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Article: When Darling Buds blossomed.
- Article from:
- Daily Mail (London)
- Article date:
- August 6, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: MARY GREENE
Was the inspiration for the lovable Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds Of May its creator? In the centenary year of his father's birth, H. E. BATES's son, Jonathan, fondly recalls the extraordinary writer. By MARY GREENE
They exploded into a Kentish village shop one Easter Sunday, back in the mid-1950s, when we had never had it so good. A remarkable family: a sprightly Pop with dark sideburns; enormous Ma, wobbling jelly-like with laughter; a beautiful dark-haired daughter of 20 or so, and a tribe of five other children. The children clamoured boisterously for ice-creams, and Pop, refusing them nothing, pulled out a fat wad of notes. And ...