Please donate to help keep TarBoard and All Things Ransome going

Thanks re the dogmudgeon with the grey beard and blue eyes who encountered the decoy party. They don’t know what crime they are accused of, when they were walking noisily and banging on stones (GN22). But Captain Flint realises (GN24) \that being accused of chasing their deer is serious (frightening the hinds to make them move onto someone elses land in the breeding season). The dogmudgeon captures Dick (GN23,24).

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

David Maxwell
California
posted via 66.218.47.242 user DavidMaxwell.

How many different North Poles have been discovered by Ransome fans so far?

• https://hefted.substack.com/p/arthur-ransome-and-the-great-frosts

I haven’t found yet in GN the reference to someones’ eye colour, though I thought of Mr Jemmerling and the young Laird!

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

Also at that first meeting, Peggy is a very voluble talker, in a way that I haven't noticed persisting later in the series.
posted via 2.26.218.209 user eclrh.

In SA the heights of Titty and Roger are mentioned in discussion about lighting the signal light, Roger will be tall enough to reach it next year. And in WH John says that Dick won’t have to reach as high as the nail used for the string attached to the signal shapes,

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

I used to think Dot had black hair for years, until someone pointed out the line about "straw-coloured plaits".

There's height, weight, eye colour, hair colour, skin tone, date of birth, disabilities, ethnicity......?

Incidentally, it is often commented that Ransome preferred to have his illustrations show characters facing away, so there was no need to draw faces, and any reader could imagine him/herself in those shoes. Is this a theory, or is there a record of him saying that?

Link below goes to Facebook where somebody asked about eye colour today, and I responded with a challenge (can you guess which human in GN has their eye colour specified, when no other book mentions this, apart from with William?).

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/2612950856/

Possibly the only instance of "the real world" intruding into the stories is in WDMTGTS where he drew in the Chain Home radar towers at Bawdsey, even though they post-dated the story.
posted via 76.151.21.100 user Jon.

"His imagination was captured by the works of Arthur Ransome, Daniel Defoe, RM Ballantyne and Alan Villiers..."

Lived near Harwich and worked for Trinity House. Historian of the merchant navy and the East India Company.

• Richard Woodman obituary

It enters the Thames with four villages, none are Colnsea.

posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

Google earth that pretty much knows all places says it does not exist by that name, so it may be an old Norfolk name for a place.

posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

Where is, or was, Colnsea? Google doesn't know. It is a shortening of something like 'ColXXX-on-sea'? Anyone have any idea?

Cheers!
posted via 24.150.173.227 user nancy_forever.

• America's Cup 2004

The Wikipedia article on skipper Peter Burling says that he started sailing at age six in a beginners or “Optimist” class “pram” dingy in Welcome Bay Tauranga, a beginner’s yacht for up to 15y and designed to be made out of two 4 ft by 8 ft sheets of plywood. A pram dinghy has a transom not pointed bow.

• Peter Burling

I think the comment by Nancy about the dowser who found water for Beckfoot is conclusive (in Pigeon Post; PP13) and that Beckfoot had a pump from a spring or well, like the Tysons.

In Wellington, New Zealand in the late 1940s our family home had two circular corrugated tanks filled off the roof, until Johnsonville became part of Wellington City.

Beckfoot had a “reticulated” telephone from the Fellside Exchange, but no reticulated water, gas or sewerage so would have relied on its own resources!

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

Indeed. But out here, absent reticulated water supplied by a water authority, our first port of call would be for tanks to store rainwater. With a more-or-less-known annual rainfall and the requirements of the household most people don't need to buy in water.

The wettest place in the Lake District apparently gets about 130" of rain a year (nearly five times Melbourne's annual rainfall) and the mean rainfall for the District is about 80", so surely the first and obvious option would be on-site rainwater storage tanks? (In fact, wouldn't you install tanks even if you were relying on pumped water?)
posted via 163.47.70.31 user mikefield.

From Wikipedia, therefore in the public domain. The water hammer used to drive rams is incredibly powerful, you hear it when you turn off a tap to fast in a house. Most modern taps are designed not to hammer.

I would be surprised if there were not rams in the lake District.
posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

When Peggy goes down to Mrs Tysons for milk, she puts her head under the pump to scrub the charcoal dust off (PP20). Perhaps typical of farmhouses to have a pump from a well?

There is a stream past the Dog House which goes down to the Amazon past Beckfoot, but it is small and goes under the road in a culvert (pipe) not a bridge. Dick or Dot fill the kettle from the beck waterfall, and it goes on a hook over the fire to boil (PM6, PM7 & PM26)

Re water rams, I think an appreciable volume of water flowing downhill would be required to push a smaller amount of water uphill! So not really practical at Beckfoot.

Beckfoot would be similar to the farmhouses in having a pump from a well for water. And having illumination by kerosene (paraffin) lamps or candles. It differs in having a telephone though; with a pair of wires on poles from the Fellside manual exchange.

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

On that basis, well water as in PP is going to be a lot safer in a statistical sense than creek water. But AR often mentions the search for water, but never at Beckfoot. It may be an oversight, but more likely he was relying on common knowledge at the time that we have lost so he can assume that readers knew how most places had water. AR tells us what is different, not what is normal.

posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

So was Beckfoot originally built without a water supply?

And in PP, Titty can (and does) dowse! NB: PP is the only ex-library Cape hardback I have that is falling to bits!
posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

We never resolved it but we had a lot of fun.

John
posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

As Ed is no longer active, it is not the same. We spent many happy emails discussing moon angles in PM.
posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

You might be interested also in:
* other sailing authors books in The Mariner's Library, selected and introduced by AR
* "The xxxxx Kids" series of currently 5 books by Jon Tucker, where xxxx changes from book to book e.g. Snake Island, Eco Pirate, This is a deliberate attempt to write S&A type books for the current generation of children (and issues), even down to similar style covers. Set in Aus and NZ and written by a live-aboard Kiwi who with his wife built their ketch and brought up 5 boys on board in a fairly S&A / AR way. The books are shorter and faster paced, not nearly as good to my mind as S & A, but interesting....

• More about Jon Tucker

I used to use TarBoard a lot, only occasionally now, as the number of posts and posters has dropped off. I do like having the thread/tree view, though it can be a bit tedious at time going up and down the branches. Editing the subject line helps show the interesting bits.

Also, I'm aware that there is a lot of information in the history, though getting to some of the older (pre2012??) threads via the search engine can be a bit of a dark art...
posted via 122.59.202.23 user BillD.

None of my S&A in Cape hardback have fallen apart (like Neil’s) so I can’t be reading them enough! And several are ex-library books from the “Junior Section” – some in their original bindings with blue date-stamps all over the last endpaper map. Some had been rebound in blue cloth before the Wellington Public Library decided to purchase paperback replacements instead!

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

'Signalling from Mars' is wonderful, as is Ransome's own Autobiography.

The biography by Hugh Brogan is a little more heavy going, but important.

'Racundras First Cruise' is another that would give you more of AR's own writing.

Roger Wardale and Christina Hardyment's books are all good - pick any one from each of them to start with.

Peter Hunt is out of print and not really worth it, I found.

(I have nearly all of these for sale at present, if you want to email me for pics, but you can always use ebay - I didn't intend for this post to be an advert!)
posted via 94.11.73.126 user Magnus.

On joining TARS, you can get access to the most recent editions of "Mixed Moss" and Signals online (from 2020 onwards), but you have to borrow the earlier ones from the library or buy them. (Actually, I forgot you can borrow them- I might borrow the ones I am missing!) There is a catalogue of the Literary Weekend Transcripts, but the transcripts themselves again are not online. You can also find a couple of the individual articles and the indexes for Mixed Moss on the All Things Ransome website.

Hopefully that's enough to keep you busy for a while!

posted via 101.166.31.187 user clamont.

In the interest of learning more about Ransome I've got a few books I'm going to try to find. Are there any good ones I'm missing?

In Search of Swallows and Amazons - Roger Wardale
Approaching Arthur Ransome - Peter Hunt
Arthur Ransome & Captain Flint's Trunk - Christina Hardyment
The Best of Childhood - Roger Wardale (out of print?)

Also, does anyone know if a membership to The Arthur Ransome Society gives access to all the older editions of Mixed Moss?

Thanks!

posted via 24.150.173.227 user nancy_forever.

David Maxwell
California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

David Maxwell
California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

David Maxwell
California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

This time around I'm a bit older, it's been at least 10 years since the last reading, and I've developed more of an interest in the history and world around the books, including the history of Ransome himself, and have started thinking about more than simply what is written on the pages of these novels. So I began to research what is out there already in terms of analysis and discussion, and here was TarBoard, a perfect harbour for me - and I see I have a lot of catch-up reading to do.

So far I've re-read SA, SD, and PD (I'm going slowly, and taking notes) and I am thrilled to consider the insight into the main cast we can glean from PD if we treat it as a meta-novel, written by the 'real' versions of those characters about each other, i.e. how they behave (I'm looking at you, Nancy) is less how they 'really behave' in their world, and more of a collective agreement by all the S&A (and Captain Flint) of how they behave since they 'wrote' the story together, which is perhaps not so hard to imagine since Uncle Jim is a full-on author at this point. I don't know if that makes sense... I'll expound on it more later more clearly, I hope.

Anyway, I'm about to depart for a trip back to Nova Scotia for a week, to visit -my- old sailing lake and woods, and I'm not sure how much I'll be online, but Woll put in some precious time to get me registered so I wanted to at least poke my head in the door and say 'Hello'.

I do understand these boards are not as lively as they used to be, facebooks and whatnot being perhaps more popular with a younger crowd, but I for one love old-school bulletin boards, and there is clearly a plethora of historical discussion to read here already. I'll donate to the upkeep when the donate link works!

Thanks for having me,

Neil

posted via 24.150.173.227 user nancy_forever.

• The Locks Inn

posted via 94.12.188.236 user Magnus.

It was a roaring success, drawing big crowds, and not just TARS members, but all sorts of folk. I was so happy to sail 'Mavis' (who hasn't been in the water for decades!) and meet various Altounyans, and make new friends amongst the other volunteers.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m3d9uIgFgs

It makes it clear in the first paragraph that this is AR's 'second' library, and reminds us his 'first' library was lost to him ultimately as a result of his divorce from his first wife, Ivy Walker.

The passages describing how Arthur reacted when Tabitha, his only child, in fairly dire financial straits and struggling to raise his grandchild, offered to sell her father back his 'first' library...

...are some of the saddest in Hugh Brogan's biography.

In one simple step, AR could have helped Tabitha, recovered his library and made a big step towards re-establishing the relationship with his daughter, and through that his infant grandchild.

Instead he appears to have lost library, daughter and grandchild - whom he appears to have set eyes on only the once.
posted via 92.17.182.81 user Cantabrigian.

I will be there, so do say hello if you see me sailing 'Amazon' (you can join me aboard if you book).

• https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/276090/Sail-Amazon-in-the-Lake-District

And two sayings about yachting: Like standing under a cold shower tearing up ten pound notes. And on private yachts by someone like John D. Rockefeller about private yachts over 100 years ago – If you have to ask how much one costs to run, you can’t afford it. But that would have been for a private steamship with a fulltime paid crew – including a chef!

• 1998 Yacht Race

I'm not sure whether the optional link will work, so I'll type the address here.
https://www.librarything.com/profile/ArthurRansome

• AR Catalogue

I hope it is OK to self-publicise a sale in this way. I don't wish to abuse the Tarboard service, but I know this could be of interest.

Please visit the link for a list of books I am selling from England (UK).

• https://www.sailransome.org/magnus

Nicer still if it had been acknowledged....

• S&A maps

David
California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

David
California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

The actual layout may not be quite like the map shown but could have all the buldings made as possible destinations.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

Someone is having a great time imagining what could be built after PP.
posted via 92.8.103.107 user MartinH.

However, I believe that the pamphlet "An open letter to America" was re-set and published under different names. Hammond's Bibliography tells us that it was also printed as:
"On Behalf of Russia"
"The Soviet Government of Russia"
"Radek and Ransome on Russia: Being Arthur Ransome's 'Open letter to America' with a New Preface by Karl Radek"
"The Truth about Russia" (in 1919) (a title which someone else made up in an unauthorised edition)
posted via 101.166.31.187 user clamont.

He had a collection of pamphlets, posters etc seized byth Bolsheviks – and destroyed, which upset him more than their seizure.

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

The image n Lakecam is larger so you would need to reduce it.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

Error: invalid origin, requestor, or authentication

posted via 76.151.21.100 user Jon.

David Maxwell
California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

David Maxwell
California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

ATR i a repository, not a very interactive site. So you are probably right that trying to find academic collaborators through ATR would be difficult.

We do try and check for broken links etc. but not very diligently I am afraid. If you find one let us know.

We don't use material which the copyright can be traced without the author's permission and attribution and we usually provide links to material rather than duplicating it. We do have electronic copies of material that is hard to find elsewhere such as some of Ransome's very early works and with the permission of the Literary Executors.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

I was thinking I'd like to make a couple of contributions, but I was intending to familiarize myself a bit better with it first. So your post is a rather timely prompt!

I am considering getting a bit more serious about my Ransome research (maybe publish something in one of the journals for Children's Literature), and just started to compile my own "Ransome Index" (a bit like the one Ted Alexander in TARS has been compiling for years) this morning. It's to remind myself of where to find things I don't use so often such as Tarboard, ATR, and individuals like Ted. Sophie Neville has been compiling a list of books making reference to Swallows and Amazons on her blog, I think. And Arthur Herbertson seems to have a large collection of Ransome artefacts. Oh, I should add the fan fiction site.

I am keen to find or help create a resource for more literary-inclined people to write articles that might reach people like librarians, primary school teachers, counsellors, particularly while they are studying at university and need to do academic research. I tried to start a "Dr Ransome's" page in my brief stint "signalling from Oz" as editor of Mixed Moss during the Covid pandemic. The idea was to list recent articles published and also any research people were planning to do with a possibility of collaborating on a project, but I could hardly find anyone to promote. I don't think TARS is really into that sort of thing. ATR may not be either!

I now have about 100 (mainly non-TARS) articles/books in my Endnote reference library that you could add to the indexes page. Ideally, I'd want to do an annotated bibliography, but that will take a bit longer.

I don't have a lot of time to spend on this just now, but just letting you know I do use your website and might be able to help out in a small way a bit later in the year.
posted via 101.166.31.187 user clamont.

This website is intended as research tool for those interested in discovering more about the works and life of Arthur Ransome, and the sources and influences relevant to his work. In particular, the goal is to provide a permanent home for Ransome-related materials, especially for non-ephemeral works such as the literary pages, essays, articles, and the like. All Things Ransome also provides links to other Arthur Ransome resources available on the world wide web.

So how is it doing?

