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Charles
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Post by Charles »

Dear Ken,

Many thanks and noted.

Might be worth trying to ring them tomorrow if you have a second, and perhaps asking if they can hold the other rooms for a couple of days in case others of our number want to book.

I've emailed Marstons to see if the Angel is genuinely full (their website shows it as full even for random days in November) or if there is an error in the booking system - don't know when I'll get a reply.

Best to all !
Charles
Charles
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Post by Charles »

Well, I tried getting to the booking form going by the Angel Inn's website

http://www.english-inns.co.uk/EP/AngelInn-Lymington/

rather than the Martson's website I quoted before, and seem to have made a successful booking.

Fingers crossed. I suggest anyone else trying for the Angel goes by the same route - I'll ring them on Monday and (assuming I get through) check the booking has 'taken'.

Ken - you're probably right about sleep - if I look dishevelled on the Saturday morning, it'll be because of lack of sleep and not too much drinking :D

All best !
Charles
Steve Whatley
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Post by Steve Whatley »

I'm pleased (and relieved) that Charles has now managed to book The Angel, as I successfully booked our room this afternoon. I decided to risk the possibility of noise for the sake of being 'on the spot' in Lymington. And if truth be known, I'll probably need the early call from the market traders in order to meet the rest of you at the appointed hour!

Ken - yes please! If you can arrange a visit to the tower for those of us who are not staying at Tower Hall, that would be splendid.

We will be in the area for a few days either side of the weekend, so it's good to hear that others will be doing the same. Hopefully we can enjoy each other's company for a few extra days or evenings here and there. [font=Courier New] [/font]
ken68
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Post by ken68 »

No problem, will try and arrange a booking tomorrow and let you know. I am away all day on a business trip so may not get the chance until saturday but will keep you all posted. Fingers crossed.

Ken
Stevie P
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Post by Stevie P »

Having read some of the reviews, it was a difficult choice but in the end I've booked a double room at 'The Angel' for two nights.
I'll bring some ear plugs.!!!! (for the market noise, not Ann) ;-)

No doubt we will all want to go to see the tower, which has to be the place DW was referring to. I can't imagine that there are two square high towers in the same area)

Best wishes to everyone

Steve
ken68
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Post by ken68 »

That's us booked in at the tower Friday to Monday.
We are going to stay in the area probably all week and do some sight seeing. I will also have my golf clubs with and intend to play at least a couple of games so I'd there are any fellow golfers who would like to join me feel free.

Ken
Charles
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Post by Charles »

Iwan and Margareta are joining us - and staying at "The Angel".

.... so that's eight of us so far who won't get any sleep :D

Anyone else apart from Ken and Mary made their bookings yet ???

All best !
Charles
Charles
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Post by Charles »

I understand another couple have booked to stay at the Tower with Ken and Mary, so that's a dozen of us booked so far ...

Best as always !
Charles
Charles
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Post by Charles »

Two more have let me know they've booked The Angel for the two nights, so at the moment it's ten for the Angel and four for the Tower, with a few others having said they'll be coming but yet (as far as I know) to book ....

I'll keep you all posted as I know more ...

All best !
Charles
Charles
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Post by Charles »

I've just heard that unfortunately Nick can't join us in Lymington - he's got something on for that date for the BBC - but that still leaves us at fourteeen confirmed and a couple of others at least as possibles.

Not bad for our first field trip ...

Incidentally, Steve W was right - Sir Gifford Hillary of 'Ka' fame lived in / near Lymington in Longshot Hall, which 'stands on a slight rise several hundred yards from the shore', where the house has half a mile of private beach (lucky chap !), and it has a beach-house that is 'really a charming Georgian pavilion consisting of three rooms and a wide veranda'. Here, his guest 'admired the view, which was at its best on such a day with dozens of little yachts out of Cowes tacking up and down the Solent ...' ('The Ka', 1st ed, pp 14-15).

Another one for us to find, if it's more than a figment of DW's fertile imagination ... ...

All best !
Charles
ken68
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Post by ken68 »

inspired by Stevie Ps reviews of the first two roger brook stories i started reading them again and have just finished the last one, desperate measures. without spoiling the end, in the last chapter roger and georgina are recalling all their adventures. they start with how it came about that roger ran away from home and how before hand georgina seduced him atop SWAY TOWER. it does actually name it as sway tower so i think it is safe to assume that the we have tracked down one of the landmarks.

sorry we won't see you there Nick.

ken
Steve Whatley
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Post by Steve Whatley »

Well spotted Ken! That certainly puts the matter beyond doubt. Who would have thought that the proof would lie in Desperate Measures?

