unearths some literary gems.
From Parting Breath, by Catherine Aird:
John Smith was an undergraduate so daunted by his undistinguished name and so determined to make his mark that he had sought individuality the previous academic year by affecting to live by the Julian Calendar.
[However, Smith has arrived for the new term 13 days early...]
There was a general shaking of heads. Eccentric students, they agreed, weren't what they used to be: Smith ought to have had the courage of his convictions and come up late.
From The Winter Ground, by Catriona McPherson:
"Well, I never," said Hugh, folding the newspaper down to look at me, and so I asked him to tell me--for Well I Nevers were usually points of titillated interested where Good Lords could be anything at all.
