MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMM M MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MXXXXXXXMMMXXXXXXXX/.\\\XXXXXMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMM MMMMM XXXMXXMXXXXXXXMXXX/.:.\\\\XXXXXXXMMMMM MMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MM XXXXXXXXXXMXXXXXX/:__:.\\\\\XXMXXXXXXXMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ++++++++++XXXXXX/:| |:.\\\\\\XXMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXMMMMMMXX ++MM++++++++++++|.|__|.:|: . |XXXXXXXXXXMMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ++++++++++++++++|:.:.::.| : |XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXMXXXXXXXXXXXXX ++++++++++++++++|.:..:.:|. :| signal station +MMMMM++++ Virtual Tars ---|:.::.:.|.____ and observatory ++++ ++++ M M ++++++ ++ SIGNALLING M M M M aaaa rrr sss ++ ++ TO M M M a a rr s + + M M a a r ss + + M M a aa r s + + M M aaa a r sss + + + + an unofficial Electronic Newsletter for Members + + of The Arthur Ransome Society + + + +content is the personal opinion and the intellectual property + +of the contributors and does not reflect the opinion of TARS, + + any other person or group [but not too intellectual we hope] + + + + e-address: peter@physics.otago.ac.nz + + [more addresses at foot of message] + + NB: any mail received Will Be Publishable unless Marked + + Otherwise!! This includes senders' + + identities! [name and email address] + **Arthur Ransome Page on World Wide Web** http://newton.otago.ac.nz:808/peterhtdocs/arthurpage.html We're not junk emailers! IF YOU DO NOT WANT THIS NEWSLETTER please send Reply to that effect _______________________________________________________________________ ISSUE NUMBER 12 March 1995 Contents: From the Signaller Sir John Marriott and Elizabeth Walker Old Peter review Letters FROM THE SIGNALLER Dear Virtual Tars Congratulations to our Admiralty, Adm Doug Faunt, Adm George Lang and Adm David Thewlis, on their commission. If we had a Virtual Tars burgee, as admirals theirs would have swallow-tails, how appropriate! Hmmmm, I wonder if it would be fun to have our own burgee.... Housekeeping: New to the AR web pages are some more Ransome pictures in the expanded Slide Show, and a new Virtual Tars Homepage. Peter Dowden Signaller -------------------------------- JOHN ARTHUR RANSOME MARRIOTT 1859-1945 ELIZABETH WALKER Two queries from Roger Dick writing in the NZ TARS newsletter: 1: Who is Sir John Arthur Ransome Marriott and is he any relation? [from Otago University Library catalogue] >Your search: Marriott, J. A. R. (John Arthur Ransome), Sir, 185 > TITLE FORMAT DATE > 1. English political institutions : an introductor [1955 > 2. A history of Europe from 1815-1939 / 1948. > - - - - 2 titles, End of List - - - - > > AUTHOR Marriott, J. A. R. (John Arthur Ransome), Sir, 1859-1945. > > TITLE English political institutions : an introductory study / With > introductory chapters on the Constitution, 1910-1938. > > EDITION 4th ed. > PUBLISHER Oxford : The Clarendon Press, [1955]. > > PHYS DESC lxxxv, 348 p. > >SUBJECT(S) 1. Administrative law -- Great Britain. > >Call Number Cen [LC Collection] Status : In > D/102/MK63/v.08 > DYNIX # 125931 > > AUTHOR Marriott, J. A. R. (John Arthur Ransome), Sir, 1859-1945. > > TITLE A history of Europe from 1815-1939 / J.A.R. Marriott. > > EDITION 5th ed. > PUBLISHER London : Methuen, 1948. > > PHYS DESC 634 p. : maps. > SERIES Methuen's history of medieval and modern Europe ; v. 8 > NOTES Bibliography: p. 623-624. 2: The "Who's Who of Children's Literature" [author's name escapes me] says for Titty Walker: "Her real name, Elizabeth, is never used". Is there any reference anywhere to the name Elizabeth [in AR's _Auto_, or Brogan's _Life_ perhaps]? I don't think so - whatever gave Who's Who that idea then? There was Queen Elizabeth inspecting Her Fleet before its departure to the Island of course. [SA] A Titty Walker Prototype is Mavis or Titty Altounyan, after whom the prototype-Amazon was named. The origin of Miss Altounyan's nickname Titty was mentioned in a recent Mixed Moss, and certainly wasn't from "Elizabeth". The name Titty is normally short for Letitia [at least in British Empire english], but is not in widespread use. *ahem* Well let's be honest, it is a pretty awkward name. May be one of the reasons Ransome isn't getting reprinted! Remember Daisy [SW] saying '...and which is the one with the strange name?' And then, speaking of names, did Arthur name his character John after "Uncle John" Marriott [see above]? OLD PETER Here's a Review of Old Peter [no, not the Signaller, I'm not all that old!] clipped for me by Bill: Kiaora Peter, Here, as requested, the review: _Appleseed Quarterly_ (date?--I will find out from Barbara) pg. 41-42 In keeping with the "important source" tradition, this month's review is of: _Old Peter's Russian Tales_ Arthur Ransome Puffin Books England reviewed by Lorne Brown I have a slim paperback copy of _Old Peter's Russian Tales_ on my shelf. Its paper is yellowing, its spine is falling apart. On the inside cover it says it's the 1977 reprint of the original Thomas Nelson edition of 1916. The book continues to be reprinted, and all that's stopping me from purchasing the latest edition is my naive and strange belief that you don't get rid of something (somebody) just because they're old. Any author would love to have written a book that continues to be reprinted for three-quarters of a century! (Impecunious storytellers take note: because copyright has expired, the book is for sale at a ridiculously low price.) As a child, I grew up on the Arthur Ransome books; his _Swallows and Amazons_ were my constant companions, and opened up a world of imagination to me. Roger, Nancy, Peggy, Susan, and John were