Secret hero of the Pacific
QUESTION
James Michener’s book Tales Of The South Pacific — on which the famous musical was based — mentions a ‘remittance man’, an expatriate Briton who hid in the jungle after the Japanese had invaded the Solomon Islands. He had a radio set and was able to send valuable intelligence to the Allied forces. Was this character based on a real person? Tales Of The south Pacific (1947) was a collection of 19 interconnected short stories about the south Pacific campaign of World War II. These were based on observations and anecdotes that James Michener collected whi l e stationed as a U.s. navy lieutenant commander on the island of espiritu santo in the New Hebrides Islands (now known as Vanuatu).
The book won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize and was adapted as a 1949 Broadway musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein and as two films, released in 1958 and 2001.
One of the most harrowing stories in the book is The Cave, where the american soldiers are trying to prevent the Japanese from recapturing the island of Guadalcanal. a group of servicemen hiding out in a cave receive radio transmissions from a coast watcher who identifies himself as The Remittance Man.
a remittance man was a British emigrant supported or assisted by payment of money from his paternal home.
Michener borrowed the term from Mark Twain’s travelogue Following The equator: ‘Passengers explained the term to me. They said that dissipated ne’er- do-wells belonging to important families in england and Canada were not cast off by their people while there was any hope of reforming them, but when that last hope perished, the ne’er-do-well was sent abroad to get him out of the way.’
The Remittance Man in this case is a British trader called anderson who sends information from his hideout on santa Ysabel island in the solomons; he begins each transmission with a weather report and ends with: ‘Good hunting, americans!’
Unfortunately, when the soldiers are finally able to attempt a search-and-rescue for him, they find his head impaled on a stake.
Michener dedicated his story to the brave men who provided information during the campaign, including Donald s. Macfarlan, Kenneth D. Hay, Hugh a. Mackenzie, Frederick ashton ‘snow’ Rhoades and leif schroeder.
some have speculated that the character was based specifically on Captain Martin Clemens, an aberdeen-born, Cambridgeeducated scot, who spent two years in the jungles of Guadalcanal supplying vital information to the americans.
The link with his surname and that of Mark Twain (real name samuel Clemens) may not be a coincidence.
Marianne Weston, Solihull. THIs figure was a Coastwatcher for the allied Intelligence Bureau of World War II. The Coastwatcher network was developed by the Royal australian Navy after World War I, initially to oversee australia’s vast and often unguarded coastline.
The organisation gradually expanded during the Thirties to the solomon Islands, New Guinea and the Bismarks. The watchers were selected from planters, missionaries and government officers familiar with the south West Pacific areas.
Coastwatchers were supplied with special battery-powered ‘teleradios’ which had a range of 400 miles for voice transmissions and 600 miles if telegraphic keys were used.
They were commanded by lieutenant Commander eric Feldt (RAN), starting in 1942. By that time, most of the solomons had been occupied by the Japanese.
In the solomons campaign (august 1942 to February 1943), the Coastwatchers attained near legendary status among U.s. forces for their accurate and timely intelligence reports. They used a network of hidden radio stations stretching south through Bougainville, Central solomons (including the strategic island of Guadalcanal), to Port Moresby in New Guinea.
In addition to their intelligence work, Coastwatchers aided the rescue of more than 100 U.s. aviators: it was an australian called arthur Reginald evans who arranged the rescue of lieutenant John F. Kennedy and his crew when their P.T. (patrol torpedo) boat (PT09) was sunk by a Japanese destroyer, in august 1943.
Steven Davis, Sheffield.
QUESTION
Lit (3 letters) is a synonym of illuminated (11 letters). Which two synonyms have the greatest letter difference?
HERE are a number of three letter words with long synonyms: and — furthermore (11 letters); awe — astonishment (12 letters); bad — unsatisfactory (14 letters); end — termination (11 letters); old — antediluvian (12 letters), superannuated (13 letters).
shy — apprehensive (12 letters); few — inconsiderable (14 letters); gob — agglomeration (13 letters); ire — displeasure (11 letters), exasperation (12 letters); irk — inconvenience (13 letters); now — immediately (11 letters), straightaway (12 letters). Rim — circumference (13 letters); sad — pessimistic (11 letters), heartbroken (11 letters), disconsolate (12 letters); set — predetermined (13 letters); yes — affirmative (11 letters).
However the winner in this category has to be lie — deceptiveness (13 letters), di s i nf o r mation (14 letters) a nd misrepresentation (17 letters).
From the other end of the spectrum the longest non-technical word in major dictionaries is t he 29- l etter l ong floccinaucinihilipilification, ‘meaning act or habit of estimating as worthless’.
a synonym for this could (at a stretch) be disrespect (ten letters) a difference of 19 letters.
In 2012, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg impressed the House of Commons by using the word in a debate on europe. He said its use had helped highlight alleged corruption among judges in the european Court of Justice in luxembourg. In a subsequent interview, Rees-Mogg told the BBC’s andrew Neil that it ‘came to mind as it does from time to time’.
It is now the longest word in Hansard. The eloquent Rees-Mogg ended the interview by saying: ‘You can indulge in the floccinaucinihilipilification of the antidisestablishmentarianists if you wish — but that might be showing off ’.
Lionel Childe, Banbury, Oxon.
QUESTION
In 1960, holiday camp owner Billy Butlin organised a John o’ Groats to Land’s End walking race. How many people took part and who won? FURTHER to earlier answers, my husband, now 84, took part in the Billy Butlin walk. He did it on his own, with no help — there were many people who did not stick to the rules, taking lifts in cars and though around 100 were disqualified for cheating, there were many who were not.
My husband was one of the 130 or so who did finish the race and was awarded a certificate, which he still has. It is a memory he will never forget and at family gatherings he will tell all who will listen about his ‘long walk’.
Jill Graham, Enfield, Middx.
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