Not to be, unfortunately. This year’s stock of amazing coincidences and good fortune has been used up. But no matter. It’s enough that our exertions are finally rewarded when below us in a cleft of hills, facing the sea, we spy the long solid structure of Barnhill. White-painted walls gleaming in the sunlight and roof of grey slate. Having met, however briefly, the couple renting it, I tell myself that taking a snoop around and snapping some photos isn’t too much of an intrusion. In my mind’s eye I picture Orwell living on the property, his tall, almost emaciated stick-like figure bent over in the vegetable patch (it was just after the war
when food was scarce) and preparing meals in the farmhouse kitchen. I even know which bedroom he worked in – upstairs left as you face the house. Propped up on pillows, portable typewriter on his knees, here he battled against time and ill-health to complete his masterpiece, a roll-up of strong dark tobacco between his lips, which can’t have helped the TB much. Our visit was soon over – less than an hour, with the light failing – but for me it was enough: Mission accomplished. I’d made the pilgrimage, walked the same track my literary hero had trod, peeked inside the house where one of the most famous and
n Joe allen
Genesis on acid: The cartoons of Creationism
O
nce again, Creationist
Ken Ham is hogging the spotlight. A recent PBS documentary We Believe in Dinosaurs was crafted to make Young Earth Creationists look silly. The producers didn’t have to put forth much effort. Their unflattering portrait basically sketched itself: Biblethumping barkers defend the reality of plastic half-angel giants who live side-by-side with a latex T. Rex. Regardless of your belief system, the film’s subject is fas-
cinating. In the tradition of Jack Chick’s brilliant pocket-sized comics, self-promoting evangelist Ken Ham has built a massive replica of Noah’s Ark in rural Kentucky. His masterpiece, completed in 2016, doubles as a biting parody of religious faith. “It’s bigger than imagination”, as his slogan goes. By the end of the documentary, I had to wonder if the attention-hungry Ham is actually trying to inoculate the public against the Bible. Skeptics have long asked, sarcastically, if Adam and Eve
influential books of the 20thcentury had first seen the light of day. Author’s postscript: Nineteen Eighty-Four was completed at Barnhill in December 1948 and published in June 1949. Orwell died in hospital on 21 January of the following year. On his deathbed he married Sonia Brownell, an editorial assistant on Horizon magazine, who became the second Mrs Blair and inherited his estate. CT Trevor Hoyle is a writer and novelist based in Lancashire, England. His most recent novel is the environmental thriller The Last Gasp, published by Jo Fletcher Books (Quercus).
rode dinosaurs in Eden. After all, geologists have been poking around in the earth for centuries. The resulting fossil record is undeniable. Therefore the fundamentalist’s logical answer, following a literal reading of Genesis, is “yes”. Of course dinosaurs walked the Earth! Some were even sacrificed by the Lord’s faithful servants. Obviously they were killed off in the Great Flood. If you don’t believe it, you can drive to Kentucky and see the evidence yourself. And if you get off on denouncing all Christians as gullible, head down to the Ark’s hull. You’ll find a pile of cheap ammo ten cubits high. Ken Ham’s stated purpose is to harmonise the facts of science with the Bible’s authority. What he does is transmute a sacred ColdType | March 2020 | www.coldtype.net
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