Daren
David Newman seems like that friend who is always in trouble - the stubborn one who refuses to back down, who seldom admits he was wrong, who is always borrowing money and is unable to repay it, and who is genuinely very lucky. Notwithstanding that he is the most interesting friend you have...
But I have got ahead of myself. In the early 1960s Englishman David Newman had an old flatmate who was living and working in Nigeria who invited him to come over some time. Newman phoned him up out of the blue one day to let him know he was coming - by car. He had just bought himself a new Ford Zephyr, and was confident that the trip from London through the Sahara would be possible. In fact at every level of enquiry he was told it was impossible - which became his motivation to succeed.
All his savings spent he begged and borrowed to buy the last of his equipment. He set up another good friend to bankroll him by wiring him money whenever required! He obtained a few visa's but decided primarily to deal with the border complications on the way.
Initially he had a travelling companion (whose own father warned him was worthless, and that he would regret it) but he turned out to be a poor fit and was kicked out after a short time. He also had another companion in northern Africa for a time, but he was mysteriously arrested at a border, and Newman had to proceed alone. However he picked up yet another companion for the final section of his trip, an experienced fellow who was part of a Cambridge University trip by Landrover in a similar route the other direction who was prepared to come out to join him.
For the largest part, stubbornness drove him on. Extreme risks were taken, incredibly recklessly, time and time again he drove off into the desert alone to become stuck in the sand, low on water, out of food etc etc. Incredibly for him it always seemed to work out that someone came along - luckily for the reader, he got to write his book.
reliance on the French Military was high, and often made for uncomfortable reading where he promised to pay, knowing full well he hadn't the funds to do so. He borrowed from his bankrolling friend, he borrowed from British consulates, he paid the Ford Agent for carparts with a cheque he knew was going to bounce.
His route was Britain - France - Spain - Gibraltar - Morocco - Algeria - Mauritania - (perhaps a small diversion into Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara)) - Senegal - The Gambia - Senegal - Mali - Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) - Ghana - Togoland (Togo) - Dahomey (Benin) - Nigeria. It was an interesting time for many of these countries, as they were literally becoming independent from France at the time of travel. This assisted Newman as the newly independent counties were unsure how to manage visa's and border controls, so his lack of visa's didn't trip him up (much).
Anyway, all these reckless acts, his immense good luck and his ability to get outcomes from the least expected sources all made this an excellent and entertaining read. At less than 200 pages it was a quick and enjoyable read about a man prepared to take great risks for the love of travel and adventure.
Predictably by the time Newman arrives in Nigeria his flatmate has departed, and upon being asked what next, he calmly states he will return to the UK to raise some money to finance the return journey Zephyr, by a route through the middle of the Sahara this time. Impossible, everyone tells him...
4.5 stars
David Newman seems like that friend who is always in trouble - the stubborn one who refuses to back down, who seldom admits he was wrong, who is always borrowing money and is unable to repay it, and who is genuinely very lucky. Notwithstanding that he is the most interesting friend you have...
But I have got ahead of myself. In the early 1960s Englishman David Newman had an old flatmate who was living and working in Nigeria who invited him to come over some time. Newman phoned him up out of the blue one day to let him know he was coming - by car. He had just bought himself a new Ford Zephyr, and was confident that the trip from London through the Sahara would be possible. In fact at every level of enquiry he was told it was impossible - which became his motivation to succeed.
All his savings spent he begged and borrowed to buy the last of his equipment. He set up another good friend to bankroll him by wiring him money whenever required! He obtained a few visa's but decided primarily to deal with the border complications on the way.
Initially he had a travelling companion (whose own father warned him was worthless, and that he would regret it) but he turned out to be a poor fit and was kicked out after a short time. He also had another companion in northern Africa for a time, but he was mysteriously arrested at a border, and Newman had to proceed alone. However he picked up yet another companion for the final section of his trip, an experienced fellow who was part of a Cambridge University trip by Landrover in a similar route the other direction who was prepared to come out to join him.
For the largest part, stubbornness drove him on. Extreme risks were taken, incredibly recklessly, time and time again he drove off into the desert alone to become stuck in the sand, low on water, out of food etc etc. Incredibly for him it always seemed to work out that someone came along - luckily for the reader, he got to write his book.
reliance on the French Military was high, and often made for uncomfortable reading where he promised to pay, knowing full well he hadn't the funds to do so. He borrowed from his bankrolling friend, he borrowed from British consulates, he paid the Ford Agent for carparts with a cheque he knew was going to bounce.
His route was Britain - France - Spain - Gibraltar - Morocco - Algeria - Mauritania - (perhaps a small diversion into Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara)) - Senegal - The Gambia - Senegal - Mali - Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) - Ghana - Togoland (Togo) - Dahomey (Benin) - Nigeria. It was an interesting time for many of these countries, as they were literally becoming independent from France at the time of travel. This assisted Newman as the newly independent counties were unsure how to manage visa's and border controls, so his lack of visa's didn't trip him up (much).
