Barry Humphries (Dame Edna) in the latest edition of The Oldie…

“The character of the collection [at the Russell-Coates in Bournemouth] has not been vitiated by the modish philistinism to be found in other museums across the country. Birmingham’s famous collection of Pre-Raphaelite masters is ‘temporarily not on show’ — which was probably what visitors to German museums in the thirties were told when they couldn’t find Chagall, Munch, Kokoschka or their friends on the gallery walls. A frightened-looking attendant told me a couple of Pre-Raphaelites might reappear during their forthcoming ‘Colonialism’ blockbuster.” [Likely linked with ‘Race, Empire and the Pre-Raphaelites’, a big Arts Council project ending in 2023].

Just as well I’ve seen it several times. Looks like I won’t see the same collection ever again now, as originals, judging by the other things I read about the leftist demolition job being done on this once-great museum. I suspect that many will now think twice before leaving things such as legacies or collections of paintings in their care.

Also a short book review in the same issue brings news of a new Arnold Bennett biography. The reviewer makes the usual mistake of thinking of The Potteries as “northern” rather than Midlands. But it points out that Bennett’s immense wealth (all earned from honest commercial writing and book sales) was one of the key reasons that he was so disparaged by other writers of the time.