Tag Archives: W E Johns

More of the Postcode Safari

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I’m going to visit SG 14, CF 15, BS 10, TS 12, DD 7, HP 16 and HP 18. It may take two attempts.

SG 14 is the Stevenage area, in North Hertfordshire, just north of London. It includes part of the town of Hertford, just 19 miles north of London. One of the more famous people to be born there is Captain W. E. Johns. He wasn’t actually a Captain, but it sounds more solid and reliable than most other ranks. Senior enough to show he was capable, but junior enough not to be held responsible for anything bad in the conduct of the war.

You may not recognise the name, as it generally means nothing to women or to people under 50, or, I presume, Americans, but he was the author of around 100 books, including the Biggles books. As you can see, if you read the link, he’s an interesting man.

I’ve read about 50 of the books, which probably isn’t a good thing as he’s generally held to be a touch racist.

CF 15 is Cardiff, and contains the village of Taff’s Well. It is unique in having the only thermal spring in Wales. It was a popular resort in the late 19th century and the spring is about 21 degrees Centigrade. There’s more to it than that, but you’ll have to read the link.

BS 10 is Bristol area, and takes in part of Bristol, including Westbury-on-Trym. It’s quite historic, tracing its origin back to King Offain the 8th Century, and being used as quarters by Prince Rupert during the Civil War. It was the home of Robert Southey, a Lakeland poet who was Poet Laureate for 30 years. He is the first person recorded using the word zombie in English.

Next up – TS 12 – which is Teeside. It’s quite a nice place, despite including Middlesbrough. Technically it’s actually Cleveland, though the letters TS tend to suggest otherwise. Cleveland was a county from 1974 – 1996. Cleveland Police, like Humberside Police still exist, even though the counties don’

TS 12 is Saltburn-by-the-Sea, which has a very nice pier and a funicular railway. We’ve been to the pier, though I don’t think I’ve written it up. I did, however, write a clerihew which mentions Saltburn. It has thus gained poetic immortality.

The header picture is a squirrel in a bin at Clitheroe Castle. The other is Sandsend, which is close to Saltburn. It’s the best I can do.

Beach at Sandsend

Who Would You Include?

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I was just answering a comment on a previous post – the review of Famous 1914-18 when a question crept up on me. The question is – who would you include?

The authors included A A Milne, George Mallory, Arnold Ridley, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Reith, Dennis Wheatley, John Reginald Halliday Christie, C S Lewis, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Alexander Fleming, R C Sherriff, B L Montgomery, Ned Parfett,Tom Denning, J R R Tolkien, Winston Churchill, Henry Moore, J B Priestley, Harold Macmillan and Peter Llewelyn Davies.

It seems that the over 35s do best when asked if they recognise the names. Teenagers do worst, but it would, to be fair, be a well-informed teenager who recognised more than Tolkien. I recognised all except Ned Parfett and Peter Llewelyn Davies (which was embarrassing as I’d only just read about him in The Final Whistle as the nephew of Guy du Maurier).  But I am over 35, and I do spend too much time reading about the Great War.

The rules of selection are simple – they need to have been involved in the Great War and they need to be reasonably interesting. It would probably help if they survived.

I’ll start with three to consider.

Captain W E Johns – wrote about Biggles though he wasn’t a fighter pilot or a Captain. He landed at Gallipoli in 1915 and saw a variety of active service before being shot down and wounded whilst on a bombing mission in 1918. After the war he was the recruiting officer who signed Lawrence of Arabia up for the RAF.

Percy Toplis – better known as the Monocled Mutineer, though that is probably inaccurate. He was born near Alfreton so is reasonably local, and was once arrested by the ancestor of one of our neighbours for attempting to defraud a jeweller in Hucknall.

Charles Lightoller –  joining the Merchant Navy as a thirteen-year-old apprentice Lightoller endured shipwreck, fire at sea and malaria. His career started to look up when he went to sea again, ending up on the RMS Titanic. He was played by Kenneth More in A Night to Remember.  For those of you wondering who played him in other films, don’t bother – they aren’t worth it.

 

Rather than run on, I’ll let you click the link to read about his exploits in the war, and at Dunkirk in 1940.

 

 

Resting, Reading and Recuperating

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One of the horrors of old age that I have observed is that at a certain stage people stop reading. My father, despite everything, is still hanging in there. He’s never been a massive reader but he’s always done crosswords and puzzles and, although they may be getting simpler, he’s still doing them. This, I feel, is a good thing.

Ever since I had tonsillitis. in around 1964, and my mother suggested reading as a hobby, I have been a lost cause. She bought me a copy of Biggles of The Special Air Police and the rest is history.

I still have the book – it’s within feet of me as we speak. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if she’d bought Jane Eyre, as she later did. Would I have grown into a sophisticated professor of English Literature? Or would I have given up reading? I suspect the latter. Having been persuaded to read several classics in my early reading career I then gave them up until recently when I thought I should give them another try.

It didn’t really work out well. You may have seen my comments on this previously – that Don Quixote would be much better if it was half as long and had a murder on the first page, preferably Don Quixote himself. My feeling on a number of other classics is similar.

The nearest I’ve been to a classic in the last twelve months is  John Buchan. I’ve managed The Thirty-Nine Steps, Greenmantle, Mr Standfast and The Three Hostages but I’m having a rest for now. There comes a time when casual racism wears a bit thin, even if it is authentic contemporary racism.

I moved on to Dr Thorndyke but after four of them I started searching around for some variety. Having read a book on Q Ships I’m now on Nature Cure by Richard Mabey.  Clare Pooley recommended it to me when I came out of hospital. I broke one of my normal rules and paid £4.99 for a Kindle edition, but it’s been worthwhile.

Clearly the man is marching to a different drummer, even when he isn’t suffering from depression, but it’s a relaxing and informative read. I looked forward to his account of male urology, as this is one of the points where our lives converge. He likens it to a mythical linking of his internal water with the water of the Fens. That’s why he’s known as an elegant and spiritual writer.

I have never thought of it as mystical in any of my three stays in Male Urology, I just use it as a source of broad humour. My internal water is linked to the water in my kettle.

That’s why I’m not known as an elegant and spiritual writer.

Finally,  moving back to the point. It’s surprising how much energy it takes to read and concentrate. I struggled in the days after leaving hospital, and I’m still not fully back in the swing of things. With the sort of time I’ve had on my hands recently I should have seen Nature Cure off in short order, probably in a day. It’s only 240 pages in the paper edition, which is not a long book.

I didn’t have the energy to start it for a couple of days and I’ve been doing a section each day. I still have a bit left, though to be honest I’m now able to read faster and I’m just trying to prolong the pleasure of reading.  I’m doing puzzles now and looking at the web, though still not up to full speed.

Has anybody else noticed that reading can be such an effort? Or am I just getting old?