Stephen Fry

As I've said on many an occasion I'm not much interested in television, in fact the War Office has often told me that when it comes to TV I'm a bit of a bore, but I don't care I hold my ground against her in matters such as this! ;)

However, I do enjoy watching Stephen Fry, I enjoyed his travels throughout the good ol' US of A some years ago, at least I think it's years might only be months but it's no big deal. I also like his panel program I suppose that's what it's called,  "QI" which can be very amusing and to use that overworked hackneyed expression; educational at times.

Not being into violence I like the quiet programs and have been entertained and amused with "Kingdom" wherein Mr Fry plays the part of a country solicitor or should that be lawyer, by the name of Kingdom all good fun and a lot of harmless fluff which is very pleasant and quite forgettable.

I must say that I was surprised a few days ago when  I saw Mr Fry in a program where he discussed being as he put it 'gay'. Now I don't mind one little bit about a person's sexuality but I do take exception at these men hi-jacking,stealing, call it what you will that delightful word, gay.

No longer can I be "happy and gay the laxette way" to quote from a very old laxative commercial. if I say I feel gay then it's assumed that I'm homosexual. Which I'm not, well I don't think I am the War Office has never told me that I am so I can't be; right?

Well I don't give a tinkers cuss whether a man is homosexual or not; I know everybody says this, that's what you're thinking, but it's true.

I've known many men that are; indeed I once shared a flat/apartment with one back in the mid 1960's. We got on famously, he was in the "Rag Trade" as he put it he was pretty well connected in the fashion industry.

An Englishman educated at a very fashionable school 'Chartrehouse' and he spoke beautifully, yet he was a Cockney like me. His accent wasn't put on he did well in his eleven plus and his parents pushed and helped him through his education and he gained a scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools in England. Lucky man!

At the time we shared the flat in very fashionable Toorak but being a couple of Cockney swells we never said we were from there always from SE2, great fun. I was recovering from a broken marriage at that time which had hit me hard, and Denis being a good chap did his best to help me recover.

He was acquainted with many delightful young women in the fashion industry and he'd throw dinner parties and invite them along in the hope that I'd find a new companion. There was one in particular that I did like, Sylvia a very attractive brunette, we did go out on a couple of occasions but she reminded me of somebody else so it came to nothing.

At this time I was working for Australian Motor Industries at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne and I employed in the accounts department. My immediate boss Rex was homosexual his partner who's name I can' recall ran the Staff Canteen and they were both two really good blokes and I got on well with them. As you know back then homosexuality was a whispered secret and Rex did confide in me quietly and I said to him "Rex I don't give a damn about your sexuality it's nothing to do with me and I won't interfere with yours if you don't interfere with mine" or words to that effect and the matter was never ever mentioned again and I was good chums with both of them whilst working at AMI.

I've lived and worked with homosexual men and it's never bothered me but it does bother me that they have taken a very lovely word from the English language and corrupted it's meaning.

Are they just hiding behind it? I don't know but I do care, because I can no longer feel gay.

'tis folly to be wise

There's probably some psychological term or reason for it but  I've never been much good at remembering names and faces; and putting names to faces.  It's never bothered me, the War Office reckons I'm rude. Well if I am I don't mean to be I just can't see much point in it half the time.

I've got a pretty good memory, I like to think of it as being an amazing one most of the time, kind of like a giant filing cabinet stuck inside my head with all the right drawers sliding into place and one huge drawer labelled UI overflowing and bursting at the seams. The drawers labelled "Names" and "Faces" seem to get stuck and/or else I can't find the key, so I don't go there often.

Back in 1965/66 I remember walking along William Street in Melbourne I was with a young woman who was working at the AMI plant at Fishermans Bend (I can't recall her name she was a lass from New Zealand who, like me, enjoyed doing the 'Age' crossword), and the company used to put a bus on for the staff who needed or wanted to go into the city at lunch time; and I bumped into another young man and young lady going in the opposite direction.

