The snow has gone from Tyneside, hitting Yorkshire and elsewhere, but my nose cold has become worse, but did not create such a bad night as it looked as the evening progressed
The outstanding event since my return from Christmas was the second episode in the new series of Wallander based on the original books of Henning Mankell- The Man who smiled. The significance of this episode is personal although the performances of Kenneth Branagh as the Inspector is outstanding, as is that of a former policeman turned security guard who has experienced similar emotions from a similar situation.
Wallander has taken extended leave since killing a murderer in self defence, handing in his gun and leaving when asked to attend the formal interview which follows such an incident in most police forces across the earth planet which do not operate a police dominated state. He cuts himself from his family, staying in a holiday home and walks the beach, drinking more than usual and disregarding his personal appearance.
Sten questions the verdict that his lawyer father met his death in an accident. We know the death is questionable because the father exits his car when driving on a deserted county road and seeing a figure sitting on a chair stool in the middle of the road. Sten asks Wallander why were the car keys on the floor of the vehicle and mentions that the key is the fourth on the ring.
Benny Goodman Swinging 20
On the sunny side of the Town
Bach goes to Town
Peter and the Wolf
A smooth one
Wallander rejects the request but the plea nags at him and he returns to his town home long before he is ready to cope with his former job. His home is a mess with energy and telephone cut off and his fridge full of decaying food suggesting its is months rather than weeks since his hurried departure and when he goes to the police station he see the secretary/housekeeper of the friend’s father who calls to him that he is too late as Sten has committed suicide in his father’s office. Wallander’s office is deserted as the team has been broken up and the team responsible for the road accident and investigating the suicide do not welcome his sudden intervention and questioning of their conclusions.
Wallander is in further trouble when he arranges a further autopsy without prior approval and this yields that a bone in the neck has been fractured in several places suggesting a killer blow rather than from the accident. An investigation of Sten also reveals similar neck injuries which raises doubts about self strangulation at the office of his father. A visit to the office and the father’s home reveals that the lawyer had one major client to which he had devoted his time over several years. This is a well known Swedish business man and philanthropist who has a charitable foundation undertaking work in Africa. When Wallander visits the home with the housekeeper he is shown a picture postcard with a message where the obvious interpretation is a threat. Downstairs in the basement where the Foundation records were stored, Wallander finder only a wall full of expensive icons worth a fortune beyond the means of the lawyer, together with and a plastic container. The records are not there. My query is that having removed the records why were the icons and the plastic container left.
Wallander gains permission to talk to the international businessmen as the investigating team had only a five minute telephone conversation. The man lives in a large office and home complex with a former police man on the gate as security. There is a helicopter within the grounds and on a second visit Wallander meets the personal assistant security man and these appear to be the only people at the property despite its size. The man appears genuinely shocked at what has happened to his former lawyer and the son who had recently started to help the aging father with his work. He also impresses Wallander with his evident commitment to African charitable Foundation.
Wallander asks for confirmation of the time the left on the day when they accident took place. When Wallander shows the postcard the man produces a similar one which he has received within the past couple of days, since the death of the former employee and Wallander takes this with the accompanying envelope.
Essential Benny Goodman
Superman and Oh Baby
Goody Goody
There’s a small hotel
The envelope reveals it was sent from a country hotel where Wallander as a boy and his father used to stay to go fishing. The Hotel is now closed as the Owner has become infirm but they remember the Swedish man, the only the other guest on the day when the first postcard was sent and this provides a name, and that of the young woman, the man’s daughter, who Wallander discovers is a Doctor who works in Africa and holds meetings to raise public awareness of the needs. She is blown up in her car shortly after Wallander tries to speak to her.
Essential Benny Goodman
He is then contacted by the girl’s father who is attacked before Wallander can get to him but who he manages to save by inserting a biro case into the mans throat so he can breathe. The team then discovers that the plastic cases is used for body parts and they find a store of several hundred of these, where as the local general hospital might order a dozen containers for transplants where one corpse can yield a hundred thousand dollars.
There are two other strands to the story which make the difference between a criminal investigation and a major drama. Following the visit to the hotel where eh went with his father he goes to see his father who has become a resident in a residential home in the City where he finds his daughter visiting, resentful at the lack of contact and failure to seek her help. He tries to explain but is called away. Father rejects his visit but does not want his daughter to leave afraid of what will happen to her when she departs. She is his link with his past and its diminishing reality.
