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Raymond Chandler given blue plaque in mean streets of Upper Norwood Raymond Chandler given blue plaque in mean streets of Upper Norwood
(about 2 hours later)
Down those not very mean streets of Dulwich and Upper Norwood a man must go, to see a new English Heritage blue plaque honouring one of the most improbable residents of the leafy and affluent south London suburbs: Raymond Chandler, creator of Philip Marlowe, the 10-minute egg of the world of hard-boiled detectives.Down those not very mean streets of Dulwich and Upper Norwood a man must go, to see a new English Heritage blue plaque honouring one of the most improbable residents of the leafy and affluent south London suburbs: Raymond Chandler, creator of Philip Marlowe, the 10-minute egg of the world of hard-boiled detectives.
The clue was in the name: while the rumpled, hungover but noble detective would have looked, as Chandler wrote in The Big Sleep, “about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food” in Edwardian Norwood, he was christened Marlowe in honour of Chandler’s house at his old school, Dulwich College. The clue was in the name: while the rumpled, hungover but noble detective would have looked, as Chandler wrote in Farewell, My Lovely, “about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food” in Edwardian Norwood, he was christened Marlowe in honour of Chandler’s house at his old school, Dulwich College.
The author of Farewell, My Lovely, The Big Sleep, and The Long Goodbye, whose detective hero was immortalised on screen by Humphrey Bogart, later stayed at more obviously Chandleresque locations including the Connaught and the Ritz. The plaque, however, has been unveiled on a house at Auckland Road, Upper Norwood, a double-fronted Victorian villa that became the London home where he lived longest, from 1900 to 1905, while he was a day student at the college preparing for his civil service exams.The author of Farewell, My Lovely, The Big Sleep, and The Long Goodbye, whose detective hero was immortalised on screen by Humphrey Bogart, later stayed at more obviously Chandleresque locations including the Connaught and the Ritz. The plaque, however, has been unveiled on a house at Auckland Road, Upper Norwood, a double-fronted Victorian villa that became the London home where he lived longest, from 1900 to 1905, while he was a day student at the college preparing for his civil service exams.
His biographer, Tom Williams, said the connection came as a surprise to many. “Chandler seems Californian through and through but he was born in Chicago and educated in London. He took two very important things from Dulwich: a grounding in the classics that protected him against pretension, which made his writing so very much better than most of his contemporaries, and a chivalric code of patriotism and honour, very much the ethos promoted in public schools of the day, which is at the core of Marlowe,” he said.His biographer, Tom Williams, said the connection came as a surprise to many. “Chandler seems Californian through and through but he was born in Chicago and educated in London. He took two very important things from Dulwich: a grounding in the classics that protected him against pretension, which made his writing so very much better than most of his contemporaries, and a chivalric code of patriotism and honour, very much the ethos promoted in public schools of the day, which is at the core of Marlowe,” he said.
Chandler described his Marlowe as “a shop-soiled Galahad”, and Williams pointed out that he studied in Dulwich library under a painting of the Arthurian hero by the Victorian artist GF Watts. “Every Marlowe story is essentially a grail quest,” he said.Chandler described his Marlowe as “a shop-soiled Galahad”, and Williams pointed out that he studied in Dulwich library under a painting of the Arthurian hero by the Victorian artist GF Watts. “Every Marlowe story is essentially a grail quest,” he said.
Chandler kept up the connection with the school long after he returned to the US, making a friend for life in a San Francisco coffee shop because they were both wearing their old school boaters, and sending back food parcels in the second world war to one of his teachers.Chandler kept up the connection with the school long after he returned to the US, making a friend for life in a San Francisco coffee shop because they were both wearing their old school boaters, and sending back food parcels in the second world war to one of his teachers.
Chandler came to London from the States with his Irish mother after his father abandoned the family: an uncle paid for their accommodation and his school fees, but refused to pay for him to go on to university. Chandler had already tried journalism and poetry, but took up writing again in the Depression after losing his job with an oil company, the last of many failed desk jobs. He published The Big Sleep in 1939 and found his true vocation.Chandler came to London from the States with his Irish mother after his father abandoned the family: an uncle paid for their accommodation and his school fees, but refused to pay for him to go on to university. Chandler had already tried journalism and poetry, but took up writing again in the Depression after losing his job with an oil company, the last of many failed desk jobs. He published The Big Sleep in 1939 and found his true vocation.
Joseph Spence, master of Dulwich College, said: “Chandler’s Philip Marlowe may speak with a Los Angeles accent, but his syntax owes more to Virgil and Livy than to any later writers.”Joseph Spence, master of Dulwich College, said: “Chandler’s Philip Marlowe may speak with a Los Angeles accent, but his syntax owes more to Virgil and Livy than to any later writers.”
Chandler overlapped by a term but never met another improbable old boy, PG Wodehouse. Although Jeeves would never have allowed Wooster out wearing Marlowe’s “powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark little clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars” – many critics have suggested both authors owe much to their solid grounding in the classics at Dulwich.Chandler overlapped by a term but never met another improbable old boy, PG Wodehouse. Although Jeeves would never have allowed Wooster out wearing Marlowe’s “powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark little clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars” – many critics have suggested both authors owe much to their solid grounding in the classics at Dulwich.
The historian David Cannadine once invited readers to judge whether Wodehouse or Chandler wrote the sentence “A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window”. (it was Chandler, in Farewell, My Lovely.)The historian David Cannadine once invited readers to judge whether Wodehouse or Chandler wrote the sentence “A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window”. (it was Chandler, in Farewell, My Lovely.)
Chandler’s blue plaque joins those of other stars of the detective fiction world including Agatha Christie in Holland Park and Arthur Conan Doyle in South Norwood.Chandler’s blue plaque joins those of other stars of the detective fiction world including Agatha Christie in Holland Park and Arthur Conan Doyle in South Norwood.
• This article was amended on 7 October 2014. It originally attributed the quote “about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food” to The Big Sleep. In fact, it is found in Farewell, My Lovely. This has been corrected.