Battle of Britain

I’m interested in modern history but I must realise that some people who read this may not know what is meant by Battle of Britain. After Nazi Germany had conquered the whole of Western Europe it is the German air assault on Britain in the summer of 1940  and the successful defence by the Royal Air Force. It is particularly significant because domination of the air was a requirement for a German invasion. Such an invasion would have seen the British Army at a low ebb following shattering defeats in France.

I have written about the Battle before but this time my perspective is a little different. It is influenced by the Stephen Bungay book “ the most dangerous enemy”. Bungay doesn’t just analyse the battle but also looks at the surrounding effects. Like most British people I’m very proud of the role played by Britain in WW11. The prospect of a Nazi ruled Europe is deeply frightening and this rule could easily of persisted to the present day were it not for the British decisions in 1939/40

Bungay’s book makes clear how narrowly some of these decisions were made. There was a strong faction ready to give up and make an uneasy peace with Nazism. Their leader , Lord Halifax, was a much respected politician while Churchill had  relatively limited support being regarded by many in parliament as an irresponsible adventurer. In the event Halifax stood aside and Churchill became a superb  war leader Now this seems inevitable but if France had turned to a Churchill type figure instead of defeatist Petain who knows what would have happened. As it was De Gaulle rescued a semblance of liberal, democratic France but had to do so from exile.

When I was travelling in Europe in the eighties I always felt proud to be British when visiting Holland, Denmark and Belgium. Never more so than later visiting Poland where the unsuccessful British attempts to aid the Warsaw uprising are commemorated by an RAF plane in pride of place in the uprising museum. In contrast I always felt slightly concerned visiting Germany. The people I met were generally very pleasant but there were occasions when I was aware of lingering resentment. On one occasion I was staying at a small hotel in Julich. An elderly man who was the proprietor carried my bag and showed me to my room chatting a bit in English. Seeking to be polite I complimented him on his English and enquired how he had learned it. In Prisoner 0f War camp he replied turning rather surly.

As Bungay points out while Britain was vastly important in defeating Nazism this was at a huge cost. Financially Britain went from significant creditor to substantial debtor. While America was generous during wartime they were much less so in peace. Nevertheless Britain had some of the benefit of being a war winner in, for example, its permanent United Nations Security Counsel seat. This illusion persists of importance although Britain is no longer in its pre war position.

One can argue about the causes and effects of this illusion. The post war government rightly gave India independence, albeit in a disastrous way, while bungling the economy badly. Then again Britain was in a poor way economically as every nerve and sinew had been devoted to the war effort. However industry was just very run down rather than needing to be rebuilt which arguably was the better course and that done in continental Europe.

I have a very particular reason for my interest in the Battle. Although we had a lot of books at home they were all adult books. When I was learning to read I had the Ministry of Information booklet on the Battle of Britain at my bedside. This was written in plain and simple English. I was interested in aircraft and I spent hours poring over the booklet and slowly deciphering it. A few years ago I was very pleased to obtain a facsimile edition which was just as I remembered.

As Bungay says the Battle was won because the RAF had a good system and was well led.. In contrast the German air force had little system and was generally poorly led. Although many myths were produced the fact is that the British acted professionally and with bravery and determination. While the Germans showed equal bravery they were ill prepared and lacked determination.

Todays joke

My wife was complaining last night that I never listened to a word she said. Or something

Cosford RAF museum

We visited the RAF museum at Cosford in Shropshire. This was particularly for Alex who has developed a keen interest in aircraft and all air force matters since he has become a fairly enthusiastic air cadet. Martin is also interested and I’m always ready to visit an air museum. Annette , Lindsay and Ellen came as well although maybe slightly less interested; in Annette’s case not at all. We had been before because of my interest. Although my cast has now been removed my wrist is still weak and rather painful so Annette is doing all our driving.

Cosford is a national RAF museum based at an airfield which is in slight use although I have an idea the large base is mainly for technical training. There are also various other functions such as the HQ for RAF physical training. It is also the base for the local Air Ambulance. I was rather surprised to see a number of Jaguar aircraft lined up by the runway; a type which is no longer in operational use.

The museum is large with a number of the larger aircraft outside. These include a Vickers VC-10, Lockheed Hercules, Bristol Britannia. BAE  Nimrod R1 and a former Dutch Neptune maritime reconnaissance. Also outside was a Catalina flying boat of WW11 era. The Catalina was specifically designed to land on both water and land so it sits on its land undercarriage.

