From the Academy

affectionate, pugnacious, ribald, and a close image of Behan. It’s a lovely irony that, as a onetime Upholsterer by Royal Appointment, this gentle impersonator of Behan was called upon to repair Princess Margaret’s toilet seat at her spring residence in Warwick. But Behan cannot give to Duffin the substance Twain gave Hal Holbrook, Dickens gave Emlyn Williams, or Shaw gave Max Adrian. One wishes there had been more poetry than stout. □

DELECTATIONS