Does anyone here use it as part of any research they undertake into Ransome related subjects?

Have you browsed the site to see what is there?

How can we make more people aware of the site and the material to be found there?

• All Things Ransome - A Repository of Arthur Ransome Materials

TarBoard is old technology having been in operation mostly unchanged in appearance since it was first started by Ian Edmondson-Noble back in 1996. You do have to check in to see what responses if any have been made to a post, However, it is possible to view all the posts in a tread and follow the discussion from start to finish.

Recently other fora, such as several Facebook groups, have come to the fore and have sucked away some of the discussions. Also many of the longer term members are not so active, either because they have said everything they can think of or for other reasons.

One long term literary email list I am a member of has also experienced this and responded by basically allowing members to post about pretty well anything as long as it doesn't cause discord. It is very successful at self policing and while much smaller than it was in its heyday is still quite active.

As for Catherine's comment about the state of her chin, I suspect she is correct that most of the current rare posters are male but beards are not mandatory. I don't think that the potential for a female perspective would inhibit discussion and our language does not usually need moderating despite the fact we can't tell who is dropping in unseen and unheard.

My concern is that fewer people seem to be dropping in and fewer still are making comments. That is probably why even an interesting topic nowadays does not get (m)any responses.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

David Maxwell
California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

"According to Roger Wardale, Ransome knew Corson at school, and he
and his two sons were avid readers of Ransome’s books. Hugh Brogan mentions that Captain Corson had a cutter called Wild Cat and a tender called Titmouse, and sailed with Ransome during the period leading up to the Second World War. We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea was published in 1937 and Secret Water in 1939. It is easy to see Captain Corson’s command of HMS Ganges 1937-39 being an inspiration for Ted Walker’s appointment to the same place and position."
posted via 101.166.31.187 user clamont.

David Maxwell - California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

PayPal proposes to hang on to it for five days before we get it, though....
posted via 119.18.1.27 user mikefield.

This year we are again asking you to generously donate a few pounds, dollars, or any other currency to keep the bank accounts topped up so we can keep All Things Ransome and TarBoard going.

Once more we are using PayPal this allows you to pay over the internet through your PayPal account or by credit card through PayPal. There are no additional fees to you, the site is secure and we will not keep any records of your details to maintain your privacy. To make a payment, please use this Appeal link which can also be found on the All Things Ransome site and the main page of TarBoard.

Contributions to the All Things Ransome Association in furtherance of its goals are welcome; please note however that the Association is not tax-exempt or a charitable organization in any jurisdiction.

• Donation page for 2024 Appeal for TarBoard and All Things Ransome operational funds

Re Captains, Arthur Ransome has some military (British Army) friends but no naval (Royal Navy) friends?
:Major Busk - had yacht Lapwing at Pin Mill
:Colonel Hudson at Low Ludderburn - with the signalling system used in SW.

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

A the end of the holiday (SA31) Nancy says “we shan’t be at school for ever. We’ll be grown up, and then we’ll live here (i.e. on the island) all the year round”. John replies “I shall be going to sea some day, and so will Roger. ;But we’ll always come here on leave”. I recal;l a omment somewhere saying that John seems to have a more mature/realistic attitude. But in fact John like Nancy assumes that as adults the Swallows and Amazons will all return and live on Wild Cat Island! Earlier when Titty says we will come again “Every year. For ever and ever” Mrs Dixon says “we all think that when we’re young”.

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

David
Califor ia
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

If you read his history, he is an interesting chap, would give G Owden a run for his money.
posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

“The trouble is,” said Captain Flint, “that in these days everything belongs to someone, even the North Pole.”

David
California
posted via 66.218.48.106 user DavidMaxwell.

Map of National Trust holdings

So the answer would appear (at the time of SA, SD, and WH) to be #3. Most of the land owned by the NT and on the Western shores of either Windermere or Coniston Water appears to have been acquired post-1935, so was presumably privately-owned during the time of PP. Much of the possible land of PP is not owned by the NT even now. Lake District National Park was only created in 1951, and the National Park actually owns less than 4% of the total park area.
posted via 76.151.21.100 user Jon.

1. The Dixons as having the nearest farm? Probably not as I expect most of the farmers were tenants.
2. The Turners/Blacketts? Nancy and Peggy seem to have made free use of the island and no evidence is given of other users. I wonder if in previous generations the Turners had owned a certain amount of land that was subsequently sold off to pay the debts of a previous black sheep. I feel, with no evidence, that the Blacketts were not as well off as the Turners, hence Aunt Maria's attitude.
3. Another land owner? Possibly, but who? Someone like Colonel Jolys who is part of the local "gentry".
4. The National Trust? An outsider here as this was still early days of the Trust and they might well have objected to youngsters using their property.

Before the Swallows camped on the island in SA I assume Mrs Walker cleared it with the owner. Was she in touch with Mrs Blackett? The postal service was much more efficient then and it was probably better than a 24 hour service around the lake. So arrangements could have been made without Nancy and Peggy knowing.
posted via 92.8.99.141 user MartinH.

I used to post a lot when Ed was here, but I really lost heart when I lost Ed.

It is worth keeping if you can raise the funds, if not it is worth a brief Eulogy, here rests a good friend, the Somme took the friend's life, but at least it was a good day to die.

I have been thinking about who would play CF in a real movie and I must say Rufus Sewell with a shaved head must be a front runner, but the best movie to make my be WDMTGTOS.

I was watching the Inspector Allwyn shows, much more English than some of the modern stuff, with the Broads sailing in the pilot it was a joy to watch.

posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

David
California
posted via 66.218.48.153 user DavidMaxwell.

As a place where we can discuss "Beckfoot plumbing" or the original reference books which provided the models for the books referenced in S&A, I'd say it's still potentially worth keeping around. How much does it cost to maintain the site on a yearly basis (domain hosting, DNS, security certs, and the like?), and what kind of time commitment does it need?

I'm certainly willing to kick in for the maintenance costs, and can bring my web/xNIX experience to help with the admin side if needed, to keep the site going.
posted via 76.151.21.100 user Jon.

Peter Hyland has given his point of view and I am not unsympathetic to it myself. While I am aware that there are a number of people who do not like posting on Facebook groups, it doesn't appear that they are posting here instead.

Has TarBoard served its purpose? Is it worth maintaining and paying for it?

posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

The question made me think of Nancy's swollen face in WH. Then I realised that AR describes that with a phrase that's similar in sound but different in meaning: "pumpkin face".
posted via 2.26.176.177 user eclrh.

"Is the phrase used anywhere else by AR?

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

You can reach me directly at infoATanodynesoftwareDOTcom

Thanks in advance.

posted via 204.237.88.191 user RogerB.

This appears to have been caused by a our ISP and they fixed it as soon as they were notified.

Let the discussions continue.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

Sometimes it was years later that I understood that people did not use those terms in the USA or Australia.

posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

'Marvellous the way you manage to get out of washing up,' Gordon remarked. 'Your pudding face really belies you.'

'My pudding face is merely a mask to hide the brilliance of the mind behind it,' Ian informed him. 'If I didn't hide it in some way it would make my big brother jealous.' He bolted before Gordon could act...

Does anyone recall the use of this insult from their own life experience, rather than in print?

posted via 94.4.25.82 user Magnus.

cheers
Bill
posted via 115.189.82.59 user BillD.

From WD Chapter 9: He was stooping now to loose the furling rope of the jib.
The jib suddenly unrolled and began to flap.

From WD Chapter 20: The pilot was signalling to furl the jib. He had let the sheets fly, and the jib was flapping idly like a flag. John stooped, risking a blow from dancing blocks, and took hold of the furling rope. What had Jim done? Simply pulled? John pulled as hard as he could, and the sail rolled up, with the blocks danced no more.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

Then he stooped, and pulled on something at his feet, and they saw the jib roll up on itself like a window blind. He stood up again, looking from boat to boat and then down at the four of them in the dinghy.

---------------------------------------------------
AR was very good at describing the equipment and sailing, he never mentions a roller reefer in SA or in the Racunda Cruises that I have read. Now if Ed was around he could do a search. I miss him a lot, the weekend is not the same.
posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

Nancy Blackett is a sailing yacht, not a museum exhibit and so safety and convenience are prized.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

Dead right, John. :)

I also noticed a few anachronisms in the Lullaby clip I posted below -- some braided lines, a nylon turning block on the mast, delrin sheaves in the mainsheet blocks; terylene sails; and it looks like all the three-strand line is synthetic as well....

posted via 193.119.55.235 user mikefield.

As well as sailing they showed quite a bit of quanting on (the non-tropical) Kendal and Meadow Dykes; they shot the Potter Heigham bridges twice; and they moored to a mud-weight overnight on Horsey Mere. (I find it odd that the word 'Kendal' for some reason has morphed into 'Candle' these days.)

There's some excellent footage of the pennant staff and how it's rigged and set; of how slack the lee shrouds are and how they become taut as she goes about; a crowsfoot on the lower end of the quant (which I hadn't known about); the canvas-sided pop-top for the cabin; the counterweight on the mast; and a lot of other details that are mentioned in the books.

From the video's blub -- "I am on the Norfolk Broads in East Anglia sailing Lullaby, a vintage 1930s wooden sailing cruiser with my friend Bob. We have two days to explore part of the river Thurne and into Horsey Mere under sail, spending the night at anchor on the water as the birds call and the mist rolls in. We hired this magnificent boat from Hunters Yard in Ludham. It was built by the Hunter family in 1932 and is available to hire. It sleeps four people in two separate cabins beneath the pop-top cabin roof and has a basic galley kitchen complete with period crockery, and a toilet on board. To travel the Broads by sail is a delight - no noisy diesel engine, just the sound of the wind, the reeds rustling and the birds singing as you silently pass by."

Forty-odd minutes of leisurely enjoyment.

• 'Lullaby' on the Broads

No matter how far you go past the black stump - Aussies are about the same, although you can tell a newbie in Tennant Creek, by how he/she opens his/her beer and if he/her has to be sober to take an engine out of a truck.

Catherine, before your time there was Ed Kiser, he and I had a great time discussing all the nuances of water supply system, moon angles, Beckfoot layout, and the Swallow. I miss his wit, unlike Malcolm Fraser it is not a blank book. Good Aussie joke.

There were a lot of negative comments about plumbing, but Ed and I had fun.

posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

The three young ladies sailing the boat in the movie are good sailors.
posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

posted via 47.211.210.141 user Mcneacail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywqpsyaenIs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZErR1-ZdI
posted via 94.11.52.52 user Magnus.

• Sailing 'Nancy Blackett'

[ Image ]

posted via 193.119.55.235 user mikefield.

Here's another short one --

Broads sailing, 1948

posted via 193.119.55.235 user mikefield.

Ignore the start of the video - the girls do get the sails up eventually. Good footage of Wroxham.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwM1YHt5YKU

He does a nice "hymn of praise" to an artist's model in "Bohemia in London", and I think I can use Dot and Titty as female sleuths, and Nancy and her pirate sister, Missee Lee, for female "criminals". (Any excuse to write about Ransome!)

Would be interested in borrowing, buying, copying or just knowing more about the book, or was there only one copy made?
posted via 101.191.199.53 user clamont.

It is incredibly funny, a little hard to follow with all the characters, but she has a very inventive mind, I know we are not supposed to use very, but the sentence needs it.

If you have a 90 year old father, buy him the book, if he doesn't laugh, just check he is still alive. He will likely refuse to allow your mother to read the book, reading the last page will tell you why.

She should try her hand at a Ransome, she tells a good story.

John
posted via 47.211.214.59 user Mcneacail.

• Ann Cleeves

posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

Yes, no secret about it -- Scrubbers' Cove is about ten miles NNE of Stornoway (on Lewis), at 58°19'01"N, 6°13'54"W.

Here's a location map, and I've uploaded a PDF showing a detailed map, an air photo, and a map of the hinterland lochans at the link.

Cheers, Mike

• Scrubbers' Cove details

[ Image ]

posted via 193.119.55.235 user mikefield.

And yes, All Things Ransome is very interesting, worth periodic revisits for new bits too...
posted via 115.189.85.118 user BillD.

Thanks for the link - clever idea. I see a number of favourite places are currently 5. Heavy midges places are the only times I've bee asked to smoke (when I did in my youth). We've also resorted to a barely going primus in the doorway of a small tent, surprisingly effective.

Could do with something similar for the NZ sandfly.

The Ransome connection implies that the location of Scrubbers' Cove is known. If this is in the public domain, non copyright, and safe to publish without imperilling Great Northern Divers or other wildlife: I'd love to know.

cheers

posted via 115.189.85.118 user BillD.

And the Ransome connection? Well, Scrubbers' Cove appears to be Mostly Midge Free for the next five days so there shouldn't be too much trouble getting Sea Bear scrubbed if we go soon....

• The Scottish Midge Forecast

Readers who haven't met Ed might be interested to learn that the name of our All Things Ransome website derives directly from a phrase he frequently used when posting on TarBoard. And if that's a site you don't yet know, you should definitely visit it....

• All Things Ransome

posted via 115.189.80.116 user BillD.

Bill, please do not post links to material unless you are sure it is in the public domain, not only where you live but also elsewhere in the world. Some sites indicate that their material is available for free use but TARS is not one of them.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

"SPITZBERGEN" (= Wild Cat Island), "ALASKA" and "CROSS GREENLAND". She is about to say (as Peggy knows) that Greenland is the country up on the fells above the tarn. High Greenland and Wild Cat Island are named on the endpaper map. They go to Spitzbergen (WH-13).

But where is Alaska? Possibly "THE GULCH" (PP; not Golden Gulch!) if Alaska was associated with the Klondyke Gold Rush?

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

Malnourished and covered in insect bites, four Indigenous children were rescued alive from the Colombian Amazon on Friday afternoon, 40 days after the plane they were travelling in crashed into the jungle.

In a remarkable feat of resilience, the children survived heavy storms in one of the most inhospitable parts of the country, home to predatory animals and armed groups.

“They’ve given us an example of total survival that will go down in history,” said Colombian president Gustavo Petro, calling it “A joy for the whole country!”

• link to the report

Yes, I'd noticed the 'tramping'. In the UK at least for the last 50 years it's usually called walking, fell-walking, possibly hiking.

It may have been chosen for the rhyme with camping. It doesn't seem to be a generational thing - although there's lots of NZ (and American and Aussie) terms that were current in the UK at the time when emigrants left, all I can find seems to say it's basically an NZ term.
posted via 115.189.84.62 user BillD.

He settled down with some fine stuff, thin string, to finish off the ragged reef points with neat splices, cutting the frayed ends away with his knife.

Clever really, in a way she points to the very real humans who like AR and why they are different in a way.

So far I have read the abstract.