more real than my own sisters and brother; even the unfortunately-named Titty didn't distract me. Ransome came by his storytelling skills honestly. In 1902, at the age of eighteen, he abandoned his studies at what is now Leeds University and lived in London, writing tales that were often so poor he burned them. By 1906 he published an article on "Books and Children" which protested bad books for children. In 1913 he went to Russia to learn the language and, while there, collected Russian folktales. He listened well to the oral narratives, and caught their use of language perfectly; _Old Peter's Russian Tales_ was published in 1916 and has never been out-of-print. Being in the right place at the right time, he found himself reporting the Russian Revolution, and ended up marrying Evgenia Shelepina, who had been Trotsky's secretary. Back in England he started the famous _Swallows and Amazons_ series, using his storytelling skills to advantage. He employed the odd technique of writing the chapters out-of-order, often leaving the first for last. Unfortunately, his wife never understood his genius, and constantly belittled his efforts. He died in 1967, but today there is an Arthur Ransome Society, his books are still in print and greatly loved, and there is a museum of sorts in his beloved Lake District. _Old Peter's Russian Tales_ contains twenty tales, framed by a story of Old Peter and his two grandchildren Maroosia and Vanya who live in a hut in the forest. Among the tales are such well-known stories as Sadko, Frost, Baba Yaga, the Fire-Bird, Little Daughter of the Snow, The Fool of the World, Salt...stories that are part of many storytellers' repertoire. They are told in an engaging manner, replete with memorable phrases: "Long hair, short sense", "(He) made do with half a loaf when he could not get a whole, and with crust when he had no crumb", "The tale is soon told but it takes time to happen", "Too much haste sets his shoes on fire". There is the sense that you could open the book anywhere and find the kind of tellable tale that storytellers drool over. But be warned. The tale of the hunter and his wife moves engagingly along but ends with the hunter beating his wife with a whip. Such a theme is common in folklore, appearing in many tales and songs, and the folklorist part of me is pleased to see it in a book of representative tales. I guess we all act as self-imposed censors, whether we adhere to political correctness or not, and this is a tale I would never tell. But I worry that some over-zealous, politically correct bigot will demand the removal of the whole book from school library shelves, and a world without Old Peter and hs two little pigeons Vanya and Maroosia I cannot imagine. Bill:) A BOOK REVIEW REVIEW [?] From: "Brad Henry " Subject: BOOK REVIEW Christchurch. 1:42 PM, 13/02/1995. Peter, Just in case you are interested - and I'm sure you will be - there is a review of Jeremy Swift's book "AR on Fishing" in the 9 Dec 1994 TLS. (TLS, the Times Literary Supplement, is doubtless in your University Library or perhaps the English dept.) According to the review the book contains some of AR's previously uncollected Guardian items, an extract from the unfinished novel ("The River Comes First"), a "thrilling" passage from one of the S&A stories and a biographical sketch. Also lots of illustrations/photos. Sounds quite interesting. I wonder what the thrilling passage is. A quick mental scan gave me 6 of the stories with fishing episodes: SA Shark Bay SD Trout Tarn PD From the Wild Cat offshore from Crab Island B6 Eel babbing AND Fishing with the Cachalot man ML With cormorants PM Tickling trout Also: WH A fish frozen in the ice GN "Red Herrings" Leaving CC, PP, WD and SW; are these all fishless? SW shouldn't be but I can't recall any episode. My guess is the B6 Cachalot man episode - any advance? Must get on with enrolment, Brad. LETTER From: richard@volcano.demon.co.uk (richard john burton) Reply-To: richard@volcano.demon.co.uk To: peter@physics.otago.ac.nz Subject: Signalling Hi Peter, thankyou for sending the last edition of s2m. I would like to continue to receive it but I am not a member of Tars yet; perhaps someone could invite me to be a member. Also, the www doesn't seem to work on my computer yet. I notice there some younger members of Tars out there who sail too. I do fine woodworking for a living and I do quite a lot of boat boat building, repairing and renovation. One of my current projects is converting a retired Finn dinghy into a boat that can be sailed by children. I have stripped out all the decking which will be replaced by thwarts and seats. It will be lug rigged with old, cut down racing sails bent onto wooden spars to give her that, "Swallow" look. Hopefully, she will be afloat this Summer, so that I can teach my son, Peter to sail. Old racing dinghies which are suitable for this treatment are: old National Twelves (sail #s 1 - 1900) ; Merlin Rockets (similar sail #s) and International 14s. Most of these old boats were beautifully built using much finer materials than those available today. They can often be acquired on a "free to good home" basis or for less than 100 pounds. I think that these boats are better suited to expeditions and adventures because they are more robust, and more seaworthy than modern dinghies. Do members of Tars sometimes meet up for sailing on the lakes and the broads? If someone could e-mail me a description of the activities of Tars and details of membership I would be pleased to join. Name Perhaps instead of the suffix, "Virtual" it could be, "Meta". (I may find myself walking the plank for this! :-) What about having "assistant signallers" to ease the load on Peter's e-mail server? -- richard richard@volcano.demon.co.uk