Since I have been dubbed “Mr. King James Version” by the Rector, it is appropriate that I should comment on the special ‘Service of Thanksgiving for the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible’ on 25 September.

There was a splendid turn-out with more than 50 in attendance, quadruple the numbers usually attending our evensong.

Almost all of those attending our church celebration grew up with the King James Bible. In my case, it is hard to kick the habit: KJB was featured largely in my formative years in schools, church and cathedral choirs, and as church server, student and schoolmaster.

Schooldays always started with a passage from KJB, and my ears have become attuned not only to the content but also to majestic cadences and the clarity and beauty of the words both verbally and in print. 

As well as familiar prayers and Psalm 23, our celebration featured five KJB readings alternating with rousing hymns, which the Rector and the Worship Committee had carefully chosen from contemporary writers including Herbert and Milton.  I say ‘rousing’, since we didn’t need to look at our hymn books – we were word perfect for these old favorites. 

Then I was kindly invited to say a few words and could have kept everybody there for the evening, but since some had probably not taken the precaution to video “Downton Abbey”, I had to be content with saying how much I treasured KJB and touched upon its origins and value in spreading not only the word of God but also its inherently beautiful language throughout the world.

I also mentioned how everyday common words and phrases such as ‘suffer fools gladly’, ‘a peace offering’, ‘fat of the land’, ‘the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak’ and ‘a sign of the times’ originate with KJB and its earlier 16th century translations.

I concluded with some unashamedly biased remarks regarding recent bible translations, rueing the day, for example, when the superbly imaginative phrase ‘fishers of men’ was supplanted by the crass ‘fish for people’ in the New Revised Standard Version.

Mark Seaward