She is very good, but her philosophy is hidden deeply. She is Nancy and Dot grown up and real.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

The writers have written stories which have things happening the way things happened then. Customs and attitudes may have changed but we're talking about then.

Is it the accuracy of the writers?

If it is the different attitudes, then and now, the stories don't need to even be mentioned as it is how real people were then and now.

One does think, it could be a surprise to a modern kid how things have changed between then and now and were things really like that.

Things were really like that, I know, things were like that and only changing slowly when I was a kid.
Going to a farm with a billy for milk. Yes, done that. Attitudes of adults to children and children to children, yes, just like that too.

So what is the "topic"?
posted via 121.98.151.174 user Alex.

The US make it more expensive with coursework.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

"Roland Chambers still felt it fitting to describe Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons as ‘An Edwardian idyll of bun loaf and pemmican, of butter and marmalade sandwiches, of cotton tents and grog and tea at four, and children who say “ripping”’.

Looking at it, S&A, from my perspective, what else but cotton tents? And "butter and marmalade sandwiches".

We, my brother and I (in New Zealand), read S&A and did some of the S&A things. We had a rowing dinghy that I rigged and taught myself to sail. We then had a sailing dinghy, sailed on the mudflats, tidal, or if the open sea, either simply spending the day out at sea or doing a crossing of an hour each way between ports.

I'm talking here of the late 1950s and it certainly wasn't "Edwardian".

So one of the things to look at is when was this thesis written? 2012.
Have attitudes changed as far as "children's safety" and all the attached attitudes? I think most would say Yes.

Attitudes of children to children? I don't know.

The attitudes of the S&A towards each other and the rest they meet is as it was "back then". It comes to the question, is it actually fiction? Yes, but only just.

There is mention of their father being in the service, navy. That the S&A are on holiday is a reason that they had access to the equipment. We had the equipment and could use it all year round and lived "out in the country" so didn't have the limitations of city (town) life. We were not at boarding school either.

So what is the purpose of this thesis?
Is it to criticise the writing and authenticity?
To simply catalogue those writers who were writing that style?
To write a long dissertation and hope to get qualifications for writing a long story?

For me, it looks like a lot of reading yet to see if I can find any of the answers. Maybe some here have some of those answers.
posted via 121.98.151.174 user Alex.

The thesis refers to "sacred" campfires as distinct from Susan’s cooking campfires (pages 54,57) but no mention of the Corrobee or Eel Dance in SW.

Another term of interest is "tramping" as I thought it more of a New Zealand term – do you have tramping clubs in England?

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

You could use a back-splice to tidy the ends, but a whipping is quicker, neater and doesn't shorten the rope, or make it harder to tie a reef point than a back-splice would do.

On the other hand, a back-splice is arguably neater and more permanent. But back-splicing all the reef points would take quite a while...
posted via 115.189.80.42 user BillD.

You could use a back-splice to tidy the ends, but a whipping is quicker, neater and doesn't shorten the rope, or make it harder to tie a reef point than a back-splice would do.

On the other hand, a back-splice is arguably neater and more permanent. But back-splicing all the reef points would take quite a while...
posted via 115.189.80.42 user BillD.

David
California
posted via 66.218.48.153 user DavidMaxwell.

Once you've got past the 'catching lobsters' phase (as Dot put it), it seems to me that it's that return stroke that many otherwise-proficient rowers often don't master -- but that makes them look really professional when they do.
posted via 193.119.55.235 user mikefield.

[ Image ]

posted via 193.119.55.235 user mikefield.

I haven't fully read this, but dipping in to it found it very interesting, both in it's discussion of aspects AR and the SA canon, but also looking at other similar writers, some of them new to me.

Has this thesis been discussed before? If not, worth a look. e.g. Mates Not Captains: Sailing Girls; Undermining Captain Nancy Blackett; The Embryo Nelson: John Walker; The Rebellion of Roger Walker

Interestingly Sheeky talks about a gradual move in the SA books from Imperial exploration (a chapter on mapmaking) and colonisation (John Walker) to scientific discovery (Dick), but makes no mention of AR's Bolshevik & Russian sympathies. Surely she must have known of them? Was AR an Imperialist?

• Camping and Tramping, Swallows and Amazons: Interwar Children’s Fiction and the Search for England

Interesting - why did he try this? Do you think this was something AR had done as a child? Or is this an unconscious comment on the dual reality of being pirates and explorers in a world they had to be practical in?

Encapsulated in one of my favourite lines, Nancy saying p107 "we'd have given you broadside for broadside until on of us sank, even if it made us late for lunch".

And perhaps in "Swallowdale" there is a third reality, the antique one that Aunt Maria tries to impose (and the Turners and Blacketts try to live up to in their behaviour?

Anyway, has anyone come across this looking through your legs elsewhere? The only thing Google brings up is whether so doing allows you to see the true size on the full moon on the horizon...
posted via 115.189.132.96 user BillD.

When 'Captain John visits Captain Flint' his frame of mind seems to be both reflected and set or settled by his rowing style, aiming for 'navy stroke' or 'navy style' p155. This may just be the 'smart jerk as he lifted his ears from the water' andtiming as regular as a clock, or is there more to it?

I can't find a description of 'navy stroke' via Google. Can anyone shed light on it?

posted via 115.189.132.96 user BillD.

[ Image ]

posted via 115.64.37.29 user mikefield.

Until the May Day post goes up

From May 1-6

After that, you missed it. Sorry!

posted via 73.180.187.222 user Jon.

• On the trail of the Picts

I was pretty sure saying Ian without the last name, everyone on the board knew it as an example, and I did not give the last name.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Example - Ian who started the original tarboard etc..
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Calling original subscribers to purchasing Swallow from the 1974 film
We are aware that some of the original subscribers to purchasing Swallow are no longer in contact with SailRansome and receiving the newsletter.
Now that TARS are carrying on from SailRansome I would like to continue the newsletter to update you on the progress of your investment, and so am updating the list of subscribers with ones who have slipped through the net. Let me know your email or other contact details on webmaster@arthur-ransome.org
Diana Wright, lead on the S&A project
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

• Coots

Naturally I quizzed him about moorhens, as they all have the white feather, but he claimed there were nearby moorhens which he could compare to, and they had a different kind of white streak.

Has anyone else seen 'Number 7' or their descendants? Am I missing something? Is this marking more common than I was led to believe?
posted via 94.11.52.52 user Magnus.

I had a great week, it snowed for two days in Coventry, I stayed in a fake Gypsy Caravan in the Heart of England, darn cold shower on the first morning.

Two days in Chesire and a day in Chester. Cold in Chester, snowing and raining and the streets were really weird with the raised walkway areas, had lunch at Duttons, really nice.

Day site seeing in London and a flight home.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I think you would find in the unlikely chance that some one offered say 1 million pounds for the Swallow, you would be hard pressed to prove in court that the original contributors were not owners.

I certainly felt like an owner when I paid the money.

It is an interesting legal question that could be posed in a law exam, however, the contributing group were interested in being part of the program and saving something that was important to them.

I certainly enjoyed all of my visits with Rob and the boat, as his kind wife said to my wife, old men sitting around drinking tea and talking boats or words that effect.

As long as it can be sailed by people that is the main thing, it is the fun in the books that is important.

Warm regards

John
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

No "sale" (for £20,000 or £1) has yet taken place

TARS are not intending to ever restrict access to the dinghies to TARS members only

The original ethos of the project will carry on, and the difference to fans will be irrelevant, regardless of the behind-the-scenes admin

Original donors are not losing any rights, as they did not 'own' the boat, or part of it - they can continue to sail it
posted via 213.205.194.102 user Magnus.

I shared your concern about non TARS members being allowed to sail the boats. I am glad that TARS seem to be open to non-members sailing as I consider that the boats could be a significant outreach to non-members and the general public to communicate something about Ransome which I hope would be good for everyone.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

As no suitable home could be found for them in the Lake District, they will be based in Norfolk where a receptive shipyard has been found to undertake the repair and maintenance.

Now everyone who wondered at the TV adaptions of Coot Club and The Big Six being subtitled Swallows and Amazons Forever will admire the prescience of the producers.
posted via 99.241.92.87 user Adam.

The Trust has a detailed article on Mike and his association with the boat.

• Mike Rines obituary

If I do what Dick does I get yelled at to pay attention, whereas Dot understands.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

But I thinking yesterday I decided the Mother was right and PM is by far my favourite book along closely with WH.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Shepherds Bridge lane at the eastern end on yewdale creek.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

This is the closest I could find. But I note that while the arch in Ransome's drawing is set on vertical stone walls that isn't the case here.

Why don't you drop Tony a line and see what he says? His email address is at the bottom of his homepage, LakelandCam. I've no doubt he'd be delighted to help if he possibly can.

• LakelandCam

[ Image ]

posted via 118.211.52.210 user mikefield.

A couple of Ransome's islands were mentioned among the three dozen listed, but really I thought the Ransome connection seemed to be pretty tenuous.

It's fair to say that seven of the eight quoted reader-reviewers gave the book five stars while one gave it only two -- and that person thought there was too much Ransome and not enough Lake District in it!

So you pay your money and take your choice. But you may not be surprised to hear that I myself have chosen to keep my funds where they are....
posted via 118.211.52.210 user mikefield.

Full details at the link.

[ Image ]

posted via 118.211.52.210 user mikefield.

-- Dave
posted via 47.208.68.76 user dthewlis.

I wanted to recreate the illustration in a photograph next time I am visiting Cumbria. I saw a few suitably-sized bridges on my last visit, but they were either on private land, or had significant features that would ruin the photo.

Just a bit of fun!
posted via 86.178.201.98 user Magnus.

The author visits every island in the Lake District, and tries to camp on as many as possible. he goes off topic often, but usually in an interesting fashion, and peppers his account with S&A facts.

Has anyone else tried it?

• https://www.amazon.co.uk/36-Islands-Search-Wonders-District/dp/1474621635/

Oh, and Happy Hogmanay!
posted via 73.180.187.222 user Jon.

While I'm at it - two nitpicking points:

The most recent posting before Paul's was on 12 December by John Nichols. Remember that TarBoard dates are month first.

On 'another forum' you had a go at those of us who 'whinge' about the seaplane incident at the close of the 2016 S&A film. I whinge about it - not because there was a seaplane - I am well aware that seaplanes can and did 'land' and take off from Windermere - I grumble about what they did with it in the film - a physical impossibility because of the burst of kinetic energy applied to a thin rope. (I dare say John can give us some data on that.)
posted via 62.6.133.2 user Peter_H.

Do you still have your boat?

John
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Not necessarily. My son. :-)
posted via 121.45.190.37 user mikefield.

I have been watching Silent Witness on TV, has it really run for 26 seasons, why is it so popular in England. Amanda Burton would make a good Nancy.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Cannot see the Dixon's or the geese.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I have been reading Buchan - Power House, a nice little read.

I was let onto the Facebook page, they are active.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I was asked to answer some questions about the boat, because for some reason people believe I know a bit about wooden boats having built several and I know a lot about accelerometers. The gunboat has a cannon on the front deck and that is the first question, should they remove it, 8 minutes with an accelerometer and I said no. The building is shaking like crazy the cannon is so heavy it stops the boat shaking in sympathy, a dead weight damper, a bit like a bell in a church, both are dangerous in wrong hands, engineering material do not like shaking, like you should never shake a baby.

I tried to join the facebook group but no reply.

The new Enola Holmes is really good, watch it with your grandchildren.

The end is perfect.

John
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

• Trains

The SI is very dynamic and that has turned into an interesting question.

it is just science like PP.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

So why are the accelerometers there, rather than somewhere closer to bedrock (although I don't think NMAH footings reach to bedrock)?
posted via 73.180.187.222 user Jon.

Inside her are a set of accelerometers, running on Intel NUC's and the NUCs are named Flint, Swallow, Amazon, Beckfoot, Dudgeon (LOL I ran out of names in my mind when I was naming them) Scarab, SeaBear, Teasal, Viper(that was a hard choice) and Wizard.

I had to explain to the SI human bean where the names came from.

We will watch her with interest.

JMN

• Gunboat

The Guardian has a note asking for subscriptions, they say - we stayed in Russia in early Communist days and everyone else left. You mean AR stayed risked his life, found a wife and you paid him a pittance so he could escape his first wife. Did I miss anything?
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

1. What was the argument about with Ernest?

2. Why would Squashy Hat walk from near Coniston to the house, it is a long way?

3. Short two hour walk in the rain is not a short walk.

4. Titty and Trojan mentioned a lot.

In second half the editors added the week days, Sunday etc, made it better to read.

I must be anon in the subscriber list.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Similarly, John did indeed haul in his 'mainmast' in my 1st ed of 'Swallowdale', where the yard was also referred to as the gaff. Both these nuisances had also been corrected in my 1993 Red Fox edition of that book.
posted via 118.211.52.61 user mikefield.

I note that in my on-line copy of (the 1931 ed of) S&A the yard is consistently referred to as a gaff when they're first rigging Swallow for her maiden sail. I now see why it was an easy mistake for Ransome to have made.

(Broadly, a sail's upper spar is a yard if it crosses the mast and a gaff if its forward end is fixed to the mast. The Swallow we're familiar with definitely had a yard.)
posted via 118.211.52.61 user mikefield.

• Ebay letter on 'little nuisances'

AR noting 'little nuisances' he wants corrected in resetting of Swallowdale / SA. Love the little comments about his typewriter and builders...!

Thought might be of interest,
cheers
rob
posted via 86.132.244.129 user robscot.

I still remember with great joy, sailing Rob's Mirror dinghy on the lake, the best sailing experience ever.

My first gradndaughter has arrived, so I am looking to see what year I can get her up the mountain, I reckon five is not to young.

Any thoughts?
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

It has been a long time since the last newsletter about 'Swallow', and the reasons for that are detailed below, as we update you on the past, the present and the future...

--- The Past ---

The original appeal to buy 'Swallow' and make her available to get fans sailing started in 2010, and sadly we were not able to celebrate our ten year anniversary with gusto and happiness due to three medical reasons: a pandemic, the physical health of one of our committee members, and the mental health of the other.

Both of the personal situations had been building up for some time, affecting the activity and energy that we all wish 'Swallow' had received. Nevertheless, there was a high profile appearance on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow programme, and some sailing the year after.

I am pleased to say that both of us (Rob and Magnus) are in reasonable health now, and out of danger.

--- The Present ---

Those living in the south of England may be interested to hear that 'Swallow' is on display at the Southampton Boat Show from today until 25th September. Sophie Neville, who played Titty in the film, will be speaking on the Foredeck Stage there too, on certain days. See www.southamptonboatshow.com/foredeck-stage-2022/

There are no further events planned for 2022 due to repair work needed.

--- The Future ---

Swallow has a small leak in the bows, and sorely needs general upkeep to the varnish. It is time certain safety equipment (and road trailer hubs) were replaced, as things degrade over ten years. Our bank account can just about cope with the simple replacements, but affording a boatbuilder is beyond us at present.

