HMS OPOSSUM ASSOCIATION

NEWSLETTER CHRISTMAS 2018 1945-1958

Welcome to our Christmas Newsletter. As a result of contacting the Navy News, Alan Waite [ex-Royal Marine] of HMS Newfoundland Association and other Colony class cruisers, Gambia, Kenya and Ceylon have offered, through Isle of Wight Tours [tel:-01983-405584] that Opossum Association could join them for a reunion next year. This was settled with the tour company, the reunion to be held at The Queens Hotel, 469-471 South Promenade, Blackpool FY4 1AY Tel:- 01253 336980 over the weekend Friday 12th April – Monday 15th 2019. [The weekend before Easter] I sent a prospectus of the reunion events to all members in July. I would like as big an ‘Opossum’ turn out as possible. I have visited Alan at his home in Leicester who said 80 of his group membership attended their last reunion in Bristol, I’m hoping we can muster at least 15. Your Treasurer and I have already paid our deposits, we assume other interested members have done likewise, full payment is required by 18th January 2019. Please make a big effort to attend. In July Sam and I met-up at Aldershot with our Chairman Lewis Trinder and his wife Vera for an enjoyable mini-reunion and pleased that we had our next reunion organized. A MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO ALL

Chairman Lewis Trinder 106 North Lane, Aldershot, Hants GU12 4QT 01252- 323861 lewistrinder@gmail Secretary/Editor Eddie Summerfold 28 Greymont Road, Limefield, Bury. O161-764-8778 [email protected] Treasurer Sam Edgar 21 Heath Lawns, Fareham, Hants. PO15 5QB 01329-235732 [email protected] Website wwwhmsopossum.orgouk 1 TREASURER’S REPORT

Brought Forward £1895.23 Balance £1850.23

ROLL OF HONOUR

Ronald Bradley John Eardly Wilmot John Cartwright J W Powell Albert Corless Harry Barlow David Jarvis Bob Gray Les Wood George Scott John Williams Ken Harris Pat Norman Reg Parker Harry Roach Ivan C Haskell George Fletcher Fred Thornton George H Richards Fred[Mick[Bodel Fred King George Curry Sid Pemberton John Davison Cliff Harthill George Brown Steven Hart Stewart A Porter Arthur Pope Jack Marshall Les Dimmock John Bray Joe Gornall Doug Banks Dick[Ginger]Bird Jackie Scholes Harry Woolhams Cornelious Canon Jim Tribe Doug Goulding John Fraser Pete Maddox Bill Bolton Cyril Mason John Hardman Ken Philipps Mike Swayne Harry Catterson Ron Hare Bill Bovey Jack Richards William Wilder George[Jan]Lobb Bill Price Martin George Ken Slater Mike Cole Jim Payne Peter Lockwood Edward[Ted]Longstaff Roy Cope Ron Blundy Bert Rimmer John Blair John W C Clark Ken Carson Charles Parker Tony Harris Willy Mitchell Brian Healey Alan Percival Alister Hunter Blair Stan Oldfield John Jones Roy Wood John MacKenzie Tom Tolson Ian Janes John Owen Ken Hodgkin

2 WHAT’S HAPPENED TO ‘STANDING ALONE’?

HMS Chester [1916-1921]

The membership might recall twelve months ago last Christmas your editor mentioned between pages 3 and 5 of the Newsletter that he had restarted an old writing project ‘Standing Alone’ about a First World War light cruiser and her company. The rewrite is now complete and is now of 224, A5 pages long, with 83 photographs, 8 chapters an Epilogue, Acknowledgements, Research sources and an Index. Did give this MS it to a couple of trusted naval friends, one an active professor the other a long standing naval and maritime book authority. Independently they both said much the same, that very few people under 50 years of age and older would want to read about a battle that took place more than a hundred years ago [Jutland] and even fewer would be interested in the story of a sixteen year old hero Boy Cornwell V.C. Had this effort been made some years ago it might have had some success, but not nowadays. That such a book would be a none starter anyway, always assuming a suitable publishing company would take it on, which they doubted. Also that to self publish not only requires the wherewithal to pay for printing but the big difficulty is in storage of the finished product and more importantly selling such a book to a skeptical trade that wants a quick turnover; where a sale or return wouldn’t even get a get a look-in on their valuable shelf space. So my 3 friends think the story a big yawn. Yet hope springs eternal. There are not many naval/maritime book publishers to approach, is your editors effort worth a consideration, watch this space. TUSCANIA and OTRANTO

