Nevil Shute Norway Foundation

Newsletter dated December 2009

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

From John Gallimore gallimore.john@wanadoo.fr

Hello,

I have just received this month's newsletter, (October) which gets read before any thing else.

Which book got me hooked on NSN ?

For me it was "Round the bend", I don't recollect where I got it from, perhaps from my parents' library. I would have been aged about fourteen, recently returned to the UK, and going through a religious phase. My most lasting impression was that this book offered a stunningly logical alternative to the mysticism of the High Anglican church and yet (preaching ?) much the same values. It is still one of my preferred, rivalled perhaps by La chasse aux diamants (Trustee).

I have been living now for many years in France, and although many NSN books are translated and available both in paperback and hard cover I regret to say that he is never talked of, but I think that the French generally read less than the English, due to the great difference between spoken everyday French and the more formalised, and relatively inaccessible written language. NSN always had a good popular touch, and targeted his readership very astutely.

My favorite characters are multiple, perhaps because I can associate so easily with them, I was trained as a skilled metalworker and enjoy all things mechanical. I appreciate a challenge and am a perfectionist by nature, so Tom Cutter and Donald Ross are good friends, but Keith Stewart and Peter Corbett can come and visit any time.

If I am feeling "down" the exploits of Phillip Morgan and Jack Donelly are guaranteed to put things right.

Thanks to the kind help of David Dawson-Taylor, I have used several of the films to promote better English with my students, though I don't think I have made any converts, perhaps I lack the conviction of Connie Shaklin !!

I hope to come to England for the 2009 reunion, and if anyone would like to contact me in France, my e-mail address is included.

I live in a very old farmhouse in a small village in the Limousin, rather like a more mountainous (and larger !) Dorset.

Best wishes to you all, and thank you for your most excellent newsletters and website.

Cordialement,


From Randall Amstrong randall_armstrong@ml.com

The first book I read, and it got me immediately hooked, was "A Town Like Alice." Its pure story of authentic humans, encountering dilemmas requiring heroic determination, struck a resounding chord in my heart. I also appreciated that it had none of the traditional coarse excesses of typical fiction.

I have since read all of his books and enjoyed each one.

One additional bonus to discovering Mr. Shute; at this time in my life I was single and on the dating scene. After dating a lovely woman several times, and if I thought that there might be potential, I gave her a copy of "A Town Like Alice" with a glowing notation on the inside cover page. The note said that I thought she was so great and her wonderful qualities reminded me of the incredible Jean Paget. The woman would then always read the book (another new convert to Nevil) and was permanently impressed with my insight into her own sterling character. It never failed to work. In fact my wife, and subsequent nine children, are grateful to Mr. Shute's literary skills.

Randall


From John Anderson j.c.anderson@metronet.co.uk

Many thanks to all of you who registered your interest in UK2009 at York via www.uk2009.info You can still use this to register your interest.

We have now added a short video with clips from previous Conferences - just to whet your appetites The Conference budget will be finalised next month and we are putting in place a system for handling Registrations online.

Once we have these two things in place we will be open for booking in January. So when you get those diaries or calendars for 2009 don't forget to mark in "July 26th-31st - UK2009 Nevil Shute Conference York!"

Best wishes

John Anderson


From Eugene Scribner genescribner@charter.net

Hopefully every little bit helps. A few weeks ago a lady in a church office saw me reading a Nevil Shute (A Town Like Alice - about my third or fourth read !). I gave her a short history of Nevil Shute and the foundation and got her to take the book to read. She gave it back with a note in which she admitted that she "could not put it down!" and that she had ordered some more books on the internet.


From Mike Marsh mikemarsh@hotkey.net.au

Here's a snippet for you: Australian infrastructure guru Everald Compton mentions our favourite author in a piece about the Kimberley. www.everald.com.au/EveraldatLarge__0808.pdf

Editor: This is the part about the Kimberley:

THE ISOLATION OF THE KIMBERLEY

The fabulously spectacular part of Australia that we call the Kimberley is one of the most isolated communities in the world. Because of this, Australia has never really tried to capitalise on its vast economic potential.

The Duracks pioneered it, Neville Shute made it famous in his splendid novel "Beyond the Black Stump" and Robert Menzies gave it a future when he launched the Ord River Project that created Lake Argyle and established thriving agricultural industries.

Pity he spells the name wrong, but as they say, any publicity is good publicity!

By the way, non Australian readers will be interested to learn that there are several "Black Stumps" in Australia, most of which claim to be the original. When living in inland New South Wales, I regularly used to travel back to Queensland along the Black Stump Highway from Gulgong and Dunedoo.

Regards

Mike


From Charles D dalsecl@prtel.com

I don't know if any other Shute readers have mentioned it, but the International Movie Data Base has information and some discussions on the 11 films made from Nevil Shute stories. [Some TV only] www.imdb.com [Search on Nevil Shute]

Charles D., Dalton, Minnesota USA


From Diane Lachange diane.lachance@comcast.net

In looking for traditional Scottish recipes I came across a Traditional Scottish Iced Cherry Cake recipe. Shute's characters had such an appetite for cherry cake that I thought I would pass along the website for anyone who would like to try it out. What could be better than a warm fire, a cup of tea, a slice of cherry cake and a Nevil Shute novel to get one through the cold winter here in the northern hemisphere? Here is the weblink for the recipe: www.rampantscotland.com/recipes/blrecipe_cherry.htm.

Enjoy!

Diane Lachance

Editor: I remember us all eating cherry cakes in the garden of Art and Joan Cornell, during Cape Cod 05. If you go to www.nevilshute.org/cc05.php, and download the photo album on the right side of the page, you can see photo's of this.

FROM THE EDITOR

Please do check www.uk2009.info. To whet your appetite, click here to view a short movie from previous Conferences.

To all of you, from a cold and sometimes snowy Holland, Happy Holidays and see you in January.

LOCATE YOUR LOCAL SHUTIST

Write in if you want your name listed and would like to get together with other Shutists in your vicinity.

AUSTRALIA

Jim Wells lives in Lindfield, Sydney
Richard Michalak lives in Paddington, Sydney
Ruth Pearson lives in Adelaide
Neil Wynes Morse lives in Canberra

HONG KONG

Julian Stargardt

THAILAND

Bruce A Clarke lives in Bangkok

USA

Jim & Kristi Woodward live in Broken Arrow (east of Tulsa), Oklahoma, USA.
Priscilla Pruitt lives near Bellingham, Washington State
Bill McCandless lives in Joliet near Chicago.
Joy Hogg, Harrietta Michigan (northern lower Michigan, near Traverse City and Cadillac)
David B. Horvath, dhorvath in the cobs.com domain, near Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA.
Al Benkelman Warrenton, Virginia