Posted by Peter Ceresole on October 21, 2003 at 17:06:22 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: inspiration for "duffer"? posted by Alex Forbes on October 21, 2003 at 16:13:24:
Did AR happen to be reading Riddle during the writing of SA (certainly seems like good inspirational reading while writing a book like SA) at just the right time to bring "duffer" to mind?
He wouldn't have needed to. It was a slang expression he'd have come across in 'real life'. However he'd certainly have read 'Riddle of the Sands'. It was a popular book and right up his street- he was a newspaper reporter after all.