On May 29, 1906 a wonderful bit of magic entered the world. T. H. (Terence Hanbury) White, author of The Once and Future King, was born in Bombay, India, to English parents employed by the British civil service. Do take the time to read his Wikipedia bio as he was a fascinating, complex, and intriguing man.
Most readers know him simply as the man who took the old Arthurian legends and wove the tale of "Wart" and Merlin into an absorbing series of stories that turned myth into a human story of child becoming man, love turning to loss, and the eventual glory of simply doing ones duty. This amazing series of stories was so detailed and involved, that other media could only take tiny pieces of it. The childhood became a Disney movie, and the adulthood a great broadway musical. Neither of these, as wonderful as they are, came close to the magic found in the books of T. H. White.
King Arthur: "Our lives are like water that forms big waves of the sea, moving and welling for the most part in darkness. But occasionally a few drops break through the air and are caught in the sunlight, and some of them sparkle. Oh, Pelly, they do sparkle!"
May you all find and keep your own Camelot.
1 comment:
I can never decided whether I prefer Mr Burton or Mr Harris as Arthur. I guess it depends on which one I'm watching at the time.
And I love T.H. White.
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