We hope that contacts at the Boat Show will prove fortuitous in that area, but would appeal to any readers who have ideas or feel able to help us chase down a cheaper offer of assistance - please get in touch!

You can of course support with gifts via www.sailransome.org/making-a-donation but we appreciate that most families are feeling the pinch right now, and that many of you have donated generously in the past, so we are focussing on finding a kind-hearted boat builder most of all.

There is a hint of a rumour that it might be possible to add 'Amazon' to our fleet one day - yes, the boat used in the same 1974 film! We hope to announce the outcome of this next year.

Thank you for your support,
Magnus Smith and Rob Boden

• www.southamptonboatshow.com/foredeck-stage-2022

• Classic Boat Festival

Somewhere buried deep in the bowels of British UK reseaerch is a paper on blood testing of parents and English children. 10% of the fathers could not be the biological father. There is no reason that there is not some small possiblity that you are descended from said priest, I bet you are related to him somehow, a long way back. We all walked out of Africa, thank god our great(1000) generations did not run into the UK immigration system, or we would all be French.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

There's a similar situation 30 miles away in Melton Mowbray, with a Swallowdale Road surrounded by other bird roads, and a Swallowdale Primary School.

And of course, there used to be a Great Northern Railway!
posted via 2.31.237.72 user eclrh.

Eventually I tracked down a small community in Nova Scotia also named Quinan and on inquiry found that it had been named after a beloved Catholic priest who had served the area for many years. I think I can safely say that I am not descended from him.

I wonder if some exiled Nova Scotian town planner named the street for that small village.
posted via 99.240.137.238 user Adam.

All of the people who picked names, would take a reference to something in their life and then substitute the Awabakal word. Humans use what is comfortable. AR is a comfortable childhood memory and you are now closer to him in your mind.

Street has two e's and one R.

Once I a hurry for a theoretical job, I needed a street name and used my oldest daughter Eliza's name. Broke all my rules in one.

Local Government engineer wrote and asked the background to the name, I had to do research and reply it was the name of the first Vice Chancellor's wife for the local University. Not my proudest moment.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

This is in Westbury, Wiltshire.
posted via 92.16.54.163 user MartinH.

That was a few years ago when it was a new estate, but I see it's been pretty-well fully developed now.

[ Image ]

posted via 194.193.38.116 user mikefield.

In Walton on the Naze (Secret Water country) there is a development with Arthur Ransome Way and some other Ransome themed names.

Where are you locatedÉ
posted via 99.240.137.238 user Adam.

Are there other places with a similar naming scheme?
posted via 92.16.54.163 user MartinH.

(I don't know how I missed this earlier....)

• News of 'Nancy Blackett'

[ Image ]

posted via 194.193.38.116 user mikefield.

• Reckitt’s Blue

A double-sided open wire griller would toast at least four slices of bread at once on an open fire.

• Wire griller

The talk of museum pieces reminds me of Agatha Christie's remark: "The advantage of being married to an archaeologist is that the older you get, the more interesting he finds you."
posted via 2.31.237.72 user eclrh.

If he meant it is a museum piece in the sense of being outdated and no longer performing its former function, I would draw attention to Mavis/Amazon and perhaps to a lesser extent even Nancy Blackett. Both examples of out dated technology, one of which is still operating but needs a lot of care and attention to conserve it and the other is literally a museum piece. TarBoard is old technology but with a ittle care and attention it does continue to perform its function for those who prefer to avoid the flashier Hullabaloos of Facebook!
posted via 99.240.137.238 user Adam.

TarBoard is older technology but has the advantage of being simple. You can see at a glance all the posting titles and distinguish those which you haven't read. (On Facebook postings seem to disappear after a few days.) The separation of the threads means that you know exactly where to post.

I don't see why the two forums can't co-exist without sniping such as 'museum piece'. I recommend Peter Willis to read an excellent article in the latest Mixed Moss (the TARS journal) pp 52-53 in which Dave Thewlis summarises the history and aims of both All Things Ransome and TarBoard.
posted via 86.154.125.150 user Peter_H.

posted via 121.98.151.174 user Alex.

• Stanley Holloway – Runcorn Ferry

I do not read the Times, merely the Guardian, being a labour voter my whole life as was my grandfather.

Sometimes half the fun is searching for something, so is walking a circle four miles a day for your heart.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I love the Guardian.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Just a few bug bears of being a traffic engineer in part.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

• Runcorn Ferry

61 years ago, to be exact!

I have a dim memory of crossing the transporter bridge as a small child. I was disappointed when we didn't get wound up to the top.

I hadn't heard of the Stanley Holloway piece and had to Google it. I see it features the same Albert of Albert and the Lion fame.

posted via 2.31.237.72 user eclrh.

The number of lifting bridges is smaller but there are several, including both bascule bridges which pivot (like Tower Bridge, London) and a few vertical lift bridges.

There are one or two transporter bridges left though the the major one at Middlesbrough has been closed for a while and is in dodgy structural condition.

There are two boat lifts - the Falkirk Wheel in central Scotland and the Anderton Lift in Cheshire.

I don't know how to put more than one link in a post but some of you may wish to search for some of these.

posted via 2.31.237.72 user eclrh.

I rather fancy that.
posted via 217.96.138.41 user Jock.

...white bread and white rice; I thought the objection to them was that they were not poisonous in themselves, but that removing the rice husks (say) removed goodness

Both are the case. Making white rice, white sugar or white flour removes the goodness, then a bleaching agent is used which makes such foods carcinogenic.
posted via 217.96.138.41 user Jock.

In England we have a quite well known lifting bridge in London which I've rowed under, and a less well known one in Coot Club country on the site of a big railway swing bridge. This one I've had lifted for me a couple of times (causing impressive tailbacks on the major road) which crosses here.

• Breydon Bridge closes for four months

Is a famous bridge in the Netherlands, it raises, which is interesting. Has anyone seen it in person?

I found it in a search on Holland and AR?
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Was this ever solved?
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I was looking on the old book lists, published 27, 29, and 33 so it was popular, AR could have used 27 or 29 or 33, your conjecture of 27 would be a large point the barrister would raise to frazzle you.

Barristers are not nice people.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

As has been explained to me recently, aka last night, these lead to high blood sugar and weight gain, this leads to high A1C over the long term, which leads to Type 2 diabetes and blindness, without care.

Moderation is the key as was forcefully rammed home last night by a doctor and doing the most important thing, walking or exercise. SAD did a lot of walking, and food was expensive at that time, which is why in Australia most families had a veggie patch, it saved you a lot of money.

We are to spoilt and it is killing us.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

My reasoning can be seen in the link below.

• TarBoard Post 43934

Found after long searches during lockdown :-)

It even has the Tennyson and Longfellow poetry.
posted via 80.189.40.88 user Matt.

Yes, quite a few decades ago when I was at school. I've probably had to replace the element in one of those back in the 1960s when I started work. It was more usual to have to replace pop-up toaster elements in Morphy Richards toasters. I would have done a few hundred of those.

"Years ago one could buy a toaster for going on Primus or Camping Gaz type stoves. The one we had did up to four slices at a time."

Mine is probably still out with the rest of the camping equipment. Slightly bulky so I wouldn't usually have carried it on my sea kayaks.
posted via 121.98.151.174 user Alex.

"Marmite ice cream" sounds like (chocolate) Mars Bars deep fried in batter!

Re "long term poisons" like white bread and white rice; I thought the objection to them was that they were not poisonous in themselves, but that removing the rice husks (say) removed goodness e.g. vitamins in the rice husks?

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

But how practical would it be to toast four or six slices of toast on an open camp fire, even a large ''Nancy'' size one! I think it would take too long, with four or six people crowded around an open fire! PS: while modern pop-up toasters do both sides at once,

I recall older electric toasters that had two flaps hinged at the bottom in which the slice of bread was reversed to do the other side (obverse?)

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

Mrs Walker allows her toast to go cold at Alma Cottage while she inquires about Jim Brading's character and sailing skills in WD. Later on she allows the toast to go cold while asking after the Goblin following the overnight blow.

Toast is served along with bacon at the breakfast at Alma Cottage in Secret Water.

Mr Farnon has toast for breakfast in Coot Club.

Dr Dudgeon offers Dorothea some toast with marmalade or honey in The Big Six.

Missee Lee's Camblidge breakfast has fried toast with ham and eggs and later toast with Oxford marmalade.

posted via 99.240.137.238 user Adam.

I always thought this meaning, not the sausages.

The white stuff is very easy for your stomach to break down and it raises your blood sugar quickly, leading to diabetes. Some people live to 93 through genetics, most die in their 60's and 70s due to poor genetics. It is a game of Russian roulette, as you do not pick your parents.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I think there's a breakfast scene at Alma Cottage at the start of Secret Water, which I would need to check as the most likely place for any toast reference, but my copy is not to hand.

Bread and marmalade is mentioned a couple of times, whereas I have never had marmalade except on toast.

At one point (possibly in PM) there is a reference to (Dorothea emulating) Susan's alleged method of buttering the end of a loaf before cutting a slice off, but somewhere else in the series Susan does it the other way.
posted via 2.31.237.58 user eclrh.

• Toad in the Hole recipe

posted via 121.98.151.174 user Alex.

Apparently, they are roughly equivalent to long-term poisons for your body.

Life can be boring. Although PP last night was a good read.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Toast is common when camping in Australia as a boy scout, hold it on a stick near the fire.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I was reading an English novel set on Aldernay. It talks about fried bread, what is fried bread?

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

On Lakeland cam today.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I wonder why he dropped Nancy and pegs brother Tom?

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

--- LOL --- No journey is wasted if you are having fun. Think of Roger in Pigeon Post.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

When travelling one can never solve the mysteries of why one takes a particular route. I took my daughter from Houston to New Orleans last week, straight run about 7 hours. We came home the long way through Vicksburg just to show her the country. Her opinion, Dad next trip let us do Paris. Vicksburg has a huge National Park for a major Civil War battle, she thought it was boring and I got lost, it is so big.

In Vicksburg they hand dug caves as Morris Shelters, and that reminds me of that great book, Post D.

As we drove across Louisiana I reminded my daughter that it was about 56 years since the death of AR - I told her about hearing it on the ABC news in Australia. Early June '66 from memory and she said "Who?"

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Once you do decide to go to Hereford, your obvious route to Cumbria is Leominster, Shrewsbury and Chester. The funny shape of the Welsh border has a bulge there, and it may be Ransome never stopped the car in Wales at all, but crossed in and out just because the straight road cut across the curved border.

What is odd is that he would divert 6 miles off the main road to Llangollen though. He's travelling due north, and would have to go due west to get there, and then back east along the very same road, before resuming north to Chester. If he needed food or petrol, Wrexham is a much bigger town only 8 miles from the point of needing to make the decision.

(John Nichols, is this enough of a strangely-specific mystery/research project for you?)
posted via 213.122.89.146 user Magnus.

Yesterday's word was not a real word, retro.

I wonder what AR would have made of the modern world.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

If you start to look at the Welsh language you'll find many more longer words that qualify! Which brings us to: did Arthur Ransome ever go to Wales? Does any character in his books mention Wales? It is a pretty green place full of hills that I'm sure he would have loved.

But I only recall England, Scotland/Hebrides and the Isle of Man being mentioned. The Scilly Isles are referenced in a song lyric.

Nothing of Wales? Ireland? Jersey?
posted via 86.133.242.148 user Magnus.

Apparently this was caused by an IP address repeatedly downloading pages. This does not appear to be a hack and as far as we can tell no access to the server or file tampering occurred, it just used up the normal amount of "download availability" so that genuine users could not get access. Our service provider has increased the bandwidth available and normal service seems to have reumed. The offending IP address has been added to our blocked list.
posted via 99.240.129.236 user Adam.

posted via 47.134.240.81 user Jon.

There are many examples.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

The letter 'Y' is always called the 'Greek I'.

(The pronunciations of each, phonetically, are 'ee-latina' and 'ee-griayga'.)

The classic example in English of 'Y' being used as a vowel is in the word 'syzygy'. It has none of the recognised vowels A, E, I O, or U, but uses 'Y' as a vowel no less than three times.
posted via 121.45.163.61 user mikefield.

As a point you cannot read the OED from cover to cover without accepting there are 29 real letters in the alphabet, you cannot make sense of English unless you accept that Y is a vowel some of the time.

Shewn is just one example of the evolution.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I have submitted a few AR words to the OED.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

William Chester Minor (also known as W. C. Minor; 22 June 1834 – 26 March 1920), was an American army surgeon, psychiatric-hospital patient, and lexicographical researcher.

After serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War, Minor moved to England. Affected by delusions, he shot a man who he believed had broken into his room, and was consequently committed from 1872 to 1910 to a secure British psychiatric hospital.

While incarcerated, Minor became an important contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary. He was one of the project's most effective volunteers, reading through his large personal library of antiquarian books and compiling quotations that illustrated how particular words were used.
posted via 110.174.224.69 user clamont.

It'#s possible he was found not guilty after that, I'm not sure. A good story in there somewhere....
posted via 86.133.242.148 user Magnus.

This ranks as one of the great feats of literature.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I think I'd rather have had 20 pots of Oxford marmalade.

• It's only £800 if you feel like buying it

Showy was word, but shown is not in the 2V OED, I would have expected it.

Off Ransome, but sort of interesting, would Dick have played Wordle or Dot?
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

The crofter is a poor representation of the Scots.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

AND I'VE SWUM AROUND THE ISLAND!!!!!

Just need to find a sunny day to climb the Old Man, before I am forced to return home (booo!).
posted via 31.50.84.213 user Magnus.

My desire to video the approach to the secret harbour - perhaps even underwater - is along these lines. So your suggestions could be for photos or videos.

I quite fancy re-creating an illustration from the books too. Have they all been done already?
posted via 86.133.242.148 user Magnus.

I watched the 39 Steps last night - it is free on some channel, Madeleine Carroll is so beautiful, she was the highest paid female actor at the time.

Hitchcock should have left the police and the search for the 39 steps in rather than the Mr Memory.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I dumped my wife and daughter in the lake near there and I still hear about it.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Quite a challenge to come up with something in the same league. After due consideration came up with the following.

1) Find Arthur's rock near the Miners' Bridge.
2) Scramble down the precipice.
3) Wade across Church Beck to the foot of the waterfall.
4) Find the hidden entrance to the trial adit.
5) Explore the same.

Coniston Copper Mines: A Field Guide... by Eric Holland is a useful reference.

Usual disclaimer applies. The above is posted for entertainment purposes only, and does not constitute an invitation to carry out the activities described. Anyone doing so, does so entirely at their own risk.

