The Chippendale Mirror by E F Benson

[@BritneyT.]

I'm a big fan of agatha christie, so I was so excited to hear you're doing detective stories too!

[@paulawolff3456]

I feel that Mr. Benson is every bit as good a ghost story writer as Mr. James. They are a little different but both are wonderful. I won't kill you.😊

[@amandalee215]

Thank you, Tony. I am looking forward to this and another year of wonderful stories

[@marciedewolff9357]

Welcome back Tony! Happy New Year, hope your well earned holiday break was great. I don't comment and say it enough Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@amyjones8114]

Oooo EF Benson by the best narrator on KZbin. ❤️

[@StoryVoracious]

Simply lovely! The first story back, and it's Mr Walker with E.F. Benson. I love M.R. James at Christmas and listened to "Oh Whistle...". But New year always makes me crave good old Fred. I have been listening to Lucia in London over the past couple of days, and like magic, you present us with this delicious story and welcome chat. Thank you Tony. You are a scholar, a gentleman and perhaps a bit of a curmudgeon. Just as I'm sure some of these revered authors were. May 2025 see you well and happy all year.

[@annagettings4675]

Wonderful! Simply perfect Benson, read just as perfectly by you. The perfect end to the day. Thank you ❤

[@lyndabrennan4560]

Happy new year Tony, on my way to bed so I can snuggle up with my cats and listen to this story, night and sweet dreams 🤗

[@maryeckel9682]

Thank you for including the role of the cat in your ramblings.

[@maryeckel9682]

Oh shit sorry

[@lyndabrennan4560]

@@maryeckel9682 🤣😂

[@marshawargo7238]

Kinda like when little and dad read a bedtime story but with more and better accents❤!!!

[@franken-pattern]

How nice! I just sat down from running all day and I find this lovely surprise! Thank you, Mr. Walker 🎉

[@maryeckel9682]

Thank you for including the role of the cat in your ramblings! Happy new year.

[@DeannaGilmore-i7n]

❤ I am amazed by your voice talents . I have been a member for a while, and I absolutely love the stories. They are all good thanks for the hard work that goes into your work 💜

[@PippaAT]

Did you know, Tony, that Lamb House in Rye was also the home of Rumer Godden, who wrote Bkack Narcissus?

[@ClassicGhost]

No I didn’t! I’m glad i do now

[@OneDullMan]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. These are great. You and Simon are my most favourite of the modern narrators.

[@54macdog]

Quality through and through.

[@LucicPower]

When EF Benson speaks, people listen

[@lastofthe4horsemen279]

Long time since l thought of that old classic😂😊

[@lunablue745]

Does that make us old to remember it?

[@LucicPower]

@lunablue745 probably over 50

[@Biggusdickuss111]

Have a job on, he's a long time dead, dude. 😂

[@RachelWellborn-h6w]

Thanks!

[@ClassicGhost]

Thank you very much . I hope you are well

[@leebennett1821]

I Blame the the Rescue Rangers for the Whole incident 🐿️🐿️🐿️

[@lisashapiro4714]

We're looking at you chip and daie , rescue rangers😮🧐

[@tammystoudt5137]

Hahahaha!

[@davescott618]

Paw Patrol if you ask me...

[@THEDISAFFECTED]

Tony, brother, you dropped the ball mate: after "but my blabbering...is," which was a neat hardstop, I was yearning to hear even just a few bars of the Everybody Dies motif. As the silence lengthened, thought sure you were gonna come through with it. Nitpicking aside, great as ever. Cheers from a dark-and-snowy windwhipped.

[@donaldmccleary9015]

Great story and narration, Tony. I love this type of mystery story. As always, I really enjoyed your chat at the end. This is an enjoyable and fun story to listen to. Go ahead and put rain in all your stories so you can tick off all the churlish whiners. I'm glad you had a good Christmas and New Year. This is a good story to start the year off!! Is Hugh Grainger just a name he commonly used, or is it the same character in each story (like Machen used Dyson in The Shining Pyramid and The Three Impsoters)? Thanks!

