Famous was Paul Johnson, the English historian and journalist. Less famous was Marigold Johnson, his wife — but what a woman, with an interesting life story herself. She passed away last month at 92. I write about her in my Impromptus today. Other topics include the U.S. military, U.S. politics, and baseball (and hockey). Go here.

Lately, I have been publishing mail about William F. Buckley Jr., responding to a piece, a little memoir, I wrote about him. A reader says,

Good morning, Jay,
All this talk of WFB reminds me that a friend told me the 1977 Buckley Roast is on Apple Music! I switched to Spotify, like my friend, so cannot verify. But when we had a cassette of it many moons ago, my brother and I enjoyed many gems from that roast, coming from WFB’s close friends and finally the man himself.

The roasters included Mike Wallace, Henry Kissinger, Stan Evans, and Al Lowenstein. You can hear it on YouTube, in two parts: here and here.

(Many times I have said, “YouTube is the greatest invention since the wheel.”)

In an Impromptus last week, I wrote of Paul Oreffice, the hard-charging head of Dow Chemical, who passed away recently. I wrote of his name, in particular. In Italian, it means “goldsmith.” The deceased was born in Venice. In America, he pronounced his name “orifice” — or tolerated others’ doing so.

A reader writes,

Hi, Jay,
. . . My grandfather, who worked for Southern Pacific Railroad as a track maintenance laborer and foreman from around 1910 to the late ’40s, arrived at Ellis Island named “Domenico Saibene.” Which Southern Pacific rendered “Saibini.” When he retired and was going to become a U.S. citizen, he had to legally change his name in order to collect his Railroad Retirement Board benefits.

Such an American tale. (“Saibene,” by the way, means “you know well.”)

In that column last week, I mentioned A.J. Brown, the Philadelphia Eagles’ wide receiver, who sent a book to the top of the best-seller list by reading it on the sideline during a playoff game. I also mentioned that George W. Bush, when he was president, boosted a few books himself (and very good ones).

Concluding that item, I wrote, “People who are famous and influential have the opportunity to do lots of things. They can promote books they think ought to be read. That must be very, very satisfying.”

A reader says,

Don’t sell yourself short. I want to tell you how much I have enjoyed the books and authors you’ve recommended: Mark Helprin, The Cairo Trilogy, The Feast of the Goat, etc. And I just finished The Post-Office Girl.
Thanks from a reader.

My heavens. Thank you, one and all.