As an alternative, I hear that tea and scones at Brantwood is highly recommended.
posted via 83.29.47.79 user Jock.

So I'm currently in training to make sure I can swim the required distance, in cold water, to get around Peel Island. There are lots of photos of the secret harbour, but I want to take some underwater ones.

What else can I do that isn't part of a standard pilgrimage?

posted via 86.151.245.104 user Magnus.

Not only in London, I think the same applied in most British cities and large towns at that time. My great grandparents lived in Bristol, and, according to my grandmother, if my great grandfather was going to be late home from work and he had reasonable notice he would send a postcard.

posted via 81.178.167.64 user MartinH.

Yes and yes.

The Man Who Never Was was a 1956 film about Operation Mincemeat in WW2, in which a corpse dressed in the uniform of a British officer, carrying bogus plans, was used to decieve the Germans and Italians into believing that the Allies would attack Greece rather than Sicily. There is recently released film on the same subject, entitled Operation Mincemeat.
posted via 2.31.237.60 user eclrh.

Is there not a movie about a man who never was? Is there not a current remake?

Luckily most humans are Susan's and not Black Jake's.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

They were pretty clearly the wrong side of the channel piles, weren't they? -- although, as I know from my own experience in one of those things on the Broads, some plastic fantastics have appalling helm control as well as enormous windage.

I'm glad they saved poor old William....
posted via 121.45.172.104 user mikefield.

• Norfolk Live report of rescue

2. Yeserday I needed a Susan to organize my boat outing. I made a mess of the organization, forgot all the important things.

3. Blasted oars do not come with fittings, damn manufacturers to Cormorant Island in the middle of winter in Shorts.

4. For the sort of money for a 1st edition Ransome, it would be relatively easy to make one.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Ransome was here yesterday & to-day trying to inveigle me into the country with him. I was adamant. Wilfred’s going however next week-end, so we shall be alone - which is first-rate. W. H. Davies also was here.

The second paragraph of his letter: People identified in notes as:
Arthur Ransome (1884-1967), journalist and prolific writer, particularly of children’s books.
Wilfred Wilson Gibson (1878-1962) , Georgian poet and regular contributor to Rhythm.
W. H. Davies (1871-1940) Georgian poet, who contributed to Rhythm and The Blue Review.
Mentioned in the previous letter was:
Lascelles Abercrombie (1881-1938), poet, dramatist and critic who contributed in 1913 to Rhythm and The Blue Review. Swallowdale was originally dedicated to his daughter Elizabeth.

So Murry saw KM at breakfast then wrote to her to apologise for being a beast at breakfast. And she got the letter later that day!

''The letters of John Middleton Murry to Katherine Mansfield''; ed. C.A. Hankin (1983, Hutchinson, NZ & Constable, UK):

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

Interestingly while putting together the collection it has been eye opening to what 'collectors' deem relevant eg. 'clipping' the pricing. Another insight was to how some for sale are 'first editions' but clearly not due to the impression date.

I even saw one actual first impression for sale with a chunky price tag due to coming with the dust jacket and large amount of accurate blurb, then buried at the bottom that the dust jacket in question was infact from a later edition...!
posted via 81.187.215.115 user robscot.

In mid-2020 there was a discussion on Tarboard and a listing of quite a number of typos and errors in the series. Was a database of the errors preserved permanently.?

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

JMN
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I posted on another thread about first impression first editions with original dust jackets etc - and mentioned some 'spares' that have cropped up during my quest for a full set. I am missing one book out of the set, no guesses needed on which :)

A range of first edition first impressions are available and where they have them, original dust covers. Others don’t have the dust jackets.

I am not a book seller / trader so not up to speed on condition standards but can supply pictures / video to help assess, likewise there is a copy of Hammond there as well.

Hopefully this can help someone towards the same goal as it is quite hard to get a collection together.

On the flip side if anyone has a unicorn S&A first impression with DJ and open to ‘fair’ but cheeky offers to a good home, or a decent condition Winter Holiday with DJ (mine has a rear tear) let me know !

Postage depends where they are going and by what method, UK based seller, ideally looking to do a 'set'.

To get in touch use the email address here

More detail below,

Cheers
Rob

Per book:

Coot Club 1934 November second impression with dust jacket, and has erratum slip.

Pigeon Post 1936 first impression with dust jacket.

We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea 1937 second impression with dust jacket.

Secret Water 1939 first impression with dust jacket

The Big Six 1940 first impression with dust jacket

Missee Lee 1941 first impression without jacket

Picts and the Martyrs 1943 first impression with dust jacket

Great Northern? 1947 second impression with dust jacket

Coot Club 1st impression no dust jacket, bit of a torn spine

Big Six 1st impression no dust jacket

Picts & Martyrs 1st impression no dust jacket

The Big Six 1940 first impression no dust jacket
posted via 86.155.211.17 user robscot.

posted via 217.96.144.38 user Jock.

I do not have the Hardyment book, but that photo is in another AR book.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Hammond p107 says there were 7,250 erratum slips created but he was unable to locate a first impression with one, just second printing.

I am lucky enough to have both a first impression and second impression here of CC - and *both* have that erratum insert.

(Also, what is the etiquette on sales here - as in my first impression quest I have a few dupes/spares that need a new home!)
posted via 86.155.211.17 user robscot.

Page 32 shows the tent's donkey ears in all their glory.

• Book cover image (see top)

It rings a bell, and I do believe it was an Amazon publication. Those donkey ears are firmly stuck in my mind.
posted via 86.151.245.104 user Magnus.

Was it in an Amazon publication

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Now in my mind Ransome was standing up, and the photo was on the left side of the book... but I've found one of him sitting down and the photo is on the right side. The donkey ears are not clear at all!

See page 21 of 'Ransome at Home' by CE (Ted) Alexander - Amazon Publications.

Am I recalling the photo wrong, or is there a better one in another of the many biographical books?
posted via 86.151.245.104 user Magnus.

• Norseman tent

Thanks.

posted via 97.116.97.183 user jdege.

We used it for several decades; the only time we had any issues was in 1969 (a good 25 years after manufacture date) on Mt. Washington (NH, USA) in the snow when our sleeping pads weren't thick enough and the snow melt seeped through the floor. I'm pretty sure that new it wouldn't have been an issue.
posted via 98.218.106.76 user Jon.

Can anyone point me to an example of this sort of tent?
posted via 173.17.147.55 user jdege.

Can anyone point me to an example of this sort of tent?
posted via 172.58.190.154 user jdege.

AR’s autobiography or Brogan’s biography say I think that AR felt that after PP he thought he could rely on the series for a steady income (despite the first impression being only 2000). I suppose by that time the first two books SA & SD were being reprinted
posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

In the case of some of the books, there were additional printings before publication - for details see the AR Bibliography by Wayne Hammond, from which the above figures are taken. Nevertheless the figures appear to show increased confidence by the publisher in the potential market for the books.
posted via 81.153.75.2 user Peter_H.

Does anyone have any detail on the print runs of the first impressions of each book?

Some nuggets around suggest S&A 1st run was 2000 copies but there appears little detail on the others.

Any info is welcome!

Thanks
Rob

(de-lurking, and first post to this wonderful resource)

posted via 86.155.211.17 user robscot.

I'm afraid I don't know either. Sorry for delay in replying - I have been following a discussion on the F*c*b**k AR Group. I posted a message there - about the 6th I have posted so far since it started, and every single one has met with no response. A friend tells me that I do not 'speak' the F*c*b**k language, and they can all see that. They may be right.
posted via 86.169.6.89 user Peter_H.

Re postwar war-related deaths, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) had cutoff dates for wardeaths of 31 Aug 1921 (WWI) and 31 December 1947 (WWII). The 1924 New Zealand Defence Department red book "The Great War Roll of Honour" has deaths up to 31 December 1923, and three or four ytears ago another five deaths were added for WWI, (including I think some suicides & possible PTSD).

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

The paper for 19 March has an obituary by Mike Sheaff of his 94-year-old aunt Mona Warren, who among other things was a solicitor. Mona's parents were Methodist missionaries.

"They had to leave their home in China in 1927 when the country was experiencing increasing violence. My mother, Mary [Mona's sister], remembered the journey, recounting that with their mother pregnant with Mona, their father hired a sampan, declining a naval boat proposed by the British consul, fearing this would make things worse. An encounter with 'bandits' at one point was resolved, although their luggage was lost."

So, an escape from China in 1927 by Chinese boat, and an encounter with bandits. Sounds remarkably like Missee Lee.

• Mona Warren obituary

Pemmican was the children's name for corned beef in a tin, usually opened with a key as the tins were oblong rather than tound. It was a staple of British militay rations in WW1 and WW2, also called bully beef.
Corned beef often came from South America, particularly Argentina and Brazil. One of the best known brands, Fray Bentos, is named after a Brazilian ort from where it was shipped to the UK.

People died of their war wounds well after the war was over and also the 1918 epidemic, like the current Covid one, lasted at least two years from early 1918 to the spring of 1920.

Hyland? Hyland? The name sounds familiar, what was the article abpout?

I have found a potential source of duck egs from a farmshop near me. I will have to experiment but we have no dock leaves in Ontario I wonder if maple leafs will do?
posted via 97.108.12.165 user Adam.

I read it over 2 nights, it has been a while since I had read it.

It is a pity that in PM, we did not find out if Mary got married.

What is the real stuff they called pemmican?

I eat a lot of duck eggs, they are never greenish speckled, just plain white, I feel like I am missing something.

Read an interesting article by some bloke called Hyland.

Looking at the ages, Bob Blackett had to have died after 1919.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

He can run very long sentences and then switch to a series of short ones in the next paragraph. Each paragraph in the beginning is about one child's thoughts or one action.

He can make John comments as

Statement by John
paragraph on John
Statement by John

I was wondering why not run them together.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I started wordle with SABOT The A was correct and the T was just in the wrong place. Moved to PATCH (Swallowdale) and got the C but in the wrong place, so CAT##. I guessed er - correct and then thinking CAT - ER, wonder what that is - how you pronounce can make your brain thing
CA-TER.

Anyway amazing how you can put sailing into Worlde.

• SAbot Story

Apparently, as stated at the top of the page linked by Woll, it was Mavis's own idea.
posted via 2.26.218.146 user eclrh.

I know the purple of the heather is mentioned a few times. It really can turn an entire hillside purple with its tiny flowers.
posted via 86.151.245.104 user Magnus.

The boat reminds me both the Optimist and Gremlin classes, though unlike the better known Optimist it has a Bermudian sail rather than a sprit-sail.

posted via 88.107.165.79 user MartinH.

I read the books when I was nine, to me it has always been a soft pleasant name. The other meaning I learnt much later and I just ignore it.

Is anyone playing Wordle, I have found that a good starting word is SABOT, the little sail boat.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

• Derivation of Mavis' nickname

I read this myself this morning, but Sophie has now reported on this in 'another place' and there is a link to the Times piece there (via the Nancy Blackett Trust site).
posted via 81.158.52.132 user Peter_H.

But Titty according to the OED dates from 1764 and is a diminutive for teat. And Tatty was introduced in 1792 from Hindu - meaning woven mat.

It is just one of those interesting things created by Ransome.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Anyway, as the war has waged on, the Guardian has covered it well. When the story of the coast guard group told the Russian navy to naff off, I got a T shirt made of the encounter, my 15 yr old daughter said it is not funny, but it would go down well at the yacht club, well not UK yacht clubs but Australian, what did Rob Boden's wife tell my wife, a bunch of white haired old men quaffing tea.

But I have noticed that the Ukrainians have adopted the phase to describe the Russians, at first it was bleeped out or written in **** etc, now I have noticed after 2 weeks of war, it is no longer bleeped on CNN for example, the war had reduced G Carlin's seven to six.

Interesting historical change in English language.

As an aside I watched R Carlyle as the British PM, I think vacant could be replaced by R Carlyle or H Grant and it would be a serious improvement. I would include C Firth as the Home Secretary and then there may be some human element to the office.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I have been following the war with a great deal of interest, mainly through CNN and the Guardian. Really the Guardian is a great source of news and interesting stories. (Aside, whom in the Guardian writes the sort of stuff AR wrote?)

The war is really sad, as it hits the children the worst. We are long past the time we need war to resolve issues.

Anyway in a moment of Roger humour, i.e. when John told Roger not to be cheeky, forget the book, I was thinking who would use a war to make money, well besides the fat industrialist so often seen in the ilk of the Punch magazine. So I thought Trump International Travel as I was driving along. Look at the initials.

Lately I have been doing Wordle, if you have not tried it, it is like French verbs for Titty, which led me to the observation Titty is 5 letters, but a lousy starting choice to many t's. Now I have my two volume OED next to my desk when I have four letters and I need to look at five letter words. So I looked up Titty to see if AR had any other meaning available beside the obvious. It does not, so I was wondering why AR used it. I love it as a name as I learned it at 9 and did not know the other meaning, so to me it is a a wonderful name for a wonderful fictious girl.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

June 3 1967, I remember hearing on the ABC that AR died, it is my earliest vivid memory beside my grandmother crying for JFK. We left for the states about 2 weeks later.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Guardian articles that now take direct aim at BJ and call him all sorts of names like Vacant, reminds me of AR and fishing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The joys of adult humour. Of course the one who reminds me of a married GA is Zoe Williams, I love to read her so I can dislike her.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I suspect it was one TARS member's project and was never spread out into the general membership so that it could grow and be accessible to others.
I did wonder what it was about but it just faded from sight.

Good luck in finding out more about it and perhaps reviving it.
posted via 99.240.129.236 user Adam.

The TARBID extracts published in the Mixed Moss articles are fascinating. I wonder if Alan Hakim (a veteran Tar like me) knows any more about this?
posted via 86.154.125.225 user Peter_H.

If this resource was uncovered in an electronic or printed form, I'd be happy to get involved automatically translating it into a modern format so that it's easier to access. (Such geeky things are what I do in my day job!)
posted via 86.151.245.104 user Magnus.

• Online Mixed Moss index

This is a major issue for modern school children.

AR is about the freedom of children to learn.

John Donne said it best.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I remember the Tracy Hepburn movie on installing a computer in an office, I loved that movie, actually I loved any movie they did.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

The way AR had Dot support Dick is such a great example of supporting a scientist.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

... and it should be note that the word "calculators" in your extract was used to describe the people who did the calculations, not the machines that we apply that word to these days.
posted via 193.119.57.108 user mikefield.

Neville Shute Norway in his autobiography "Slide Rule" describes using a Fuller slide rule to calculate the stress on girders for the R100 airship in 1926-27. Each rib had eight radial wires, with normally 4 or 5 in tension; so a guess would be made which were in tension. “The forces and bending moments in the members could then be calculated by the solution of a lengthly simultaneous equation containing up to seven unknown quantities; this work usually operated two calculators about a week using a Fuller slide rule and working in pairs to check for arithmetical mistake … it was usual to find a compression force in one or two of the radial wires; the whole process had to be repeated using a different selection of wires.

