H05067 HARDY'S VOICE QUESTION 8/5/05 - HARDY FORUM ARCHIVES ____________________________________________________________________________

From: jww543@hotmail.com

Subject: RE: Hardy portrait/photos

Date: August 5, 2005 10:30:36 AM PDT

Dear Friends,

Many thanks to Robert Goddard for his helpful information. It inspired me, yet once again after some years, to query the list for any and all mentions of Hardy ever having been recorded vocally. Since there are photographs of him, and since Tennyson (audio) and Mark Twain (audio and cinematic), contemporaries, left "modern" records, and since Hardy hardly seemed adverse to public notice, I have always been curious to know if any audio recordings of him exist. I have been told he had a fine speaking style; if only we could hear him today!

Cheers!

Julian

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From: hardycor@owl.csusm.edu

Subject: RE: Hardy portrait/photos

Date: August 5, 2005 11:10:40 AM PDT

Julian, this topic was raised on the Forum many moons ago--1997 to be

exact. If you would like to see that discussion go to:

http://tthaforumarchives.info/archives/1997/H17_97.txt

And look for thread H17/97 Hardy's Voice.

I believe the consensus was that Hardy never made a recording--more's the

pity.

All the Best

Betty

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From: wwmorgan@ilstu.edu

Subject: Hardy's voice

Date: August 5, 2005 11:18:29 AM PDT

Hello, Julian--

We've had this query before on the list, and I'm sorry to say that the answer is almost certainly "No": apparently no recording of Hardy's voice exists.

Desmond Hawkins, who has a long and distinguished career with the BBC (in addition to being a novelist, critic, and Hardy lover, told me once that he had searched diligently for decades, checking every audio archive he could find, and had come up empty. I fear we have to accept that there just isn't a recording out there to be found.

But then, that's what they said about the Ivory-Bill Woodpecker until just recently! We can hope for a similarly startling revelation.

best,

Bill

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From: jww543@hotmail.com

Subject: RE: Hardy's voice

Date: August 6, 2005 1:26:33 AM PDT

Dear Bill,

Thanks - and let's hope we have the luck of that birder!

Julian

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From: jww543@hotmail.com

Subject: RE: Hardy portrait/photos

Date: August 6, 2005 4:43:29 AM PDT

Thanks, Betty. As Bill Morgan said in his reply, just recently the supposedly-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker was spotted, so I, too, live in hope.

Best Wishes from London from one with new respect for the Metropolitan police,

Julian

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