Wallander is recognises by the former policeman security guard at the gate to the property of the International businessman. The man was a good officer but who has killed a young woman when on his way home from an evening out through drunk dangerous driving. He was dismissed from the force and the death haunts him, but also the loss of his job which he explains when he calls with the information about vehicle departure timings on the day the lawyer was murdered on his way home. The man pleads with Wallander to have him reinstated when he later provides information, a timed photograph showing that in addition to those listed in the schedule, the owner’s vehicle had left the property minutes before, driven by the head security assistant.
The man argues is that police work was his life, his identity and although he made a major mistake he believes he still has a great deal to give but he has been given no choice. Although the situation is different as Wallander acted in self defence he feels guilty about continuing with his work, unable to face carrying a loaded weapon or his badge of office, but he has choice whether to continue with the career or not. The former policeman wants the same choice. What has emerged as the plot unfolds is that the International businessman was making a fortune from the sale of body parts from poor Africans and where consent to living donorship is in question. Through her work the Doctor had uncovered the role of the International business in the trade and her father had attempted to blackmail for funds to aid her work. It looked as if the businessman would get away the crimes because all the records were in the name of the killed lawyer and even these had been removed, so even if it was possible to tie the murders to his security assistant the man behind the trade and the murders would get away with it. It is this moral discrepancy which leads to Wallander unsuccessfully pleading the case of the former policeman.
The two men, Wallander and the disgraced policeman are two of a kind and when the former policeman contacts Wallander to say the business man and security chief have closed the estate and are about to leave in the helicopter for the airport Wallander does not hesitate to rush to the scene, alone, loading his gun and taking his badge from out of the desk, but urging the man to wait for his arrival. The former police is wounded by the time Wallander arrives as the businessman is making his way to the helicopter with a box of records. The former policeman also manages to prevent Wallander being killed by the head of security who he kills. Wallander is then able to disable the International business man shooting him in the leg. Wallander goes back to his post having put himself back in order as justice appears to be done, one way or the other. This programme and the predicament of Wallander and the former policeman struck not one but several chords with me 1985 1986, 1991/2 and three occasions in 2003.
I have written before of my liking for the C S Forrester Hornblower novels which were made into an excellent TV series. The Even Chance was the first film (1998) in the series in which young Midshipman Hornblower joins the Justinian under the ruthless bully and coward Jack Simpson who terrorises vulnerable new recruits. Although Midshipmen are junior officers, they were in effect apprentices, responsible of a small body of seamen. The son of naval officers, the landed gentry and professional men had to pay to gain their first step in the naval hierarchy. These days the officer cadet has their training at a service college, but where bullying and feuds are not excluded but less likely. Then abuse was widespread and where any questioning would lead to official punishment
The structure of the services is Admiral of the Fleet, Admiral, Commodore, Captain, Commander, Lt Commander, Lieutenant, Sun Lieutenant, and Ensign, Midshipman.
Sunny Disposish and Body and Soul
In The Even Chance, also known as the Dual, the situation is reached where Hornblower feels obliged to challenge Simpson to a Dual but against his wishes he is replaced at the last moment by an older Midshipman who feels he should have stood up and protected the younger ones before. He is killed and Simpson wounded letting it known that Hornblower is a coward. Fortunately war is declared and Hornblower and another midshipman, both the subject of bullying, are sent to a frigate The Indefatigable, the Indy, nominated by the aging captain of the Justinian who has some knowledge of what actually has happened.
So too does the Captain of the Indefatigable who orders Hornblower not to get involved with a dual in the future. When a French Merchant ship carrying rice is captured Hornblower and his team are ordered to take the craft back to an English port for be sold as bounty for distribution among the officers on a pro rata basis. Unfortunately the ship is holed below the waterline and the swelling rice leads to it sinking before the cargo can be jettisoned, and when on in the lifeboat the French regain control, Hornblower outwits by charting on the map a different course to the one he is following so that instead of heading back into France they run parallel to the coast until in sight of the Indefatigable where he is quickly regarded as hero among the men for saving their lives and recapturing the prisoners.
