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the first part of which was established in his own garden, and there for the next quarter century he experimented with hundreds of varieties of grapevine, most of which were failures in the English climate. He funded all of this himself, partly by the sale of vine cuttings and the books and pamphlets he wrote on the subject, but primarily from the profits of his main business, having remained in full employment during his years of research. For fifteen years he was able to offset the expenses of the research station against his other income, but in 1960 the tax inspector decided that it would never make a profit and was therefore not a business that could attract tax relief. Brock’s devotion to the cause and his financial sacrifices earned him two enduring rewards: the Jones-Bateman Cup for original research into fruit culture from the Royal Horticultural Society, and a position in history as the founding father of the British commercial wine industry.

A beneficiary of Brock’s work was Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones, GCVO, CMG, MC, DL, the first man in the twentieth century to plant a vineyard in England with the intention of making wine for sale on a commercial basis. It was established in the winter of 1951 at Hambledon in Hampshire, and four years later the first bottles went on sale, a fact that caused a small media frenzy. Salisbury-Jones himself was an asset in awakening the public to English wine: he was tall and imposing, had had a distinguished, if sometimes colorful, military and diplomatic career, and was a notable presence in any assembly. His wines improved markedly over the years and sold widely, and Hambledon became one of the first English vineyards to export wine to the United States.

There are now many small and medium-sized wineries in En -gland and Wales. Although some growers persist with red wine grapes, most of the wine produced is white. The glory of English wine, however, is sparkling wine, at least two of which are of international standard. Global warming, while not precisely providing the south coast of England with a Mediterranean climate, has nevertheless made it easier to grow grapes. Indeed, the climate in Sussex, home of the best of these wines, is not so far removed from that of the Champagne region of France a century ago. Sussex also has a similar terroir, sharing the chalk-based soil that runs from Champagne through the White Cliffs of Dover to Sussex. Indeed, there are repeated reports of French champagne firms sniffing around Sussex for possible purchases of land, which, as expensive as land is in England, is spectacularly less so than land in Champagne.

In short, while there is in England, as in all winemaking countries, wine that is merely drinkable, a decent amount of English white wine is very good—and many of the sparkling wines are excellent.

Glass of prewar lemonade, chaps?

JAMES BIGGLESWORTH—“Biggles”—was (or is) the fictional First World War fighter ace who stars in the stories by Captain W. E. Johns and upon whom Snoopy, the beagle fantasist in the Peanuts strip, models himself when seated on the dog house roof, scarf magically blown back in the non ex is tent slipstream as he narrates his own adventures to himself (“Here’s the famous World War One fighter ace …”).

Biggles is presented as an inspiring leader of men, a red-hot pi lot, and a man of fierce loyalties, given to the red mist descending over his eyes in the face of injustice, but otherwise the preux chevalier, a warrior of honor. The First World War books reflect, accurately in many ways, the realities of life for a British pi lot in France—not least the remarkable unpreparedness of the new aircrew for active service (some arrived in France after a mere 17.5 hours of flight training) and their appalling life expectancy of, on average, just a couple of months.

But in one significant way, Biggles is different. After a particularly grueling mission, he is prone to announce to his fellow pi lots that he’s off into town, where he’s heard there’s a place where you can still get prewar lemonade. His squadron competes