The part of the museum we visited were the research area and the Cold War area the latter housed in a striking and unusual exhibition hall. The development area is actually quite a mix of types and ages. From WW11 Hurricane, Spitfire, Mosquito, Me109 and some more unusual types such as a Japanese Zero and a German Fiesler Storch. A range of development and prototype aircraft  include a Fairey Delta 2 which for a while held the airspeed record and was the first to hold a supersonic record. A fairly unique exhibit is a TSR 2 the aircraft notoriously axed by a new government as an economy measure despite showing unusual promise. I seem to recall that other prototype TSR 2 were destroyed and I’m surprised this exhibit survived.

Some other prototypes are of more esoteric interest. Before BAE finalised the Typhoon design they built an aircraft to guide them in finalising the aircraft. Not exactly a protype but effectively fulfilling a similar function. Quite different is the modified Jaguar modified to act a development aircraft for the control techniques called fly-by-wire.

The Cold War hall is rather different being a custom made exhibition area rather than a modified hangar. It’s them, as the name suggests, is not just the aircraft of the postwar period but displays around particular parts of the Cold War ( such as the Berlin airlift, the Cuban missile crisis ) and contains a lot of non aircraft displays such as tanks. Included in these non flying displays are some rather quirky ones such as an  East German Trabant car. The “trabby” has become something of an icon of East Germany. With an inefficient engine and cheap synthetic duroplast  bodywork it was the lowest common denominator of cars but was in  demand by a car loving populace willing to go to great expense. Waiting times to purchase a new one ranged above ten years.

More bloodcurdling was a sectioned Polaris missile and mock ups of nuclear weapons. The “v” bombers, Valiant, Victor and Vulcan are all represented. These were supposed to be the UK deterrent force in the 50’s thro 70’s. Ironically only the Vulcan was actually well designed and was used in the Falklands war. The Valiant was defective and soon withdrawn while the Victor while also defective found a role as an air to air refuelling tanker.

The shape of the Cold War hall rather like a section of a pyramid offers sufficient height to allow a Lightning jet to be displayed vertically. Rather less warlike the hall contains a Dakota and various other transport aircraft from the period. Perhaps the most curious in the Avro York, a passenger aircraft based on a Lancaster wing but with a passenger containing fuselage.

The area also contains the main museum shop. Alex has become a big enthusiast for plastic kits making up aircraft. I indulged him by buying one of a German WW11 Focke-Wulf 190. I should explain he already has models of most of the British types including a prized Lancaster. He was in a cadets band which played at an air instructors passing out ceremony. As a treat the cadets were taken to RAF Coningsby to visit the Battle of Britain memorial squadron. He was also given the chance to sit in the cockpit of a Typhoon, the current operational fast jet.

A quote I’ve just come across is exactly what we said when I first started work in Information Science. It was in a joke book but definitely not funny for many scientists.

A couple of months in the lab often saves a couple of hours in the library.

Rock Island Line

.. is the title of a popular song from late 1955 which is both trivial in itself and gigantic in the change in music it presaged. This immense effect has been the subject of a big TV documentary. My personal involvement is that this was the first popular song with which I connected becoming in a small way a fan of the singer.

Rock Island Line is an American black folk tune heard by a folk tunes collector in the 30’s in an American prison then taken up and expanded with an opening monologue by the foremost black American folk singer, Leadbelly. It is about a fictionalised real railway line running south from Chicago to New Orleans. It crosses the Mississippi at Rock Island. After WW11 there was a traditional jazz revival in Britain which dragged Rock Island Line along almost by accident. Jazz bands had to have a break and it became habitual to fill the break with some other music. In the case of the Chris Barber jazz band the musician in the break was Lonnie Donegan playing a guitar and singing as part of a small group of bass and percussion.

This combination was christened skiffle and the huge popularity of RIL led to a shortlived ( couple of years ) fashion for skiffle music. This led to a huge interest in American blues songs and by extension rock’n’roll. Incidentally this was the black slang for sex.

Skiffle became wildly popular as a genre because it was simple and could use home made instruments. Along with the guitar a typical skiffle group would have a tea chest bass( made by upending a tea chest, passing a cord from the centre of the bottom up to a broomstick handle ) and a washboard percussion typically with thimbles on the fingers on the corrugated metal. This simple combination could produce amazing effects. This encouraged a generation to “have a go” and led on to groups such as the Beatles and Rolling Stones who started with skiffle,

I must make a small confession. I was friendly with Bob who had real musical talent ( playing guitar, clarinet and piano, not brilliantly but competently ) and he decided to form a garage skiffle group. I tried out on the tea chest bass and was swiftly rejected. Not surprising as I had no talent at all; my  music teacher at school had given up on me as a hopeless case pronouncing me tone deaf.