It produced a satisfaction almost amounting to a religious experience .... "after literally months of labour, having filled perhaps fifty foolscap sheets with closely pencilled figures ... the truth stood revealed."

He had been he was shocked to find that before building the earlier R38 airship the civil servants (at Cardington) concerned "had made no attempt to calculate the aerodynamic forces acting on the ship" but had just copied the size of girders in German airships. The R38 and the R101 both crashed, but the (private enterprise) R100 made a successful flight to Canada.

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

In engineering if you need more than 4 sig figures you are kidding yourself.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Where else would I keep it?

I think there is a slide rule lying around here somewhere, got to have something to draw straight lines with.
posted via 121.98.151.174 user Alex.

I've kept my (1961 Chambers) 7-figure log tables because the book has quite a lot of navigation content too -- distance-off tables, sun's parallax, dip of the sea, and so on.

I've also kept three of my slide rules, all of which of course became museum pieces 50 years ago when electronic calculators came along -- my original single-sided one, a later double-sided one (both nominally 12" long,) and a 6" one that fitted handily in a shirt pocket. (I also had a 2" one as a tie-clip, but after first losing its cursor it then disappeared altogether itself.)
posted via 193.119.57.108 user mikefield.

The Prime, I have one of those and I think it is terrible, a bit like the nasty boy in Coot Club. And the new 10 s+ which is 44 USD.

The 300s is out of stock and I cannot find a prime for less than 244 USD.

I found the 35 S for sale.

So the range is slim.

• HP Calculators

Actually nice to hear from you.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

now they have only 2 scientific calculators

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Must have been the HP-41 Navigation Pac in plug-in ROM that sold the RN on the '41; it was pretty much a port of the HP-67 Navigation Solutions (which ISTR were available on mag cards).
posted via 98.218.106.76 user Jon.

I have a HP 10 in my desk, is it a good little calculator for fin stuff.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

This is like Dick speaking to Roger. Clearly Roger hears, blah, blah, blah and nods and Dick thinks he understands.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

My mother told me that she had read some of the stories, in their Polish translations before WWII.
posted via 217.96.131.88 user Jock.

When at College (High School), the last year, a couple of students had slide rules and were rubbished for having them. We all used log tables. As soon as I started an apprenticeship it was mandatory to have a slide rule. Some educational institutes were a bit backward.

About the last year of my apprenticeship I asked if mains powerpoints would be provided for electronic calculators? The question was redundant the next year with battery calculators coming on the market.
posted via 121.98.151.174 user Alex.

From our technical expert, Woll:
It was because our server provider did some (prearranged) rearranging, and the DNS for the new server takes time to propagate across the world (so there was a mismatch between the server IP and the SSL security certificate info which caused a "This server may be fraudulent" type message in my browser).
posted via 99.240.129.236 user Adam.

The TI59 wasn't a rival to the HP-35; it came along much later, around the time of the HP-67 (HP's second-generation programmable after the HP-65, which NASA used on the Apollo missions. By the time the Shuttle came along they were using the HP-41 on board.

My father went with the TI calculators; even programmed one of them to do track and balance calculations on helicopter rotor heads. That's in the American Helicopter Museum collection now.
posted via 98.218.106.76 user Jon.

The financial people use the 10 all over the world. They also use Quantrix instead of EXCEL.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Does anyone know why the site went down yesterday - keep getting a 404 error.

My mother went to hong kong in 1985. She said do you want anything, I said a new HP calculator. I should have said a 12.

Mum came back with a 16C, this is the computer science calculator, it does not have sin, cos or tan.

I still use the 16c to remember my mother, I just taught myself the sin, cos and tan for 30, 60 and 45 and only used those angles.

A student once said, why do you only use those angles, I said to make it easy for the students. Students can be so gullible.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

posted via 98.218.106.76 user Jon.

Such was progress.

posted via 121.98.151.174 user Alex.

When calculators did come out in the early 70s, I preferred the TI59 to its rival the HP35, partly because its notation seemed to me to be much more straightforward than the HP's 'reverse Polish', and partly because I had a special mains-powered cradle for it that give me a paper readout of every entry (very handy when balancing bank accounts).

I also had twenty or thirty 'computer programs' for it, saved on magnetic strip-cards about 3" x 1/2", that the calculator could read and compute from.

But then my 'engineering' turned into 'management', and apart from using the TI59 at tax time for some years I don't suppose I've used it in earnest since about 1980. I've still got it though, and it sill works. :)

Dick would undoubtedly have used an HP.

• All you wanted to know about the TI59

If the SAD's were alive today that would be a question they asked.

Dick would use a HP, but Roger I am sure will follow his school rules, so what are the school rules in England.

If I remember Dick went to Shrewsbury according to our old notes. I had a look at the current graduating class at Shrewsbury, interesting.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I agree on the looking after elderly relatives. I do a lot of pure math and it is always enjoyable if you know what you are doing, looking after an elderly person is infinitely harder and requires patience. I can walk away from my desk, but I cannot walk away from life.

Good point
John
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

An equivalent amount was also left to The Arthur Ransome Trust, which was set up about 10 years ago with the aim of establishing an Arthur Ransome visitor centre in the Lake District.

I imagine the members of both trusts will be scratching their heads wondering how best to use these wonderful windfalls.

So it's really 'Three million cheers for Tony Parslow', bless him.

[ Image ]

posted via 193.119.57.108 user mikefield.

I certainly agree about women particularly single daughters being expected to look after abandoned or widowed mothers, having seen several examples. My mother was widowed, but told a sister-in-law (not us) that she did not want to impose on us four sons; she had looked after Dad’s parents until they went into a rest home.

And I read a story about one of the Bletchley girls (young women!) who finally got a medal for working at Bletchley Park the WWII codebreaking estblishment that her relatives thought that her work could not have been important, and expected her to resign and look after her widowed mother.

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

I think the Boer or South African War was not so small?

Is the Aunt Helen, C.F.C.A Plus 100. A1, to whom PM is dedicated, the same fictional Aunt Helen mentioned in SW, or a real aunt of AR? Or a real aunt who inspired the naming of the fictional one?

It would not be the only book in the series to be dedicated to a character. PD is dedicated to the mothers of the Ss and As.
posted via 91.110.123.94 user eclrh.

The GA recalls Col Jolys and the Tin Trunpet Incident of at least 50 years ago (PM) when she was presumably older; in her teens? (and Jolys was 4 or 5?).

Col Jolys is the "hero of many wars", presumably the little colonial wars of AR’s childhood. But he would have fought in WWI, as would Ted Walker? But WWI is only mentioned re the officer who finds gold and is then called up (PP), and Mrs Barrable’s brother Richard who served in the Navy.

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

I maybe didn't explain I'm in Oz, which often makes it difficult to view televised programs from the UK -- which is particularly the case with the BBC (even if I use a VPN).

But I certainly intend to follow this up with both the BFI and British Talking Pictures, and many thanks for directing me to them.
posted via 193.119.57.108 user mikefield.

I just found out from the Guardian, what else does one read, that there is a MP by the name of Charlotte Nichols

My daughter is Charlotte Nichols, she has climbed the old man and sailed in Rob's Mirror dinghy to Wildcat Island, I just wrote to the MP and asked for a picture for my daughter.

By teh sounds of the guardian article she is as loud as the average Nichols in Australia.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

It also well to remember that a lot of women died at the time of WW1 in childbirth, there is a paper somewhere that describes the statistics and compares it to a day in the trenches, there is not a significant difference.

And the Spanish flu killed a lot of people.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

Beastly is used by many of the children at one time or another I think. Either about an adult or about one of the others who has done something they didn't like.
posted via 99.240.129.236 user Adam.

Susan says "it would be rather beastly to leave them (the D’s) out of things" (WH4)

John says (as) "all of us being so beastly young" (to be in charge of the Goblin) (WD19)

Another expression is "open-mouthed" eg: "Dick and Dorothea watched, open-mouthed" (as John sets up the signal system (WH5)

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

There was a shortage of eligible young men after the carnage of WWI, so the GA being a spinster would be quite probable.

posted via 79.76.41.58 user Mike_Jones.

The GA bought Jim and Molly up; while their father Bob Blackett could have died in WWI (but too soon to be the father of Nancy and Peggy?), perhaps both their parents died in the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918?


posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

I had something like 15 GA's, it is a random act of chance whether they are nice or downright mean. My favourite was great and her sister was a complete beast.

Does Nancy not call someone a beast? or beastly?

Interestingly my 14 yr old daughter does not like swearing, so I use the words from AR and she does not get offended.

posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I thought I'd bring that discussion over to Tarboard with a new angle: why was the GA such a grumpy cow, determined to ruin every part of a child's holidays? (I phrase this as my 10 year old self felt, when reading the books!)

As you do when you are 10, you ask your mum. I seem to recall she said most maiden aunts were grumpy (at least in fiction) as they had never married. Perhaps they did not understand children.

However, this was the 1930s, and an unmarried woman would have her own money - a shocking concept! Perhaps she was determined not to be saddled with a man who would control her life? Maybe she didn't want to be "given the housekeeping money" each week.

But does AR ever mention Maria was never married? She could have a husband who in Harrogate? A husband in the Navy? She could be a widow?
Oh wait, we are told her surname is Turner, just like Uncle Jim, so that would be expected to change if she was married.

Perhaps she had a sweetheart who was killed in a war, and she couldn't bring herself to ever marry? But why hate children's freedom so much?!

Looking for parallels in my own family, I recall an aunt who had glandular fever aged 8, and had to spend a year in hospital (around the year 1950). She was on a ward with adults, talked to adults, and had basically turned adult by the time she went home. She went on to train as a nurse.

Or perhaps Maria was the eldest child, her mother died young, and Maria had to bring up her younger siblings whilst her father went to work? Something like that really matures you, with no choice, and you might keep this attitude of "I must ensure the family thrives in the correct way" for the rest of your life.
posted via 86.178.226.227 user Magnus.

One of the problems with Tarboard is that participants often don't know whether those with whom we are corresponding live in the same county, the same country or on the other side of the world; however, this could be of use to you. If you are not UK based you could get in touch with the BFI and ask if it is possible to have a copy of Macnab made and sent to you - no idea about costs.

The other way to see Hannay is by way of the British Talking Pictures TV channel which, as I said, showed it last summer. This is a fascinating channel, family run, and which shows lots of old mainly British films as well as some excellent Children's Film Foundation films with some very young people who later became quite well-known stars. Go on their website and see. The channel has recently launched a free on-line viewing service called TPTV Encore - all you have to do is register. If you can then you should be able to get Hanny. wherever you are.
As with the BFI and Macnab it's worth a try.

I have no link with Talking Pictures except that I enjoy what they show.
Hope this might be of help.
posted via 213.122.72.169 user Paul_Crisp.

I note that it's being billed as a 'little known film, buried in the BBC and British Film Institute archives.' I don't think the BBC know anything about it -- I've been to them about it and I've concluded that if they ever had it on tape then they taped over it. So apparently the BFI is the only place where it now exists. And like you, I can find no commercial link to it anywhere, in DVD or any other format.

There is indeed a one-minute teaser for it (you couldn't call it a trailer) at the link.

If anyone knows where or how I could get a copy of either 'John Macnab' or the 'Hannay' series mentioned by Paul I'd be absolutely delighted to hear of it. :)

• Teaser

It was shown at an event in England, recently. You can see a sample of John Macnab search for John MacNab film
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

I'm not sure what you mean by lights where there are no islands. The lighthouse map is using something like the data shown on the link below (the blue circles are navigation lights that include data for the flash - there are many more navigation lights near Auckland in openstreetmap that don't have flash info). The lights north-east of Auckland seem to be legitimate lighthouses/beacons.

• Flashing navigation lights near Auckland

• Lighthouse map

I didn't dive all the way in but it looked like Cape Horn is there. The coast of Norway is a solid mass of light.

posted via 121.98.151.174 user Alex.

• Updated lighthouse map

:-)
posted via 194.193.42.21 user mikefield.

As for your seeing 'John Macnab' recently, all I can say is, "Half your luck". If you have any idea as to where a copy might still be obtained I'd be delighted to hear of it. My searches off-and-on over thirty-plus years have turned up absolutely nothing whatever.
posted via 194.193.42.21 user mikefield.

• openstreetmap.org

I loved the book, Janet Raden and Fish Benjy were the best.
posted via 47.218.46.189 user Mcneacail.

The "match in the burn" was the title sequence for the made for TV series "Hannay" starring Robert Powell made after his film of "The Thirty Nine Steps". There were two series made in 1988-89 and totalling about a dozen one hour episodes, and is available as a DVD. The Talking Pictures channel showed it last summer.
posted via 81.154.153.211 user Paul_Crisp.

Having now watched all available episodes (1b is missing), I can report that the physical condition of the film was execrable, but that the storyline followed the original book quite closely; and also that the primary characters -- in particular those of Dickson McCunn and Dougal Crombie -- were just about perfectly cast. Buchan fans will enjoy it despite its technical shortcomings.
_____________

Most regrettably, there seems to be no trace on YouTube or anywhere either of 'John Macnab' or of the 'match-in-the-burn' Buchan series I mentioned that I'd also like to see again.
_____________

• Huntingtower Ep 1a

[ Image ]

posted via 121.45.188.76 user mikefield.

• Winterwatch

• Map of lighthouses

Molly Blackett drives Rattletrap in PP, although in WH (WH9) Molly says that the doctor will drive Peggy and the others (except for Nancy!)around to the Jacksons and Dixons for quarantining, and later Molly arrives at Holly Howe in a hired car; no Rattletrap then! In PM (PM23,25) the GA gets Billy Lewthwaite to drive her in Rattletrap (Jim and Molly both drive her). Billy is used to driving with a yachting cap he used for chauferring, but he forgets his blue coat; he is obviously used to chauffering!

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

• CBC article

"And the way she dealt with Joly’s notion of taking his whole gang to see her off at the station. ... Did you hear her tell her man (Dick Elleray??) not to drive at more than ten miles an hour?" (PM 30)

When the GA is upstairs and about to leave, Colonel Jolys says to the sergeant that to save face the searchers should "Give her a cheer when she comes out". So there is "a burst of cheering, .... trumpets (!) coach calls and hunting calls. Every man who had a horn was blowing it as hard as he could" This will confirm the GA’s opinion to the D’s that "Tommy Jolys … was always a noisy and ill-behaved little boy" With a toy trumpet! (PM 28,29).

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

There is a great story by Ms Schopen about being terrified in a snow storm and driving in the Guardian.

It is worth the read as it reminded me a little of Winter Holiday.

She writes in a soft quirky manner.
posted via 47.211.197.206 user Mcneacail.

