Old Knocks Club: Professor Henry Higgins

(For a note of clarification, the Professor Higgins that we have in mind is his portrayal by Leslie Howard in the 1938 film, Pygmalion.)

Professor Higgins fits the Old Knock type very nicely.  He is obsessed with his scholarly work as a linguist—often time to the detriment of those around him.  He is a man of means, he knows how to live the fashionable life, but he is more interested in his intellectual pursuits.  He is also a Romantic.  Although appearances seem to the contrary, he firmly believes that he can turn a common street urchin into a true lady—and does so.

J.W. Waterhouse: 1849-1917

J.W. Waterhouse, English Pre-Raphaelite painter, will strike a chord with many Old Knocks.  Not only are his paintings beautiful and stirring, but his subject matter will appeal to many classical scholars.  He chose as his topics women from ancient Greek and Roman mythology, as well as Arthurian legend.

His Lady of Shallott is perhaps one of his most well-known paintings.  JWWATERHOUSE.COM has an excellent on-line archive to enjoy.

Below is Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem.

J.L. Carr’s A Month in the Country (1980)

I just finished J.L. Carr’s A Month in the Country a few days ago.  (In fact, I must admit that this book was part of my inspiration for creating this blog.)  It is the story of a WWI veteran (Tom Birkin) who is employed to uncover a Medieval wall painting in a small country church.  There is another veteran (James Moon) who is hired to find the grave of an ancient ancestor for a wealthy patroness of the village.  Through the novel, both men are coming to terms with their experiences with the war, and trying to rebuild their lives after the catastrophe.

What makes this a fine example of Old Knock literature are the two character’s professions.  Birkin is a passionate expert in uncovering “lost” wall paintings.  He is an expert not only in the techniques of restoration, but in the history and culture that went into making the paintings.  He is a true Medieval art scholar.  Moon is also an expert.  He is not merely a grave-digger, he is an archeological excavator who is actually looking for an ancient Anglo-Saxon structure.  Digging for the ancestor’s remains is merely an excuse for his larger passion—historical excavation.  He too is a Medieval historical scholar.

The characters in Carr’s novel are wonderfully developed.  They breathe with real human emotion.  But they also embody another important Old Knock trait: reserve.  In fact, both men are constantly battling their desire to become more intimate with those around them, while at the same time understanding the futility of such an act.  They are Romantics, but tragic Romantics.  They believe in beauty and life, but they also are cynical about humanity and whether or not it will ever truly reach its potential.

J.L. Carr

Old Knock Wardrobe #1: Basics

While I hesitate to put the Old Knock in a box, let’s face it, he (or she) does need to be clothed.  And, in this case, the more the better.  Because the typical Old Knock is not focused on exercise for its own sake, he prefers to keep as much of his body covered as possible.  This is why one tends to find Old Knocks in the more temperate regions.  Clothing is often layered to keep out the cold while living in those drafty attic apartments or poor old rectories.

Apart from the amount of clothing worn, the second most important feature is the age of the clothing itself.  Most Old Knocks have better things to spend their money on (even if it is a substantial amount) than merely keeping themselves clothed.  So they are likely to get their money’s worth out of their clothes.  With any luck, they are able to get by on hand-me-downs from older relatives, or they manage to get by on rummage sales.

Fit is not particularly important—but comfort is.  So is practicality.  The Old Knock spends a lot of time pondering, and it’s a bit hard to ponder when one is uncomfortable.  Softer materials are preferred.  Don’t misunderstand—we are not talking about warm-up suits and trainers here.  But aged clothing that has been worn so long as to, in some cases, actually become a part of the wearer.

The final characteristic of the Old Knock’s wardrobe is the Reminiscent element.  Don’t forget, Old Knocks are very Romantic about the past—that’s why they spend so much of their time studying the Classics.  The Old Knock derives quite a bit of pleasure from these old clothes.  They are comforting, as well as comfortable.

Old Knocks Club: C.S. Lewis

It seems only just to grant the position of first initiate into the Old Knocks Club to Mr. Clive Staples Lewis.  He exemplifies, through his work and lifestyle, everything admirable in the Old Knocks Club.  His list of qualifications is staggering: Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge; author; Christian apologist; member of the Kolbitar and later the Inklings…the list goes on and on.

Lest we forget, he also had that impeccable Old Knock fashion sense as well…

Old Knockery

The name “Old Knock” is a take-off of a nick-name for one William T. Kirkpatrick, given to him by the author C.S. Lewis.  Kirkaptrick, Lewis’s tutor, was affectionately monikered “The Great Knock”.

Old Knocks, while not necessarily “great”, are not necessarily “old” either.  They could, very likely, be clumped together with that ever-growing group termed “Young Fogeys”.  However, the latter term has been expanded to such a degree that it is actually meaningless—typical of such sociological groupings.  The Old Knocks share a love of the classic (and classical) with the Young Fogeys.  However, the Old Knocks are slightly less interested in the extravagant stylings (i.e. Dandyism) that seem to have over-powered this once more conservative group.  Instead, the Old Knocks prefer to pursue their own eccentric passions—typically of an intellectual nature—far from the madding crowd.  Old Knocks tend to be a bit reclusive, preferring to hide away with dusty books and paintings in a dusty attic, than sitting in a fashionable café (or riding in a bicycle mob), creating a scene.

To assume that all Old Knocks share the same passion or area of interest would be a mistake.  What unites them is not what they are passionate about, but the fact that they all have a passion, and that the passion tends to fall under the “classical” heading.  Whether it be Literature, Music, Painting, Architecture, History, etc., the area of interest and expertise is what unites them. 

But, it would also be a mistake to assume that Old Knocks are entirely uninterested in material preoccupations as well.  Again, it would be unjust to put parameters on an Old Knock’s material interest, but, as with their area(s) of expertise, they would be interested in things of the past.  This gets at the very heart of the Old Knock.  Old Knocks are Romantics.  Like the Young Fogeys, the Trads and any other “Reminiscent Culture” group that seeks their inspiration from a by-gone era, the Old Knocks long for an apparently simpler, more comfortable time.  Like the Young Fogeys, they tend to emulate the earlier quarter to half of the 20^th century.

Reminiscent Culture

There is something appealing about looking back to previous decades and longing for certain aspects.  This appeal is most easily seen in the continuous “retro” fads of the past twenty years (or more).  I think the appeal is that it is easy to see a decade, or span of time, as a whole from a distance of twenty years or more.  It is more difficult to see or feel the continuity of the “current time” and this is often times unsettling.  So, we often times look back, wistfully, at a past time period.  It’s easier to understand the events and “rules” of the time period from a distance.  Most of us long to know the “rules”.  However, the rules are constantly in flux and are being written as we live them.  It is only in retrospect that the rules take shape.