Posted by Peter Ceresole on April 29, 2005 at 21:44:41 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Dick during the war. posted by Laurence Monkhouse on April 29, 2005 at 20:47:59:
The funny thing about the Bawdsey towers is that they hadn't yet been built at the time of the Goblin's voyage
Indeed. I argued some time ago in an attack of geekiness that this dated WD to 1936 at earliest, compared to what was (if I remember rightly) the normally calculated date of 1932 or 33. I'm not sure, because I can no longer find that chronology on the site.
Actually this brings up the problem of trying to be too precise about these things. Internal evidence (starting from the explicit dating of their climb of Kanchenjunga in SD, August 11. 1931) combined with counting the years and the holidays gives a pretty good stab of 1932 or 3. But the sighting of the Bawdsey masts is described quite unequivocally and that sets a hard date of 1936 plus. As the quatermaster would say, that's a real discrepancy.
Which is right?
I'd say that the working from the internal chronology of the books is really more true to the story- and although 1936 is more 'real', it's less 'right'. AR should be allowed a few mistakes...