So it seems that this is an example (the first?) of DW disregarding historical fact to suit his story. I had always assumed - perhaps naively - that DW was meticulous in making his storyline fit in with known historical facts, but this must now cast doubt upon all 'facts' stated in his historical novels.

On the other hand, maybe this is 'the exception which proves the rule'?[font=Courier New] [/font]
Charles
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Post by Charles »

I must add my congratulations to Steve's, Ken - well done indeed for solving the mystery !

It would never have occurred to me that the solution to the puzzle was to be found in DW's last book - and how strange that DW got the construction wrong - The Launching of Roger Brook having the tower made of iron, whereas the Sway Tower is famous - as I understand from the internet - for its lack of it.

I can't help feeling there is more to this than meets the eye - another DW mystery for us to cut our teeth on.

Just for the sake of inventing an explanation (we could no doubt make thousands of them !), maybe the owner of the Tower in the late 1940s was rather straightlaced and would have objected to DW having Roger and Georgina b****** at the top of it :-) One of the beauties of not knowing is that we can invent lots of theories ...

On the other hand, I'm getting accustomed to the way in which DW documents are always turning up - maybe one day a letter or a contemporary note will come to light which explains it all to us.

Be that as it may, it seems thanks to you that we have undisputable proof of where the Tower is. Brilliant !

Next challenge ... to find Sir Gifford Hillary's three roomed Georgian beach hut ...

PS I bet you're glad now you booked into the Tower and not the Angel. Nat is going to insist on taking a picture of you in front of it (champagne bottle in hand ?) for the archives !
Charles
Alan
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Post by Alan »

Steve Whatley wrote:Well spotted Ken! That certainly puts the matter beyond doubt. Who would have thought that the proof would lie in Desperate Measures?

So it seems that this is an example (the first?) of DW disregarding historical fact to suit his story. I had always assumed - perhaps naively - that DW was meticulous in making his storyline fit in with known historical facts, but this must now cast doubt upon all 'facts' stated in his historical novels.

On the other hand, maybe this is 'the exception which proves the rule'?[font=Courier New] [/font]
The problem is, even for a meticulous writer like DW, in order to tell a story as entertainingly as you can you sometimes have to "cut and shut" details. Shakespeare (the Elizabethan Dennis Wheatley) was a perfect example. Unfortunately, history doesn't always plot tightly... sometimes it suits the story to move a certain landmark a few miles along the coast, have a person born and die 50 years earlier than in RL, whatever - look at all the historical pastiches that have characters interact when they lived hal a century apart! I feel the way to reconcile this is to accept that the story takes place in a "universe" or continuum that's very like our own but not identical.

I agree that DW's historical research was absolutely top notch, and in general I'd be inclined to trust it (The few times I've checked it out it's always been right, and far more meticulous people than me have done some excellent work on this site to this end - but I won't swell their heads by giving details!) However, even a casual DW reader would know that he often deliberately got facts wrong for the greater good - in this case telling the best possible story. In "They Used Dark Forces" he has Grauber do things that were actually done in real life by totally different individuals (see DW's note to the Arrow edition), in "Traitor's Gate" he drags in a totally fictitious country (and apologises in a shamed-face footnote - excuse my mixed metaphors there) and, given how DW spent WWII in real life, I wouldn't be surprised if he changed many of the "facts" about top secret decisions amde by the British cabinet for reasons of national security.

In other words, (contends I) if he had NO GOOD REASON for being wrong, he was always right!
Stevie P
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Post by Stevie P »

Ken,

Brilliant stuff. You've solved the mystery of the tower.

As I have only read the first three Roger Brook stories and there are a further 26 novels to be read before I get to read 'Desperate Measures' I estimate that it will be approx 4.3 years before I get to read the final RB chapter.
It could be substantially more if I also read the remaining Non-fiction books, Memoirs & Dossiers etc as well (Say another 2.5 years ). Then there are other authors books that I may also read in the meantime. I'd better get a move on.

Now that you have established that the Sway Tower is THE Tower I wonder if you are considering charging an admission fee to those of us who are staying in the 'Angel' ;-)
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