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The many passions of Ronald Blythe

Some he kept hidden, such as his affairs with soldiers in the second world war, but his love of nature, literature, naked sunbathing and moonlit bicycling are all well-attested

2 November 2024

9:00 AM

2 November 2024

9:00 AM

Blythe Spirit: The Remarkable Life of Ronald Blythe Ian Collins

John Murray, pp.400, 25

In Regency Britain, balls were often timed to coincide with full moons. Provided there was no cloud cover, moonlight made it safer to send out carriages. When Ronald Blythe accepted social invitations, he also took the lunar calendar into account – because a full moon was ‘best for a merry bicyclist wheeling homeward along unlit and potholed lanes’.

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