The Scarlet Pimpernel We seek him here, we seek him there... You are all likely to be aware of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood and his connections with Sherwood Forest. More certain is that Nottingham is the birthplace of another romantic hero, the fictional Sir Percy Blakeney: the Scarlet Pimpernel. The Pimpernel was the creation of the Baroness Emma Magdalena Rosalia Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy (1865-1947); her formidable battery of Christian names usually reduced to Emmuska. She was born on 22nd September 1865 at Tarna¶rs, the younger daughter of Baron Bodog (Felix) Orczy (1835-1892); Tarna¶rs is about seventy five kilometres west of Budapest. The Baron tried an experiment in modernisation of agriculture at a later estate at Tisza AbÄd but his peasants rose and burnt both crops and machines. The Baron withdrew to Budapest, becoming intendent of the national theatres. Obviously a confirmed âimproverâ, he introduced the music of Wagner and the conducting of Hans Richter. These innovations proving unpopular, the Orczys moved to Brussels and then to Paris. Emmuska was fluent in Hungarian, French, and, in order to converse with her Viennese grandmother in German, which she disliked. But she knew no English when the family moved to London when she was fifteen. However, the language barrier must have been overcome and the Baroness completed her education at Heathleyâs School of Art; a fellow pupil was Angela Brazil (1868-1947) later the author of girlsâ school stories. At this time she also met Henry Barstow (1862-1943) whom she married in 1894. Together they set up home in Holland Park, working as illustrators. Baroness Orczy began to write short stories for the then flourishing magazine market; notably the stories of the âOld Man on the Cornerâ. The old man sits in the corner of an ABC teashop, knotting and untying pieces of string, drinking milk and eating cheesecakes, while he solves crimes that have the police baffled with a complete indifference as to catching the criminal. These stories were eventually published here in three collections (1905, 1909, 1925) and enjoy a certain vogue among connoisseurs of early crime fiction. | |
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