While on patrol they run into a sinking Justinian and among the rescued they pick up is Simpson so when a party men is sent to try and capture the French vessel responsible, hiding in port Hornblower and another abused midshipman are put in charge of a boat in the expedition, Simpson a surplus officer volunteers and his experience accepted and in the resulting action he first kills the other midshipman and then attempts to shoot Hornblower when he is in the rigging but causes him only a glancing blow from which he falls into the sea but is rescued. Unfortunately the captured French vessel- The Papillion comes under fire from shire batteries and the two senior officers are killed, the most senior placing Hornblower in charge shortly before Simpson comes aboard and demands to take charge. Hornblower places him under arrest. And they set out to find the Indy which has come under fire from three French warships and is systematically being destroyed. Seeing the situation, Hornblower continues to show the French colours until close enough to open fire on the unsuspecting enemy. One is badly damaged and the other blown up, so out numbered the remaining ship surrenders. Simpson denies the accusation and challenges Hornblower to a dual which the Indy Captain allows, withdrawing his former order to Hornblower not to do so. When Simpson fires in advance Hornblower is given the opportunity to shoot at his leisure and Simpson grovels for his life so Hornblower fires in the air. Simpson then grabs a knife but is killed by Captain Pellaw of the Indy observing the scene from nearby rocks before he can harm Hornblower. The captain rewards Hornblower by saying that he will keep an eye on the young man who he thinks is going to have a great career in the navy. The series is noted for its authentic portrayal of navy life and for not pulling back from showing the brutality and the horror of combat including the primitive and difficult medical care provided.
None such reality accompanied the Triple Cross the 1966 film based on he real life story of criminal turned wartime double agent Eddie Chapman, or does it?
Eddie Chapman was born at Burnopfield in County Durham in 1914 which is not Tyneside one claim which is reported to have been made. It is known that he joined the army (Coldstream Guards) but absconded commencing a life of crime. Something of a conman, showman and ladies man it is unlikely anyone will establish the nature and extent of his criminality unless it is contained in the records held by the national government. One sources states he was a successfully safe cracker, with Odeon cinemas the main target, part of a gang who were using gelignite as soon as it became available. A family source argued that he was minor and unsuccessful, exaggerating his criminality to impress other criminals and his German captors.
In Scotland he had been charged with blowing the safe of a Co op but while on bail fled to Jersey where he was eventually caught and imprisoned. All sides in the war, The Americans with the Dirty Dozen, is perhaps the best fiction account. freed convicted criminals with the promise of pardons in the unlikelihood they survived dangerous missions and this is one aspect of the second world war which Government have understandably continued to be coy about. Having discovered that the island had been occupied by Nazi Germany, in true fashion to character, Chapman offered his services as a spy and saboteur and was taken to France for training. He was then parachuted to England to blow a de Havilland Factory. He firsts contacts MI5 who fortunately for him had prior knowledge of the mission, otherwise he would have been apprehended and shot as a traitor. Instead after interrogation it was decided to use him as a double agent and he was returned to Germany via Lisbon. The intention was a suicide assassination of Hitler as Chapman believe he could get close through his German spy handler. Explosions at the de Havilland factory were faked and Chapman claimed to have been awarded the Iron Cross although it is suggested that more likely it was the War Merit Cross, which in my view is neither here or there.
There is no doubt that returning to Germany was a very brave act. He was sent to Oslo Norway to train German spies where he had a relationship with a local girl to whom he became formally engaged, Dagmar Lahlum who as a young woman joined the Norwegian resistance and gained intelligence by going with Germans to their nightspots and after taking up with Chapman she was labelled a German whore by her community as he was thought to be German. He officially recruited her to MI5 but told her to keep the true nature of their association secret. After the war Chapman abandoned her and she was charged as part of the 1947 treason trials and given a fine, and is said never to have recovered from Chapman’s treatment of her. The Norwegians never knew of her true position and following her death from Parkinson’s disease in 1999 a nice discovered unsent letters to Chapman which she destroyed. The truth of her relationship and position only came to light after the release of previously secret British Papers.
