Introduction by Joan Giles
the cartoonists wife
I HAVE AT LEAST FIVE HUSBANDS. All equally
unpredictable. All never quite get-at-able. All under the same
marriage licence.
The First - GILES the cartoonist, about
whom it has been said:
"The secret of his work is the greatest
of all gifts of genius, the common touch . . . He does not fake,
he does not invent. He draws real buildings, real pubs, real
railway stations. . . . Giles' success in his many varied adventures
I attribute to him being one of those people to whom the "know
how" comes automatically."
This last remark by Lord Beaverbrook in
particular I whole-heartedly endorse. Anybody who wants to hear
some real caustic comment on high-flown pretensions and everything
else should be around our house at breakfast-time and listen
to the "man of genius" going on through the morning
papers.
My other husbands consist mainly of GILES
the engineer, GILES the designer and builder, GILES the pig breeder,
and GILES the car enthusiast.
1. The Cartoonist we love because
he and his drawings make us laugh.
2. The Engineer we love because
in the monster mobile studio which he designed and built himself
he gave so much thought and space to the all very mod. Con. kitchen
- even if it was as much in his own interest as mine.
3. The Designer and Builder we love
because he converted a gloomy junk-box of a farmhouse into a
really livable and cheerful house.
4. The Pig-breeder we're not particularly
interested in because we think that to be a successful farmer
you have to be a full-time farmer and nothing else.
5. The Car Enthusiast we do NOT
love. Although we think he is one of the best drivers we know
- he drives fast but with caution, his reaction to emergency
is as quick as a cats, and he dislikes bad motoring as one dislikes
a bad painting; nonetheless his love of fast cars tempts him
back to an old pre-war flame, motor racing, and there Husband
Number Five and I fall out. I boycott all meetings where he is
racing and show complete indifference whether he wins or loses
- a campaign which I know will slowly but surely bring about
the divorce of Husband Number Five from the rest of us.
All my husbands, like all husbands, have
one thing in common - fairly regular lapses into vagrancy. |
