The notebooks of Major Thompson

 

The Major W. Marmaduke Thompson is an ex-Indian army officer, archetype of the stiff, always correct and welle-mannered Times-reading Englishman in bowler hat and pinstriped trousers with impeccable moustache and equally neat umbrella. He is married to a Frenchwoman which allows him to explore the jungle of French life and bag any number of cultural, social and linguistic tigers.  Between entente cordiale and misunderstanding, Daninos worked this rich seam with humour that was finely observed, sometimes acerbic but never aggressive, and bequeathed a host of aphorisms and observations: “A Frenchman without a mistress is like an Englishman without a club”; “The English taught the world table manners, but the French eat.”