Chapman was then sent back to England this time to find out the location of the dropped V1 and V 2 rockets. He was used by the British to send false information which led to the rockets being sent to unpopulated areas and to being shot down. Chapman was a mercenary throughout receiving money from the Germans, £1000 he was allowed to keep and a £5000 payment as a kind of retirement gift to go straight after the war. While this was a significant amount of money at the time it is suggested it was used on high living and it was feared he would return to crime, which to some extent he did, with MI5 providing character references to offer a degree of protection. He also published several fictional works as well as an autobiography followed by a biography after his death in 1999 and the availability of former secret papers to evaluate his version of events. He married and ran a Health Farm at one point with his wife. He said to have had countless relationships some of which led to pregnancies. He also maintained contact with his German handler after the war as well as his British
This brings me to the 1966 Film Triple Cross with a well cast Christopher Plummer as Chapman, Yul Brynner his German handler and Rory Schneider as his German lover and Trevor Howard his British link. The film has Brynner as an aristocratic career officer who is shot for his part in the failed Hitler assassination plot as the film ends. Plummer is seen winking at the street wise policeman who first believed in him and then suspected he was a double agent as he leaves for England. Chapman is said to have been disappointed with the film and it would be interesting to learn why as his confident and attractive risk taking personality came through. He had been a criminal who became a mercenary, but in the end what he did saved lives and that has to be remembered as it appeared to be by homeland security.
Sunday also marked the return of the delicious Lark Rise to Candleford in which an Oxford City Journalist visits the Lark Rise to tells the Timmins Family they are beneficiaries to a legacy of £120, He befriends Laura who shows him her diary of observations which he uses to paint a devastating picture of the village and of Candleford betraying her trust and the friendship of the Timmins family.
The prospects also threaten the couple as Robert does not want to lave the village to run his own business in Candleford but goes along because he thinks this is what his wife wants while she is supporting the idea because it will enable him to do the work he has always wanted to do, but is equally dreading leaving the village as do the rest of the family. They have resolved to remain, which is just as well when they find that their share is only a part share which comes to less than £10 if accepted without going litigation. Meanwhile the Pratt sisters have had a sale and one has used the funds to buy one of the new fangled showers. Lay preacher Thomas Brown, the postman. has settled down to married life with his school teacher wife under the impression that she will conceive a child if they get up to pray seven times a night. He is led to the light by Twister Turrell who has seen wife Margaret dancing naked in the night, no doubt under the influence of his wife Queenie who he advises Thomas he once cause doing likewise in solicitude to the pagan Gods. Back at the post office once the centre of Candleford Life, Minnie Maude continues to find it difficult to tell the truth if it puts her in a bad light and when pressed to always do so by Dorcus Lane she suggests that Dorcus admit she wants James’s son to call her mother and he likewise. This moves the relationship onto a closer footing
I was also struck that so much of the Morse plot did not matter, so much of the enjoyment was the character of Morse and his interaction with his work assistant Lewis, together with the sights of Oxford City and the County. I must spend more than a night there next summer.
Benny Goodman Big Swing Hits
Lets dance and Don’t be that way
Mr Meadowlark
Minnie the Moocher’s wedding Day
Lets dance and Don’t be that way
Mr Meadowlark
Minnie the Moocher’s wedding Day
The outstanding event since my return from Christmas was the second episode in the new series of Wallander based on the original books of Henning Mankell- The Man who smiled. The significance of this episode is personal although the performances of Kenneth Branagh as the Inspector is outstanding, as is that of a former policeman turned security guard who has experienced similar emotions from a similar situation.
Benny Goodman Swinging 20
King Porter Stomp
How long has this been going on
Six Flats unfurnished and Stomping at the Savoy
King Porter Stomp
How long has this been going on
Six Flats unfurnished and Stomping at the Savoy
Wallander has taken extended leave since killing a murderer in self defence, handing in his gun and leaving when asked to attend the formal interview which follows such an incident in most police forces across the earth planet which do not operate a police dominated state. He cuts himself from his family, staying in a holiday home and walks the beach, drinking more than usual and disregarding his personal appearance.
Benny Goodman Swinging 20
Avalon
And the Angels sing
Jersey Bounce
Sugarfoot Stomp
Avalon
And the Angels sing
Jersey Bounce
Sugarfoot Stomp
Sten questions the verdict that his lawyer father met his death in an accident. We know the death is questionable because the father exits his car when driving on a deserted county road and seeing a figure sitting on a chair stool in the middle of the road. Sten asks Wallander why were the car keys on the floor of the vehicle and mentions that the key is the fourth on the ring.
