J A N E T I L I T Y

I think I’ve said before, there’s times when you see an actor in something, and they’re just so perfect they get cemented in that role for all time.  No matter what else they do, or how good they are, they’re always going to be that other character to you.  Or maybe not ‘you’.  Could be just ‘me’; I have a tendency to stereotype people cause it’s so much easier than getting to know them as individuals.

That’s the case with me and Joss Ackland.  I don’t know the gentleman personally, but I’m sure he’s good and kind and helps little old ladies across the street, and lord knows he’s been in everything.  Trouble is, a couple of years ago I saw him in Hogfather, the BBC adaptation of the novel of the same name, where he played Ridcully, the blustering head of Discworld’s top (and only) wizard university.  As a huge fan of Terry Pratchett’s books, Ackland was exactly how I pictured Ridcully.  Which means, as effective as he is as the tyrannical head of the Barrett clan, I’m always wondering where his pointy hat is.

Hat = wizard, wizard = hat. Everything else is frippery.

Also his hair is a bit silly.

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My first introduction to Elizabeth Barrett-Browning came through the Baby-sitter’s Club books.  Specifically, Babysitter;s Club #8, Boy-Crazy Stacey, where Stacey (the diabetic New Yorker) and Mary Ann (the shy one) are on vacation with the huge Pike clan as mothers helpers, except Stacey falls hard for a lifeguard (who’s in college, I think, ooooo….) and basically ditches Mary Ann to take care of the forty Pike children by herself.  Anyway, early on in the book everyone heads to Burger Garden and there’s a rush to see who doesn’t have to sit with Vanessa, the aspiring poet who rhymes every single sentence.  ”No one,” explains big sister Mallory, “wants to sit with Elizabeth Barrett-Browning.”  It then has to be explained to aspiring poet Vanessa that Elizabeth Barrett-Browning is a famous poet.  Of course, this only strikes me as weird now.

Except that these books are awesome.