This young lady greeted me with the nice big smile of a long lost friend and said "Hello Brian" or words to that effect and being a polite sort of chap used to being accosted by young ladies in the street, said "Hello"  back. She looked at me in some state of shock and said something like "You don't recognize me" and I mumbled something feeble like your face is familiar  and she piped up "I'm your sister Carole"!

True! I hadn't seen her for a few years (probably 6 or 7) I'd kind of become estranged from my relatives and had had a battle with the bottle after the breakup of my marriage. She must have been a girl of around 14, 15 at the most, the last time I'd seen her, and now here she was a young woman in her early 20's. They change, well that's my excuse.

She introduced me to her friend as Robert something or other and I can recall that quite clearly; why? I'd never met a Robert before, Bob yes and it's easy to forget somebody named Bob, I had a dog called Bob, but this was something new Robert. I much prefer people to be called by their proper given name.

Now if that doesn't convince you as to the veracity of the opening paragraph of this little blurb nothing will.

And yet there are many people I remember and can visualize only by their nickname which seems to be contrary to what I've said.

Perhaps it's a form of indolence on my part, I don't set out to be rude or ignorant but mostly I can't see the point or necessity in remembering the name of every Tom Dick or Harriet  I come across just to be able to say I have a great memory for names and faces of people I'm never likely to meet again.

Then again I'm probably an ignorant,  self centred egotist. Yet I get the feeling I'm none of those!

The Third American

Little is known about the third American aboard the Endeavour. 

John Thurman

It is assumed that John Thurman was from the colonies but nothing much is known except that he was impressed at Madeira when Cook put in for a supply of a few thousand gallons (not litres; gallons!) of fine Madeira wine, as this wine was known to travel well and would only improve as the journey progressed.

Young Mr. Thurman was around 20 years at the time, and it appears he was impressed from a sloop out of the colonies. Now the sloop, being a man-o-war had to be British, at that time the American colonials relied on the Royal Navy to protect their shores and them from any aggressor (read French) as they had no navy of their own until sometime after the revolution and the Declaration of Independence.

It's quite possible that Thurman was American by birth and had joined the navy voluntarily as did Lt. Gore and Midshipman Matra, but more likely I think to have been pressed into service when the sloop was in port in one of the colonies.

Thurman didn't have much of a life, he enjoyed 12 lashes, twice which wasn't bad considering, there was around 80 men aboard who were eligible for punishment by the cat-o-nine-tails, and for the entire 3 year voyage Cook ordered one of six lashes. 21 of 12 lashes and 3 of 24. This was pretty light for that period. Poor Thurman got a double dose!

And to top it all off he died from dysentry on the 3rd February 1791 whilst the ship was en route between Batavia and  the Cape of Good Hope. He was or course consigned to the deep.

It wasn't  much of a life for this young man; was it?

Lt. John Gore RN

John Gore 

Lieutenant John Gore was the most senior of the three American born seaman/sailors aboard the "Endeavour" on Cook's first voyage in 1768. Not too much is known about Gore's early life. 

He is believed to have been born in Virginia around 1729/30. He joined the Royal Navy in 1755 as a Midshipman, which is/was an advanced age for a Midshipman; usually they started around the 13/14 year mark. (see Blog Lt James Cook aka Capt Cook).

In 1760 he took the lieutenants exams, and was appointed Masters Mate aboard the HMS Dolphin, and circumnavigated the world twice before being called to serve upon the "Endeavour" , he became invaluable to Cook on the voyage because of his experience and knowledge of Tahiti and also the Pacific Ocean.

Being an American he was pretty handy with a gun (and they hadn't had their 'Revolution' yet) and became the first person recorded as having shot and killed a person of Maori descent whilst the ship was charting New Zealand; he then went on to become the first person to shoot and kill a kangaroo whilst charting the east coast of Nieuw Holland (Australia).

