I remember this word from Christopher Fry’s The Lady’s Not For Burning, which I have read several times, but what I remember best is John Gielgud’s delivery of the line. It reads “Tedium, tedium, tedium”. He turned it into a jig: Tedi-um/ Ted-i-um/ Ted-i-um. I have an old LP recording of the play with Pamela Brown as Jennet Jourdemayne and Gielgud as Thomas Mendip. I thought of it again today as I slugged through the bibliography of my book. It’s tedious, to say the least, not to say hard.

Also tiring. I’m slipping away…