There is a You tube character named coco who could fit the answer, I had thought first of Coco Chanel, but I missed the 1921 at the top. I was wrong - apologies.

I had read the cruise book so knew the answer to that one, I loved the story in the book of tuning the compass, never seen that before.

posted via 47.211.197.206 user Mcneacail.

Group 1 Q1 is about Coco Chanel.
posted via 2.26.97.120 user eclrh.

I Q2 is a nice question about mother's health, the author is quite interesting in thought terms.
I Q3 - no idea even google does not help?
posted via 47.211.197.206 user Mcneacail.

I would not like to do this quiz in the 70's without a lot of help. It is really quirky.
posted via 47.211.197.206 user Mcneacail.

Section 2, Q. 1 Where: 1. was the ketch Racundra built?

Section 11, Q. 6 6. which unwelcome guest insisted on ‘baby-sitting’ for Ruth and Margaret during their mother’s Scandinavian cruise?

Section 16, Q. 9 9. where did the Callums first encounter Tom, the doctor’s son?

Each section has a theme which if you can determine it opens up the odds of getting other answers in the same section by focussing your thoughts.

I first came across this quiz back in the 1970s when my parents moved to the Isle of Man and a friend ho attended King William's College begged for help. Back then I was unable to answer a single question.

The process was that each pupil was given the test before Christmas and then was expected to research the questions over the holidays and they were retested in January. The improvement between the two scores was an indication of how diligent the pupil was.

posted via 97.108.12.165 user Adam.

The rest are impossible unless you are well read, way more well read than this poor man.

I spent 3 days o Breckenridge in an major snow storm, the white out was complete at 3300 m level. Like the picture in WH. One woman was hanging on to a sign post not to get blown down the mountain.
posted via 47.211.197.206 user Mcneacail.

I think that is a pretty fair summing up of S&A and it is good to see it in a national newspaper, although I think it is impossible to cram into one sentence the extended filigree of detail and excitement which Ransome put into his books.
posted via 86.147.244.54 user Peter_H.

I have most of the series in Cape hb ex the “Wellington Public Libraries Junior Department” including a first edition of GN “first published 1947”. But rebound by the library so missing the endpaper maps and dust jacket (and coming apart, so sold off1). But many have the original dust jacket protected by plastic, and the endpaper maps.

posted via 114.23.146.146 user hugo.

This year there seem to be two, one of which will be immediately answerable by any Tarboarder. Some may immediately know the answer to the other; others, like me, will need to look it up.

• King William's College Quiz

When I was a consulting engineer, if a client came in and said, I have a problem with this and these people oppose it, if it was mainly women I would say "let us find another way".

If pressed I would explain, you cannot win, they will always win in the long run and the PAIN is not worth the effort.

One of my clients had a PM who fought, finally the client rang and said - sort out the mess, I said not my problem, client said my problems of this size need your assistance sort out the mess.

Sorted out the mess with the women and the politicians, PM said what if the client does not like your fix. I looked at him and said - you have had 2 years to sort out this mess, I was sent in to fix it, it is fixed.

As I say in class, someone has to have the key, even if it is a 98 year old queen. As long as they are trusted all is well with the world.
posted via 47.211.197.206 user Mcneacail.

What is the city where this show - provides a view of two river junctions, a idal area and a large town.
posted via 47.211.197.206 user Mcneacail.

Mrs May writes that as a child she longed to be Nancy Blackett, but she couldn't swim and had never been in a boat. In reality she was more like Susan Walker, but she found Swallowdale captivating. I am glad that, rather than Swallows and Amazons, she chose Swallowdale because it is surely the better book. She sums it up by writing: "Swallowdale evinces adventure, resilience, pragmatism, inventiveness and, above all, friendship. I recommend it to all."
posted via 86.147.244.54 user Peter_H.

I miss his posts, although we are all allowed to pursue our own interests.
posted via 47.211.197.206 user Mcneacail.

They were:

Albert Hawkins,[2]
Arthur Neil,[3]
Francis Carlin,[4] and
Frederick Wensley.[5]

----------------------------------------------------------

I have known for a while it was the Big Four. So the big Five of MA predates AR, who used the big Five. He would not make that mistake.

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

However, it could be worthwhile trying another good Canadian site for them, the Faded Page, which a quick search should find....

Reading Gutenberg's home page message gives a nice insight though into their views on the US' ever-extending copyright protection and how that country is trying to have its copyright laws apply in Canada (and elsewhere) through the so-called 'Free Trade Agreement'. It's a good rant, with valid points -- although regrettably I think it does their case a disservice to present them quite so rabidly.

• Gutenberg Canada

"But who are the Big Six?” asked Pete.

“It’s the Big Five really,” said Dorothea. “They
are the greatest detectives in the world. They sit in
their cubby-holes in Scotland Yard and solve one
mystery after another.”

“But why Six?”

“There are only five of them and there are six of
us,” said Dorothea.

I did not look to see if Ransome's books are there, but this site has an absolute tirade against people who want to match Canada's copyright period to other countries.

is this going to cause problems for the current copyright owners.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

Menzies in Australia certainly had us scared of the Red under the bed.

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

I enjoyed the remake, there were some fine actors in the movie, and as usual Capt. Waggett was a nong. But he as supposed to be, CM wrote farce.

After reading all of the comment, I stumbled across the original in VIMEO and started to watch it last night.

There is a completely different feel to the two movies, as you would expect. Ealing studios has a style and no one is going to copy it, but the modern stayed fairly true to the story and the concept.

I enjoyed both, but I must say I enjoyed them and disliked them for different reasons. The earlier movie left out the priest, but I rather feel the CM liked to poke fun at the church in a subtle way.

mark kermode is entitled to his opinion, but one can see the progression to Local Hero and I will watch all three movies again. The sisters in the remake are more believable.

JMN
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

Free downloads of all twelve books are available from the Faded Page website. (You'll have to do a simple search for this, as I'm not supposed to post the URL.) Note that in the US and elsewhere the books are still in copyright, and if this applies to you you'll need to consult your conscience before downloading.

What you don't need to do though is to pay anyone to download any of them....
posted via 61.69.149.136 user mikefield.

"My choice this week is a 1949 classic, a recent remake of which served only to remind us just how much we all preferred the original 'Whisky Galore.'"

I myself have seen both versions, and agree with his judgment. The new one is in colour instead of b&w, but other than that it didn't add anything to the original -- while at the same time it lost a lot of the original's charm.

We know that the recent film version of S&A did add to the story -- adding extraneous elements in a attempt to 'spice it up for modern viewers' -- but I suspect if Mark Kermode were to review this modern remake of S&A he'd make just the same judgment that he made about 'Whisky Galore' -- that it serves only to remind us just how much we all preferred the original.
_ _ _ _ _

By the way, any one who hasn't yet seen this wonderful Hebridean romp should make a point of doing so. But do try to see the original version, not the ersatz one. There's a bonus for doing so too -- you see Compton Mackenzie himself playing the part of the master of the SS Cabinet Minister. (He's the character on the left in the very first clip of the movie shown in the review.)

• Mark Kermode on the original film version of 'Whisky Galore'

I remember the BBC's doing a TV series on -- was it Dick Hannay, or others of Buchan's characters? Back in the 70s or 80s perhaps? I don't think it could have been thought to be all that popular, because it didn't seem to last for more than a few episodes. It always started with a short clip of Hannay-or-whoever standing in heathland, lighting a pipe, and flicking the match into a burn where you watched it float away. But at this distance in time I can't tell you anything much more about it, I'm afraid. Does it ring a bell?
posted via 61.69.149.136 user mikefield.

Fish Benjie would have fitted in perfectly in an AR world.

39 steps has some far fetched moments.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

Thanks to the magic of YT a low-res copy of Hunting Tower is still available. Click on the link

• Huntingtower Ep. 1

I would have very much liked to have seen that 'Huntingtower' -- as I would very much like to again see 'John Macnab'. But apparently both are now lost in the mists of time. (And I daresay taped over by the scrimp-and-save BBC too...)
posted via 61.69.149.136 user mikefield.

Nooooo!

Buchan stories have proper dramatic arcs. They are page turners impossible to put down. Characters have backbone.
Children tackle villains who cower in terror. In the 2016 film, John cowers in terror and, after waving it about lamely,
hands the gun over to the baddies.

Once upon a time, the BBC made good children's films. In 1977, BBC Scotland made a Buchan series, "Hunting Tower",
which was shown as a children's afternoon show, then after public pressure it was shown on a Sunday afternoon, then
after more pressure shown in a prime time Thursday night adult slot.

A gang of armed communist invaders is first delayed by a shower of marbles fired by the young heroes from their catapults,
and then delayed by a volley of cricket balls. Can you imagine the BBC's H&S bods allowing any such antics today?
posted via 83.29.41.95 user Jock.

I hope this is correct.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

I think you have to look at the 2016 movie as a cross between Ransome and Buchan, then it is pretty good as a ripping yarn. But if you prefer the books, only in the WDMTGS and GN did AR write ripping yarns, I do not include ML or PD, both are farces.

I am of the opinion that WDMTGS would make a first class picture and if done by a Ron Howard or a Steven Speilberg with a acting team like Enola Holmes you would have a multimillion dollar hit.

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

I was responding to the comment, ... "the book as a movie is pretty bland.". And I was indeed talking about the 1974 version. Bland it might or might not be, according to one's perceptions, but as I said that 1974 film certainly brought the book to life for me.

But that supposed 'blandness' of Ransome's text is presumably why the makers of the 2016 version tried to spice up their version of the story; and it appears, from the limited evidence, that for those who had not ever read the book that film worked okay.

On my part, once I'd heard about some of the details of the 'spicing up', I was quite clear that I didn't want to watch the 2016 version at all. And I haven't. But I'd be perfectly happy in going along with your description of it as "a ghastly mess".
posted via 61.69.149.136 user mikefield.

For example:
5.0 out of 5 stars
We did not read the novel
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2019
I looked at the 1 star reviews to find that the movie only loosely follows the book. I understand their dismay as it has happened to us. However, we came from a blank slate with no anticipations. As parents, we found the movie extremely tolerable and enjoyable. The movie was without need for parental guidance, clean, and exciting. 5 stars for someone without specific expectations.

I couldn't find sales figures though.
posted via 97.108.12.165 user Adam.

The film did not feature in the Top 20 films for 2016 – the top one was a ‘Star Wars’ sequel which grossed $64 million. The S&A film did feature in the list of Top Independent UK films for 2016, at No. 12. The top film in this category was ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ (a TV spin-off) which grossed $16m. Also in this list was ‘Dad’s Army’ which grossed $8.6m. One might also note that another mainly children’s film, ‘The Jungle Book’, grossed $46m world-wide.

The most significant defect of the S&A film was that by all accounts it completely bombed in America. That is where all film-makers hope to recoup their investment. The British Film Institute awarded just under £1.5m to the 2016 S&A film – this was classed as a ‘BFI lottery award’. This must have been completely swallowed up. One can understand why there will not be a rush to make any type of sequel film.

posted via 86.189.234.145 user Peter_H.

The still you have enclosed is from the 1976 film which is pretty wonderful!

It's the 2016 BBC-produced film which is a ghastly mess!
posted via 217.96.132.167 user Jock.

And yet, the first time I saw the movie -- years after it had been produced and when I hadn't even known it existed -- seeing the book come to life before my eyes made them water...

[ Image ]

posted via 121.45.164.178 user mikefield.

The problem is everyone wants it to be the book and the book as a movie is pretty bland.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

The writeup in the NZ Listener says "Arthur Ransome’s 1930 novel about kids’ summer sailing adventures in the Lake District wasn’t particularly eventful, which hasn’t helped past screen adaptations. This one gets extra drama, inspired by the writer’s life as a MI6 agent during WWI". Rated 3 stars (out of 1 to 5).

posted via 202.154.133.206 user hugo.

Well done Ed, and classic Ed writing.

I miss your missives Ed.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

See also this in the New York Times, which may require you to register.
posted via 98.218.106.76 user Jon.

I have always assumed this was scrambled eggs, is my assumption correct?

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

it is also a bit hard to compare over decades, as the economy changes,
and the economy is really just a psychological trick.

Some one said to me that children today are different from the past and I strongly disagreed. I think the Susan's Roger's and the rest would be perfectly at home today.

Why do we always think the past is different?

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

"I've messed it again," he said. "I ought to have tried with the nitric and hydrochloric separately first."

Mind you, I'm sure I would have made the same mistake.
posted via 81.141.149.185 user Peter_H.

• Sailing Tumbler: Coot Club land

Adam is a "Mod". In fact the head honcho for TarBoard. But the TarBoard code is so old and venerable
that no one knows how it all works and only two people in the world dare play with it.
posted via 217.96.139.197 user Jock.

I name my computers after boats in the series, I was dealing with Imp and it turned into a lost computer that needed a large fix.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

I always enjoy the thought that in some Patrick O'Brian's books, the sailors boarding an enemy ship would climb aboard shouting "Surprise!".
posted via 99.240.131.45 user Adam.

• exploded the mine on the Houseboat
• sailed down past the island while raising their flag
• ran back on the western shore

She would be clearly faster than the Swallow and the Amazon's boat.

I as struck as I was typing this, does the Amazon's boat have a name, I could not remember it.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

• GN chick

Nice however to know if she read it.

Has anyone seen the cost to occupy the Rose Castle Cottage and the wait?

There are some people with a lot of money.

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

One of them was seeing my father's first car, a then-brand-new 1937 Wolseley, being driven on board the Princess Beatrix for the crossing.
posted via 220.245.223.52 user mikefield.

I have looked closely, but can see no sign of an agitated RN Officer.

• Flushing to Harwich

Unfortunately we have not yet reached our hoped for annual target and while we now have enough funds to keep operating for the rest of the year, we would like to have a bit of reserve to allow for any unexpected expenses and reduce the need to continually come back to ask for more funds.

The links on our pages will remain active for now

• TarBoard & ART Donation Page

So she was 20 years older. They both lived in different houses called 'Hill Top' in the Lake District. Both children's authors who loved nature.

Yet entirely possible they moved in totally different social circles and never met!

We would need to make a study of all Ransome's diary entries to see if he mentioned her name?
posted via 86.178.58.186 user Magnus.

it taught you everything about life, how to sail, how to be a jolly decent human, that great pains such as the GA could be tolerated and how to survive disasters.

Who is this woman?
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

"No one thought she [Enid Blyton] was a good writer: you went to Arthur Ransome for that. But God, wasn't Swallows and Amazons boring? It taught you nothing about life. No one ever burnt anyone's toast or stole their hairbrush . . ." (Camilla Long)

Hairbrush ?? I wonder if she's ever read SA?
posted via 109.153.16.3 user Peter_H.

• Pike catching duckling

Nice. :)
posted via 194.193.38.193 user mikefield.