Benny Goodman Swinging 20
On the sunny side of the Town
Bach goes to Town
Peter and the Wolf
A smooth one
Wallander rejects the request but the plea nags at him and he returns to his town home long before he is ready to cope with his former job. His home is a mess with energy and telephone cut off and his fridge full of decaying food suggesting its is months rather than weeks since his hurried departure and when he goes to the police station he see the secretary/housekeeper of the friend’s father who calls to him that he is too late as Sten has committed suicide in his father’s office. Wallander’s office is deserted as the team has been broken up and the team responsible for the road accident and investigating the suicide do not welcome his sudden intervention and questioning of their conclusions.
Benny Goodman Swinging 20
If dreams come True
Lazy River
Goodbye
Sing Sing Song
If dreams come True
Lazy River
Goodbye
Sing Sing Song
Wallander is in further trouble when he arranges a further autopsy without prior approval and this yields that a bone in the neck has been fractured in several places suggesting a killer blow rather than from the accident. An investigation of Sten also reveals similar neck injuries which raises doubts about self strangulation at the office of his father. A visit to the office and the father’s home reveals that the lawyer had one major client to which he had devoted his time over several years. This is a well known Swedish business man and philanthropist who has a charitable foundation undertaking work in Africa. When Wallander visits the home with the housekeeper he is shown a picture postcard with a message where the obvious interpretation is a threat. Downstairs in the basement where the Foundation records were stored, Wallander finder only a wall full of expensive icons worth a fortune beyond the means of the lawyer, together with and a plastic container. The records are not there. My query is that having removed the records why were the icons and the plastic container left.
Essential Benny Goodman
Lets Dance
Bugle Call Rag and King Port Stomp
Don’t be that way
Lets Dance
Bugle Call Rag and King Port Stomp
Don’t be that way
Wallander gains permission to talk to the international businessmen as the investigating team had only a five minute telephone conversation. The man lives in a large office and home complex with a former police man on the gate as security. There is a helicopter within the grounds and on a second visit Wallander meets the personal assistant security man and these appear to be the only people at the property despite its size. The man appears genuinely shocked at what has happened to his former lawyer and the son who had recently started to help the aging father with his work. He also impresses Wallander with his evident commitment to African charitable Foundation.
Essential Benny Goodman
When Buddha Smiles and Sing Sing Sing
Big John Special
Get Happy
When Buddha Smiles and Sing Sing Sing
Big John Special
Get Happy
Wallander asks for confirmation of the time the left on the day when they accident took place. When Wallander shows the postcard the man produces a similar one which he has received within the past couple of days, since the death of the former employee and Wallander takes this with the accompanying envelope.
Essential Benny Goodman
Superman and Oh Baby
Goody Goody
There’s a small hotel
The envelope reveals it was sent from a country hotel where Wallander as a boy and his father used to stay to go fishing. The Hotel is now closed as the Owner has become infirm but they remember the Swedish man, the only the other guest on the day when the first postcard was sent and this provides a name, and that of the young woman, the man’s daughter, who Wallander discovers is a Doctor who works in Africa and holds meetings to raise public awareness of the needs. She is blown up in her car shortly after Wallander tries to speak to her.
Essential Benny Goodman
He is then contacted by the girl’s father who is attacked before Wallander can get to him but who he manages to save by inserting a biro case into the mans throat so he can breathe. The team then discovers that the plastic cases is used for body parts and they find a store of several hundred of these, where as the local general hospital might order a dozen containers for transplants where one corpse can yield a hundred thousand dollars.
There are two other strands to the story which make the difference between a criminal investigation and a major drama. Following the visit to the hotel where eh went with his father he goes to see his father who has become a resident in a residential home in the City where he finds his daughter visiting, resentful at the lack of contact and failure to seek her help. He tries to explain but is called away. Father rejects his visit but does not want his daughter to leave afraid of what will happen to her when she departs. She is his link with his past and its diminishing reality.
Wallander is recognises by the former policeman security guard at the gate to the property of the International businessman. The man was a good officer but who has killed a young woman when on his way home from an evening out through drunk dangerous driving. He was dismissed from the force and the death haunts him, but also the loss of his job which he explains when he calls with the information about vehicle departure timings on the day the lawyer was murdered on his way home. The man pleads with Wallander to have him reinstated when he later provides information, a timed photograph showing that in addition to those listed in the schedule, the owner’s vehicle had left the property minutes before, driven by the head security assistant.