[@lunarbloom3587]

Wonderful Tony, thank you 😊

[@garybernstein3527]

Notices I read at the parallel with a traditional detective story and I thought your your comments in this matter was superb.

[@garybernstein3527]

Even more perhaps than the others writers of the period, E F Benson's diction in his prose evokes the presence intelligent narrator, a person who feels like a good fellow of a certain class. In ideal protagonist for the reader to identify with for the story. And in this work even more than others you know the voice seems ideal to put the exact emphasis and meaning on the reading.

[@raissadevereux6762]

Excellent. Wonderfully old school story of a wrong set right.

[@Bebecat477]

Thank you so much for the story. 😊

[@thurayya8905]

I hate to disillusion people, but I have made a study of cats intently staring off into space tracking nothing, and it is usually just a gnat or very tiny insect. Usually.

[@BrendanRedmond-s3x]

as a thought, santa brought me a new 'warrior on the edge of time' t-shirt - friends with the band since their levitation tour in 1980 - Dave gets younger through the passage of time!

[@AlgorithmEngagementEntity]

Stellar reading Tony

[@jasonfx28]

Incredible story, as usual. Vivid details, your telling would make any author proud. It reminds me of the vignette from Dead of Night, about the Haunted Mirror, and the number 3 and the cat with "By One by Two by Three". Bob is your uncle! 😆 Ian Gordon has the Carnaki series (and J Silence) on Horrorbabble (I'm sure you know), and its another favorite.

[@sugarfalls1]

"I am Tony Walker" YES!! Now that's a sign of good things to come! 😁 "Don't be such a lazy dolt" lol I love a British sense of humor! lol You are a funny chap, Antoine ;)

[@thetowerstillstands]

First time listener and am curious what you think of Algernon Blackwood. He is one of my favourites.

[@ClassicGhost]

I’m a bit of a fan of

[@JasonJason210]

E.F. Benson has always struck me as a forerunner to Roald Dahl.

[@ClassicGhost]

Good comment

[@leonaheraty3760]

Thank you Tony! Happy New Year everyone! 🎉🥳🎆🎊⛸️☃️❄️⛷️⛄

[@ClassicGhost]

Happy new year!

[@afterschok6627]

I had never heard this one before. Thank you.

[@ajb7786]

Since I listen to both the ghost stories and detective stories podcasts I started this story knowing it was part of the ghost stories podcast, but because of the way the first half of the story unfolds I forgot it was NOT a detective story until a little after the second episode in the mirror when I started thinking, "what a strange supernatural bent for a detective story."

[@VanessaDavis-ri6jy]

Thanks so much for sharing!!!❤❤❤

[@Bbergster]

“Had a tragedy taken place, somewhen, somewhere?” Enjoyed that, I did! Have a wonderful 2025, Tony! Hope u catch a good split personality. I’ve been floating through space like Olof Stapleton. Chasing them orphans like count Olof. Interesting story and explanation/ notes. Yes, storms! My place is more sticks than grass. Thank you.

[@jamesblahut5008]

E.F. Benson could definitely be as unsettling as M.R. James, albeit in a very different way.

[@54macdog]

My favourite cat story is Stoker's "The Squaw".

[@julierobinson3633]

I still wonder if the husband put his chauffeur up to it? After all, how DID the chauffeur know some of the notes numbers were known,. so he couldn't spend those... From the initial description of the cat Benson clearly had one!

[@catrinlewis939]

I would surmise he hadn’t had time to spend them. Or at least, that he was waiting for the fuss over the murder to blow over before trying to put them into circulation. He would have been aware the notes were numbered in series, because that's how the Bank of England issued paper currency in those days. Both the bank and the one taking out the money would have kept a record of the numbers. You're right about the cat. Though I would never accuse my kits of having an appetite for the macabre.

