Newstead Abbey Byron Society Review

Tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a Local Studies and Children’s Librarian for Inspire, the organisation which runs Libraries & Culture on behalf of Notts County Council. I’m also quite well known as a writer, especially on Byron and on the Victorian Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, who mysteriously vanished along with 138 other Royal Navy personnel in 1845.

As a librarian of many years, what’s your opinion of the recent selling of the Central Library site in Nottingham city centre?
There should have been proper consultation with the public (and staff!) before the sell-off was announced. It seems that at least some of the building will be retained as a Central Library, but even though the current arrangement is like something out of Gormenghast, reducing the size of such a collection can never be a good thing. Ideally there would be a new, better, bigger location for the Central City Library, but at the moment it’s more likely that Nottingham City Council will send a manned spacecraft to Uranus.

You’re now the editor of the Newstead Abbey Byron Society Review – is it exactly what it says on the tin?
Yes, in the sense that we are the Nottinghamshire Byron Society and always meet locally, usually in Hucknall. But we have members all over the world and the Review is about all sorts of Byronic subjects, not just Newstead Abbey.

Such as…
The latest issue has a brilliant analysis of Rick Blaine from Casablanca as a Byronic hero, by David Herbert. Also Alex Headley’s comparison of Lord Byron and the late David Bowie – quite an intriguing idea, worth investigating.

When the magazine was previously edited by the late Dr Peter Cochran it was, shall we say, very academic. Is this a direction you intend to pursue or will you be making it more accessible?
It was certainly more academic, perhaps with more scholarly English lit. material and lots of footnotes. We still have serious academic content, but I’m also aiming at increasing illustrations (it’s full colour) and articles which anybody can enjoy without necessarily being a college student or teacher of things Byronic.

When did you first encounter the work of Byron, and why is he important to you?
I remember my father laughing out loud at Byron calling Wordsworth’s soppy character Betty Foy ‘idiot mother of an idiot boy’. I realised, even as a kid, that Byron was a joker, not pompous like so many great writers. He was a satirical comic writer with the motto ‘If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’. Benjamin Zephaniah, another superb poet, was once asked the rather silly question ‘How would you like to die?’ He replied with the best possible answer: ‘Fighting for freedom’. Byron did exactly that - you can’t get any better.

Tell us about your time as a member of the London Byron Society.
It used to have a rather exclusive membership and whenever I went along, I found myself rubbing shoulders with the likes of Michael Foot, Lord and Lady Longford, Ruth Rendell. Not all of them were particularly interested in Byron – I remember Longford telling me ‘I’m only here for my wife’, but Byron was a bit of a snob, so I suppose his ghost was quite chuffed at their presence. Michael Foot really did love and know about Byron; he knew he was a rebel on the side of the people, not an establishment figure at all. That’s why he’s buried here in Hucknall, not Westminster Abbey.

How are things at the Newstead Abbey Byron Society and what benefits are there to becoming a member?
Our meetings are always with an interesting speaker on something connected with Byron, and you get a nice sit-down tea for a fiver afterwards. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon – Byron is never boring. The magazine is sent to members annually, and comes out every January in time for Byron’s birthday on the 22^nd.

Newstead Abbey Byron Society website