Johnston County, NC - Bicentennial Series ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bicentennial Series by a British Writer Reprinted with permission of the Smithfield Herald By Tom J. Lassiter Editor of The Herald The Smithfield Herald during this year of America's Bicentennial Celebration will publish a series of articles by England's George Marvill presenting a British view of the founding of the United States and commenting on British and American politics and culture. The first article of the Bicentennial Series appears in this issue - in adjoining columns. Mr. Marvill, whose writings have appeared in both British and Amercan publications, resides at Rawdon, now a part of the city of Leeds in Yorkshire, the largest county in England. While he has never been in Johnston County, North Carolina, he is familiar with this county's ways of living and its concerns, having read the Smithfield Herald over the last quarter of a century and having come to know some Johnstonians. International Relationship In 1949, when the late Virginia Williamson of Smithfield resided in Yorkshire as an exchange librarian, she lived in the home of George Marvill and his wife Mary at Rawdon. Virginia Williamson was the first professional librarians with a degree employed by the Johnston County Library. She and Margaret Scoffield, librarian at Rawdon, exchanged positions for a year. The exchange inaugurated an interflow of correspondence between residents of Yorkshire and residents of Smithfield that has continued to this day. A number of Johnstonians have visited the Marvills and Miss Scoffield in England. Miss Scoffield has returned to America once to revisit Johnston County, and she is planning a second return in the early fall of this year, in company with a friend, Evelyn Waterhouse, a retired librarian who was a friend of Virginia Williamson's. George Marvill is not a professional writer in the sense that he makes his living solely from published writings, but he is a professional in the sense that he has attained recognized excellence as a writer. From 1954 to 1960, articles by him were published regularly in the internationally acclaimed British newspaper that used to be called the Manchester Guardian and is now simply the Guardian. A volume of selected writings from the Guardian, entitled "The Bedside Guardian," has included the work of George Marvill. His writings have appeared in these additional British publications: Baptist Times, Breadman's Broadsheet, Congregational Monthly, Dalesman, Music in Education, New Statesman, Views, Weekend, Yorkshire Life, Yorkshire Post, and Yorkshire Ridings Magazine. Writings For The Herald In the late 1950s, Mr. Marvill wrote articles for the Smithfield Herald giving his impressions of Johnston County obtained from reading the Herald regularly. An article by him on relationships between Yorkshire and North Carolina appeared in the Herald in the fall of 1974. His work has appeared in another U.S. publication - a volume called "Palindromes and Anagrams," edited by Howard W. Bergerson, published by Dover and Company, New York, in 1973. A short story by Mr. Marvill appeared in this collection. The blurb on the dust-jacket described George Marvill as "one of the greatest anagrammatist's and palindromists living today," a distinction flatly denied by Yorkshire's Mr. Marvill. In recent years, Mr. Marvil has turned his interest toward producing books. He has completed two manscripts, one a book on Charles Dickens and the other a textbook for beginners on the church organ. And what does George Marvill the writer know about a church organ? In 1968 he was appointed organist at a Congregational church in Rawdon. He continued to serve as organist of that church after it merged in 1971 with local Baptists and Methodists to become Trinity United Church, and he still sits at the console on Sunday mornings. He considers his musical interest "narrow but intense." Despite his success as a writer, he says: "I loathe writing, but enjoy thinking about it before and after the deed." Radio Appearances Mr. Marvill's versatility has given him exposure as a radio personality. He has appeared on the North Regional Programme of the BBC (British Broadcasting Company). He has been heard over Radio Leeds, and he did a recorded program that was aired on the South African Radio. Incidentally, his wife Mary lately has become a Yorkshire celebrity. An accomplished cook who knows how to please her husband and guests at her dining-room table when she's not busy with her work at the University of Leeds, Mary Marvill conducts a program broadcast by Radio Leeds called "Come To Dinner With Mary Marvill." Husband George's sense of humor refutes the American myth that the British are humorless. His humor shows both in his writings and in his conversation. Speaking of his "contacts with the Great," he says he "knew a man who met Brahms" and "has a brother who once borrowed a revolver from H. G. Wells." George Marvill's Bicentennial Series will appear in the Herald at least monthly. ______________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Guy Potts - gpotts1@nc.rr.com ______________________________________________________________________