Viva Lewes Issue #134 November 2017

MY LEWES: FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
The early 20th-century novelist and diarist Alice Dudeney has, for some months, been communicating
with us using the medium of Twitter, under the moniker @MrsDudeney. We asked her the usual questions…
Are you local? I was born in
Brighton and went to school in
Hurstpierpoint, then lived in
London for some years before
returning south, first to Surrey in
1890 and then to Lewes in 1916.
What do you like/dislike
about Lewes? I love Lewes
for the Downs and the views. I
loathe the snobs, sentimentalists
and spiritualists.
How would you spend a perfect
Sunday afternoon? A walk
to Firle, across the Downs, with
my Dalmatian, and later a book
and a doze by the fire.
When did you last walk up a
Down? This very morning.
What did you have for breakfast
this morning? Eggs, coffee,
toast and marmalade.
What is your favourite Lewes
building? My home - I suspect
you have noticed it? - Castle
Precincts House.
Your favourite view? From
Southover hills out to Seaford
Bluff and even, on a clear day,
the Seven Sisters.
Where do you do your food
shopping? Pryor the pork
butcher - despite his impertinences
- for meat; Westgate
Stores for sundries.
Which is your favourite
boozer? Can you recommend
where to eat out round here?
I prefer to lunch in more refined
company in London. You’d have
to ask [her husband] Ernest
about taverns, but I sampled a
cocktail in Park Lane recently
and have rather taken to them.
Are you ‘Bonfire’? The Bonfire
Orgies tend to send the dog
mad with terror, but I’m not
averse to giving sixpence to a
kid with a guy.
Who would you like to see
burnt in effigy on November
5th? Edith Wharton -
detestable woman.
Which is your favourite Twitten?
A favourite twitten? What a
silly question. Church Twitten, I
suppose.
Are you religious? Which
church do you attend? That is
a personal matter, but I am observant,
yes, and attend St Michael’s
- despite that treasonable,
pacifist priest Kenneth Rawlings.
Where would you live if you
didn’t live in Lewes? If not
Lewes, Lympne. Alex Leith
Photo of Mrs Dudeney in 1928 courtesy of Reeves
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