FROM Andy Burgess andywburgess@blueyonder.co.uk
Next UK Book Club Meeting - Pied Piper
I have made provisional arrangements for the next UK Book club
meeting at the Alveston House Hotel on the 26th November (Saturday).
This is on the A38 just north of Bristol with easy connections to
the M5 and M4. The plan would be to meet at 12 noon for lunch and
then adjourn to their conservatory for the book discussion. They
also do great cream teas there! I appreciate the notice is quite
short, but I need to get back to them to confirm by the 11th
November, so could those wishing to attend let me know by the 11th
on
andywburgess@gmail.com. They will then let us have a lunch menu
for us to pre-book so that we can make the best use of the time. We
had a meeting here 2 years ago that I think everyone would agree was
very successful. It is usually quite quiet and the conservatory can
be closed off from the main restaurant if necessary.
For information the hotel web site is: http://www.alvestonhousehotel.co.uk
FROM Laura Schneider lauraschneider1@aol.com
The TrI-State Chapter (PA,
NJ, NY) met on Sept. 25th at Beall's home. For the second
consecutive September, Beall arranged perfect weather! We started
outside with wine and cheese on Beall's deck and then went inside
for a lovely meal and stimulating conversation.
Not only is this group knowledgeable, fun and interesting but folks
know how to cook! Susan's eggplant parmesan was to die for, John D.
made his special brussels sprouts and no one can roast and carve a
chicken like Beall! He is the host with the most!
We missed Mary H. but her yummy baked goods made us all very happy!
Also absent but not forgotten were Bill L. and Curt G.
"So Disdained" was our book and Beall lead a lively discussion. I am
hardly objective but what is so wonderful about this group is how
everyone brings something unique to the table.
A special acknowledgment to two members who are also in this group.
Aside from his keen mind and extraordinary knowledge, John F. is our
English expert. We learn so much about England from John and are
always enriched by him. As a bonus, both Susan and he can tell you
anything you might want to know about Gordon Lightfoot!
David H. shares his aeronautical expertise. Whether it is about
flying, piloting, weather conditions or when one needs to be in
contact with a flight tower, David teaches us new things. Some of
you were fortunate to hear his presentation last year at Oxford.
Others heard him in Hanover, NH.
Our next meeting is Sunday, January 8. The snow date, heaven forbid,
is two weeks later. More info to follow!
Last month, Laura
Schneider gave a talk, "Nevil Shute: The Man and the Author in
Hanover, NH. Laura spoke at a Continuing Care Retirement Community
where a surprising number of Shute enthusiasts reside. Several
belong to the Dartmouth Chapter of the Nevil Shute Society, some
have participated in Laura's lifelong learning courses and
two traveled to last year's NSNF Oxford Conference. The Q & A
portion of the program was filled with questions and insightful
comments from Shute veterans and those new to Shute. It was a
wonderful evening.
Speaking of The Dartmouth Chapter. We meet this Saturday, November 5
and our book is No Highway. Next month-The December 3
meeting is our annual A Town Like Alice holiday party. We watch the
entire miniseries in one day, breaking up the viewing with snacks
and a potluck lunch. All are welcome! Contact Laura for further
information on either of these events.
FROM Charles D. dalsecl@prtel.com
Shute readers may be
interested in more information about the float plane used on the
Duke and Duchess’s official tour of Western Canada.
Their visit seems to have been a resounding success.
Refer to “In the Wet”.
https://www.harbourair.com/the-experience/fleet/
There is a new movie out
based on the book, “The Dressmaker”. It takes place in
rural 1950’s Australia.
The leading lady sets out to locally produce stylish dresses.
Does this theme seem familiar? Not the Straight forward,
hard work leads to success of Nevil Shute, at all.
FROM Adrian Crowe ecb@chariot.net.au
I was interested in Art
Cornell’s comment about Theo Honey using a ouija board.
I would like the opportunity to attend such a meeting and take part
in these discussions, but it seems unlikely that I will be in the
USA for some time… (Adelaide, Australia)
Theo Honey was clearly painted throughout the story as a highly
intelligent and passionate man lacking in social skills.
It seems to me that he was probably somewhere in the autism spectrum
(Aspergers).
I have a toe in that spectrum myself, and I have experience of
others further along the line.
I have observed in such people (including myself) a mix of supreme
confidence and deep self doubt…and I think again Theo Honey fits the
bill.
It seems to me entirely to be expected that such a person might use
a ouija board.
