New Experiences

I don’t kid myself that I have yet experienced more than a tiny fraction of all that life has to offer. This was brought home to me in work today when my friend and colleague Lisa asked me if I’d like a cup of Bovril this morning. And it struck me – in 61 years I had never knowingly consumed a cup of Bovril before. Now, I want to make this clear, I don’t believe that I’ve ever been offered a cup before and turned it down. It’s just never arisen as an opportunity before. To me, Bovril has always conjured up images of lads and dads sharing a flask at half time on cold, wet football grounds in late November. The thing is, the late George Clark was never a ‘taking his boys to watch football’ kind of guy. (Don’t worry, this is not another post slagging off my father, fun though it is to write such things.)

Since retiring from teaching as part of the general improvement in my mental health I’ve become more open to new experiences. So “Yes, Lisa,” I replied, “I WOULD like to try a cup of Bovril for the first time.” And d’you know what? It was alright. A bit like drinking a full packet of steak flavoured McCoys. I can see a cup going down a treat at half time in an Aberavon RFC home game in the winter.

Well, me being me I couldn’t help doing a little bit of research about that name, Bovril. The Bov part of the name, well, that seemed obvious, a reference to Bovril describing itself as beef extract as in bovine. But ril? Now it occurs to me that this is the sort of thing that I may well have heard of before – so if you have, then forgive me. But as I delved I found that the Vril (rather than Ril) comes from a novel that was published in the early 1870s just a few years before the name Bovril was coined. “Vril: The Power of the Coming Race” was an early science fiction novel that told the story of a subterranean race called the Vril-Ya. They are able to access the Vril, an ‘all permeating psychic essence or fluid’ that gives them superhuman abilities. So the Vril part of Bovril is there to suggest that this is a substance that will enhance your already considerable abilities. Which is kind of similar to what the brand name Ambrosia (rice pudding masquerading as the food of the gods) tries to suggest as well.

May I ask, would you like to guess who wrote “Vril: The Power of the Coming Race”? It was none other than our old pal, Edward ‘Unreadable’ Bulwer-Lytton. Remember him? If not, then you might like to read my post ‘The Pen’ from 6/7/25. The Pen

I’ve never read this novel and both my previous attempts to read others of his novels have ended in failure. Hmm – reading a Bulwer-Lytton novel from cover to cover. Now, there’s a new experience that I wouldn’t be open to.