#mr arnold

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Ooh! We almost got our brilliant Good Omens music composer David G Arnold in S2! 👀❤

[iminlovewithmybentley]

Some familiar faces... and some unfamiliar faces.... 👀

[vidavalor]

A Theory on The South Downs Cottage & Jane Austen, Courtesy of Mr. Arnold's Harpsichord Clementi Square Piano

Ok, so, remember how Aziraphale, upon seeing the instrument Mr. Arnold was playing in his music shop, declared that it would be "most appropriate" for his Jane Austen-themed party? And asked him to bring his "harpsichord" to the meeting?

Yeah, Mr. Arnold doesn't play the harpsichord... Mr. Arnold plays a Clementi square piano-- which Aziraphale definitely knew. What that all has to do with Jane Austen and the South Downs Cottage below.

If you look at Aziraphale's mischievous little expression when referring to it as a harpsichord, it's because Crowley is there and harpsichord was funnier in Nightingales wordplay. Mr. Arnold corrected Aziraphale on Doctor Who but he was all ugh I'm too tired whatever when it came to the harpsichord.

Right, so, what this has to do with Jane Austen & The South Downs Cottage:

The reason why Aziraphale thought Mr. Arnold's instrument was appropriate was because Jane Austen played a Clementi square piano very similar to it. One very much like Mr. Arnold's is on permanent display at The Jane Austen House & Museum, which is located in The South Downs. Theirs was made a few years after Jane's death but it's a very close model to the one she had in the last years of her life.

Jane Austen didn't just live in The South Downs in the last years of her life-- she actually lived there for the first years of her life as well. In Aziraphale's entry in the guide Furfur had, it said that Aziraphale was once a music tutor. Jane Austen was very into the piano-- almost as a much as writing-- and, when she was younger, her father paid for her to be given piano lessons from the assistant organist at the Winchester Cathedral whose identity is not actually known.

Jane Austen was born in Hampshire in 1775 and lived there until 1800, with the exception of two years when she lived away at school. She then returned in 1809 and lived there again until her death. Aziraphale opened the bookshop in 1800 but it took years to build it and where he was living while that was happening was established to be in England-- but never actually said to be London.

Crowley mentioned the bookshop being built in the 1793 scene. Within that same scene, it was also established that Aziraphale was living in England at the time, as it was mentioned that he had "popped across The Channel" to get to Paris. We don't know where in England Aziraphale was living during this period, though, or what he was up to, besides getting peckish for crepes.

It's entirely possible that Aziraphale was living in the South Downs, in Hampshire, where he was a music tutor and the assistant organist at Winchester Cathedral. He could have been teaching Jane Austen the piano and also, likely, helping her with her writing.

The South Downs Cottage might actually be where Aziraphale was living in the late 1700s while the bookshop he had designed as a way to hide him and Crowley living together was being built. Aziraphale had plenty of money during this era-- he already owned the land of Whickber Street and was pretty wealthy-- which might indicate that he just owned the cottage in the South Downs he was living in during this era outright.

He and Crowley could have possibly had The South Downs Cottage together already for several hundred years and just no way to safely go live there openly together-- until the finale, of course. 💕

Mr. Arnold's Clementi square piano:

The one he is playing looks to be very similar to this one, circa 1812, from the Clementi Society website:

Both are very similar to the one (with its lid partially retracted) at the Jane Austen House & Museum, which is only slightly older than the model that Jane Austen would have played:

[suzypfonne]

Link

They saved a seat for Michael 🥹

[maaikeatthefullmoon]

My main takeaway from TIC5 today?

I will never be able to think of Rich Keeble without shouting the words

Christmas FUCK

ever again.

That man was brilliant. I hope he'll be back in S3.

[rainbowhyperfixation]

Aziraphale gave away one book, not two, for the meeting/Ball

I’ve seen a lot of people post about the multiple books Aziraphale gave away and how surprising it was. It is definitely notable that he gave any books away, but I think the number and context are important.

He went to Mr. Arnold first because he would play a key role in the Ball. After the music shop owner directly said that nothing could get him to attend the meeting, Aziraphale offered him the Doctor Who annual. However, it was in exchange for bringing a harpsichord and a quartet of musicians, with less than 12 hours notice, to the meeting. So it wasn’t just bribery to attend- it was payment for a performing musician. I have no idea what something like the annual would be worth, but I assume it was fair compensation.

The second book, the magic book for Mr. Mott, he offered to lend, not give it.

So Crowley was definitely surprised that Aziraphale gave away a book, but it was just the one and it had a plausible explanation at the time.

[poplinn]

Mr. Fell has Gone to Heaven

Summary: Just a silly little thing of the shopkeepers thinking mr Fell is dead with some slight hurt/angst but not too much because my heart can't handle it. No ratings or Archive Warnings apply. 6k words and 1 chapter. Though I'm thinking of adding a second one for funnies. Jury's still out on that one though.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

(@eybefioro @ineffable-mess @antigonesghosts tagging y'all because i promised i'd write a little ficlet about this, and here we are :)

[warplanerubdown]

A cruel irony that even if he had survived, Mr. Arnold wouldn’t be able to hold on to his butts.