Anything useful that I have learned came from The Children’s Encyclopedia which I read, all 10 volumes, several times, from cover to cover, when I was 9. Our set must have been published in the 1930s and it had wonderful sort of green black and white photos of sights in the colonies. One which stuck in my mind was of the hotel I am now staying in that in 1929 was the tallest building in the British Empire.
All you will ever need to know.
The hotel is no longer the tallest building.
From my window.
It is a great place full of old style British themes.
You lose.
We are the champions
Arthur Mee impersonator
This is my Auntie Margie RIP, pinning a rose to Arthur Mee’s chest. No seriously, it is.
Boring talk? Look at the ceiling.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 
I remember photographic evidence of a strange ritual, where one of the Allbright daughters had to present Arthur Mee with a single rose. It was, I think an annual event, and in Sussex, where such practices are tolerated. See “Human Sacrifice at Glyndebourne” by “Chopper” Harris.
Sounds like a good read.
I still have the set of 10 Childrens’ Encyclopaedias you mention, including Vol 1 with its dedication by Arthur Mee, “Along and happy life to whoever reads this book, especially if it is the Bright Little Allbrights.” Wonder which volume your tallest building in the Empire was? I’ll have to do a search!
Ian, a photo does exist of Margie presenting a rose to Arthur Mee as the annual rent for the passage of electrical cables over his land, I believe. Mee was a bit of a romantic old buffer.
Re read them, you will come to it soon. Pleased to hear that these seminal books are still extant.
Wow you read them all so many times! I neglected to read my set when I was a child and so for the past few years I have been reading a volume a year, reading a bit each day. I sometimes blog about parts that stir me, here’s a recent post: https://bmhonline.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/we-cannot-yet-perceive
Hi Brian, Thanks for message great to know there are other Mee fans. Nice blog.