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Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Little Happier: A Father Ate the Bananas Intended for His Children, and His Son Never Viewed Him the Same Way

Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin / The Onward Project

Education, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement

4.713K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2021

⏱️ 5 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Writer Auberon Waugh tells the story of how his father, novelist Evelyn Waugh, ate the bananas—at that time, a very rare treat--intended for him and his sisters. “It would be absurd to say that I never forgave him, but he was permanently marked down in my estimation.” Get in touch: @gretchenrubin; [email protected] Get in touch on Instagram: @GretchenRubin Get the podcast show notes by email every week here: http://gretchenrubin.com/#newsletter Order a copy of Gretchen’s new book OUTER ORDER, INNER CALM here: http://outerorderinnercalmbook.com Leave a voicemail message on: 774-277-9336 For information about advertisers and promo codes, go to happiercast.com/sponsors. Happier with Gretchen Rubin is part of ‘The Onward Project,’ a family of podcasts brought together by Gretchen Rubin—all about how to make your life better. Check out the other Onward Project podcasts—Do The Thing, Side Hustle School, Happier in Hollywood and Everything Happens with Kate Bowler. If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

It's tough to stick with workout routines and making time to hit the gym is sometimes even harder.

0:05.0

That's why Peloton offers options that fit into your day with thousands of on-demand classes,

0:09.9

so you can work out when it's right for you. Peloton goes beyond just the bike,

0:14.0

offering classes like yoga, strength training, hit and boxing. Let Peloton help you achieve your

0:19.6

fitness goals. Try Peloton risk-free with a 30-day home trial. New members only, not available in

0:25.1

remote location, see additional terms at onepeloton.com slash home trial. I'm Rich and Ruben and this is

0:32.0

a little happier. I love reading memoirs and autobiographies and a while back I read the 1991

0:39.8

autobiography Will This Do, the first 50 years of Auburn Wall. Auburn Wall was a prolific

0:47.6

journalist and novelist and he was also the oldest son of the acclaimed novelist Evelyn Wall,

0:53.2

best known for his novels, Brides had revisited and the trilogy sort of honor.

0:58.6

Evelyn Wall was also a very difficult person. Of his father, Auburn Wall writes that his chief

1:06.4

defect was his greed and he writes about an incident, one involving bananas, that took place just after

1:13.4

the end of World War II. Here's a clip from a British news reel announcing a new initiative related

1:21.7

to bananas. A committee of banana tasteers make a doxied test

1:52.2

Isn't it lovely? The

1:55.6

and the finest quality on their very nice too. This first shipment of five million goes to

2:01.9

children under 18 living in southwest England. For the not so lucky parts of the country,

2:06.7

there's news that other boats are on the way. It won't be long now before we can all say ever banana.

2:14.8

Here's what Auburn Wall writes about that shipment in 1946.

2:18.6

On one occasion, just after the war, the first consignment of bananas reached Britain. Neither I,

2:25.9

my sister Teresa, nor my sister Margaret had ever eaten a banana throughout the war when they

2:31.2

were unprocurable, but we had heard all about them as the most delicious taste in the world.

...

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