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Shute mowing the extensive lawns at Pond Head on his much-loved ride-on mower in 1945. ( HMC ) |
| Shute outside Pond Head with his MG. ( HMC ) |
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Shute caught by the camera in mid-blink in his writing study at Pond Head in 1945. Behind him is the roll top desk his parents gave him in 1916 on which he wrote most of his novels. The study was separate from, but adjacent to, the house. Sadly the intriguing photo on his desk has disappeared. ( HMC ) |
| Above Shute's garage at the back of Pond Head was his writing study. Here he probably wrote parts of his wartime novels and most of "The Chequer Board", "Vinland The Good", "The Seafarers", "No Highway", "A Town Like Alice" and "Round The Bend". (Photo: JM 2003) |
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Nevil and Frances in the drawing room at Pond Head. On the table at the bottom left of frame is a copy of "The Chequer Board" so this photo is from 1947 or later. ( HMC ) |
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1948
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| 1948 : "No Highway" is published. |
| In No Highway Shute features a simple domestic washing-up dishmop. It is argued by some that Shute used the dishmop in No Highway, a book about the engineering intangibles of nuclear physics and invisible metal fatigue, because he saw it both as a perfect piece of engineering in its simplest form and also as a symbol of happy domesticity. The simply designed, cheap to construct, almost indestructible and incredibly efficient dishmop also doubled as a child's dolly. ( RM 2004) |
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Frances in the drawing room at Pond Head. Behind her is the piano that she played very well. On the left is a wool winder, for knitting. ( HMC ) |
| 1948 : Tom Laing, who had worked at Airspeed for 17 years, dies falling asleep and running his car off the road. Shute later used this as the means of killing Jean's father, Arthur Paget, in "A Town Like Alice". |
| In 1948 Tom Laing, asleep at the wheel, hits a train overpass at Whitchurch. Most likely it is this one. (Photo: RM 2003) |
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