to be some of the most important works of the 20th century, and his experiences with bipolar disorder undoubtedly played a role in their creation.

Style: Greene’s strengths are tell-tale description, interior monologue, dialogue, generally at cross-purposes. Instead of plot there are pages and pages of interior monologue, prosing about the pessimistic subjects close to Greene’s heart. Some people take Greene’s Catholicism seriously and take the novels as ‘investigations’ of Catholic theology, or the theology as a tool for ‘investigating’ human psychology.

P. G. Wodehouse - was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeves; the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr Mulliner, with tall tales on subjects ranging from bibulous bishops to megalomaniac movie moguls.

• At school, his academic achievements were not many. For instance, in the Classic Sixth Form exams for the summer term of 1899, he came twenty-fourth out of twenty-five in the class.

• At the outbreak of the World War II in 1939, Wodehouse and his American wife, Ethel, were living in Le Touquet in northern France. They were arrested by invading German forces and sent to an internment camp in Germany in 1940. After he was arrested and put away in captivity by the Germans, he is said to have remarked, "Perhaps after this I shall write a serious book.”

• Although P. G. Woodhouse became an American citizen in 1955, he was also a British subject, thus remaining eligible for British honors. In 1967, he was considered for an award; but the British officials objected to it. Finally in 1975, he was awarded knighthood (KBE) on the intervention of the Prime Minister.

Style: Specifically, writers are advised to avoid beginning with too much backstory. This must be lobbed in later, and in small doses. The rationale for this is unclear, but it is widely accepted to be good writing. “Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.” Wodehouse fares very well on this score. Indeed, his dialogue is so snappy that he writes long passages without so much as a ‘said’ in sight, perhaps a legacy of his time in the theatre. “Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose”. “Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.” “Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.”

Reading and Comprehension