Library book returned after 65 years

A former pupil has returned a book to his school library 65 years late - and paid a £1,500 'fine'.

Sir Jay Tidmarsh, 82, was clearing out his shelves when he came across a copy of Ashenden by W Somerset Maugham, with the stamp of Taunton School in Somerset inside. He'd left the school in 1949.

"I don't know why but I just happened to open the front cover and was shocked to see 'Property of Taunton School' printed inside," he says.

"I thought I should do the decent thing and return the book – paying my dues at the same time."

Sir Jay and his wife Lady Virginia made a special trip back to the school to hand over a cheque for £1,500 to the School Foundation, which will go towards improving the library. They were given a lunch in their honour.

"Sir Jay is a much valued supporter of the Foundation and we were absolutely delighted to accept the return of his library book, together with an extraordinarily generous cheque to cover the appropriate 'fine' after a mere 65 years!," says foundation director Mr Neil Longstreet.

"Inspired by Sir Jay's actions, I am announcing an amnesty to all those other OTs who harbour Taunton School library books on their shelves at home – I know I'm one! In so doing, we can raise further funds which will go towards developing the library."

The book is one of the most overdue ever to be returned to a library. In 2013, Emeritus Professor John 'Jack' Foster, formerly from Queen's University Belfast, returned a copy of The Poems of Arthur Hugh Clough 47 yerars late. The fine should have been over £8,500, but was waived by the university.

This time last year, when Rugby Library in Warwickshire had a fines amnesty, a customer returned a copy of The Adventures Of Pinocchio, which turned out to have a return date of New Year's Eve, 1950.

But the prize for the most overdue library book ever probably has to go to the copy of the Victorian miscellany Good Words which was borrowed from the Troutbeck Institute library soon after it was published. It was discovered 123 years later at nearby Townend House, now owned by the National Trust. Fortunately for the Trust, there was no fine to pay: the library no longer exists.

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