Eccentric

Peter Shaffer's comedy "Lettice and Lovage" is about a tour guide in a historic British house who becomes much more popular with the tourists when she starts embroidering the facts about this "dullest house in England."An examination of friendship as well as a commentary on the validity of history, this 1987 work by the author of "Equus" and "Amadeus" opens tomorrow at the Spotlighters, under the direction of Miriam Bazensky and starring Kathy Turyn Romaine as eccentric tour guide Lettice Douffet.

It was last Saturday's opening kickoff, and freshman kicker Brad Craddock realized he was the last Maryland Terrapin standing between Temple returner Matt Brown and 60 yards of inviting, open field. Craddock, the curly-haired Australian with the Down Under accent, squared himself for contact. Brown lowered his shoulder and rammed into Craddock's torso, knocking both players to the ground. It was a violent collision - particularly for a kicker - and Craddock later showed off several purple bruises to prove it. "I have bruises in all the places where the pads weren't," said the kicker, who loves to talk about tackling.

A recent story in The Sun described an English eccentric, the Sixth Marquess of Bath, who had stocked his 9,500-acre estate with lions, giraffes, baboons and several dozen other wild animals, and charged admission to the estate in order to defray the alarming costs of running such a place.The Sixth Marquess recently died, leaving his estate to his son, the Seventh Marquess of Bath, described as merely ''conventionally bohemian.''The writer of the story raised the question as to whether there are more eccentric people in Britain than in other countries.

Take one look at Fritz Fell's townhouse yard, and you get the feeling you aren't in Baltimore anymore. Fell's garden contains 23 varieties of palm trees, eucalyptus and an ornamental banana tree. Spanish moss clings to Bradford pears and aloe grows along the pathway. Fell grew up in Highlandtown, but he says he has always preferred warmer climates. "I always liked palm trees and going to Florida and California," says Fell, the owner of a pest control company. In August 2006, a friend in Virginia Beach showed him cold-hardy palms, and Fell decided to try one in his yard.

"The Witch of Exmoor," by Margaret Drabble. Harcourt. 288 pages. $23.England, George Orwell once observed, is more a family than a nation -- a wrangling, peevish family with crazy uncles locked in attics, poor cousins scrubbing floors and the worst siblings left in charge of the silver, but possessing nonetheless a family's shared feeling about right and wrong.It shouldn't be much surprise, then, that Margaret Drabble casts as a family drama her latest novel, "The Witch of Exmoor," a fable about what the Victorians called the "Condition of England."

What was the expected became the unexpected. Jack Brandt was an original unto himself. In the long and eventful history of Baltimore baseball, there was never a more entertaining individual. It was the personality in all its bizarre aspects.His natural, God-given ability frustrated managers and created professional envy among players. The maximum performance never truly exhibited itself, but he was to spend 11 seasons in the major leagues.All the necessary ingredients were there -- exceptional throwing, fielding, running, hitting and the power quotient.

When I called the box office at the Metropolitan Opera to buy a seat for a particular performance of Der Rosenkavalier in 1990, the ticket agent responded, "I must point out to you that Luciano Pavarotti will not be in the cast that day." Back then, when he still had lots of voice and ease of mobility, Pavarotti would occasionally don a costume for this Richard Strauss opera and send audiences into a tizzy singing the brief, soaring aria in the one-scene role of the Italian Singer. I hope I didn't sound too condescending when I replied, "I couldn't care less about Pavarotti.

Ruth Reichl is a commanding and daunting figure in American culture. Beginning in the 1970s, she played a key role in revolutionizing food and restaurant journalism, wielded make-or-break influence as a restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times and later The New York Times, and continues to loom large as editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. With her fourth book, Not Becoming My Mother: And Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way, however, Reichl looks backward and inward in an attempt to understand and explain her mother, both to herself and to us. At barely 100 pages, Not Becoming My Mother is a meditation rather than a memoir but is no less affecting for its brevity.

In an article in Sunday's People section, the annual sales of Merry-Go-Round Enterprises were incorrectly reported. The correct figure is $650 million.Leonard "Boogie" Weinglass is an hour late for a 10:30 a.m. appointment.An hour late -- and unrepentant."Alan Charles kept me out last night until 4," he offers in explanation. "He met me down at Sabs [Sabatinos, a Little Italy restaurant], and we closed Sabs up at 3 in the morning."He adds some self-analysis: "I should have known better than to make a 10:30 appointment.

