ANNESLEY BUPP was born one of the Bupps of Hampshire--the Fighting
Bupps, as they were called. A sudden death in the family left him
destitute at the early age of thirty, and he decided to take
seriously to journalism for a living. That was twelve years ago. He
is now a member of the Authors' Club; a popular after-dinner speaker
in reply to the toast of Literature; and one of the best-paid
writers in Fleet Street. Who's Who tells the world that he has a
flat at Knightsbridge and a cottage on the river. If you ask him to
what he owes his success he will assure you, with the conscious
modesty of all great men, that he has been lucky; pressed further,
that Hard Work and Method have been his watchwords. But to the young
aspirant he adds that of course if you have it in you it is bound to
come out.
I
When Annesley started journalism he realized at once that it was
necessary for him to specialize in some subject. Of such subjects
two occurred to him--"George Herbert" and "Trams." For a time he
hesitated, and it was only the sudden publication of a brief but
authoritative life of the poet which led him finally to the study of
one of the least explored of our transit systems. Meanwhile he had
to support himself. For this purpose he bought a roll-top desk, a
typewriter, and an almanac; he placed the almanac on top of the
desk, seated himself at the typewriter, and began.
It was the month of February; the almanac told him that it wanted a
week to Shrove Tuesday. In four days he had written as many
articles, entitled respectively Shrovetide Customs, The Pancake,
Lenten Observances, and Tuesdays Known to Fame. The Pancake, giving
as it did the context of every reference in literature to pancakes,
was the most scholarly of the four; the Tuesday article, which
hazarded the opinion that Rome may at least have been begun on a
Tuesday, the most daring. But all of them were published.
This early success showed Annesley the possibilities of the topical
article; it led him also to construct a revised calendar for his own
use. In the "Bupp Almanac" the events of the day were put back a
fortnight; so that, if the Feast of St Simon and St Jude fell upon
the 17th, Annesley's attention was called to it upon the 3rd, and
upon the 3rd he surveyed the Famous Partnerships of the epoch.
Similarly, The Origin of Lord Mayor's Day was put in hand on October
26th.
He did not, however, only glorify the past; current events claimed
their meed of copy. In the days of his dependence Annesley had
travelled, so that he could well provide the local colour for such
sketches as Kimberley as I Knew It (1901) and Birmingham by
Moonlight (1903). His Recollections of St Peter's at Rome were hazy,
yet sufficient to furnish an article with that title at the time of
the Coronation. But I must confess that Dashes for the Pole came
entirely from his invaluable Encyclopaedia....