Anyone read the new Derel Robinson yet?

Just stuck a hand into a box at random and come out with the January 1989 Aeroplane Monthly.
It would seem that Piece of Cake had recently been shown on TV.
There were two letters published referring to it, by an A.J.E. Maynard and a certain Roland Beamont.

They were NOT impressed. Scathing doesn’t come close.

Never noticed – and I’ve read it half a dozen times! :O

(why doesn’t my bloody gobsmacked smiley work?? :()

Here’s something from POC that IS a clanger, as far as I can see-the more commonly called ‘****y Starr’ starts the novel being known as ‘Billy Starr’, and there’s no explanation for the change that comes later! 😮

It’ll be good to see what DR will come up with next – Hornet Squadron over Normandy??

My copy (Damned Good Show – the original point of this thread)arrived tonight.

First impression disappointment. Just 316 pages, considerably less than PoC 🙁

Only about 50 pages in so far, and it’s shaping-up just fine.

Moggy

DazDaMan-I too wondered about ‘Baggy’ being in ‘A Good Clean Fight’, and checked back to POC; it doesn’t state exactly what happened to him after the portable loo where he was trapped by the knackers got blown across the airfield, although later a bog seat is being worn as ‘The Baggy Bletchley Memorial Trophy’ or something like that.

I guess that while the assumption in POC was that he was killed, nothing was stated exactly and so DR either felt able to reuse the character, or did so by mistake and still got away with it!!!

😉

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mike J
[B]Damien –

I did get billed by DHL over a DVD delivery from Amazon.ca, which I ignored. They then started sending letters threatening action over my overdue account, so I finally paid up the VAT and customs duty elements of the invoice (having checked th amounts against the declared value of Amazon’s invoice first, I may add). In fact, these are legitimate charges if I am importing goods into the UK, as in this case. I did, however, tell them where to stick their £10 ‘Administration Charge’, and have heard nothing since

Can you remember how much that was in comparison to the cost of the dvd?,was it a percentage of the cost of the dvd or a set amount.
If the dvd had been available in the UK would it have been comparable still in price,many thanks:)

Are all of Derek Robinson’s books on a similar theme, eg wartime flying/pilots etc??

I’ve read all these:

War Story
Hornet’s Sting
Goshawk Squadron
Damn Good Show
Piece of Cake
A Good Clean Fight

The only one I didn’t like as much was the last one.

Someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but the character Baggy Bletchley died in Piece of Cake, didn’t he? But he appears in A Good Clean Fight, too!

The VAT people usually leave you alone if its only one or two discs.

Piece of Cake I enjoyed but don’t think it’s the best. A good clean fight was ok and his Great War novels are good. Not read Hornet’s Sting or his new one.

Under an English Heaven is probably the best book I have ever read, and I don’t say that lightly. Picked up his ‘Upon Dark Waters’ today and I’m about to start that.

Regards,

kev35

Glad you enjoyed it.

Last week I saw remaindered copies on a market stall at 2.99 each.

Moggy

Moggy,

Glad to see a mention of “Under an English Heaven”, a splendid book. I’ve recommended it to several American friends and they’ve enjoyed it as well. A very good look inside an 8th USAAC bomber unit over here together with its impact on the lo9cal English village. Well worth reading again.

L9172

No, I’m not missing out on DVD’s-I have a multi-region machine, and regularly buy region 1 discs and shop around places like Play.com etc for the best prices, I was just unaware that you could get Region 1 discs sent over by Amazon!

Fave Robinson book?

‘Piece of Cake’, by about a hundred miles! 😀

“Where are we?” Cox asked.

“Sticky ought to know,” Patterson said.

“Sticky’s got his hands full at the moment”

“Really? That stuff’s not worth keeping, Sticky,” Cattermole called out. “Chuck it away.”

Originally posted by DazDaMan
Haven’t read “Bomber” in a few years, but do recall it was more like a fictional bomber raid being told for real (if you get my drift), and yes it did lack the humour of PoC.

All Robinson’s books have a very dark streak of humour in them.

What’s your favourite then?? 😉

‘Piece of Cake’ by miles.

‘Under an English Heaven’ is another I really relish re-reading

Moggy

I agree over the Deighton humor issue. I heard once he doesn’t do funny, he does cooking.’Flying Officer X’ aren’t particularly amusing, but (sorry if I’m bangin on here) HEB was both able to write and was there. He was also not to keen on toeing the official line either. A book he wrote on the V1 offensive for the government, during 1944/5 was piut on the secret list until about 10 years ago! (Buzz Bombs over Kent IIRC)

Cheers

Haven’t read “Bomber” in a few years, but do recall it was more like a fictional bomber raid being told for real (if you get my drift), and yes it did lack the humour of PoC.

All Robinson’s books have a very dark streak of humour in them.

What’s your favourite then?? 😉

I love ‘Bomber’ and now have the BBC Radio production on CD courtesy of Kev35 but…

It does lack the humour of PoC and that makes it a much ‘harder’ read. Still a great, great book though.

Moggy

Back to Moggie’s original post – You could say that the PoC for Bomber Command was ‘Bomber’ by Deighton. In many ways it looked at what was going on on the base with a load of research, but without the journalists innacuracy and gung-ho problem.

‘Stores of Flying Officer X’ by HE Bates (yes, he of Darling Buds of May) is worth reading. He served on a Bomber unit, Sterlings actually, and his short story in the book about explaining to the sweetheart that her boy wasn’t coming back is very moving. He knew of what he wrote, and was a good writer too. Worth seaching out.

Cheers

Originally posted by trumper
Is the high life the one about the scottish airway,air scotia with a daft english pilot and Shona Spyrtle [or something] and the 2 camp air stewards,i thought that was very good:D

Aye, that’s the one! Very silly but very good!

Originally posted by futurshox
I wouldn’t give up on it coming out on region 2 DVD. There’s a series called ‘The High Life’ that was shown ages ago that we’ve been waiting years for on either video or DVD, and it’s finally been released on both! (Anyone ever see that one? Very funny series) So PoC may yet get it’s chance.

Is the high life the one about the scottish airway,air scotia with a daft english pilot and Shona Spyrtle [or something] and the 2 camp air stewards,i thought that was very good:D