[@jonathanpashley4845]

Happy New Year Tony, another masterful rendition of a story. I don't think this is one of Benson's best, but still enjoyable. As usual your ramblings😊 are interesting and informative. Keep up the good work.

[@lunablue745]

Lol! A few of us Americans upon seeing this title may think of Patrick Swayze & Chris Farley dancing with wild abandon ! Or I could be the only weirdo here! 3:03 !😅

[@Hayotowin]

I had a deaf white cat. I made up a kind of sign language to communicate with him that he picked up on very easily.

[@shrug_shrugsly]

Very well read. Thank you!

[@AlanPT9]

Interesting discussion about the roles of cats and dogs in stories about the supernatural .... in A Psychical Invasion by Algernon Blackwood, John Silence undertakes a psychic battle with a evil personality along with his two companions, his dog Flame and his cat Smoke. The parts of the story where the cat Smoke befriends the psychic presence are wonderful.

[@ClassicGhost]

I don’t actually know that story so thank you very much for bringing it up

[@mariameere5807]

Thank you so much! I love this author! When I first started listening to your channel, (Thank you everyone involved in its production, and subscribers without whom there wouldn’t be a channel) Jasper (I used to think Le Strange was a fictional name but now after hearing in two consecutive evenings over the holidays and two consecutive books….. both long full audiobooks (before I would’ve needed a week to listen to a full book) by Queen of mystery Agatha Christie, (I have definitely felt her presence while appreciating a genius twist in the plot towards the end and now more and more often!! Believe it or don’t, I’m only saying so because of the nature of this story and I realise like the guardian of the cat…. Cat’s own themselves, I too am fascinated by the supernatural, which I think of as natural and paranormal, I think of as normal…. now, after years of experiences. Experience teaches. Words don’t, unless one has had experience. E.G Like writing a book about coffee and never having tasted it. I am speaking like they did in this story! lol ‘one’ does you know when one is easily suggestible! 😂 Forgive me) I digress, I heard the surnames names “Strange” & Le strange! I am babbling and breaking a New Year’s resolution….. not to! And the other channel that has Victorian ghost stories and mysteries read by Simon and I know Tony won’t object my mentioning them as he recommends them himself, I remember seeing them on here and that says a lot about Tony’s character. A true Gent, as they say in London when they approve of someone often in a cockney accent, and that meant something to do with class in Victorian times when the class divide was more apparent. Isn’t it weird that when we say we aren’t going to do something anymore that we often end up doing it more?! What we resist persists! Forgive my babbling but my point was that now I am familiar with so many authors that I had never heard of and I have this channel (and the other two, credit where it’s due whenever possible) to thank sincerely for that! Entertaining, educational and enlightening! The rare trinity I delight in finding a KZbin channel! P.S I promise to keep my comments brief and to the point from now on! Best wishes for 2025 to all! ❤❤️♥️

[@HoboWorld-h5x]

But who was Hugh Grainger and why was he always hanging around?

[@stardust949]

Happy New Year to you!

[@heidipillhofer855]

Hello. I have recently found your channel and subscribed. I am really enjoying the stories, narration and commentary. Thank you!

[@ClassicGhost]

Glad to have you here

[@daemeonation3018]

I am nof often in the mood for a ghost story these days. But when I saw it was Tony, I thought yeah. I'm down.

[@BrendanRedmond-s3x]

thank you tony - love your stuff - just a newby with you - just listened to your recital of one of my favourite writers -e.f benson - excellent! - have you done any of dunsany's stuff? - e.g. 'the postman of otford', or perhaps le fanu's masterepiece ' in a glass darkly' - love your thoughts and good work! - brendan

[@ClassicGhost]

I’ve done a bit of le fanu bit only one dunsany story so far

[@BrendanRedmond-s3x]

@ClassicGhost good to hear Tony - keep up the good work! - i've listened to your recital of Le Fanu's 'Green Tea' - really enjoyed it - Dunsany's 'The Postman of Otford' is a very intriguing story I find!

