youngtom2910

We plan to be in Chartres next week. Mr. Miller does not plan to do any group tours, but has offered to do a private tour for us. Has anyone been on a tour with Mr. Miller? thank you.

Fra_Diavolo

Only in a group, and quite a few years ago, but he greatly enhanced our visit to Chartres.

PalenQ

Twice in groups. One time Malcolm showed up and there were only a handful of folks and he haughtily said if we did not pay twice as much 'he had better things to do' - took tour but a bad taste from advertised price. And he upbraided some tour members for talking and he got in a shouting match outside with local kids who he said 'purposefully buzzed' him when outside.

That said his tours are immensely helpful in making sense out of the stone and windows and bringing them to life. On a personal tour I would think he'd be an angel.

thursdaysd

I did two tours with him a while back, one morning and one afternoon. Both were excellent.

PalenQ

Morning tours are better - I took one atternoom tour and Malcolm like many French back then had a bit too much wine at lunch - as he's getting very old now maybe that is not a factor.

nukesafe

Our group tour with him a few years back was simply splendid. He made the history of the venue come alive. That said, he was old then and if my personal aging process is any indicator he just has to be getting pretty creaky by now. He cannot be able to do justice to Chartres forever, so I would leap at the distinction of being able to say you had toured with the legendary Malcolm Miller.

janisj

Pal: He was already very old when you took his tour a hundred years ago. So he is very VERY old now

youngtom: yes he is ancient but he is a wealth of info. Plus he is a legend in his own mind and a private tour should be a truly memorable experience.

kja

As others have said, I found him to be a brilliant guide -- and I don't usually like working with guides! I had reserved, and joined, a group tour for an afternoon visit in 2011. He provided a wealth of information, all geared to what could be best seen from the place he selected for our group to sit (a choice based on the options given groups already there). I wanted to come back the next day for what I'm sure would be a different experience! (But I didn't.)

My understanding, which could be wrong, is that the Chartres Cathedral is his passion, so guiding people through it isn't something he just does as a rote activity, and he isn't just a legend in his own mind -- he is an expert who willingly (if for a fee) shares his knowledge. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't show a bit of a rough edge if someone disrupts his tours or prevents his attendees from appreciating this amazing space.

If I were to return to Chartres, and my only option -- even as a solo traveler -- was to pay his private rate, I would seriously consider it and back off only if the opportunity costs were, for my purposes, too high.

Nikki

My husband and I arranged a private tour with Malcolm Miller this past October with two other Fodorite couples. He showed no signs of crankiness and was cordial and delightful and very informative. One of the couples had taken a tour with him a year or two ago, and it covered different topics.

He won’t be doing this forever; I would take the opportunity while you can. He wrote a book on Chartres; it is available at the cathedral but I bought it after we returned and have been reading it to reinforce the material he went over.

Visitiing Chartres was a magnificent experience which I have wanted to do ever since I saw pictures of the stained glass in my junior high school French class. It took me a long time to get there, but now I am thinking of going back again. I have started (just today) watching a Great Lectures course on cathedrals because the visit to Chartres sparked an interest.

sugarmaple

We took one in 2009. Once we got over his attitude that he was doing us a favour it was a good tour, but not outstanding.

He told me on the phone the tour started at 12:00 “on the dot, not a second later”, no waiting even five minutes. We got there before 12, and he showed up at 12:30, without acknowledging there was a group that had waiting for him for at least 30 minutes. Maybe being late threw him off his game a bit, and he had to rush, but he didn’t live up to expectations or his reputation.

Based on the experiences of other posters, we must have got him on a bad day.

historytraveler

Malcolm Miller is old. He was old when I did a tour with him ages ago. Old people have their picadillos They can be cantankerous even irritating and one should just learn to ignore their outbursts and comments. I believe such behavior probably has more to do with the aging process than a superior attitude. Regardless it's not worth worrying about for an hours tour by an expert.

kja

I received much the same pre-tour message before my 2011 tour. And then once there, before noon, I heard him counting and saying something like, "not again, they aren't all here, I can't make everyone who IS here wait forever, but it isn't unreasonable to wait a bit..." And then I saw him step out. I suspect it's a real dilemma! But that's just my opinion....

5alive

Many of us Americans only learned history from textbooks --secondary sources--all the way through high school, and even in university. And we think that our textbook just dropped out of the sky completed. We don't understand that someone had to go and discover new information, document previous information, challenge long-held assumptions, meet and argue with other scholars, and then pull it all together.

Malcolm is one such person in that process. It is a rare opportunity. And yes, I did meet Malcolm years ago. It was amazing stories about the gargoyles and stained glass that stood out for me. Give it a shot.

nukesafe

He is getting on a bit, as I said earlier. A quote from his book: "--- was born in Stourbridge, England and educated at King Edward VI School, Birmingham and at the University of Durham, where he obtained an Honours degree in French. He first came to Chartres in 1956 to teach English at the Lycee Marceau whilst writing a dissertation on Chartres Cathedral for his degree. He began guiding at the cathedral in 1958 . . . "

He must have been at least 20 years old when he came to Chartres, so that would put him well into his 80's. I'm in my 80's, and I'm crotchety at times, too. Just ask my wife!

nanabee

https://community.ricksteves.com/tra...-miller-update

Here is a Miller update from a poster on a Rick Steves site. Helpful info.

Christina

That's a good update. He is a known crank, it isn't just that some people hit him "on a bad day" or that he's getting old. I've heard stuff like that about him for years.

PalenQ

We took one in 2009. Once we got over his attitude that he was doing us a favour it was a good tour, but not outstanding. >

Yes doing us a favor was when he refused to do the tour with lower numbers than normal so after waiting there a half hour he as said above announced very haughtily "if you don't pay twice the normal price I've got better things to do with my day.

He's a jerk and his tours may have deteriorated but a icon well worth catching tours while they last.

Nikki

I wonder whether our good experience was because we arranged a private tour with him well in advance. He answered my e-mail request promptly and gave us a choice of times. He left us after our tour and said he had another group to meet. It might be that he is more accommodating to people who arrange the private tours.

AlessandraZoe

He can be off putting, that's for sure. I booked him for a group tour, not private, over a decade ago. He was, in a word, "crusty." My husband for the first 15 minutes kept looking at me with "You of all people booked this?" looks. But then we all got into a rhythm, and my husband became his biggest fan. My husband insisted we return for the afternoon.

Malcolm reminded me of one of my favorite professors of all time, who in turn, reminded me of the John Houseman character in "The Paper Chase." You either get that type of person (positive and negative) or you don't.

Heck, like those above, I'd book it just to say I experienced Malcolm Miller. Bring your binoculars and be attentive!!!!