Essential Benny Goodman
Can’t Teach my old heart new tricks
This can’t be love
I thought about you
It never entered my mind
Can’t Teach my old heart new tricks
This can’t be love
I thought about you
It never entered my mind
The man argues is that police work was his life, his identity and although he made a major mistake he believes he still has a great deal to give but he has been given no choice. Although the situation is different as Wallander acted in self defence he feels guilty about continuing with his work, unable to face carrying a loaded weapon or his badge of office, but he has choice whether to continue with the career or not. The former policeman wants the same choice. What has emerged as the plot unfolds is that the International businessman was making a fortune from the sale of body parts from poor Africans and where consent to living donorship is in question. Through her work the Doctor had uncovered the role of the International business in the trade and her father had attempted to blackmail for funds to aid her work. It looked as if the businessman would get away the crimes because all the records were in the name of the killed lawyer and even these had been removed, so even if it was possible to tie the murders to his security assistant the man behind the trade and the murders would get away with it. It is this moral discrepancy which leads to Wallander unsuccessfully pleading the case of the former policeman.
Essential Benny Goodman
How long has this been going on
After you have gone and Running wild
The Man I love
How long has this been going on
After you have gone and Running wild
The Man I love
The two men, Wallander and the disgraced policeman are two of a kind and when the former policeman contacts Wallander to say the business man and security chief have closed the estate and are about to leave in the helicopter for the airport Wallander does not hesitate to rush to the scene, alone, loading his gun and taking his badge from out of the desk, but urging the man to wait for his arrival. The former police is wounded by the time Wallander arrives as the businessman is making his way to the helicopter with a box of records. The former policeman also manages to prevent Wallander being killed by the head of security who he kills. Wallander is then able to disable the International business man shooting him in the leg. Wallander goes back to his post having put himself back in order as justice appears to be done, one way or the other. This programme and the predicament of Wallander and the former policeman struck not one but several chords with me 1985 1986, 1991/2 and three occasions in 2003.
Essential Benny Goodman
Moonglow
Flying High and Rose Room
Airmail special
Moonglow
Flying High and Rose Room
Airmail special
I have written before of my liking for the C S Forrester Hornblower novels which were made into an excellent TV series. The Even Chance was the first film (1998) in the series in which young Midshipman Hornblower joins the Justinian under the ruthless bully and coward Jack Simpson who terrorises vulnerable new recruits. Although Midshipmen are junior officers, they were in effect apprentices, responsible of a small body of seamen. The son of naval officers, the landed gentry and professional men had to pay to gain their first step in the naval hierarchy. These days the officer cadet has their training at a service college, but where bullying and feuds are not excluded but less likely. Then abuse was widespread and where any questioning would lead to official punishment
Essential Benny Goodman
The World is waiting for the sunrise
Wholly Cats and Rachel’s Dream
Riding High
The World is waiting for the sunrise
Wholly Cats and Rachel’s Dream
Riding High
The structure of the services is Admiral of the Fleet, Admiral, Commodore, Captain, Commander, Lt Commander, Lieutenant, Sun Lieutenant, and Ensign, Midshipman.
Sunny Disposish and Body and Soul
In The Even Chance, also known as the Dual, the situation is reached where Hornblower feels obliged to challenge Simpson to a Dual but against his wishes he is replaced at the last moment by an older Midshipman who feels he should have stood up and protected the younger ones before. He is killed and Simpson wounded letting it known that Hornblower is a coward. Fortunately war is declared and Hornblower and another midshipman, both the subject of bullying, are sent to a frigate The Indefatigable, the Indy, nominated by the aging captain of the Justinian who has some knowledge of what actually has happened.
Essential Benny Goodman
Sweet Leilani and Roll’em
Life goes to a Party
Avalon
Sweet Leilani and Roll’em
Life goes to a Party
Avalon
So too does the Captain of the Indefatigable who orders Hornblower not to get involved with a dual in the future. When a French Merchant ship carrying rice is captured Hornblower and his team are ordered to take the craft back to an English port for be sold as bounty for distribution among the officers on a pro rata basis. Unfortunately the ship is holed below the waterline and the swelling rice leads to it sinking before the cargo can be jettisoned, and when on in the lifeboat the French regain control, Hornblower outwits by charting on the map a different course to the one he is following so that instead of heading back into France they run parallel to the coast until in sight of the Indefatigable where he is quickly regarded as hero among the men for saving their lives and recapturing the prisoners.
