Best known for his Mapp and Lucia series, Edward Frederic Benson was an enthusiastic figure skater as well as a prolific writer. It’s no surprise that many of his stories featured skating. The best are collected here.
These stories range from autobiographical accounts to clever parodies of society to chilling tales of horror. Many are set in the Swiss Alps, where the most enthusiastic English skaters, including Benson himself, often wintered. They show Benson’s full range of talents and give today’s reader a sense of what it was like to be a figure skater at the turn of the last century.
Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an enthusiastic figure skater as well as a prolific writer. A lifelong skater, he passed the first-class test of the National Skating Association and served as both coach and judge. He is best known for his Mapp and Lucia series.
Introduction
An Inveterate Skater
These Stories
Skating Stories
Skating in Marlborough
The Babe Goes Skating
Mr. Teddy’s Skating Skills
The Peerage Cure
How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery .
Winter Pastimes
A Comedy of Styles
January
The Other Bed
The Horror-Horn
Bibliography
Illustration credits