It is possible for one of the two “operators” to manipulate the
operation of a planchette, especially if the other person is a
child.
I suspect that subconsciously Theo had a logical idea (bearing in
mind his understanding of the crystallisation process) that the
Reindeer might be some distance away from the predicted crash site,
and sought the support of the supernatural to bolster his belief.
And that that he (again subconsciously) manipulated the planchette
to give support to the location that had its origin in his logical
thought.
On a similar basis, I cannot believe it was a complete coincidence
that the prediction in No Highway came to reality with frightening
accuracy with the DeHavilland Comet.(If that was all coincidence
then it was surely even more improbable than the finding of the
Reindeer crash site.)
It seems to me that NS was warning us as he did, for instance, with
What Happened to the Corbetts and On the Beach.
He may not have been in a position to give an explicit warning, and
did what he could to prepare us to deal with this particular type of
structural failure.
I have to say that if he was ever going to be wrong in his
predictions, I’m glad it was On the Beach!
And of course the existence of his prediction may well have
contributed to the fact that it didn’t (or at least hasn’t yet) come
to reality.
Bear in mind that NS was himself both highly intelligent (an
aeronautical engineer) and very much aware of the supernatural
(remember In the Wet)
I take issue with him on only one point - as an expert in complex
machinery why didn’t he recognise the warning signs and seek
treatment for his heart problems before they caused his death,
enabling him to finish Incident at Eucla and the many other stories
that would surely have been forthcoming
FROM Tony Woodward awoodward03@rogers.com
In the latest newsletter
John Anderson [j.c.anderson@mail.com]
wrote, purely as an aside to his main point:
>>> Around 1945 Shute produced a full version of the story as a film
script as well as a dialogue treatment. This was at the time when he
wrote a film script of Pastoral ...
Now this really interests me. At least ten years ago I wrote to this
newsletter (or to an online NSN chat group - I forget which), that I
was certain I had seen three movies with plots based on NSN's novels
which are not listed in the accepted corpus of movies based on his
works. They were not under the original titles but clearly had the
same plot line.
Living as I did (and still do) in Canada In the mid-1970s I was a
devotee of late night movies, especially British ones. My work
schedule allowed me to set my own working hours because I was the
boss – a dream job except for the abysmal pay! I worked 11am
to 7pm and watched the late night movie before going to bed at 2 or
3am. I loved (and still do) all the British ones, and I now
have a collection of several hundred British films from the 1930s to
about 1970 on VHS and DVD. I always said that if I had a collection
of 800 I would consider this a substantial core collection.
Unfortunately I stalled at about 500 due to lack of availability and
lack of money. I have amassed a data base of about 5000 British
movies from that period, many of which (the notorious Quota
Quickies) I wouldn't want anyway but many of which I can't find, and
some of them may no longer exist.
One night I saw a movie and I said in astonishment "But this is
Ruined City!" It’s just about my favourite Shute novel and I re-read
it most often so I ought to know! On other occasions I am sure
I saw "Pastoral" and "Requiem for a Wren" (I kid you not - I would
not have thought this book could be filmed but I am convinced I saw
it). When I first suggested this, someone else wrote back to
say that he had at least seen the "Ruined City" movie too, which
encouraged me that I was not fantasizing. The city was relocated to
the US but the plot was identical.
Sometimes you read a book and it is so obviously a movie that you
can convince yourself later that you have actually seen it on
screen. Many of NSN's books give me that feeling. But in these
specific cases I don't think I am deluded - I really think I saw
them in the 1970s. And the fact the NSN really did write a film
script for Pastoral adds fuel to my fire.
I suggest that somebody may have acquired and used that c1945 script
- legitimately or illegally - because I could swear I've seen
Pastoral (under another name) on late night TV 40 years ago!
I can't remember the real titles of any of these movies, or even if
they were just MTV (Made For TV) so it's impossible to trace them
without more information. But ten years since last raising this
topic, perhaps it's time to put this suggestion out again to a new
crop of Shutists to see if anyone else can add anything more to my
recollections.
"Trustee from the Toolroom" (my favourite Shute novel) is crying out
for a movie treatment, but perhaps its time has passed, now that FX
and CGI and blood and gore have become a substitute for acting and a
cogent plot.