Anyway, all these reckless acts, his immense good luck and his ability to get outcomes from the least expected sources all made this an excellent and entertaining read. At less than 200 pages it was a quick and enjoyable read about a man prepared to take great risks for the love of travel and adventure.
Predictably by the time Newman arrives in Nigeria his flatmate has departed, and upon being asked what next, he calmly states he will return to the UK to raise some money to finance the return journey Zephyr, by a route through the middle of the Sahara this time. Impossible, everyone tells him...
4.5 stars
Added to listBeninwith 15 books.
Added to listTogowith 10 books.
Added to listThe Gambiawith 14 books.
Added to listGibraltarwith 16 books.
Added to listSpainwith 81 books.
Added to listFrancewith 112 books.
Added to listOwnedwith 2745 books.
Added to listOwn To Readwith 1237 books.
Added to listMulti Continentwith 420 books.
Added to listCar Bus Truckwith 42 books.
Added to listTravelwith 1498 books.
Added to listNon Fictionwith 2136 books.
Added to listAustralian Authorwith 292 books.
Added to listNorwaywith 26 books.
Added to list4 Starwith 763 books.
Buchan's #4 featuring Richard Hannay - now Sir Richard, and retired from the army to live in the Cotswolds with his wife Mary and young son Peter John. But the idyllic lifestyle is interrupted when he is asked to assist with the rescue of three hostages by a group of men plotting a political and financial upheaval that would rock the world. But who is the ringleader, and what has it to do with a strange little poem given as a clue?
Set mostly in London with a short sojourn to Norway, it is perhaps the darkest of the Hannay stories so far and certainly more complex in structure and reasoning than the earlier novels. As usual with this series, the book was completely contemporary at the time published (1924). The protagonist blends Eastern mysticism and hypnotism with the more straightforward kidnapping, blackmail and profiteering and, as we come to expect with Richard Hannay some frantic chasing as the deadline approaches.
Notwithstanding the frantic section towards the end, there is more sedate chapter than the reader would have found in books 1-3, including several at the start where Hannay is resistant to being drawn into the rescue, and several more when he is at a bit of a standstill on solving the problem and goes through a period of just really treading water waiting for something to happen. However this variable pace was more a pro than a con, as variation in pacing allows the story to build to its climax.
There are some old friends to help him along the way -Sandy Arbuthnot and Archie Roylance feature heavily, and of course Hannay's wife Mary who plays a very involved part of resolving the story
Perhaps the most amusing part was when Buchan, though the Dr Greenslade character sums up the writing of an adventure story - self mocking at its finest:
I want to write a shocker, so I begin by fixing on one or two facts which have no sort of connection… You invent a connection – simple enough if you have any imagination – and you weave all three into a yarn. The reader, who knows nothing about the three at the start, is puzzled and intrigued and, if the story is well arranged, finally satisfied. He is pleased with the ingenuity of the solution, for he doesn’t realise that the author fixed upon the solution first, and then invented a problem to suit it.
I found it as readable and enjoyable as the earlier books.
4 stars.
Buchan's #4 featuring Richard Hannay - now Sir Richard, and retired from the army to live in the Cotswolds with his wife Mary and young son Peter John. But the idyllic lifestyle is interrupted when he is asked to assist with the rescue of three hostages by a group of men plotting a political and financial upheaval that would rock the world. But who is the ringleader, and what has it to do with a strange little poem given as a clue?
Set mostly in London with a short sojourn to Norway, it is perhaps the darkest of the Hannay stories so far and certainly more complex in structure and reasoning than the earlier novels. As usual with this series, the book was completely contemporary at the time published (1924). The protagonist blends Eastern mysticism and hypnotism with the more straightforward kidnapping, blackmail and profiteering and, as we come to expect with Richard Hannay some frantic chasing as the deadline approaches.
Notwithstanding the frantic section towards the end, there is more sedate chapter than the reader would have found in books 1-3, including several at the start where Hannay is resistant to being drawn into the rescue, and several more when he is at a bit of a standstill on solving the problem and goes through a period of just really treading water waiting for something to happen. However this variable pace was more a pro than a con, as variation in pacing allows the story to build to its climax.
There are some old friends to help him along the way -Sandy Arbuthnot and Archie Roylance feature heavily, and of course Hannay's wife Mary who plays a very involved part of resolving the story
Perhaps the most amusing part was when Buchan, though the Dr Greenslade character sums up the writing of an adventure story - self mocking at its finest:
I want to write a shocker, so I begin by fixing on one or two facts which have no sort of connection… You invent a connection – simple enough if you have any imagination – and you weave all three into a yarn. The reader, who knows nothing about the three at the start, is puzzled and intrigued and, if the story is well arranged, finally satisfied. He is pleased with the ingenuity of the solution, for he doesn’t realise that the author fixed upon the solution first, and then invented a problem to suit it.
