On History, Lectures and the Hobbits who give them

I had the privilege of attending a lecture the other night on John Wesley as holy man. I truly enjoyed myself so much. While the lecture itself was invigorating and had (I thought) a few inklings of quite a fresh, very open and intriguing take on John Wesley’s links and inspirations with other denominations of the Christian faith, it wasn’t the lecture that thrilled me. It was instead, finding myself in a room of somewhat elderly snowy haired men who were passing about information about a well loved subject in the most congenial way I have ever seen academics interact. Less then a lecture, it was like getting a sneak peak into the post-war gentlemen’s clubs of yore. One man in particular could have been Bilbo Baggins, another sat at the back of the room and shouted things (much like the hobbit at Bilbo’s 111th B-Day party who grumbles stuff during Bilbo’s speech), while the speaker apologized about 20 times for not really being the ‘expert’ on the subjects at hand, and deferring to an old crony also in attendance (even though the man is widely regarded as one of the top Wesley scholars of this century). I’m not saying there weren’t some younger, sleeker guys as well. But the speaker and the men that I had the fortune of meeting that night were from a different era. I was most impressed at their interaction with the younger up-and-comers, the young historians hoping to glean from the knowledge of their older and wiser colleagues. Not only did they make time to speak with them that night, but freely offered up advice, contact information and even lunch meetings. There was a (to use a French word as I can find no English one to suite) ‘gentilesse’ about them and indeed about the whole affair. It strengthened my faith in ‘old school’ English academics- the kind best executed through direct tutor/ pupil contact. What a fun night. This, my friends, is one of the many reasons I love not only England, but also the English. Hail Britannia and long may the hobbits reign.