The girl from the Ministry
QUESTION What became of the actress Norma Ronald, who played the secretary in The Men From The Ministry?
During the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties i was friends with norma ronald. i lived in Wimbledon during the Sixties and drove for a local minicab firm.
She was married to the actor Edward Judd, famous for starring in sci-fi films such as The Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961) and island Of Terror (1966). The couple lived in Wimbledon and on many occasions i drove her to the BBC studios in London, also to theatres and to Elstree Studios. She appeared on radio’s The navy Lark and did voiceovers.
She soon found her niche in playing secretaries, most memorably as Mildred Murfin in The Men From The Ministry, a BBC radio comedy about lazy, bungling, incompetent civil servants. The show was very popular, running from 1962-1977.
She had a great sense of humour and, of course, the perfect well-spoken English voice, and she was very attractive too!
She and her husband talked me into joining a karate club in West London. We went together every Sunday. We eventually changed clubs to one in Wimbledon.
i eventually lost touch with her as i moved to Cornwall. She was living in the Merton Park area and was friends with the actress Barbara Murray, who also lived nearby.
Louise E. Jackson, Taunton, Somerset. nOrMa rOnaLD (b.1937) passed away in november 1993. She had been working for a charity in newcastle. Her funeral service was in the city and i recall annette Crosbie being there and a couple of stars from the Carry On movies.
Mrs A. Duff, Durham.
QUESTION Are there bolt action rifles designed for left-handed soldiers?
HiSTOriCaLLy all bolt action rifles were right-handed and there were good reasons for this. This included the LeeEnfield, the British army’s standard rifle from its adoption in 1895 until 1957.
There would have been no consideration of making left-handed rifles. and there was no way to easily convert the Lee-Enfield for the left-handed.
The bolt and the breech would have to be totally recast. if the bolt were reversed for a left-handed operator, the rifle would eject rounds into the face when firing.
Trench warfare meant soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder and could stand closer together as the action of the bolt was on the same side for each man, thus not causing interference with one another while working the bolt action.
There is one more peculiarity of the eyes and human vision that is important in the aiming process which could not have been taken into account when mass producing weapons, i.e. binocular vision.
With both eyes looking forward, our vision developed so that both eyes normally work together as a pair. However, there is a tendency for the brain to prefer visual input from one eye over the other.
The non- dominant eye provides supplementary information that the brain uses to determine distance, speed and depth perception and can take over that role if the dominant eye is damaged.
There are now a number of hunting rifles designed for left-handers. The Tikka T3 Hunter, a popular Finnish rifle, is available as a left-hander. Savage arms Model 10FLP, a police sniper rifle in the united States, has a left-handed model; remington, Weatherby and Christensen also produce left-handed hunters.
Modern sniper rifles used in the forces, such as the L129a1, are all right-handers, but they are designed so the cartridge ejects away from the face and can be used by a left-hander.
Neil Owens, Swansea. THiS reminds me of Spike Milligan who, in his series of war memoirs, recounted being taught to fire a Bren gun. His instructor asked: ‘Left-handed, are you? Well, i’m sorry but we can’t get the gun rebuilt to suit you, you’ll just have to learn to be right-handed for the duration!’
Tom Baines, Bozeat, Northants.
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