And they Live in Jersey (1966) - George Behrend, M.A. (Oxon), F.R.G.S.. Assoc. Inst. T.

From 1966 Jersey Topic, a fascinating piece by Pat Hall. 

 

And they Live in Jersey
By Pat Hall

George Behrend, M.A. (Oxon), F.R.G.S.. Assoc. Inst. T.

About a year ago I read “Gone with Regret”, a story of the Great Western Railway. Not because I was a train enthusiast, but because this was the railway which always took me on summer holidays to Devon or Cornwall and I was curious to know what train spotters were always a-spotting.

This very topical book is written with such humour and observation that I am sure it will stimulate the memory of anyone who has set out on a journey from “pompous Paddington” or ever travelled by G.W.R. Why was the luncheon fish invariably turbot?

The author, Mr. George Behrend, who is also a member of the Guild of Travel Writers, and his wife Joan live at Fliquet and since living in Jersey, Mr. Behrend has spent much of his time writing about trains and sleeping cars; a lifelong interest which developed from a boyhood passion,

When he went to Marlborough his preference for buses and trains to cricket and rugger gained him a measure of ‘avant-garde one-upmanship.’ He had written to Leylands for illustrated catalogues of their engines and in reply, an enterprising salesman from Bristol turned up in a fire engine to see him—a 13 year-old schoolboy!

His study of regional geography while reading for his degree at Oxford, explains why one feels that his books are condensed from an inexhaustible mind of knowledge. After obtaining his degree he remained on as a tutor before joining the Army. He served in Egypt in a cavalry regiment with the 2nd Armoured Brigade under, the then, Brigadier Erskine.

His family have always been associated with the Arts and artists, His parents, who now live in the island, were patrons of Stanley Spencer and it was they who financed the building of the Memorial Chapel at Burghclere for Spencer to decorate. The book, “Stanley Spencer at Burghclere" by George Behrend is the only complete collection of the Memorial Chapel paintings, and the story, told by one who knew the artist so well, gives the reader greater understanding of the work.

Benjamin Britten asked George Behrend to work with him when he started the English Opera Group and in the early days of the Aldeburgh Festival, During this period he spent much time travelling in Holland and Switzerland, not by railway, but at the wheel of Benjamin Britten’s 1929 Rolls Royce.

How enthusiastic was his wife about railways? Mrs. Behrend, who has the happiest temperament, endeavoured to look martyred when she said she hated train travel and when they motored on holiday she was always stuck in a goods yard while her husband went off to inspect the engine sheds. But then she had an early training: their honey-moon was spent in an hotel in the middle of Irun railway station where the French trains passed the platform at the rear of the hotel and the Spanish trains passed in front!