Cook called on Gore to join him aboard the HMS "Resolution"  for his third and final voyage to the Pacific to try to find the 'Northwest Passage'. For this voyage Gore was  first lieutenant to Cook; and it was he that eventually  sailed  the ships of the expedition home to England with the news of the death of Cook in the Sandwich Islands; Hawaii!

It was 1780 by the time Gore brought the ships home and he learned that his country of birth had declared its independence. He stayed on in the Royal Navy and was promoted to Post-Captain for his achievement in bringing the ships safely home. He died 10 years later at Greenwich, in Captain Cooks old rooms aged 60.

His son John also joined the Royal Navy and rose to the rank of Rear Admiral, he also became one of the first free settlers in New South Wales, Australia in 1834.

Cooks forgotten men - Matra/Magra

James Mario Matra (Magra)

Matra was one of  three American born members of the ships company aboard the “Endeavour” on Cooks voyage of 1768/1771.  Born in New York in 1746 he settled inLondon.

He signed on as a midshipman for the voyage. He became lifelong friends with Mr. Joseph (later Sir Joseph) Banks, the leader and financier (he put up the £10.000. required ) of the expedition to chart the ‘Transit of Venus’ of 1769 from Tahiti.

It was Matra who put forward the  proposal to set up a penal settlement in  New South Wales. He also had plans for ‘loyal’ Americans to leave the newly formed United States of America, to join in the settling of the new colony.

Not being averse to a little bit of money he petitioned the King to change his name back to Magra to enable him to cash in on a Corsican inheritance. His father migrated from Corsica to Ireland and then on to New York where he changed the name to Matra.

James Magra was British Consul at Teneriff in the Canary Isles and later Tangier, Morocco. He didn’t marry ’til late in life; he was 47. He died in Tangier at age 62, he left no issue.

He is vaguely remembered in Australia by the township of Matraville situated on Botany Bay.

James Cook RN

Lt James Cook RN

It’s safe to say, I think, that most, if not all people with a smattering of history or interest in it, have read or heard something about Captain Cook and his voyage of discovery aboard   “HMB Endeavour“.  At the time of his epic voyage he was but a lowly lieutenant (pronounced leftenent; we English are a weird lot but at least we know how to speak and pronounce our own words) but as he was given command of the ship he was the ‘Captain’.

Now that I’ve got that little lot sorted I thought perhaps I’d write a little about some other members of the ships company. The Royal Navy’s have ships companies or complements never crew, and that’s something else sorted! And to start I’ve selected the youngest man aboard when the ”Endeavour’    sailed, one Isaac George Manley.

Those of you inclined to Google every unfamiliar name like me will find that Wikipedia have got a little about  young Isaac but the information is incorrect as to his position on the ship; they state that on the voyage he ‘ as a teenager had been a naval officer with Capt. Cook on the first voyage of the ‘Endeavour’ ; nothing could be further from the truth.

Young Isaac signed on at the ripe old age of 12 years as the Master’s servant, couldn’t get much lower than that; as an indication of what his job entailed;  first job in the morning was to empty the Masters chamber pot. The senior members of the ships company and Mr. Bank’s party had the use of chamber pots, the  seaman and Marines used the “pissdale’s” (that is the correct term for the urinals dotted about the upper deck of the ship) and it was the job of lowly seaman like Isaac to empty them.

Now the Master is not to be confused with the captain, he was not a commissioned officer as such but his work did encompass commissioned officer duties; in fact he did much more than the officers; barring the captain; and is well worthy of his own post.

During the voyage home to England Isaac was appointed Midshipman (5th February 1771) and then went on to a fairly successful career in the Royal Navy, seeing fighting service against the French slowly climbing through the officer ranks eventually rising to the rank of Admiral of the Red. But not successful enough to warrant a knighthood.

He died in 1837 aged 82; the last surviving member of Cooks first great voyage of discovery.

Pride & Prejudice

Last Thursday, being a particularly nice day Coco and I decided to annoy the War Office by relaxing in the garden, me with a book and Coco with some poor little lizard which he teases before devouring.  I sometimes wonder how he would have fared had he been with us when we lived in Manly; we had a delightful family of three 'Blue Tongue Lizards'  every summer which were quite large and looked fearsome.

