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Article: Two 'berds in the hand.(books by Hugh Massingberd)
- Article from:
- New Criterion
- Article date:
- September 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Foundation for Cultural Review. 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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Hugh Massingberd, editor The Very Best of The Daily Telegraph Books of Obituaries. Pan Books, 407 pages, 9.99 [pounds sterling]
Hugh Massingberd Daydream Believer. Macmillan, 310 pages, 16.99 [pounds sterling]
"Are you familiar with the work of the Master?" was the first question Hugh Massingberd used to ask aspiring obituarists, by which he meant not Henry James but P. G. Wodehouse. I can think of no more congenial or reassuring inquiry from a prospective employer. In the context of death notices, though, it isn't quite what one expects to hear. And yet Massingberd, during his 1986-1994 tenure as obituaries editor for The Daily Telegraph, applied a ...