Essential Benny Goodman
Swingtime in the Rockies
My Gal Sal
Stealing Apples
Swingtime in the Rockies
My Gal Sal
Stealing Apples
While on patrol they run into a sinking Justinian and among the rescued they pick up is Simpson so when a party men is sent to try and capture the French vessel responsible, hiding in port Hornblower and another abused midshipman are put in charge of a boat in the expedition, Simpson a surplus officer volunteers and his experience accepted and in the resulting action he first kills the other midshipman and then attempts to shoot Hornblower when he is in the rigging but causes him only a glancing blow from which he falls into the sea but is rescued. Unfortunately the captured French vessel- The Papillion comes under fire from shire batteries and the two senior officers are killed, the most senior placing Hornblower in charge shortly before Simpson comes aboard and demands to take charge. Hornblower places him under arrest. And they set out to find the Indy which has come under fire from three French warships and is systematically being destroyed. Seeing the situation, Hornblower continues to show the French colours until close enough to open fire on the unsuspecting enemy. One is badly damaged and the other blown up, so out numbered the remaining ship surrenders. Simpson denies the accusation and challenges Hornblower to a dual which the Indy Captain allows, withdrawing his former order to Hornblower not to do so. When Simpson fires in advance Hornblower is given the opportunity to shoot at his leisure and Simpson grovels for his life so Hornblower fires in the air. Simpson then grabs a knife but is killed by Captain Pellaw of the Indy observing the scene from nearby rocks before he can harm Hornblower. The captain rewards Hornblower by saying that he will keep an eye on the young man who he thinks is going to have a great career in the navy. The series is noted for its authentic portrayal of navy life and for not pulling back from showing the brutality and the horror of combat including the primitive and difficult medical care provided.
None such reality accompanied the Triple Cross the 1966 film based on he real life story of criminal turned wartime double agent Eddie Chapman, or does it?
100 Goodman
Sometimes I’m Happy
King Porter Stomp
Body and Soul and Goodbye
Sometimes I’m Happy
King Porter Stomp
Body and Soul and Goodbye
Eddie Chapman was born at Burnopfield in County Durham in 1914 which is not Tyneside one claim which is reported to have been made. It is known that he joined the army (Coldstream Guards) but absconded commencing a life of crime. Something of a conman, showman and ladies man it is unlikely anyone will establish the nature and extent of his criminality unless it is contained in the records held by the national government. One sources states he was a successfully safe cracker, with Odeon cinemas the main target, part of a gang who were using gelignite as soon as it became available. A family source argued that he was minor and unsuccessful, exaggerating his criminality to impress other criminals and his German captors.
100 Goodman
I hope Gabriel likes my music
These foolish things remind me of you
Moonglow and Bugle Call rag
I hope Gabriel likes my music
These foolish things remind me of you
Moonglow and Bugle Call rag
In Scotland he had been charged with blowing the safe of a Co op but while on bail fled to Jersey where he was eventually caught and imprisoned. All sides in the war, The Americans with the Dirty Dozen, is perhaps the best fiction account. freed convicted criminals with the promise of pardons in the unlikelihood they survived dangerous missions and this is one aspect of the second world war which Government have understandably continued to be coy about. Having discovered that the island had been occupied by Nazi Germany, in true fashion to character, Chapman offered his services as a spy and saboteur and was taken to France for training. He was then parachuted to England to blow a de Havilland Factory. He firsts contacts MI5 who fortunately for him had prior knowledge of the mission, otherwise he would have been apprehended and shot as a traitor. Instead after interrogation it was decided to use him as a double agent and he was returned to Germany via Lisbon. The intention was a suicide assassination of Hitler as Chapman believe he could get close through his German spy handler. Explosions at the de Havilland factory were faked and Chapman claimed to have been awarded the Iron Cross although it is suggested that more likely it was the War Merit Cross, which in my view is neither here or there.
