I’ve been a great admirer of Jerome K Jerome since the age of about 11, when I read ‘The Idle Thought of an Idle Fellow’ (1886), a series of very funny observations upon the peculiarities of Victorian life. Since then, I’ve read most of his humorous books and some of his serious works (like ‘The Passing of Third Floor Back’ – and, of course, his autobiography, ‘My Life and Times’ (1926)).
In the intervening years, I have pulled together a very large collection of JKJ’s books, including his famous ‘Three men in a Boat’ (‘TMIAB’, 1889) and its sequel, ‘Three Men on the Bummel’ (1900). I have also ahd the oppportunity of seeing several stage productions of ‘TMIAB’.
Recently, a theatre company called ‘Kick in the Head’ brought Giles Shelton’s one-man show of JKJ’s most famous book, ‘TMIAB’ to Grantham. The local museum bit my hand off at the offer to set up a contemporaneous exhibition, based upon my collections of books and ephemera.
For the week either side of the one-man show, the exhibition has been open to the public from Thursday to Saturday.
It appears to have been very successful – and has certainly elicited many complimentary comments!