Tuesday, October 04, 2005
For those who don’t know, I am an Anglophile. I attribute this directly to my parents influence. Dad, for some reason I have yet to discover, likes his English poets. Picking up his books lead me to Blake and Tennyson. English poetry and Shakespeare were the focus of my teen years. He also got me hooked on Jack Higgins and John LeCarre. British spies read far better than American ones.
Mom, for her bit, would have tea waiting for me when I would get home from school when I was little. My brother would be napping and we would sit in the living room and discuss my day over Earl Grey, oatcakes and scones w/ lemon curd. I am addicted to tea! Black, Green, Red, I love it all and am never without a couple of bags. At home it is strictly loose leaf though.
While these are minor influences, they clearly shaped me in some way. I watch BBCA religiously. Have you ever seen The Prisoner? It is a spook show that reminds me of these language films we had to watch in German class. There is a plot and character development, but it all seems to be slightly twisted by the acid the writers were clearly taking at the time.
I’d say 75% of movies I bother to purchase are English made, set in England or about English people living somewhere else.
I found a local place that makes meat pies and have become addicted. I listen to Virgin Radio over the internet so often that I actually have no clue what is popular here anymore. I pay an absurd amount of money to my satellite company to watch Premier League matches.
What is absolutely ridiculous about all of this is the fact that I have never been to England (or even outside of the time zone I was born in). I don’t even have any English friends. I’m just a self-evolved Anglophile.