FROM John Anderson
j.c.anderson@mail.com
UK Book Group Meeting
The next meeting of the UK Book Group will be on Saturday 12th
March at Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, York
The book to be discussed will be An Old Captivity.
Meet in the NAAFI at 12 noon.
See
www.yorkshireairmuseum.org/ for more details on the
Museum, location, exhibits etc.
FROM Dr Michael A Fopp
mafopp5@aol.com
I enjoyed the 2015 Conference in Oxford
immensely and congratulate everyone involved in the organisation and
the presentations. I have been a Shutist since I was a
schoolboy and my connection to him is both personal and
professional. As a small boy I travelled on the same ship as
he did returning from Cyprus. My father was an RAF pilot and
we were returning from a posting. Mr Norway was coming home
for a visit from Australia. My father was an ex-Battle of
Britain pilot and had been flying Meteor jets in Cyprus.
Towards the end of WWII he had been an instructor on Airspeed
Oxfords at Wrexham and been involved in a mid-air collision.
The Oxford was quite a resilient aircraft and my Dad was awarded an
immediate Air Force Cross for landing his machine safely. The
other aircraft was not so fortunate and neither occupant survived.
It may well be that the strength, versatility
and price were the main reasons why the Oxford was purchased for the
King's Flight.
I was the Director General of the Royal Air
Force Museums (Hendon & Cosford) for over 20 years (1988 - 2010) and
I tried very hard to stop our Ministry of Defence from allowing the
demolition of the King's Flight Hangar on the old RAF Hendon site
which is adjacent to the RAF Museum. Sadly, even though the
building was locally listed as of historic importance, it was
knocked down in the early 1990's. I had more success with the
original Grahame White hangar and offices and they are now
incorporated in the Museum and open to the public.
At the 2015 Conference I learned of the
passenger Nevil carried with him on his epic journey to Australia in
his Percival Proctor "Item Willie". I managed to find a copy
of James Riddell's book "Flight of Fancy" and read it with great
interest. During the second world war, Riddell was based in
Jerusalem and Syria. In 1942, he was seconded to the Australian 9th
Army to set up the Middle East Ski and Mountaineering School at the
Cedars of Lebanon above Beirut. He was awarded the MBE for his work,
teaching upwards of 20,000 soldiers the techniques of mountain
mobility and survival. These would have been alpine troops,
many with a close connection to what we now call "Special Forces".
Nevil did not know Riddell very well and it is difficult to
discover why he wrote and asked him to accompany him on his trip.
However, Nevil had many friends from his wartime days who would have
still had an interest in intelligence and security. 1948 was a
time of great change as the British Empire declined and the Cold War
began. There was a huge amount of suspicion and intrigue going
on throughout the far reaches of what had once been British and/or
what was still awaiting independence. We were also interested
in our allies and any potential enemies which may or may not have
been in the offing. The Foreign Office would have undoubtedly
asked Nevil to keep his ears and eyes open for any small facts he
might obtain during his journey. This is common today and I
have been asked to report back on some of my foreign visits during
my career as a Museum Director. I am sure that James Riddell,
whose background did not include being a qualified pilot or
navigator, was "suggested" to Nevil as a companion not only because
he was younger and fitter than Nevil, but also because he was a
trusted ex-military instructor with a background in sport and
visiting countries in which the UK had an intelligence interest (in
1936 he had been in the Winter Olympics in Germany). I am not
suggesting that Riddell and Shute were asked to actually undertake
any specific spying activities during their journey, but I am sure
they were asked to discover 'soft' intelligence from people they
met. Things like attitudes to British policy, opinions about
how the future might be looking in the particular place they were
stopping off in. They met so many different and interesting
people that I am sure they came back with a great deal of
information that would interest the 'spooks' of the Foreign Office
and MI6. Indeed, his book "Flight of Fancy" is, in many ways a
'polished and edited' version of what may have been a report for one
of these ‘agencies'? Could it be that Riddell was suggested to
Shute by a friend who knew that he could pay his way because he was
funded by our Government? Indeed, even though Nevil was, by that
time, wealthy - could it also be that he, too, had help both in
terms of money and diplomatic/commercial assistance to make such a
long round-trip flight so soon after the war? I have made a
large number of long flights in small aircraft and the bureaucracy
etc is extraordinarily time-consuming. Nevil seems to have
been blessed in meeting co-operative people all the way down his
route - with one or two exceptions, which were usually speedily
ironed out. My conclusion is that the 1948 trip was, of course, an
adventure for Nevil and an opportunity to gather subject-matter for
his later books. However, I am becoming more convinced that it
was also an opportunity to serve his country again and to do
something adventurous, possibly at minimum expense. James
Riddell was there to look after him and add yet another perspective
to the secondary task of gathering intelligence.
