Title : An English Rose
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An English Rose
I mentioned Jan Struther yesterday - as well as hymns, she is also the author of the famous wartime story "Mrs Miniver".
It is the story of a true English Rose, whose peaceful resistance to the Nazi threat "did more for the Allies than a flotilla of battleships", according to Winston Churchill. The film won 6 academy awards.
If you have never seen it, you've missed a real treat of classic British wartime cinema!
In one part of the film, the local stationmaster, and amateur gardener develops a new rose- and chooses to call it "Mrs Miniver". Now remember, this was the 1940s - not nowadays. "Film merchandising" is huge now - think Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Minions etc etc. But back then, the American cosmetics firm Revlon rushed to produce lipstick and nail varnish in a shade called Mrs Miniver Rose" And an American rose grower, Jackson & Perkins introduced a hybrid tea rose, called the Mrs Miniver Rose - large, scarlet and strongly fragrant, which had been first bred in Southern France at the nurseries of César Chambord.
But that was all 75 years ago - and many now dismiss the film as a sentimental tear-jerker, or a propaganda piece. Well yes it is those things - but it is still a cracking film with some clever and thought provoking scenes, challenging the popular attitudes to war, and to the appearance of foreigners on British soil.
Four years ago, a gardener in Devon called Orlando Murrins set himself the challenge of finding a Mrs Miniver rosebush for his garden. Jackson & Perkins dropped the variety from their catalogue years ago. British rose growers [Austins, LeGrice, Harkness etc] could not help. Murrins put out an appeal [how useful is the Internet?] and Becky Hook in France directed him to a collection in the former East Germany, the Europa Rosarium near Leipzig.
But the Mrs Miniver Rose was not among their 8300 varieties - their last bush perished in the frosts of 2012. There was apparently one bush known to exist in a private garden. Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Jan Struther's granddaughter, stepped forward to join the campaign. Finally after various setbacks, Martin Briese, a friend of Becky Hook was able to procure a couple of cuttings from the private garden. He was appalled by the Brexit vote, but graciously agreed to send the cuttings to Orlando.
The Mrs Miniver Rose has been rediscovered!
What a great story - read more about the rose here
A race horse called The Miniver Rose was the top seller at Tattersall's December Sales, going for 550,000 guineas.
Miniver Rose is the name of a self-catering holiday cottage in Aberlour, Scotland
A sequel to the original film was made in 1950, called The Miniver Story - but I have never seen that one. Interestingly, in the original film, her son Toby was played by Christopher Severn, but in the sequel by an 11 year old James Fox [brother of Edward, father of Laurence, uncle to Emilia...yes, that family of Foxes]
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