There are two things I like to read AR and the Guardian. I read AR for pleasure and the Guardian for Zoe Williams et al. Bring back Ransome, his articles are at least not boringly middle class -- something.

We are all critics.

• Picture article

There is one mention of maid in Swallowdale.

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

Does anyone recognise the bridge?
posted via 5.80.162.190 user Paul_Crisp.

GND = Great Northern Diver better known in our part of the world as the Common Loon and featured on Canadian $1 coins.
posted via 99.240.131.45 user Adam.

• Camping skiff on the Thames at Maidenhead

OK so I am lost what is a GND?
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

This was the same lake where I was able to ghost up in my small home made sailing dinghy to within about 15 feet ofa GND which was feeding its young chicks with small fish it had caught.
posted via 99.240.131.45 user Adam.

• Sleeping outside

You can make English make sense without the vowels. I had to use the I and I consider y a vowel.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

2. But who cares both are good pictures that convey the scary elements of the scene. The north sea is most dangerous from shipping.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

• Ransome versus Griffiths

WDMTGTS was published in 1937, whereas the Griffiths illustration could have been drawn as early as 1927 (when he married and bought the boat 'Afrin') though may of course have been done years later.

AR had a 1932 edition of The Magic of the Swatchways (by Griffiths) in his library when he died. A sale catalog tells us this.

If you've read the book you may recall that Chapter XII tells of drifting out of Harwich in a fog, and getting to Flushing after a near miss with a big ship.

Lots of think about... and probably no concrete conclusions to be made!
posted via 86.147.163.89 user Magnus.

An annular eclipse is when the moon passes directly in front of the sun but is too far from the earth to cover the sun completely leaving a bright ring of the sun around the dark moon. I did see a full annular eclipse here in Toronto back in 1994 but I have never seen a total eclipse, though one is due near Toronto in 2024.

The sun was already partially eclipsed when it rose at 5.35 am and there was some cloud on the horizon so it was not until nearly 6.00 am that I finally could see the crescent sun. Although it was only a partial eclipse here it was a quite good one with the sun more than 80% covered at its maximum just after the sun rose. The rest of the partial eclipse lasted until about 6.35 am when the moon left the sun's disc completely.

I projected the sun's image on to some card with my hand held binoculars and was able to show the images to some other interested people who also got up early.
posted via 99.240.131.45 user Adam.

• Look at the drawn picture

• Sailing in Force 10

Fuss about feathers, Muriel Pavlow == really good actor.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

We see this in the excellent Sherlock movie with Basil and the three music boxes, the young lady buys the doll at auction and says we can get three times the value in the shop.

We studied this for a few years, 3 is the magic number if someone wants something slightly different or if there is a range.

The recent disastrous electricity buying in Texas demonstrates the issue of lack of controls, if you set up a market it helps to understand basic market theory.

Plus if I buy with a computer program and I do it well then the buy time on the computer to 1 second is the same as 1 second to 31 years for a human.

There is a 1950s movie set in Norfolk all sailing and the RAF, in a dispute, it has the Island of the Children as a location, it is on TUBI, I cannot find it again, they have lousy search -- does anyone know it.

Example is PP and Dick buying the blowpipe.

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

We still need a few more dollars/pounds/Euros/yen/etc. to meet our annual needs for domain and hosting fees. If you are able, please consider following John's excellent example!

• Donation Link

Terrible to have a child in hospital.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

• Copying pencil

• Pencils

Also, like Magnus, writing details of race courses on the deck of my dinghy, but not where you were likely to rub it off accidentally as you move about!

posted via 88.107.167.219 user MartinH.

Chinagraph pencils had a waxy 'lead' in them, a bit like a crayon, that allowed you to write (although not indelibly) on glossy surfaces including glass.

I still have some chinagraphs around here somewhere, but I doubt whether I still have an indelible pencil -- they went out when ball-point pens came in.

• Indelible/copying pencils

In Coot Club or The Big Six, Professor Callum is said to use his red/blue exam-marking pencils to mark a catalog of Broads yachts.

Could either of these be 'chinagraph' pencils? I recall these were available in black, red and blue only. Instead of graphite they have a sort of wax that can write on plastic and metal, even in a wet boat, so I'd use them to write the race course details down on my dinghy decks (it cleaned off later with a rag).

Any other pencil references welcomed....
posted via 31.49.2.27 user Magnus.

"We have now finished the network migration. Unfortunately, we are unable to focus the camera remotely so we are awaiting
our IT team to visit and physically fix this. Please bear with us, we hope to have the camera back up and running as soon as
possible. "
posted via 217.96.128.127 user Jock.

"We have now finished the network migration. Unfortunately, we are unable to focus the camera remotely so we are awaiting
our IT team to visit and physically fix this. Please bear with us, we hope to have the camera back up and running as soon as
possible."
posted via 217.96.128.127 user Jock.

http://www.3rr.uk/3RRwebcam_images/webcam_images.html

On top of which there are also three views of Potter Heigham from Herbert Woods' roofs (including of that bridge) here --

https://www.herbertwoods.co.uk/norfolk-broads/webcam/

(Note that the third camera here pans and zooms regularly while you're watching.)
posted via 121.45.172.169 user mikefield.

A friend in England told me that they have a friend at GCHQ who visited and unplugged the Alexa for the stay.

I quietly said fishing in low murmur and just ignored the question about what it had to do with fishing.

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

Regards,
Woll
posted via 81.174.149.186 user Woll.

If you possibly can we would appreciate it very much if you could make a donation, no matter how small.

We are using PayPal as this allows you to pay over the internet through your PayPal account or by credit card through PayPal. There are no additional fees to you, the site is secure and we will not keep any records of your details to maintain your privacy. To make a payment, please use this Appeal link which can also be found on the All Things Ransome site and the main page of TarBoard.
All contributions to the All Things Ransome Association in furtherance of its goals are welcome; please note however that the Association is not tax-exempt nor a charitable organization in any jurisdiction.

• Appeal Donation Link

In Peking he visited his Aunt Edith, who he had last seen in 1894 when with Aunt Jessie they went to China as missionaries. When he had said enviously to Aunt Edith how lucky she was to be going to China ''she replied, rather severely, that she was not going there for pleasure.'' Sounds like the Great-Aunt; writing in her letter to Molly about hearing by accident that they (Molly and Jim) had thought fit to make a voyage for purposes of pleasure …… leaving her great-nieces alone at Beckfoot!!

posted via 202.154.132.28 user hugo.

This year we are again asking you to generously donate a few pounds, dollars, or any other currency to keep the bank accounts topped up so we can keep All Things Ransome and TarBoard going.
Once more we are using PayPal this allows you to pay over the internet through your PayPal account or by credit card through PayPal. There are no additional fees to you, the site is secure and we will not keep any records of your details to maintain your privacy. To make a payment, please use this Appeal link which can also be found on the All Things Ransome site and the main page of TarBoard.
Contributions to the All Things Ransome Association in furtherance of its goals are welcome; please note however that the Association is not tax-exempt or a charitable organization in any jurisdiction.

• Link for page to donate to help keep All Things Ransome & TarBoard running

• Quite interesting

2. It will not be NI as the system would have been set up when the British ruled directly and it would not be considered national
It will be a library in London but I do not know London - I am Aussie-- is there a British Library like the Australian National Library??
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

I don't think they're particularly difficult to guess.

Cambridge University Library

National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh

National Library of Wales or whatever the equivalent is called (I think their biggest building is in Aberyswyth but they presumably have a centre in Cardiff too)

National Library of Northern Ireland or whatever the equivalent is called (probably doesn't have National in its name as it might be politically sensitive)

posted via 2.26.176.164 user eclrh.

Yes, Ransome Centre Stage, see p.9 of the new May-April 2021 Signals. Regular subscribers will get a personal e-mail from me when publication is ready; other Tars will have to wait for the next Signals.
posted via 86.166.184.145 user awhakim.

I wish I could remember the name or the author. It was at the University of Newcastle Australia.

It has elements of WH as part in terms of the descriptions.

Loved that book.

JMN
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

Reminded my of the summer of '77 in the Northern Territory I was working at a seismic station and housed in a mine camp.

Mann Trucks used to send new truck designs out to the mine to test in the bull dust of the NT. Really bad stuff.

So the truck arrives on a Friday and the German crew is due on the weekend.

Guys in the motorshop look at the new beautiful 6 wheel drive truck - say 40 feet long and beuatiful in sort of Luftwaffe gray.

A few beers later, they decide they should try it.

An hour later at the pub quietly drinking, I drank a lot in the NT, 4 guys wander in wet and muddy.

They order a beer, sit down, the guy I work with asks how did the truck go, they said they found a pit and had it bogged so you could no longer see the steering wheel.

Germans come in the next morning, they take them out and say try again.

LOL -- I have seen cars parked on an area of distrubed bull dust and it rains and the car sinks - usually they do not disappear although I saw 6 inches of a vw after rain once.

JMN
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

The Australian ISBN Agency at THORPE-Bowker, is the only official source of ISBNs in Australia. With an ISBN you can manufacture your publication and sell it anywhere in the world. The Australian ISBN Agency can only assign ISBNs to publishers located in Australia. Publishers located in other countries must obtain their ISBNs from their local ISBN Agency.

The purpose of the ISBN is to establish and identify one title or one unique edition of a title from one specific publisher. An ISBN allows for more efficient marketing and cataloging of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers, and distributors.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

It transpires that AR had known Ledger early on, and that if he had taken up an invitation to sail with Ledger when he'd been first introduced, he would have known about Pin Mill twenty years earlier than he did.

This is both an informative and humorous piece of writing, in which Ledger recounts his experiences during a summer spent aboard his cutter Blue Bird.

Here are a few samples --

There is a small folding cot, of ample size for a boy, but as I never carry that source of trouble and anxiety with me, it serves as sail-locker.

Somerleyton swing bridge must be under a curse, and destined by evil spirits to inflict destruction and damnation on all who try to pass through.
Fouling a pier, but eventually passing through, after breaking every rule of good seamanship, I stopped to take breath and wipe the sweat of labour and the blush of shame from off my brow.

... one evening a suspicious-looking man, or so he seemed in the dark, came alongside in a dinghy to borrow my saucepan – his own, he said, having sprung a leak. "It's a very good saucepan," I remarked, as I reluctantly handed it over, "the only one I've got, and I'm a poor man and..." "All right," he said, "you'll get it back," and disappeared in the night. Filled with misgivings, I sang out, "I forgot to say that I'm also an orphan."

Tearing down the New Cut below Reedham, we met a big wherry, in passing which very few inches separated us from quite a pretty smash. I remembered that hesitation of any kind is a sign of mental decay in the young, and of physical weakness in the old, and being neither the one nor the other, and as the least I can recover from my insurance is £7 10s., I went straight at it, as indeed, I went at all the bridges, with success, until we got to that bridge of sighs, Somerleyton.

Outside the churchyard near the gate are the village stocks and a whipping post, with three sizes of iron manacles graduated to fit all scoundrels.
I take number two's.

And then he introduces us to some Hullabaloos --

Though there were many small yachts on the Broads manned and lived in by amateurs, the four young men on board the wherry, attired in spotless flannels and sweaters, and heads adorned with knitted caps, were typical of many I saw afloat.
All of them in the prime of youth and strength, garbed as for the most strenuous athletic exertions, they smoked and lolled about on a garden seat on deck, doing absolutely nothing the live-long day. These Lotus-eaters allowed themselves to be sailed about (think of it!) by a skipper and his boy, never associating themselves with the navigation or with any work on board. And every evening, lying beside their nectar –

Propt on beds of amaranth and moly,
....(while warm airs lull them, blowing lowly)
With half-dropt eyelids......

they listen to their blatant gramophone.

Read it for yourself. You'll find hyperlinks to it and many other literary sources at the link. And if you don't enjoy it you can call me Gibber's Uncle...

- - - - -

Ledger was clearly an interesting and erudite character. He died in 1931, nine years before 'The Big Six' was published. We don't know much about him, but Oxford University provides two interesting sidelights on him here and again here.

• ATR Index of Literary Sources

About the time that Ted's extraordinary stint of managing the TARS Stall came to an end he made a visit to Oz, and we caught up outside Canberra for a meal. It was great to meet the chap who'd been handling my maps for the Stall so well and for so long. But I regret we've lost touch since then. So when you're speaking to him next please do pass on my best regards.

It doesn't matter now, but a late thought came to me that an archival copy should have been lodged with the British Library. But an inspection of my copy of the AP book The Twilight Years: Hill Top (for which I drew the endpapers) shows no ISBN information in the front matter; and this leads me to believe that its existence is not known of outside the world of TARS. Here in Oz I believe it would have been obliged to have been catalogued and an archival copy lodged with the National Library. Maybe the system works differently in the UK? In any case, if Amazon Publications does not keep its own archive of everything it produces I would say it's failing in its publishing duty...
posted via 115.64.175.174 user mikefield.

In Swallowdale, for the first time ever, I noticed a house maid mentioned the scene where the GA leaves.

The statement that the money from the book was jut pocket money also points to inherited wealth.

Even AR cannot help but slip in a few of the 19th century mores.

JMN
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=aw1Gg7gqu,LDk,epreV5i3I8b7c_1497963026_1:1:2&bq=author%3Dc%2Ee%2520alexander%26title%3Dransome%2520at%2520home%2520snug%2520berths%2520and%2520temporary%2520moorings

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t2_2&qi=aw1Gg7gqu,LDk,epreV5i3I8b7c_1497963026_1:1:3&bq=author%3Dce%2520alexander%26title%3Dransome%2520at%2520home

But doesn't Amazon Publications keep an archival volume of everything they publish? If not, let's hope you can find someone to lend you a copy.
posted via 115.64.175.174 user mikefield.

Absolutely agree. In 1969 (or thereabouts) a Broads yacht without a motor was the low-cost option.
There were also quite a few of them about. These days they are relatively scarce and you pay extra
for their antique value.
posted via 217.96.142.44 user Jock.

It looks like there aren't many great matches for your search

I have never seen this notice from google before

What is the book about?
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

I stayed in mainland China for a week at a 5 start hotel and it cost the same as a single night in Hong Kong.
posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

England is really expensive.

posted via 47.218.34.149 user Mcneacail.

In 1969, or thereabouts (just before the Percy Hunter Yard morphed into the Norfolk County Sailing Base) three us hired "Wood Rose", a 3-berth yacht, for a 2-week holiday, and covered most of the main waterways penetrating as far as Geldeston Lock.

Split across the three of us, the cost of a 2-week hire was quite affordable.

posted via 217.96.142.44 user Jock.

Approx. £7/w peak season for the 4-berth yachts; £5/w peak season for the 2-berth yachts.

"Margolotta" £14/w peak season.

• Broadland Memories – 1900 to 1949