Just a theory, but I am surprised Nevil did not write a novel on the theme!
FROM Stephanie Gallagher
steph.gallagher65@virginmedia.com
Hello fellow Shutists. I was inspired by the
October idea from Joy Hog for reader contributions. Some excellent
questions, and here are my answers. Though of course for those of
you who know me, little of this will be a surprise!!
Which book got you “hooked” on
Shute and why did it have that affect?
My English teacher gave me a copy of “A Town
Like Alice” when I was about 15. I read it rather quickly, then read
it again rather slowly. I was hooked. It just had so many
interesting elements. A strong female lead being the first hook. It
was like a history, economics and geography lesson all in one, and
all wrapped up in one heck of an inspirational story. I then went on
to read all of Shute’s novels. l lived in Ealing at the time and
could relate his novels to places I knew.
Which book did you like the best
and why?
I am almost embarrassed to say, but it has to
be “A Town Like Alice”. It was the book that got me hooked,
and the book I return to most often.
When you give Shute books to non-Shute readers,
which one do you like to start them with?
Depends on the person and what their interests
are. But is most likely to be Trustee From the Toolroom, The
Far Country, Pied Piper, Round the Bend or, A Town Like Alice (as
they are all my favourites).
Who are some of your favourite
Shute characters?
This could be a VERY long list. His books are
jam packed full of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Well,
Jean Paget of course. Theodore Honey, Carl Zinter, Connie Shaklin,
Keith Stewart, shall I go on……. Oh, and many years ago I named my
cat “Spinnifex Joe”, inspired by a character from “Beyond he Black
Stump”
What do you do to promote Shute in
this day and age??
I initially felt a bit embarrassed and though
not much these days. But a recent conversation with a friend changed
that. My friend was telling me how she was quite detached from her
father. I asked her what her father did for a living, she told me he
was an engineer. I smiled and said “I bet he has a stack of Nevil
Shute Novels” My friend looked at me quizzically and said he did and
asked how I knew (I am not an engineer and she thought all his Shute
books were just theory of engineering type stuff). Anyway, we went
onto have a discussion about Shutes novels. I suggested next time
she visit her father she browse his book collection and asks him if
she could borrow one of his Shute novels. We never know, it might be
an inroad to not only introducing her to Shute, but helping to
repair their family rift.
The 1916 Article in the Salopian
Magazine.
In 2010 the UK Shute reunion weekend was held
at Shrewsbury School and our host was Dr Mike Morrogh, Head of
History at the School. In addition to giving an excellent talk,
together with a conducted tour of the school, he had found an
article published in the school magazine, The Salopian, dated 1916.
The article was unsigned, but described the events of the Easter
Rising.
Quite naturally, given the date, the topic and
the description, it was assumed that the article was written by
Nevil Shute and was probably the earliest example of his writing.
However it turns out that this attribution was
incorrect as the following email from Mike explains:
Glad that the Foundation continues to prosper -
I look at it from time to time on the web.
