Round The Bend- What was Nevil Shute thinking of?

A potted biography, a very accomplished man.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Neville_Shute_Norway

Yes Jim,Nevil Shute Norway was his full name.

Wasn’t Norway NS’s real name?
Jim

I really enjoyed this book,I thought it one of his best.
I have started a new thread about filming locations for ‘Landfall’ which of course was one of his novels.
If any of you Shute readers know anything about filming Landfall could you post on new thread… thanks… Baz

For me, the works of NS are a sort of life-affirming ‘comfort-read’, set reassuringly in the past, and peopled by fundamentally decent individuals who are often characterised by modesty, humility, and a desire to do the right thing. All quite old fashioned, and redolent ( in principle) of the values which we would be led to believe were the cornerstones of the British Empire, and his novels also reflect that global reference.

A number of posts here have referred to exploring the books in early adulthood, and I believe they project some very positive values to contemplate in one’s formative years, far removed from the ‘me-first’, have-it-all football/celebrity culture which pervades today.

At the risk of taking this thread even further afield, I’ve just been re-reading John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids. The narrator refers to his parents having been killed in an Airbus crash – and this in about 1950!

Edit: I’ve just double-checked, and to be fair Wyndham refers to it as an ‘air-bus crash’, ie lower case and hypenated. It’s still a bit uncanny though.

I’ve only got myself to blame as I took a liking to aircraft and anything to do with them at about 5-6 years old and have never shaken it.

Gotta start them young (before they’re old enough to think for themselves if possible). Why do the schools frown on these things? It’s all part of childhood.

Thats exactly what my dad did with me… handed me a copy of Round the bend when I was 11 and said… read this, you might like it…

Bloody well hooked ever since…

Zeb

I read a ‘new to me’ Shute a year back. Set in south Australian and Tasmania with the double story line and cliff hanger, litterally.

Can’t remember the name, but I am sure you will, one plot I think concerned a DC6 or DC7 crew from the days of large, constituted crews and one crew flying the route the main plot was insertion of medical help into an upcountry hill farm in Tasmania, in atrocious weather, in an Auster.

Unlike the modern 400 page door stops the paper rationed brevity of a 190 page Shute is something to behold. No reptition from the previous book, no repetition of descriptive narrative, no cut n paste a la Jeff (sic) Archer. Just a good, tight, gripping yarn.

In some respects the part on 1950s air travel is an historical narrative in its own right.

Lets not forget Trustee of the Toolroom for all the lathe/mill heads out there…

& from what I’ve read elsewhere, there was no love lost between Wallis & Shute….

As a yoof, I was an avid reader of Hunter Hawk – Skyways Detective. IIRC, I had and have still got six of the seven published. Sadly, from a quick Google, it doesn’t look like I can retire if I flog them.

Yup made my mind up , I wouldn’t buy a second hand B25 off anyone 🙂

Wrong side od the Sky?

Back to Shute, I just happened to read him as an adolescent, no age limit intended , looking for a WE Johns/Maclean replacement at the time. Actually still looking.

Airgage Junior has nearly cleared the Biggles back catalogue , much to schools disgust 🙂

Gotta start them young (before they’re old enough to think for themselves if possible). Why do the schools frown on these things? It’s all part of childhood.

Not many American planes were designed just for frieght. A lot of “bush” and military types did double duty.

His American high-wing plane could be something like the rare Budd Conestoga.

To the best of my knowledge, we’ve got all Nevil Shute’s books. It’s a long time since I read one, I should do something about that.

From memory, the only one I didn’t like much was Stephen Martin(?). I would have checked the title but http://www.nevilshute.org appears to be offline.

Edit: Stephen Morris, not Martin. No idea now why I wasn’t keen on it.

Gavin Lyall, ‘The Shooting Script’, my one and only book if necessary on the Desert Island! B.25, Dove, Vampires, women, double plot, simple but enjoyable, you can smell the cordite and the fuel between each page.:)

Come on Airgage, Neville Shute is good reading at any age. Have to agree with you about ‘Round the Bend’ though. Not the best book to start with. Funny, I never really liked Gavin Lyall’s stuff, not saying it was bad just not my cup of tea.

Nevil Shute Norway

Hi, my colleagues and I are ‘Shutists’ and are active researchers in NSN’s history. You can find out a lot of answers to many of these posts in the Timeline section of www.nevilshute.org . If you haven’t already done so, you might like to register (it’s all free) for the e-newsletter. Also, there’s a discussion group at http://groups.google.com/group/nevil-shute-discussion that includes threads about identfying some of Shute’s fictional aircraft.

Help with identifying aircraft and personnel in aviation history is most welcomed from you experts! Please visit.

Likewise I totally recommend Shute’s autobiography “Slide Rule”. It covers in first-hand detail his time working for Geoffrey de Havilland at Airco, as senior stress engineer on the R100 (and the R101 debacle) and how he persuaded Lord Grimthorpe to help finance Airspeed Limited.

It’s a heck of a read. One of the best books on my overtressed bookshelf!

I must re-read Slide Rule. Haven’t read it for years.
Whilst we’re on the subject of Airspeed and their products, does anyone know if there is still a Courier airframe in existence? That’s another one among the many types I’d like to see flying.

Likewise I totally recommend Shute’s autobiography “Slide Rule”. It covers in first-hand detail his time working for Geoffrey de Havilland at Airco, as senior stress engineer on the R100 (and the R101 debacle) and how he persuaded Lord Grimthorpe to help finance Airspeed Limited.

It’s a heck of a read. One of the best books on my overtressed bookshelf!

Hi Mike,
I’d start with a read of Neville’s ‘Sliderule’ (good read) and a look here at the NSN website ( http://www.nevilshute.org/Aero/aerobiography.php ) reveals:

LORD GRIMTHORPE

Lord Grimthorpe was a wealthy Yorkshire landowner who owned his own airplane. Because of this aviation interest and his concern for the worsening unemployment of local men as the depression started, he agreed to invest £3,000 in Nevil Shute Norway’s proposed aircraft design and manufacturing company, Airspeed Limited. He was also the first Chairman of the Board for the new company. Lord Grimthorpe remained on the Board for many years despite the company’s failure to make a profit. He stayed on as Chairman even when the company moved away from Yorkshire to larger quarters in Portsmouth. His financial backing was largely responsible for allowing the company to continue until the Air Ministry, anticipating the war, initiated large orders for the AS-10 Oxford as training machines. Some of this history found its way into the novel Ruined City.