He may well have thought twice before having a go at them, but then again he probably wouldn't;  he's a silly dog, he sometimes thinks he's a fair bit bigger than what he actually is and he  is as game as Ned Kelly!

Undoubtedly the W.O would have found something for me to do had I have stayed in the house so I opted for the most pleasant option; and Friday likewise being a pleasant day we did the same thing over again.

For a change I decided to read Pride & Prejudice, I hadn't read it for a month or so, and I keep going back hoping to find that there are not three volume's but a fourth that I've somehow missed.  It only takes me a few hours to read this work now, I find I know it so well that I turn the page, glance at it and then go onto the next and I'm right up there with the story the whole time.

There are many parts that I do enjoy reading slowly savouring each word or situation and on these I take my time, and why not, there is so much that is delicious!

So it was not until late Saturday afternoon/early evening that I put the book down; disappointed! Still no IV chap i.

I sometimes feel that Miss Austen just wanted to stop writing and couldn't be bothered finishing the story off properly. After all she gave us three volumes in great detail and then when we're down to the nitty gritty she knocked the lot off in a few pages; a couple of very small chapters. I feel cheated!

Try as I might I can find no reason for her not to have a volume IV, there is so much unsaid in those final two chapters that could have filled at least a IV and possible a V.

Perhaps Miss Austen was becoming sick of the story after all she had been fiddling around with it for some years, although I do believe that Miss Elizabeth Bennet was her favourite creation, so the question is still why did she just stop and let the story peter out like it did.

Was it because she was a maiden lady who really didn't know enough to write about a young recently married lady. There most certainly were a great many taboo's   on spinsters in her day, not least I suppose those imposed on the daughter of a clergyman.

Yet she did know and understand about marriage; witness  the first two paragraphs of Vol. II Chapter xix, so why did she teaze (Miss Austen's spelling) us?

So whilst I'm pondering all this my mind drifted off to the 1995 BBC production of Pride & Prejudice. I think we can all pretty well agree that this was the best production of this story to date, but it was/is still lacking.

There were some silly parts/scenes that could have been left out well and truly and not spoilt the program because they did nothing to enhance it in the first place.

The one that most comes to mind immediately is the ridiculous swimming in the pond scene, absolutely ludicrous having no relevance to the story whatsoever; just a bit of masculine fluff to tickle the ladies fancy.  Absolute nonsense, as was his fencing scene.

Come on now can anybody really imagine Mr. Darcy waving a sword/foil or epee? I can certainly see him with a quill in his hand, but a sword? Really!

The BBC are usually so spot on but with this production they just missed out. Important scenes are twisted and mutilated so much so  that they bare no resemblance to the story whatsoever.

Take for example the "Introduction"; in the book this is a delightful scene. Elizabeth spotting Mr. Darcy through the window, coming along with his sister Georgiana to introduce her and  meet the love of his life and Elizabeth in a tizzy; Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner all curious and  suspicious all at once, and then knowing what was going on in Mr. Darcy's mind.

What a delightful scene that would have been! I never tire of reading that chapter and I would not have tired of watching it on screen as all the actors involved were superlative and yet we missed out on Mr. & Mrs. G!

As usual I'm carrying on a bit so to cut this short, the finish! I always stop the program once the happy couples are seated in their carriages, which is all a bit silly really. 

 Then they had to be kidding. "The Kiss"!  Ludicrous I blush for Miss Austen.

Why for the final scene could they not have done something more in keeping with the story. It finishes with "With the Gardiner's they were always on the most intimate terms......." doesn't this suggest a final scene of say Mrs. Darcy and Mrs. Gardiner in their phaeton with a couple of little ponies trotting off around the park and Mr. D & Mr. G wandering down to the lake for a spot of fishing, chatting away and the camera's moving back until there are just the dots in the distance which  fades out; just as Miss Austen's great novel fades