This is my second attempt at writting this post, the first draft I deleted by mistake after I had transcribed most of the excerpts.
In early September I listened to BBC4’s The Reunion for the first time while I was driving. The show was about War Horse (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002htcj), the children’s book by Michael Morpurgo which was years later turned into a succesful stage adaptation and then into a film directed by Steven Spielberg. I really enjoyed listening to the whole episode but one of the most interesting and touching sections for me was when Mr. Morpurgo explains how he got the inspiration to write the book from two different people he met by chance:
6 min. 6 secs. – I then just happened to meet someone who’d been there, and had gone off as a seventeen-year-old to the First World War. He was then an old man when I met him, in his eighties, called Wilf Ellis. And Wilf Ellis was sitting by the fire one day in the pub, called The Duke of York. He was nursing a pint. I went and sat down with him and nursed a pint and finally he told me he was in the Devon yeomanry and he was there with horses. He told me he whispered into his horses’ ear all the things that he couldn’t talk about with his pals becasue they were all thinking the same thing. They were dreading tomorrow, they had a horror of yesterday and they wanted to go home. But you can’t talk about that, but you could to the horse.
7:02 – I was having problems actually writting as a horse. I thought ‘This is Black Beauty you can’t do it, it’s sentimental.’ Then I walked into the yard one evening to read to some children from Birmingham and there was a kid there standing outside the door who I knew was Billy, and Billy didn’t speak. The teachers had told me never to ask him a question because it would frighten him and he might run off.
I walked into this darkened yard in November and he had his hand on a horse’s neck (a horse called Hebbie) telling that horse what he’d done on the farm that day and talking without a stanner, without a stutter, completely flowing. The interesting thing to me was that the horse was returning the friendship.
I’ve since read the book and really liked it. Horses have been my favourite animal since I was a child. I find them magnificent, noble creatures, so reading a book from the point of view of the horse was particularly poignant to me.
Since listening to the show, I then did some further reading about Mr. Morpurgo and I came across a YouTube video of an interview he did with Country Living (https://youtu.be/vao7CWku0Uw?si=aaB1ZCzQpxEXaBLY). In this case, the bit that stood out for me the most was when he was asked whether he had a favourite drink. He said something I’ve felt and thought for many years but have never really articulated properly in words:
2:28 – It’s what I’m holding really. It’s a half of local beer. This comes from Torbay, it’s lovely. I’m not a drinker of lots. I’m one of these people who loves the first taste. So the first half is lovely, the first glass of wine is lovely, but after that I just feel it loses it’s magic.
I’ve never been a big drinker either and, when I think about it, it’s so true that what I enjoy the most is the first couple of sips. After that the ‘magic’ that he mentions starts wearing off. That’s why I’d rather have a small beer or coffee or glass of wine and enjoy the initial taste.
My Excerpts 