Friday 12 November 2010

The Weybridges


Howard and Eileen Weybridge are the middle middles. They live in a 30s villa in Orpington (a London suburb) and Eileen buys her clothes at a local boutique. Their children are Paula and Gary.
They listen to Radio 4 and Classic FM and shop at Sainsbury’s. They like to go up to London and see an Andrew Lloyd Webber show. They buy CDs called Relaxing Moods. They play rugby, cricket and golf. They are CoE and vote Conservative. They think of themselves as officer class and don’t like to see NCOs (jobsworths) and lower ranks getting above themselves. They can’t understand why people sneer at Jane Austen, John Betjeman or Agatha Christie.
EM Forster’s novel Howards End is about an Upward marrying a Weybridge (he takes her on a date to a restaurant where they serve huge joints of meat - she takes him to a vegetarian eaterie).


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