The Library

Ken, I quite understand about the Hoyo; despite what I said about smoking, I could see myself being tempted to at least have a sniff of one. (Any excuse to buy that crimson smoking-jacket.) Alan, this stand-up routine could work you know, though I'm afraid the knock, knock joke was entirely wasted o...

Splendid Alan! I laughed out loud several times reading that (which I normally only do when reading one of Dornford Yates' 'Berry' books). A few of the references were lost on me - does this mean I have to re-read the whole De Richleau series? The socks-over-shoes idea could work, but there might be...

I must admit I have my doubts as to the practicability of the car-chase route idea, also whether it would be that interesting, but I'd probably give it a try and hope to be surprised. In any case, I don't suppose that would occupy the entire weekend, so there would be time on the agenda for other th...

Dare we ask Charles whether there's any mention of who held the horses during the more intimate encounters in 'The Lusty Youth of Roger Brook'???

Dear Iwan, just to add my thanks for your Convention book - a splendid record of the event with some interesting additions and nice personal touches. Let's hope, as with the Convention itself, that it is the first of many....

Steve W

I was just glancing at Drink and Ink, page 119, and did a mental double-take which, at the risk of sounding unkind to our hero, I thought I'd share with you. DW writes about Frank C. Pape's illustrations for 'Old Rowley'; "One depicts the famous duel in which the Duke of Buckingham killed the E...

On the same theme, but non-DW this time I'm afraid, the January 2009 issue of Britain At War magazine has an eight-page feature entitled 'When Dad's Army Went To War.' This article details the real experiences in both World Wars of the cast and creators of 'Dad's Army', including actor John Laurie, ...

Stevie! Sorry, I thought your posting looked familiar - now I know why! Can't trust my memory these days.

Best Wishes, Steve

When I read your note and saw that it was DW's 'Eleventy first' birthday yesterday I wondered if there may be some deep and meaningful esoteric significance to the 111 birthday. So, I rushed upstairs to dig out my copy of 'The Devil and all his works' and thumbed through to the numerology section t...

Garry, I like it... I doubt very much whether DW would have approved of all this American nonsense, though I suppose it is harmless fun for youngsters. In an old letter which I recently obtained, DW agreed that his correspondent had made a good decision not to spend his retirement in the United Stat...

For those who haven't seen it yet, a book by Richard Van Emden and Victor Piuk with the somewhat awkward title 'Famous 1914-1918' (Pen & Sword Military, 2008) contains a 14-page chapter on Dennis Wheatley. The book features the Great War experiences of 21 well-known characters, including authors...

Ken, thanks for the link to the Gerry Anderson locations site - I've added it to my favourites list immediately. We've visited Black Park Country Park once or twice, but may have to check it out again now... High Canons is unmistakable; I'll see if I can get along there and take a look at it. There'...

Jim, once I've worked out how to do it, I'll also be happy to e-mail photos to you and anyone else who couldn't attend, to prove we enjoyed ourselves! I trust you'll be at least one extra for next year?

Jean and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, and would like to add our thanks to Charles and Nick for doing all the hard work, and Iwan for coming all the way from Spain to speak at the Convention. It's great that everyone seems keen to repeat the experience next year, and hopefully we'll be able to a...

May I add my Greetings of the Season to Stevie P., Charles, Jim and all other Library 'members'. I've been thinking of Bob Rothwell and Sue today, and remembering with pleasure all the long DW telephone conversations and several e-mail exchanges I had with Bob. I too would like to thank Charles for ...