unearths some literary gems.
From Eric Barker's autobiography:
"I remember my grandfather on my mother's side as a kind of drooping, wet moustache with a man behind it..."
"I can get a lot of pleasure out of seeing a horse run across a field, but no more in seeing two and wondering which will win."
About a childhood neighbor:
"I can recall nothing about him save that he had charm, and was wont to utter metaphysical platitudes on the most inappropriate pretexts."
[Btw, the scrap of paper that I used to mark the facing pages containing the last two items above was, I noted with amusement later, marked "HORSE"/"PLATITUDES," which I'd done with no awareness of the wordplay thus executed.]
Regarding his catchphrase (also the title of the book), "Steady, Barker!":
"I have had letters from those who said it helped them to cure a lifelong habit of swearing, as they were able to use it instead. One old lady who shared a flat with an awkward sister at Cheltenham said they had been in danger of drfiting apart, but that now, lo! when they reached a point when it seemed neither could endure the bickering a moment longer, they both said 'Steady, Barker!' and it cleared the air."
And, to come full circle, here's his description of a man who approached him on a path one day, whose appearance inspired a character:
"[He] had a moustache that seemed to take up a good proportion of the width of the path..."