I was thrilled to find that "Landfall" finally made it to DVD after
being hung up in an archive for decades, and I have watched it at
least three times since I finally managed to get a copy. Michael
Denison is a bit too debonair and starlike for Jerry but the movie
is good. I love "No Highway" and of course Jimmy Stewart is
utterly miscast. But then he can't do anything wrong in my view, the
casting was not his fault, this was a period when the bean counters
thought that an American star was needed, and the result is quite
fun. Marlene Dietrich was an odd choice too but the plot required a
famous star and I'm glad it was she. The movie doesn't go as far as
the planchette readings of course but otherwise it's quite true to
the book.
A spinoff to this post is that I did a new web search and I now find
that there was a 1988 TV movie made of "The Far Country". I always
assumed that the movie "The Far Country" was a James Stewart western
and indeed it was. But the 1988 TV version is clearly the Shute
novel and stars Michael York (a strange choice for Carl Zlinter I'd
have thought but they still had to sell the movie). I have to look
into this.
TV movies of NSN have a good reputation. "A Town Like Alice" with
Bryan Brown and Helen Morse, is a much better dramatization than the
theatre movie from 1954 with Peter Finch and Virginia Mckenna, much
as I like both those actors. For a start the movie version throws
away the latter half of the book, along with the real point of it,
which is the raising of an Australian outback town by its
bootstraps, starting with the establishment of a cottage industry.
Hmm - I haven't got a copy of this and I think I ought to remedy
that. And of course I now have to read the book again, if any
excuse was needed.
So many NSN books are prime movie material but not perhaps for
today's tastes, which exclude me to the point where I rarely go to
the cinema anymore, just watch older ones on TV. The last one
I remember going to the cinema for was "The King's Speech" and that
was a few years ago.
I reread Shute's novels every five years and I am now going away to
read In The Wet and The Chequerboard first.
Tony Woodward in Ottawa, Canada (50 years in Canada as of last week, but still British-born and raised!)
FROM Susanna Todd john-todd@sky.com
I'm a new joiner here but
in the spirit of good companionship I'll respond to your plea for
copy.
I can't honestly recall which I read first, possibly Pastoral, or
maybe Landfall, when I was about 11-12. I was a voracious reader.
We were living in Malta, there were still lots of people who had
fought in the Second World War including my father, and there were
quite a few retired members of the armed forces living there.
Therefore much of it rang true.
I then read the vast majority. A Town Like Alice remains one of my
favourites, along with Trustee and, because it is so redolent of
another part of my childhood, A Far Country. It even brings back a
brief smell of the gum trees.
I'm also fond of his autobiography and learned several lessons from
it which I applied to my working life.
My mother suggested I read Shute. She had enjoyed them but in
addition when she had had a temporary job in her university
vacations it was in her father's office. He was Shute's literary
agent and so she met him and other authors. I think he was polite
to this typist in a rather de haut en bas fashion as would have been
quite usual in that day and age but stands out a little from the
more egalitarian approach of respect that stands out in his novels.
But at least he was polite; many might not have been.
She is alas now dead so I can't ask more, but I'll enquire of the family if there are other anecdotes.
FROM John Anderson j.c.anderson@mail.com
My mum was the great
reader in our home when I was growing up. Her favourite authors
included Howard Spring and Nevil Shute. I didn't really like Howard
Spring's books, but Shute's were much more to my liking, probably
because of the flying, sailing and engineering content. I still have
my mum's rather battered paperback copy of Trustee somewhere - price
2/6d or 25 cents! I enjoyed all the Shute books she had but remember
being very upset reading On the Beach as a teenager.
Over the years I made my own collection, all paperbacks, except I
couldn't find Lonely Road in paperback and bought a hardback copy
for £17 !
Fairly recently my sister and brother in law were clearing out the
house of a deceased friend and gave me a number of Heinemann first
editions, sadly without dust jackets. Also, at about that time, I
was lucky enough to get a full set of Heron editions for a
remarkably good price. These are for display only as their spines
tend to crack if opened wide enough to read them.
I was a subscriber to John Henry's changeover newsletter. This was
in about 2000 when the first Australian conference was in the offing
- very tempting, but I simply couldn't afford to go. So when the UK
Conference came round in 2003 I signed up and, foolishly, offered to
give a presentation. The friendships I made then still remain, and
the rest, as they say, is history!
FROM Paul Spoff paulspoff6@aol.com
I thought the Nevil Shute fans would find this interesting
A very interesting newsletter this month, I think. Thanks to those who responded to my question in the last newsletter. And do remember, there is plenty of room in the next one. From the Netherlands, where it is cold, wet and windy, see you next month.