We celebrate anemic, cautious writers in a time that needs more Mailers. Bless his misogynist, much-missed, heroic bones." - MARIANNE WIGGINS, author, on the prolific, eccentric writer Norman Mailer, who died last weekend at 84

Five dollars? Really? To use your own money? Wow. Bank of America's decision to impose that fee for debit card use did not precipitate the Occupy Wall Street protests. But it does seem to embody much of what has driven thousands of people to the streets, first in the New York financial center and now in Boston, Los Angeles, Baltimore and other cities across the nation. The fee carried an odor of pecuniary pettiness not dispelled by BofA's claim that it was needed to recoup losses caused by a new federal regulation limiting the amount banks may charge retailers when you use a debit card.

Turn off busy Frederick Road in Catonsville onto Mellor Avenue, and in under a block you're passing Duesenberg's . If you see a crowd out front, it's probably lunchtime. Now try to find a place to park. The lots across the street are clearly marked private property. Without the signs, many office workers would be forced onto the street. We got lucky and pulled up just as a spot on Mellor opened up. If parking is an annoyance, it's minor. But compound annoyances add up. The way Duesenberg's is set up, outdoor dining is right at the sidewalk.

Planting season takes on a different character every year. This year's rain produced prodigious peony crops. It gave us backyard gardeners not much time to plant right after the frost date in early May. Either rain fell, or the ground was too saturated to plant. The skies cleared for the weekend of May 20. Local nurseries swarmed with customers at early hours, and almost every household in the neighborhood had someone out weeding or planting. By Monday, May 23, I had to restrain myself from going out into the garden immediately after breakfast.

J. Marshall Bruce Jr., a clinical psychologist and teacher who headed the English department at Boys' Latin School for more than two decades, died Wednesday of heart failure at the Presbyterian Home of Maryland in Towson. The longtime Elkridge Estates resident was 89. Mr. Bruce, the son of a Mount Royal Avenue automobile dealership owner and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Greenspring Valley Road. After graduating from Gilman School in 1939, he entered Princeton University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1943.

Dan Deacon makes music for children and inner children alike. Equal parts earnest and eccentric, Deacon's songs range from explosive celebrations to ambient noise. Here are five essential Deacon songs, from the bizarre to the brilliant. 1. "Wham City" from the album "Spiderman of the Rings" A nearly 12-minute ode to the collective of experimental artists and musicians, of which Deacon is a key member, "Wham City" is Deacon's opus. Fittingly, a gang of Wham City folks sing together on the song -- a triumphant, experimental epic.

LOS ANGELES - -Michael Jackson, a seminal figure in music, dance and culture whose ever-changing face graced the covers of albums that sold more than a half-billion copies, died Thursday, shortly after going into cardiac arrest at his Holmby Hills chateau. He was 50 years old. He spent much of his life as among the world's most famous people, and to many, his death felt unthinkable and, oddly, inevitable. "For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words," said Quincy Jones, who produced Thriller.

Eccentric California (Bradt/Globe Pequot Press; $19.95) Of course, many non-Californians consider California an eccentric place to begin with. And, in truth, eccentricity here is not the same as eccentricity in, say, Utah. The state is known for its cutting-edge social conventions, and, admittedly, many firsts originated in the Golden State (from motels to skateboards and drive-in churches). Clearly, author Jan Friedman has her work cut out for her, but she seems up to the challenge, discussing festivals and events, peculiar pursuits, museums and collections, "quirkyvilles" (towns with a twist)

Bob Dylan ESSENTIALS: Dylan's eccentric career spans decades and incorporates folk, gospel and rock. Though his scratchy, sometimes droning voice tends to polarize listeners, few other songwriters can compare. Dylan's genius is undeniable and his music hugely influential. WHAT TO EXPECT: Dylan knows people want to hear the hits, and he delivers live. He might pepper his set with some new material, but you're going to hear most of his big hits, such as "Like a Rolling Stone." WHEN AND WHERE: South Stage, 6:45 p.m.-8 p.m. Saturday