I am obliged today to trouble my non-Manx readers yet again with matters concerning the Manx Perspective.
I have had a letter from Allister Anstey who apparently supports the validity of the Manx Perspective saying: ‘Love your sense of humour, respect your status as the Grand Old Man of the Manx media, salute your prodigious output. Your Manx Perspective is a delight also. There are so many worthies with Manx names. But the odd thing is this: all the ones you quote seem to have emigrated.
‘So who shows the greater attachment to this wonderful island, the Manx worthies who emigrate or the comeover worthies who immigrate, who come because they love it? Oops! Did I say something wrong? Please don’t issue me with a “TICKET FOR THE BOAT IN THE MORNING”.
‘To be named with a name that suggests some blue blood
‘Does not make you more handsome or less of a dud
‘And across the wide water they’ve learned it’s a myth
‘That a fellow called Smythe has more smarts than a Smith
‘But right here in the island some centuries back
‘(When the names of the peasants all started with Mac)
‘A young toff called MacIssack, to break from the rest
‘Made the change to just Kissack and thus it progressed
‘So if you would climb to the top of the tree
‘Your last name must begin with a K or a C
‘Any other will mean that your chances are few
‘Unless it should happen you start with a Q
‘And so happiness to be Kewley or Quayle
‘While a Cubbon or Crowe has the world by the tail
‘To be Corlett or Cowley or Corkill is fine
‘And such bliss to be Clucas or Quiggin or Quine
‘But I fear the mere fact that the plumber’s called Craine
‘Does not prove a good flush with each pull of the chain
‘And a sailor called Christian, despite a good try
‘In the end was no match for a sailor called Bligh.’
Thank you, Mr Anstey.
Anstey?
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Meanwhile, I have been sent a cutting from the sports pages of the Daily Telegraph by Alan Bell, my former colleague in journalism, which refers to a man called Chris Kermode, managing director of the ATP World Tour and a big man in the world of professional tennis.
Kermode? Manx, of course, perhaps the brother of Mark Kermode, that other famous Manxman.
Picky people might challenge the right of a man called Bell to espouse the Manx Perspective.
Well, his full name is Alan Kewish Bell.
There we see a Manx name with enormous historic resonance.
In 1872 John Kewish was the last person to be hanged for murder in the Isle of Man.