J. B. Morton (1893–1979)

The problem with reading another biography straight after reading a very good one, is that every flaw is highlighted. This book, however, would incur my wrath were it to be the only book that I had ever read!

Mr Morton seems to have been of the opinion that, "I liked him", is enough to have every reader fawning over his subject. I approached this biography knowing little about Hilaire Belloc, other than that he wrote the verses, 'Cautionary Tales'. Mr Morton does provide sparse detail as to his life but, makes statements such as, "Belloc's confident and overbearing manner in the assertion of his opinions was often the outcome of impatience with unintelligent criticism." That's all right then! Mr Morton genuinely seems to feel that this excuses 'the great man': why does he think that most boorish people dismiss any contrary view to their own? Belloc was strident in pushing his Catholic religious views; again, because he knew that he was right (how many people follow any religion, however crazy their particular choice may seem to you or I, without a belief in its veracity?

The book is only 181 pages long and yet, each chapter starts with a tourists view of a place with some significance in Belloc's story, each running to two or three pages and the rest of the chapter gives no insight into the man. You may call me a conspiracy theorist, but I did contemplate the possibility that Mr Morton did not like Hilaire Belloc: this peon of over the top, unsubstantiated praise certainly makes it harder for any subsequent biographer to convince me that Belloc is worth pursuing as a literary figure.… (mere)