Looking at life with the man who sees…
Many years ago, my mum used to subscribe to a homely mag called English Womens’ Weekly.
Often, when I was visiting from ‘faraway’ and had nothing to read, I would lie in bed reading serial after serial and it was actually how I first discovered Rosamunde Pilcher. But toward the back of the mag, there was a rather nice regular page called Looking at Life with the Man Who Sees.
It was and remains something special for me. In its time, I would cut out memorable quotes and stick them in a little notebook to cart around when I was ‘faraway’ and homesick for family and place. I suspect he was a local vicar or even a psychologist but the whole page would be on a particular subject each week and I would invariably find some sort of inspiration in many of the things he said. 
Here’s just a miniscule selection of the pieces in my notebook:
‘The more you rely upon yourself and the more challenges you accept, the faster will your feelings of self-confidence develop.’
‘… if the outlook is wintry just now, well, Spring isn’t far behind.’
‘And talking about the Fairy Godmother’s gift at a christening: Bestow if you please, the gift for enjoying life – for that is only the assured happiness.’
‘Keep your priorities intact but have a second place where happy thoughts predominate.’
‘Do you remember that I once wrote about the value of keeping a scrapbook – things you’ve heard or read – that inspired or encouraged you?’
Of course mum, at 86, no longer takes English Womens’ Weekly which does still exist. And I remember towards the end of her subscription, the Man Who Sees finally retired from his column. It was inevitably a sad moment, and I suspect this many years later, that the gentleman with such clarity of thinking may have passed away. But isn’t it lovely that in my battered, exploding ‘This and That’ notebook, I have a mine of gentle texts for support in both the good and the passing ordinary times?
Women’s Weekly is all over the world! The English Women’s Weekly just turned 100. It was originally created for workingclass women to read as they went to and from work on the bus. I’m glad you saved some pieces from that lovely man, whoever he was. We all need a little wisdom and inspiration in our lives.
I’m in a tiny island state of Australia, Lin, and of course our whole colonial heritage is geared toward the Mother Country. My own mum is of a generation who leans far more to what comes from the UK than what comes from the USA, hence the importance of English Women’s Weekly in her life (and by default mine). Interestingly it would have been seen here in the 1950’s-1980’s as very much a middle-class women’s weekly.
Mum still has knitting patterns saved from it and of course its legacy to me is that wonderful man who inspired.
Lovely, Prue! I remember Women’s Weekly well _ yes, it’s still going, as you say. One of the few magazine’s of its type which still publishes short stories. Most of them are looking for true life, sensational stuff these days – a great pity, I think.
Gerry, I am quite keen to see what the short stories are like. They had great merit in the past and imagine they probably have even more merit now. For sure, the nature of the stories in the English Womens’ Weekly of my earlier life were always warm, gentle stories that spoke of a life we might all crave. I’m sure many editors and publishers these days would run screaming from such a thing!
Such words of wisdom indeed. So nice that you saved them. I save very few things – but strnagely I have a This and That notebook at home. I haven’t much kept up with it, but I did record the weights of my back pack (in high school); where I have lived, places I’ve visited, and crushes. *grins*
Cathryn, this little notebook is crammed with cut-out scraps and also messages and cards from people who matter in my life. I love it. Its a memory of the last 40 years.
Hi, Prue!,
I’m just down the road at Cygnet in the Huon, but I grew up in England with the Women’s Weekly. I remember a fiction illustrator named Eric Earnshaw, who drew the most beguilong, soft-curled, long-lashed heroines. All of us teenage girls longed to be an Earnshaw Girl.
These days I write fiction for children for Omnibus/Scholastic and Penguin.
Lovely to meet you:)
Carol, hello there! I wish I had kept issues of Mum’s, especially the Rosamunde Pilcher stories. And I am racking my brains to try and recall the Earnshaw figures. I think I can remember them…
Maybe I shall see you one day quaffing coffee in the Red Velvet Lounge or buying those delicious boutique choccies from the chocolatier on the corner. Cygnet is such a beautiful little village. So pleased you took the time to visit, read and comment.
I loved reading the ‘Looking at life with the Man Who Sees’ also and I kept a scrapbook with about six or eight of his articles. He had amazing insight into human nature and I found his articles very inspiring. Also here was a poetry page and they published some very entertaining poems. I am hoping to find some archives of these articles which is how I found this blog 🙂
Tricia, I have a scrapbook filled with his words too. I occasionally read them and they are filled with such thoughtful advice and have as much relevance as they did back in the day. Thanks so much for commenting on this post. It’s nice to find commonality amongst people across the globe.
I too used to read this page regularly, in the late sixties and early seventies, sitting miles away in Lucknow, in India…when I went visiting my aunt , who was a regular subscriber to this weekly. These pieces did inspire me and echoed many of the values we had been taught to respect in our childhood. I wonder if today, similar pages are still written in Women’s Weekly and if they are read with the same eagerness .
Soma, it was the loveliest magazines, wasn’t it? I am not sure if they still have such a sensitive page written by such an insightful person. I do hope so.
Thank you for reading my blog and welcome.
Dear Prue
All that I would have said about this marvellous Women’s Weekly magazine (have long ago knitted couple of jumpers from it). has been beautifully recorded in comments of your other contributors. Read mine in South Africa, having travelled with family in late 50s. Back in UK now & going through my cuttings – several kept from that wonderful gentleman we all loved, the Man who Sees. I have “Silver Linings”. “Following à pattern” and. “ The Joy of Reading”.
So delighted on looking him up online to find your page Prue, with the lovely nostalgic comments from erstwhile readers. Thank you Prue & thank you everyone.
Hi Kerima, how lovely to hear from you! I miss EWW – it was wholesome, filled with pages of readability and I loved it. When I think back upon reading my mother’s copies, it is with heartfelt nostalgia. Thanks so much for commenting and I hope to see more of you in my writing life.
Dear Prue
Please forgive me for calling you Sue in my Comment. Sincerely Kerima
I just googled Looking at Life with the Man-Who-Sees and found just this one connection. So, thank you. My mother used to subscribe to EWW and, as a fairly wayward teenager, the Man Who Sees was a soothing and reassuring presence in my life. I was raised an atheist in a chaotic environment so his pages were a connection to a world apart. I kept some of his pages for some years and I can still picture the page with its text and often calming photo. Like you, I grew up in Australia, Sydney in my case, so it’s nice to know that there were others out there being reassured and comforted by the Man-Who -Sees.
Hi Jill. How lovely to hear from you. I wish we had such folk still commenting on life, don’t you? It was always soothing, you are right. Sometimes I wonder what he’d make of life now…
Another Covid year has passed but I too remember the gentle articles from the Man who Sees; they guided me through my train trips to and from university as I completed the six years of medicine. I have never forgotten the gems within his articles. So good to realise he is still safeguarded in he thoughts of others:)
Julie, thank you for reading and commenting. Yes, he was a special writer, that’s for sure. I would love to read words these days that are so gentle and grounded. Take care and keep in touch…
I recently cleared out my auntie‘s estate, and there is a folder of articles written by “the man who sees”. I kept them and am going to read them. I wonder is you can access them anywhere else?