Posted by Jock on July 27, 2005 at 17:11:20 from 217.172.246.144 user Jock.
In Reply to: Re: Pork Pies posted by Ala on July 27, 2005 at 08:08:22:
Sadly all the Altounyan family have now passed away. You will find the obituaries for Mavis (Titty) and Brigit (Vicky of the early novels) as well as the notes of a talk given by Taqui in the A.R. Literary Pages. There are articles about Roger in Dick's Pocket Book. Just follow the link at the top of Tarboard .
I relieved to learn that your recipe for aspic starts off exactly the same as mine. I also boil a "knuckle of pork" and then spend ages with a sharp knife disecting the trotters and knuckle. I end up with a huge pile of fat and bone which goes to the dog (pause for howls of rage from pet lovers) and a smaller pile of strange bits which I tip into the aspic. Allow to cool, pop into the fridge and allow to stand for 24 hours. Mmm... delicious.
Nancy and Peggy? The girls who inspired these characters were well hidden by Ransome and the rival theories have been the subect of fierce debate on this forum and in other places ever since. I lean to the minority view that they were the Crossley sisters who lived at Huyton Hill on Lake Windmere. Their father owned a steam launch similar to Captain Flint's houseboat which the piratical sisters once sank!. For a flavour of the debate and for details of Pauline Marshall's claim to be Peggy read the thread Did really meet 'Peggy'? about one third of the way down Tarboard.