I remember our meeting at Shrewsbury School
with the Shutists, in 2010, and your filming of the talk the next
year. I retired from the school last year, and now am living
in Kew, south west London.
But alas I seem to have misattributed that
excellent piece of reportage on the Dublin rising published in The
Salopian that same year. The article was anonymous but clearly
by a Shrewsbury school sixth former, on vacation in Dublin where his
family lived, and participating in the rising by acting as a
stretcher bearer for the authorities. All this fits the Norway
profile; furthermore he donates a bomb to the school museum.
And I persuaded myself that the actual article was marked by the
later Shute characteristics of plain language and sensible opinion
...
So I assumed that the article was very probably
by Nevil.
However - just last month an Old Salopian
revealed some family letters which have his uncle being
congratulated by several fellow pupils and masters for writing the
article. And looking very closely at the text I am now
convinced it is not by Shute, but by one J L Woods - another
Shrewsbury schoolboy, exactly the same age as Shute, also living in
Dublin, and acting as a stretcher bearer during the rising. It
never occurred to me that there could be two of them!
(The text reveals that the author refers to his
family house which looked out on to a square where the military had
a post. By 1916 the Norway family was living in the Shelbourne
Hotel, not their previous house in Blackrock. Woods' family
lived in Merrion square, which fits the picture better than a hotel.
There are also references to action at bridges which are close to
Merrion square. Otherwise there is little internal evidence to
determine it was by Woods and not Norway; but the clinching proof is
that family letter.)
I have written to the author's nephew
apologising for getting this wrong.
And now to you too! As an historian am
ashamed at making this error of provenance ...
Hope all is well with you otherwise.
I continue my individual efforts to persuade the yoof of today to
read Shute - but it's an uphill struggle.
All the best
Mike
FROM John Anderson
j.c.anderson@mail.com
Winston Churchill and "On the
Beach"
This is a follow on from Andy Burgess' item
last month. The extract he referred to from Graham Farmelo's book
"Churchill's Bomb" comes from another book
Saturday 13th September
1957
“Went in the evening to the Churchills for
drinks and were considered very heroic which of course we had not
been. Sir Winston sitting slumped in an armchair
in the middle of the room, to whom we talked in turns. Alvide
told him how much she was impressed by Nevil Shute's book
On the Beach, which he too had read.
He said he was sending it to Khrushchev. She asked would he not also
send it to Eisenhower? Sir W's retort: 'It would be a waste of
money. He is so muddle-headed now.'
The 'now' is significant. He said to Montague Browne: 'I think the
earth will soon be destroyed by a cobalt bomb. And if I were the
Almighty I would not recreate it in case they destroyed him too the
next time.'
FROM Harvey Fetterley
hfett@mymts.net
Fellow Shutists;
I’m reading The Seafarers and every time that I read it, I enjoy it
so much as to prompt me to thank Dan Telfair and his group of
Shutists that made it possible that I should be able to read the
story. A bonus for me is Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador,
Canada where Donald went and bought his boat. We must have a weather
station there because I see it on the weather occasionally and have
always liked the name.
Harvey Fetterly Winnipeg, Canada
And another month has gone by, how time
flies.
There are three things, that I would like to talk to
you about. The first is, if you send me an email with the request to change
your email address, please send me both the old and the new email address.
It is sometimes very difficult to be sure what the old address is.
The second thing is about the list of email addresses that we have for the
newsletter. They are on my computer, and I never have, and never will, share
these addresses with anybody. The only way that these addresses are made
public is when you send copy to me for the newsletter. In the newsletter
your email address will be published. However if you send me copy, but you
don’t want your email address in the newsletter, just let me know, and I
will just put your name with the copy.
The last is, that there is a very interesting interview by Scott
McConnel put on the website with Henry Crawfort, the producer of the 1981
mini series of A Town Like Alice. You can find the interview under
Miscellaneous.
From the Netherlands, where we are longing for spring, see you next month.