I found it as readable and enjoyable as the earlier books.
4 stars.
Added to listNon Fiction Short Story Ieswith 109 books.
Added to list4 Starwith 762 books.
Added to list5 Starwith 196 books.
Pinney's second volume, following Trooper Johnno, who becomes a Corporal for a period of time becomes demoted and then isn't really sure where he stands... The 8th Commando Squadron are shipped to Bougainville, to replace the departing American forces who are off to the Philippines.
Pinney's writing is surely at its finest in these later books. While I always enjoy his writing, it has really scaled new heights here. It is incredibly rare for a book on a single page to be able to describe landscape and the soldiers moving through the jungle through jungle so clearly; to be able to clearly explain a soldiers attitude towards the Japanese - of pure hatred for the solider, but in all soldiers, not necessarily hatred of the man; and to perfectly fall into step with the conversation of a common man - in pure Australian complete with slang and rhyming slang yet still making it sound authentic.
The name of this book comes from a discussion near the end of the book, but it is quoted on the inside cover. Obviously about the futility of war, I have replicated it here.
"It's a stupid bloody fight," he said. "We will be needin' more than mops when the big rains come."
"Free tucker," Buster grinned. "Six bob a day and permission to fart. What more you want?"
Jonas glared. "It won't accomplish nothing', and a lot of blokes are going to get hurt. And when them rivers flood, and he poor bloody infantry bog down, the whole thing's going to blow up in our faces. It's like firing a glass cannon at bloody rainbow, ay? But galahs like you can't see that."
In the Preface, Pinney states that this book ... is intimately based on (his) diaries... and represents the limited experience of one man. An attempt has been made to eliminate factual error, but bias and prejudice remain, and the dialogues recorded here approximate only a few of the conversations that took place. The book is in no sense a unit history, nor is it meant to be. If it gives even a marginal notion of what the campaign meant for a small group of men on Bougainville, it will have served its purpose.
There is plenty of bias and prejudice - these are men tasked with eliminating an enemy - there is limited capacity in most soldiers to separate the individual from the enemy. They are referred to a Nips and Japs, they are ridiculed for their fear of the jungle (they like the clearer ground), but only the foolish believe they are not a risk.
Johnno introduces his fellow soldiers, we learn about their character, their flaws, their fears. Some are friends, some are frustrating men to be thrown in with. Some are not alive by the end of the book. The futility of war is written throughout, but this was a book I tried to read in small doses, not because it was a tough topic, or a heavy read, but because I didn't want the slender 228 pages to end. Mainly because I have not found a copy of the third in the trilogy yet.
5 stars
Pinney's second volume, following Trooper Johnno, who becomes a Corporal for a period of time becomes demoted and then isn't really sure where he stands... The 8th Commando Squadron are shipped to Bougainville, to replace the departing American forces who are off to the Philippines.
Pinney's writing is surely at its finest in these later books. While I always enjoy his writing, it has really scaled new heights here. It is incredibly rare for a book on a single page to be able to describe landscape and the soldiers moving through the jungle through jungle so clearly; to be able to clearly explain a soldiers attitude towards the Japanese - of pure hatred for the solider, but in all soldiers, not necessarily hatred of the man; and to perfectly fall into step with the conversation of a common man - in pure Australian complete with slang and rhyming slang yet still making it sound authentic.
The name of this book comes from a discussion near the end of the book, but it is quoted on the inside cover. Obviously about the futility of war, I have replicated it here.
"It's a stupid bloody fight," he said. "We will be needin' more than mops when the big rains come."
"Free tucker," Buster grinned. "Six bob a day and permission to fart. What more you want?"
Jonas glared. "It won't accomplish nothing', and a lot of blokes are going to get hurt. And when them rivers flood, and he poor bloody infantry bog down, the whole thing's going to blow up in our faces. It's like firing a glass cannon at bloody rainbow, ay? But galahs like you can't see that."
In the Preface, Pinney states that this book ... is intimately based on (his) diaries... and represents the limited experience of one man. An attempt has been made to eliminate factual error, but bias and prejudice remain, and the dialogues recorded here approximate only a few of the conversations that took place. The book is in no sense a unit history, nor is it meant to be. If it gives even a marginal notion of what the campaign meant for a small group of men on Bougainville, it will have served its purpose.
There is plenty of bias and prejudice - these are men tasked with eliminating an enemy - there is limited capacity in most soldiers to separate the individual from the enemy. They are referred to a Nips and Japs, they are ridiculed for their fear of the jungle (they like the clearer ground), but only the foolish believe they are not a risk.
Johnno introduces his fellow soldiers, we learn about their character, their flaws, their fears. Some are friends, some are frustrating men to be thrown in with. Some are not alive by the end of the book. The futility of war is written throughout, but this was a book I tried to read in small doses, not because it was a tough topic, or a heavy read, but because I didn't want the slender 228 pages to end. Mainly because I have not found a copy of the third in the trilogy yet.
5 stars