100 Goodman
Jam Session and Goodbye my Love
I want to be Happy
Rosetta
Jam Session and Goodbye my Love
I want to be Happy
Rosetta
There is no doubt that returning to Germany was a very brave act. He was sent to Oslo Norway to train German spies where he had a relationship with a local girl to whom he became formally engaged, Dagmar Lahlum who as a young woman joined the Norwegian resistance and gained intelligence by going with Germans to their nightspots and after taking up with Chapman she was labelled a German whore by her community as he was thought to be German. He officially recruited her to MI5 but told her to keep the true nature of their association secret. After the war Chapman abandoned her and she was charged as part of the 1947 treason trials and given a fine, and is said never to have recovered from Chapman’s treatment of her. The Norwegians never knew of her true position and following her death from Parkinson’s disease in 1999 a nice discovered unsent letters to Chapman which she destroyed. The truth of her relationship and position only came to light after the release of previously secret British Papers.
100 Goodman
Sing Sing Sing and Roll’em
Life goes to a party
Lullaby in Rhythm
Sing Sing Sing and Roll’em
Life goes to a party
Lullaby in Rhythm
Chapman was then sent back to England this time to find out the location of the dropped V1 and V 2 rockets. He was used by the British to send false information which led to the rockets being sent to unpopulated areas and to being shot down. Chapman was a mercenary throughout receiving money from the Germans, £1000 he was allowed to keep and a £5000 payment as a kind of retirement gift to go straight after the war. While this was a significant amount of money at the time it is suggested it was used on high living and it was feared he would return to crime, which to some extent he did, with MI5 providing character references to offer a degree of protection. He also published several fictional works as well as an autobiography followed by a biography after his death in 1999 and the availability of former secret papers to evaluate his version of events. He married and ran a Health Farm at one point with his wife. He said to have had countless relationships some of which led to pregnancies. He also maintained contact with his German handler after the war as well as his British
100 Goodman
Wrapping it up and Bumble Bee stomp
And the Angels Sings
Opus 3/4
Wrapping it up and Bumble Bee stomp
And the Angels Sings
Opus 3/4
This brings me to the 1966 Film Triple Cross with a well cast Christopher Plummer as Chapman, Yul Brynner his German handler and Rory Schneider as his German lover and Trevor Howard his British link. The film has Brynner as an aristocratic career officer who is shot for his part in the failed Hitler assassination plot as the film ends. Plummer is seen winking at the street wise policeman who first believed in him and then suspected he was a double agent as he leaves for England. Chapman is said to have been disappointed with the film and it would be interesting to learn why as his confident and attractive risk taking personality came through. He had been a criminal who became a mercenary, but in the end what he did saved lives and that has to be remembered as it appeared to be by homeland security.
Sunday also marked the return of the delicious Lark Rise to Candleford in which an Oxford City Journalist visits the Lark Rise to tells the Timmins Family they are beneficiaries to a legacy of £120, He befriends Laura who shows him her diary of observations which he uses to paint a devastating picture of the village and of Candleford betraying her trust and the friendship of the Timmins family.
The prospects also threaten the couple as Robert does not want to lave the village to run his own business in Candleford but goes along because he thinks this is what his wife wants while she is supporting the idea because it will enable him to do the work he has always wanted to do, but is equally dreading leaving the village as do the rest of the family. They have resolved to remain, which is just as well when they find that their share is only a part share which comes to less than £10 if accepted without going litigation. Meanwhile the Pratt sisters have had a sale and one has used the funds to buy one of the new fangled showers. Lay preacher Thomas Brown, the postman. has settled down to married life with his school teacher wife under the impression that she will conceive a child if they get up to pray seven times a night. He is led to the light by Twister Turrell who has seen wife Margaret dancing naked in the night, no doubt under the influence of his wife Queenie who he advises Thomas he once cause doing likewise in solicitude to the pagan Gods. Back at the post office once the centre of Candleford Life, Minnie Maude continues to find it difficult to tell the truth if it puts her in a bad light and when pressed to always do so by Dorcus Lane she suggests that Dorcus admit she wants James’s son to call her mother and he likewise. This moves the relationship onto a closer footing
I was also struck that so much of the Morse plot did not matter, so much of the enjoyment was the character of Morse and his interaction with his work assistant Lewis, together with the sights of Oxford City and the County. I must spend more than a night there next summer.
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