Back to RIL the song. The Lonnie Donegan version was essentially the Leadbelly one rather than the absolute original. The starting monologue describes a train driver approaching a toll gate with passage  free to animals.. “I got all livestock “ sings out the driver.  As the train passes through and picks up speed the driver shouts back .. “ I fooled you, I fooled you I got all pig iron “. The main song then with increasing tempo goes on with lines like.. “ if  you want to ride on the Rock Island Line get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line”. The tempo increases in line with the train picking up speed. So all rather banal but it struck a big chord with me because I was just becoming interested in teenage music and I was a big train fanatic.

You have to realise that until then popular music was aimed at adults and featured crooners, comedy songs and the occasional instrumental. These latter did include some traditional jazz from its big revival. Jazz was however regarded as rather edgy and foreign with the British bands slavishly following American examples.

Lonnie Donegan went on to produce an album. All the songs were based on American folk music and a large number featured trains and railroads( such as Wabash Cannonball and  the wreck of the old ’97)

Skiffle was a shortlived craze soon to be replaced by Elvis Presley, Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard. The rock’n’roll era was introduced to the UK by  Bill Haley with “Rock around the clock”. I had lost interest in this teenage music; I was not all impressed by Elvis Presley whom others raved about.. In fact my enthusiasm had shifted to the swing bands of the 30’s and 40’s with Tommy Dorsey,  Glenn Miller and the like. I owed this switch to Bob. He was a great jazz enthusiast, persuaded our music teacher to let him talk about the history of jazz. Although jazz was culminating then with the Modern Jazz Quartet the last time original jazz had been popular was with the swing bands. The jazz developments were swinging away from mainstream popularity. Traditional jazz was a revival of earlier New Orleans styles.

When the Beatles came along in 1963 I was a huge fan and through the sixties followed an interest in the multitude of similar groups such as Gerry and the Pacemakers and Billy. J Kramer and the Dakotas.

All this time I was also following an interest in more classical music attending various concerts mainly by the CBSO, Halle and Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras

Marriage is a three-ring circus- engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering.

I don’t know why jokes depict marriage as problematic, I think it’s great. I suppose it’s just a comic tradition like all mothers-in-law are supposed battleaxes.

Demo

Demo

I may as well say straightaway this was the demo that never was for me. The demo was a big rally to demonstrate against article 50 and saying it should be revoked. This would mean staying in the EU. My family are very fired up on this subject. Annette, who so far has taken little interest in politics was very keen we should go. I have to admit I had my doubts about my walking stamina. Both my daughters were also planning to go and hearing that Debajit, Alison’s partner also planned to attend made me feel I should also go. There was to be an “old crocks” special short section which helped decide me.

However the best laid schemes gang aft agley as Burns puts it. After breaking my wrist I was put into plaster a few days before the march. With one good hand needed for my stick this left me in difficulty for things like getting on and off buses. Incidentally I have long learned that I need to ensure the bus is stationary before leaving my seat. So reluctantly I had to cancel my attendance. I was able to obtain a limited refund on my train ticket.

I easily persuaded Annette that she should go as I had food and drink I could manage with one hand. By phone I heard that Annette had reached London and met up with the girls ie. our daughters. I still think of them as girls although they are , of course, now middle aged women. I was very reassured to hear the rendezvous had been made as I had a lot of faith that Frances and Alison would look after their mother. Debajit had flu and wasn’t present.

My lunch was toast and soup. The soup was pre-prepared and in a bowl so all I had to do was to heat in a microwave. This is about the only cooking I can manage with two hands let alone one. I was spending my day in front of my computer. With all the facilities of the internet it is ideal for someone like me. My ( slightly ) guilty secret is that I’ve discovered Youtube. I’m just amazed at the material. So far all the music for which I’ve searched  I’ve found- what on earth happens to copyright issues? I’m very interested in spaceflight and there is a wealth of information available. There is a lot of rubbish and fakery but I’m not finding it difficult to sidestep that.

