Here we go with Part Four of our latest audio diversion: Bulldog Drummond - the pseudonymous Sapper's 1920 caper set in an England seething with Bolshevists and a sinister globalist cabal that knows how to exploit them. Veronica, doyenne of our Kwi Clubbers, writes of the story so far:
A promising beginning and, in common with several of the other stories on the TFOT shelves, the protagonist has been propelled into adventure by the crushing weight of middleclass boredom: Richard Hannay is bored and restless at the start of The Thirty-Nine Steps, so is Carruthers in The Riddle of the Sands and Psmith in Psmith, Journalist, and Tommy and Tuppence are not only bored but broke, and thus forced to advertise, in The Secret Adversary.
Even good old Captain Hastings, invalided home from the Great War, is at a loose end and suffering from a bout of general aimlessness and ennui when we first meet him in The Mysterious Affair at Styles.
Interesting that some of these characters (Tommy, Hastings and, it seems, 'Bulldog' Drummond) are not portrayed as being all that haunted, or 'psychologically traumatized' as we would think of it, by their wartime experiences, which must've been horrendous, but rather they are sort of energized by war and find peacetime, and leading a civilian existence, dull and purposeless by comparison.
Not how we have been 'educated' into thinking about these matters but perhaps how people at the time saw things?
Or maybe 'boredom' and a 'thirst for adventure' are just a good plot device :)
Well, it's true that the generality of war - particularly the hell of the trenches for years on end - is not the whole story. And I would say, from my own contact with those generations, that the heightened reality in a world at war does appeal to a certain type - perhaps the same type that makes a good protagonist for an adventure.
At any rate, in tonight's episode Captain Drummond finds himself on the open road motoring to Godalming:
Surrounded by the peaceful beauty of the fields, with an occasional village half hidden by great trees from under which the tiny houses peeped out, it seemed impossible that crime could exist—laughable. Of course the thing was a hoax, an elaborate leg-pull, but, being not guilty of any mental subterfuge, Hugh Drummond admitted to himself quite truly that he didn't care a damn if it was...
A persistent honking behind aroused him from his reverie, and he pulled into the side of the road. Under normal circumstances he would have let his own car out, and as she could touch ninety with ease, he very rarely found himself passed. But this afternoon he felt disinclined to race; he wanted to go quietly and think. Blue eyes and that glorious colouring were a dangerous combination—distinctly dangerous. Most engrossing to a healthy bachelor's thoughts.
An open cream-coloured Rolls-Royce drew level, with five people on board, and he looked up as it passed. There were three people in the back—two men and a woman, and for a moment his eyes met those of the man nearest him. Then they drew ahead, and Drummond pulled up to avoid the thick cloud of dust.
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear me read Part Four of our tale simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
Veronica added a PS, in reference to my disparaging remarks about the ugliness of New Zealand House:
PS. The Opening of New Zealand House in 1963 is on You Tube (British Pathe footage) and the Queen, dressed in a fabulous 1960s ensemble, looked very happy to be there. She journeyed to the top of the monstrosity accompanied by Harold Macmillan, the Archbishop of Canterbury and General Freyberg (who had only two months to live) and together they gazed across London. Fantastic views, shame about the building itself. The Pathe newsreader loved it though :)
Her Majesty left us less than two years ago, but that video might as well come from another planet - a glimpse of a now wholly vanished world.
Oh, and and Veronica also adds a PPS:
PPS. The return of the tantalus!
Just so. I am thinking of switching the name of the series to Tales from the Tantalus.
Tales for Our Time is now in its eighth year. So, if you've a friend who might be partial to our classic fiction outings, we have a special Gift Membership that, aside from over five dozen audio yarns, also includes video poetry, live music, our weekly Clubland Q&A and more.
Please join me tomorrow evening for Part Five of Bulldog Drummond.