militiint nationalists is that they are notrnmilitant enough in protecting their identitiesrnagainst the onslaught of technolog)’.rnWliarton was born Michael Nathan inrnBradford in 1913, of part-Jewish origin, arnfact of which he has always been awarernand which long made him actually uncomfortable.rnHe assiuned his mother’srnmaiden name of Wliarton in 1937 in orderrnto distance himself from both this dislikedrndual ancestry and the “oddit)’ andrnc en a])surdit” of his early life. A sh}’ butrncleer child, lie went to Bradford GrammarrnSchool, where he took an early interestrnin poetr. He went on to Oxford butrn\as sent down for sma.shing crocken’ andrnthrowing a Scotch egg at the high tabic inrnhall. He began writing fantastical piecesrnfor Punch and other magazines. Whenrnwar came, he joined up and, much to hisrnown surprise, ended as a lieutenantrncolonel. After the war, he found odd, unsatisfvingrnwriting jobs and worked for thernBBC until, on New Year’s Day 1957,rn”with one of the most appalling hangoxersrnI hac ccr had in my life,” he satrndown for the first time at his desk in tiiernDaih Tekgraph’s offices in Fleet Street.rn’I’he richK’ marked characters he metrnwhile at tiic paper have fueled his imaginationrneer since. The second volume ofrnhis autobiography, The Dubious Codicilrn(volume one is called The Missing Will, arnreference botii to Wharton’s motiier’s beliefrnthat she was somehow the rightfulrnowner of the estates of the landed YorkshirernWhartons and, more subtlv, tornWharton’s perceived lack of self-confidcnec)rnis fidl of hilarious anecdotes ofrnhcroical fleet Street tapsters. The currentrncollection of his pieces, coveringrn1987 to the present, is the latest of 13rnsuch anthologies. They are uneategori/rned and undated, l)ut appear in rougliK’rnchronological order. The columnar ingredientsrnhave been well chosen to reflectrnall of Wharton’s diverse preoccupationsrnoxer a depressing era in British life,rnduring which the Conservatives failed tornconserxc, the leftists forgot their workingclassrndeccncx. and everyone forgot aboutrnF.ngland in tiicir anxietx’ to consume.rnNahiralK, Wliarton has also picked uprna few enemies: hi I’he Dubious Codicil,rnhe recounts his delight at seeing a leftistrndemonstration passing the Telegraph officesrnunder banners denouncing “Thernfascist Peter Simple.” His autobiographicalrncandor, in which he mentions unashamedlyrnhis contemporary support forrnFranco and his belief that “to have beenrna German tank commander, on that firstrnnioniing [of BarbarossaJ, waiting on thernfragrant turf, with tiie larks singing, forrnthe order to advance into the blue distancesrnof Russia, would hae been to experiencerntrue military glory, perhaps forrnthe last time in the liistor}’ of the wodd,”rnwill not help dispel that superficialrnimpression. But to the more thoughtfulrnand romantic —his admirers includernAuberon Waugh, Kingsley Amis, A.N.rnWilson, Anthony Howard, and RogerrnScruton —and at least some otiiers withrnsound instincts (like tiiose who floodedrnLondon for the recent “CountrxsidcrnMarches”). Wliarton is no longer a mererncolumni.st. For all his essential modestyrnand the origins he decries (or, perhaps,rnbecause of them), he has become an ipsornfacto tribal elder. Even in his seeminglyrnephemeral medium, thanks to editorsrnlike those who painstakingly producernthese delightful miscellanies, Whartonrnhas attained to an ink-stained glory of hisrnown. Rather like the original Peter Simplern(or von Grimmclshairsen’s Simplieissimus),rnWharton is “no longer tiie fool,rnbut the head of the family.”rnDerek Turner is the editor of Right Now!,rnpublished in London.rnThe ConfederaternPimpernelrnby J.O. TaternGray Ghost:rnThe Life of Col. John Singleton Mosbyrnby James A. RauuigernLexington: University Press of Keutuch;rn428 pp.,’$30.00rnFame, even mere celebrit}’, creates arnreality of its own. We arc often curiousrnabout the realit}’ behind the image,rnand if sometimes we arc disappointed, wernhac to admit also that sometimes we arernnot. The story tiiat Professor Ramagerntells w itii autiiorit’ cannot be thought ofrnas disappointing in any wax’, hi thatrnsense, what’s old is new, and what hasrnbeen presumed to be predictable is inrnfact surprising, and then some.rnWe might be curious first as to how arnman who rose to the rank of colonel onlyrnlate in the Civil War should have at-rnWhat is the best keptrnsecret in publicrnpolicy?rnThe media doesn’t want to discuss it.rnYou won’t hear about it on the 6:00rnnews. Most political candidatesrndeliberately avoid the issue. Therntaboo topic is mass immigration.rnThe President and Congress havernabandoned our immigration traditionrnto support the greatest wave ofrnimmigration in the history of the world.rnUnless immediately checked, massrnimmigration will triple U.S.rnpopulation in the lifetimes of yourrnchildren and grandchildren!rnAverage NumberrnImmigrants Yearlyrn1830-rn1990rn1990-rn1999rnSource: INSrnThe big losers are wage earnersrn(wages have been depressed forrnalmost 30 years), taxpayers (cost tornlocal communities for each immigrantrnranges from $13,000 to $23,000rnannually), and future generations ofrnAmericans (who wants to live in citiesrnas densely populated as Tokyo, HongrnKong or Mexico City?)rnIt’s up to you! Get the facts! Do it forrnyour children, grandchildren and allrnfuture Americans.rnFor a free information package,callrnthe Midwest Coalition to ReformrnImmigration at 1-800-709-0711.rnMAY 2000/33rnrnrn