Iain Murray and practical jokes
July 12, 2011
I have just got hold of Iain Murray's new biography of John MacArthur. It's one of my holiday reads alongside ''Memoirs of a Fruitcake'' (which, surprisingly, is not written by Carl Trueman). The other biography I am taking is 'Blood and Fire - the life of William Booth' by Roy Hattersley. One of the blurbs on back says 'An entertaining, stylish and generally unbiased romp through the last half-century by Britain's leading born-again Socialist' . Again one is reminded of Trueman. Finally I'll be taking Newton's letter's to Ryland ''Wise Counsel'' which bears no resemblance to anyone on Ref 21.
Anyway, my point is that Iain Murray has played a very cruel trick on John MacArthur by putting a 1980s photo of Mr and Mrs Mac on the frontispiece. It's one of those soft focus round the edges, massive glasses, cracking comb-over, glorious knitwear types. Every family's got one of these tucked away in a cupboard somewhere, but to put it in someone's biography is a joke not even I would play. You cannot even find the photo on the internet to link to. I didn't think Iain Murray had it in him. It's comedy gold. The photo is worth the price of the book alone.