On the whole I’m impervious to “click bait” sites with an enticing summary. I’m able to follow my interests in modern history, technology, science etc. I do have some interest in business matters at least as far as I’m affected. Recently I have begun following some companies such as Tesla and Space X; I suppose much as people follow football clubs. These companies are led by Elon Musk who I find a most interesting man who combines a strong technology background with business nous. He is willing to put his personal fortune( gained from his role with PayPal ) behind adventurous businesses. To an extent following his companies is easy  because internet bloggers and vloggers are as interested as I am so news tends to arrive very quickly.

I’m afraid I’m also a tellyaddict so early evening I transitioned from computer screen to TV screen. The BBC has had a dismal record of featuring anti Brexit in the news but on this day it was the lead item talking of a million demonstrators. Certainly the video shots showed Trafalgar Square packed. I sent a text message to Annette and the girls and wondered how they were getting on. I had an early evening phone call from Annette to say  was catching a later train than planned ( and the corollary that I must fend for myself foodwise). Toast was easy, soup again and a cup of tea was not a big problem.

Annette got back about 9pm. I know it was only a day, and a day that passed easily but it was nice to see her and sit hearing about the day over a cup of tea. It had been a crowded experience and she says she clung to the girls. I was quietly pleased and proud.

School

I’ve been watching “Back in time to school” on the TV. Fascinating how school has changed over the years- they started in the Victorian era and are going up to the 1980’s. I started school in the village primary in 1947. This was a year before secondary education for all, but for most of the time the school had children to age 11+. At that age the infamous 11+ exam directed about a quarter to grammar school and three quarters to the newly established secondary modern. The intermediate technical school just didn’t exist in my area.

The 11+ dividing line lasted from 1948 until it petered out in the 70’s. It is hard to convey now the angst in both parents and children. Essentially grammar schools prepared children for the national examination of General Certificate of Education ( GCE ) taken by subject at age 16. The secondary modern at first. and for many years. did not prepare for exams and children left at the statutory leaving age of 15. Towards the end of the secondary modern era the national exams were broadened into GCSE which offered the opportunity for all schools to prepare for a national exam.

The division between grammar and secondary modern was stark when I was 11. Essentially the grammar school leading to GCE opened the door to just about every type of educational future. The secondary modern ( theoretically equal in esteem ) closed the door to all except the most determined.

I was quite good at primary school although no better than at least one other. What made the difference for me was my mother. My two cousins had both passed 11+ and she borrowed tuition books from my aunt and made sure I used them. She wasn’t just limiting this to me and I was encouraged to invite fellow pupils home for tea , games and a little light puzzle solving. I don’t recall anybody came twice.

I was surprised that most of my fellow pupils took the exam so lightly. Most of fellow children  took the attitude that that they wanted to leave as soon as possible and start work They regarded staying until 16 as a waste of time.

I soon found that most at the grammar school were middle class. I reckon no more than a half dozen of our 36 were working class like myself. I have to say there was no snobbery at all from anyone, pupils or staff, with the one exception of the headmaster. It was, as was usual then, a single sex boys school. Girls went to a separate High School.. I wasn’t a good pupil. I generally languished in the lower half except for subjects like science or history in which I took a keen interest. In a small school of 180 pupils choices were limited. Such as they were these were unfortunate for me. It was History or Geography, I liked both but was forced to choose History. It was Art or Music, I was poor at both , chose Music which was a wasted subject which I didn’t take at GCE. Latin or Woodwork was dictated as I was poor at French so put into Woodwork.

After GCE where I was no better than tolerable I was delighted to enter the science sixth form. At this time in 1958 there was national panic about poor science education, schools were encouraged to expand and I benefited from entering a form which had more than doubled from the previous year.

The school underwent a major change as it merged with the girls high school. This meant as a co-educational school a vast change of every aspect. Out of this merger I first met Annette when we were sixth formers together although we had little overlap of lessons.

I had, quite inadvertently, fallen foul of the headmaster. While all except two of us were made full prefects we two were acting prefects. When we were choosing where go to continue I was influenced by the Robbins Report on technical education. This designated 8 non university institutions to become Colleges of Advanced Technology. The idea was that these would become centres of excellence equalling or surpassing universities but just focussed on science and technology. Knowing how successful this had been in the USA with such as the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology I was attracted to the idea. This also avoided the issue for me that I didn’t have the O level in a foreign language that most older universities demanded.

I found A levels quite hard work but this was crowned with success. In particular I managed a stellar result in general studies This was so good that the head found it difficult to accept and delegated all dealings with me about my school prize to his deputy. I have to admit my result was partly good luck. The first main compulsory section was about a new  engine in which I was interested and knowledgeable while the equally compulsory foreign language comprehension question was about Madame Curie and her work. This I knew about through science rather than French.

