Timothy West and his wife, Prunella Scales, had a great fondness for Guardian crosswords, particularly those set by John Graham (Araucaria), whom Pru described as her “favourite extramarital bedtime companion”. At John’s 90th birthday party hosted by the Guardian in 2011, Tim described how he and Pru had fallen in love while solving an Araucaria puzzle.
My wife and I were thrilled to be invited by Tim to their home, so that he and Pru could sign a framed Biggles crossword for the “100th Birthday of the Crossword” celebration that we were organising. What a lovely, mannerly, unpretentious man.
John Henderson (Enigmatist)
Timothy West’s readings of the Pallisers series, the Barsetshire Chronices and other novels by Anthony Trollope for Cover to Cover Cassettes were a real pleasure to listen to. The successor company, Audible, has taken them up alongside West’s radio portrayal of John Mortimer’s dogged barrister Horace Rumpole.
Malcolm Herring
