Twelve-Year-Old Joan Cope Writes Her Memoirs

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 29, 30 December 1938, Page 12

Twelve-Year-Old Joan Cope Writes Her Memoirs

Famous Names Litter Juvenile Pages

SOMEHOW it seems an heroic thing to write one’s memoirs at the age of 12, not because one has little to remember at that tender age, but that any sustained task is contrary to the fitful, day-to-day exuberances of the very young. Admittedly Joan Penelope Cope has more incentive to record her memoirs than most children, for 11 of ker 12 years have been spent in the home of her fathers, Bramshill, one of the greatest of the great old houses of England. In simple, direct and charm‘ing style, Joan Cope tells of her infant years at Bramshill, of a holiday in Switzerland with her grandmother and Jittle brother. . . "As we approached. Switz1 became more and more peevish-and expressed my disgust at the lowness of the rocky railway embankments [ tock to he mountains. .. ." ney" ‘Famous names litter the pages of Bramshill in a pleasantly unstudied way; Philip de Lazslo assured the young author that he could teach her nothing in the way of drawing-~ (several. of her drawings, some in colour; grace the bool); the then Prince .of -Wales came to. inspect Bramshill, "a great many people accompanying him, including Mrs. —

Simpson," and remarked that "There’s nothing I like more than seeing old houses... Id get up at six o’clock in the morning to see an old house..." Prince John of Spain came to Mass in Bramshill’s private chapel, and "we had a new priest that morning ... he unfor- . tunately delivered a long sermes on Henry Vill divorcing Fis wives. | thought it rather unsuitable at that moment to criticise Kings." Bramshill, which has been in the possession of the Cope family since the days of Edward the Confessor, is the scene of the legend of the Mistletoe Bride, and has at Jsast half a dozen well-vouched-for ghosts to adorn its galleries and battle ments, Not the least charming cf Joan’s writings is her "apology" for the book being published ‘without any spelling corrections or other alterations having been made in the sriginal. Had she known "Brarnshill" was to be published she would, she. says, | "have been more. discreet. . .°- A.R.M. "Bramshill-the -Memoirs of Joan Penelope Cope.’ Constable, Lonon, Our copy from the publishers.