Richard Griffiths, Olivia Manning’s Husband, and The History Boys

Flipping through the recently released biography of Olivia Manning (Olivia Manning: A Writer at War), we were surprised to see the name of Richard Griffiths, who died last week, jump out. If you’ve read The Balkan Trilogy (and are anticipating our publication of The Levant Trilogy next year) and are infuriated by the character Guy (based on Manning’s husband Reggie Smith) you might enjoy this:

It was around this time [1970] that Richard Griffiths … met Reggie, and Griffiths’ memory of their friendship, shared with me in a long conversation backstage at the National Theatre, helped shape his performance as Hector in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys … In an Associated Press interview just before opening in the American production of Bennett’s play in the spring of 2006, Griffiths described Reggie as “very roly-poly”—a big fat guy, very amiable, and “an absolute god of memory of English verse and poetry.”

“It matters not at the end of a book where or how you bought it, but that you read it, experienced, walked with it.”

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James Bridle’s thoughts on the differences—and similarities—between reading print and ebooks, inspired by finishing Olivia Manning’s Balkan Trilogy.

By the way, there are now some 100 NYRB Classics available in ebook format. Have a look at them all here.