Jean Calder (1931-2022)

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Years ago, Graham Tope came to Market Harborough to help us in the local elections. It happened that one of the doors he knocked on belonged to my mother, and she introduced herself to him as "the Dowager Lady Bonkers".

Sadly, the Dowager Lady B. died this morning at the age of 90.

It was peaceful, as people always hope deaths will be, and we had been given the time to say the things to each other that needed to be said. For that reason, among many others, I am grateful for the increasing time I have spent caring for her in recent years.

I owe my mother everything for keeping the show on the road after my father walked out on us. And, whether through genetics or influence, I get my wit (such as it is), my romantic notions about England and my belief in education for its own sake from her too.

Her surname after her second marriage (to a much better man than my father) was Mattey, but when she had her writing published she wrote as Jean Calder, so I have used that name in my headline.

Blogging seems distinctly old fashioned now, but I still have an affection for it and intend to keep Liberal England going. Thanks for sticking with it as posts became rarer.

It occurs to me that I am now an orphan, but I would not claim to be Well-Behaved.