[@dodiekoehler]

Happy New Year Tony! 🎉🎈✨️🍾🥂🎊🫖🎉 I am looking forward to another year of great stories read by you!

[@ambebhavani]

Excellent narration. Thank you. So nice not to have to listen to AI. Subscribed.

[@Andrea-i4t9k]

Ì think the Chauffeur came in through the windows to throw off guilt. Why would HE come in through the window, as you just said. I think it's funny that he wound up buying the mirror he never took the time to notice before. (Perhaps he told the police he was going to get an admission from the killer, thus compelling them to attend.) And, cats are fabulous.

[@manzanitakatznellenbogen2870]

The way Sirius the cat is described as taking as much time as possible to cause as much trouble sums up the feline psyche purrfectly :)

[@manzanitakatznellenbogen2870]

I've realised it's Cyrus not Sirius. Harry Potter has been on a lot in my house a lot over Christmas!

[@bloke1348]

Benson as good as James! I'm apoplectic do you hear! Apoplectic!

[@meredythbass3865]

My husband was a psychology major and he said they’d done brain imaging of cats. A lot of the brain patterns were similar to people on LSD. I would think of that sometimes when our cats would stare intently at… nothing I could see.

[@garybernstein3527]

You touched upon the plausibility of the Scotland Yard inspectors coming to observe the story about a supernatural mirror. But I was thinking in modern terms as as well as in those times how would persecution proceed? Would they subpoena the mirror! Would they have to schedule a special session of the court at midnight?

[@andrewbeale6072]

I am with you there. I thought Hugh and the narrator were hoping for a voluntary confession.

[@janetcw9808]

My cat 🐈‍⬛ has a thing for the spice trolley... particularly the biryani...

[@manzanitakatznellenbogen2870]

One of my cats T'zara loves tomato sauces with Worcestershire sauce. My other one Sheba, loves coconut oil. Strange creatures!

[@sugarfalls1]

Why would albino animals be deaf when the human counterparts aren't? I know two albinos, amazingly enough, and neither one is deaf. It just affects their eyesight. I'll have to look into it.

[@ajb7786]

I didn't like the equating of white with albino. White cats are more rare than white dogs, but having white fur/hair is not the same thing as an albino cat/dog.

[@andrewbeale6072]

It's not the pigmentation, it's the breeding to preserve that specific trait in the cats. Small gene pools can accumulate undesirable traits, like hearing defects.

[@mijiyoon5575]

The *Benson* brothers are scary for ex: *Basil Netherby* scares the hair off me just like the *M.R. James* tale *A Warning to the Curious* ... I think the *Bensons* are just as scary & as well written as *M.R James* *The Brick Kiln* is horrific as well as the one I already mentioned

[@kaatteey]

You blubbering is necessary to fully enjoy and appreciate the stories you read 😊

[@mijiyoon5575]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@mijiyoon5575]

[@j.taylor3670]

Lovely, but I liked it better when you dive directly into the reading saving your comment for the end. I advise you not to do intros. And may I wish you a very happy New Year!

[@shadetreader]

Another "butler did it" trope 🙄

[@wonderpandimonium]

The Las Vegas stripper show ruins this title for me.

[@andrewbeale6072]

It is an unfortunate choice. It makes it sound like it's about some mirror that makes all males reflected in it appear in a state of déshabille. 😅

[@ClassicGhost]

I did read it naked but I didn’t realise you could see

[@andromeda232]

I know in folklore that mirrors are supposed to be able to trap the soles of the dead and that's why they should be covered when someone dies. So I suppose the idea that that a mirror could trap and record the events that took place in front of it I suppose does make sense

[@ClassicGhost]

That’s a really good point

[@garybernstein3527]

Notices I read at the parallel with a traditional detective story and I thought your your comments in this matter was superb.