I have to say I was slightly disappointed by my College of Advanced Technology mainly because I had unrealistic expectations. In fact it taught my subject, chemistry, well and I should have taken more advantage than I did.

It is said that schooldays are the happiest of your life. I didn’t find them so. I was unable to take advantage of all that secondary education could offer because I lived in a remote area. It wasn’t until sixth form that I started to exploit the benefits of after school activities and then only to a limited extent.

The schoolteacher asked little Johnny if he knew his numbers. He replied yes, his dad taught him. His teacher asks what comes after 8 and get the reply 9. And what after 9 with answer 10. The teacher asks what comes after 10 and little Johnny replies-“ the jack”

Belief

I’m going to talk about beliefs that are unreasonable, that is beliefs for which there is either no evidence or even evidence they are wrong. Lets start with a rather odd example- the face on Mars. Early low resolution photos of the surface of Mars showed a feature which just possibly looked like a face. All kinds of odd theories were proposed such as this was a feature constructed by extinct Martians. Higher resolution photos showed no such face but rather a random assortment of rocks.

More serious for society is the anti vaccine claque. We can see how this arose by a supposed scientist suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine given to babies and autism. This supposed link has been amply disproved and indeed the original work was faulty. Antivax believers seem to have extended this to some other vaccines. In some primitive societies vaccines are viewed with suspicion but argument in advanced society seems to be largely based on spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt( FUD ). The problem is that for any one individual it confers immunity but if the rest of society is vaccinated then the disease, measles  in this case, is very unlikely to hit the individual. The protection often called herd immunity only applies if a sufficient proportion of the population is protected; a level often put at 95%. Due to antivaxers the level may be reduced to 80% or so at which level measles is making a dangerous comeback.

A belief with serious evidence against it is flat earth. It might be thought that photos of earth from space would be compelling but not so.. Flat earthers have set up elaborate and costly experiments such as setting up a gyroscope pointing vertically and looking at how its direction changes with time. The earth rotates so as it does so the gyroscope which stays pointing the same direction will gradually tilt in response. This it does at exactly the rate expected. At present the flat earth response is to repeat with a much more sophisticated ring laser gyroscope. However the general answer from flat earthers is to invoke some extra sensory force rather than accept the evidence.

The belief in homeopathy is easily explained. Believe in the magical cure and it will often occur. This is the very well known placebo effect. The failures are readily explained away by believers as insufficient or ineffectual belief.

Conspiracy theories abound. There is the hoary idea that UFO evidence is deliberately withheld by the government or some mysterious agency. I know someone who thinks the whole Apollo space missions were a conspiracy. Incidentally I’m not sure which came first the film about the conspiracy or the conspiracy theory inspiring the film  called, if I remember correctly, the Capricorn project. In fact I can hardly think of any major historical event which hasn’t spawned some conspiracy idea .I’m sure there are some events such as the shooting of JFK  where all the evidence hasn’t emerged but I doubt some grand conspiracy was involved.

The widespread belief in the supernatural takes on an almost religious aspect. I can’t help but be amused by the popularity of such TV programmes as “Ghosthunters” which somehow never actually find ghosts. It seems a sizeable portion of the population wants desperately to believe in ghosts and any slight anecdotal story is seized upon as “evidence”. Believers in the paranormal often sneer that rational science has never taken them seriously. I can only say that rigorous investigations have been made and there is simply nothing there.

I have deliberately left religion until last. Some hold that religion is hollow superstition with which I’m inclined to agree but without the crusading zeal of atheists  such as Richard Dawkins. I do agree that the established churches play a distinctly ambiguous role in society. They have a massive influence all too often a drag on modern morality but they have also a positive side in community efforts. What I am sure of is that religious belief is a matter of faith. This was put to me as a teenager by my vicar when the evidence was questioned. As he said it is a matter of faith, you have to choose to believe. There are times when I almost wish I believed; I observe believers tend to be happier and I wish I could join them but I can’t.

It may seem odd to put religious belief alongside other less mainstream beliefs. I do think they are comparable in that they arise from the same root. We have evolved the need to believe in something. I rather suspect that as religious belief has waned so  other beliefs are in a way a substitute. We are creatures of our evolution and our minds are not always rational.. It appears that ritual and belief has played a part in our lives as far back as we can go in time. As it was put in a scientific magazine there is a god shaped hole in our psychology which needs to be filled.