Talking of a hundred years ago, on a recent visit to the Isle of Islay [pronounced Eyla] that lies of the West coast of Scotland, famed for its idyllic beauty and renowned for the many quality whisky distilleries. I learned of two shipping disasters; the first was bad the second even worse. This involved two troop convoys eight months apart carrying soldiers from America to the War in France. On 5th February 1918 the Anchor Line ship Tuscania [14,348 tons] (upper) was torpedoed by a German U-boat 7 miles off Islay more than 200 soldiers and crew were lost. A month before the Armistice 6th October the Orient Line ship Otranto [12,032 tons] (lower) during a dark night in a force 11 gale collided with another convoy ship Kashmir and sank half a mile off Islay’s West coast, from over a thousand on board over 400 troops and crew perished. In both disasters the Islanders behaved heroically by helping to rescue men from the rugged shoreline, caring for those saved and collecting those bodies washed up from the sea, this latter operation lasted several days. While death was not a stranger to Islay for the small communities from the island had lost men folk from their regiment the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders fighting in France, their care for the living and the dead from these ship wrecks was noted by the American authorities.

4 A SOUTH AMERICAN TRIP

Machu Picchu

[Since no member has sent me any stories personal or otherwise for the newsletter, apologies for writing of further foreign travels undertaken - Ed.] Last autumn I made another visit to South America made up of eleven major countries, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. In the 1960’s the took me to Venezuela and Guyana [British Guiana.] Years later under my own steam I have visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay. This time its Peru and Colombia. A bad start from Heathrow airport, a three hour delay!! Arrive in Miami only to find my ongoing flight to Lima has long gone! Reach there 24 hours later. Would have liked to have seen the Capital of Peru [pop.10 million] near Callao notorious in bygone times for it’s ‘crimping industry,’ where merchant sailors were enticed ashore for free wine, women and song, then drugged and shipped out in any sea going trader to work their passage having to repay from their wages the ’blood money bounty’ the Captain had to repay the crimp. At Lima join the ‘Explore’ party of a dozen and an internal flight to Arequipa apart from the centre much of is a shanty town on the slopes of a volcano. Our local guide tells us we are at 4,000 ft. above sea level [ASL] Here we visit a nunnery long since closed and learn of the huge dowry families had to pay for their daughters to enter the order, their vows of silence and the Latin prayers they had to learn and repeat every three hours around the clock. Then there’s the museum and its one main artifact Juanita the macabre mummified body in a refrigerated glass case of a 12 year old girl sacrificed in about 1500 in a Inca ritual to pacify the gods. Her body had been discovered on top of a volcano in 5 1995 along with many artifacts. We learn too of the Inca Empire and of how it was crushed by the Spanish conquistadors not only by their superior weapons and war like tactics but also by the diseases they brought such as smallpox, measles and VD. It didn’t help that the Inca tribes squabbled amongst themselves trying to combat these foreign invaders who killed their peoples and plundered the Inca gold and silver. For a couple of days there was much travel by mini bus, passing fields and scrub land with many herds of Llamas and alpacas till we reach very thin air at the highest point of the tour above sea level at nearly 6,000 metres or about 19,000ft. Thoughts of a couple of years ago visiting Lhasa in Tibet when I had breathing problems in the thin air. Next day an early start to see Canon del Colca canyon and tight elbow room with other tour parties to witness many Andean condors putting on a superb display of effortless flight gliding on the thermal air currents rising from the canyon floor. Up early from a night in Cusco to take a 3 hour train journey to Agues Calientes the last stop before a hair rising bus journey to reach Machu Picchu, for all our tour party, except me, this is the highlight of the tour. There’s thousands this day to see the world iconic site and walk the many terraces, only discovered in 1911 an Inca site kept secret from Spanish conquistadors. Lake Titicaca was my main interest. At 12,500 ft. above sea level the lake is recognized as the highest navigable water in the world. Titicaca has a surface area roughly 120 miles by 50, in two basins, with an average depth of 350 ft., has over 40 islands, not including the Uros peoples reed islands and lies between Peru and Bolivia. From Puno in Peru our tour party have two days to visit this phenomenon. First we are taken out to see the reed islands where many families live numbering around 1,400 people making their living by fishing and tourism; selling handicrafts, blankets and knitting clothing, always performed exclusively by Uros men and boys; while the women folk make yarn and weave. There are around 50 – 60 such islands some as small as 50ft. by 50ft. others as large as half a football field in area, with a reed depth of 4-5 ft thick and spongy to walk on.

6 Lake Titicaca Up some steps I enter one of the reed made huts/houses, a small room with a timber frame supporting a reed roof and walls. Within are a couple of beds covered in heavy woolen blankets, some clothing hung up to dry/air on a sagging line, a camping stove powered by a gas bottle,[a real fire risk!] in a corner half way up the wall a small television set; outside on the roof solar panels to provide electricity. That night most of the tour party are billeted on the Lake at Taquilla island 27 miles from Puno, fairly basic bathroom facilities, such as an outside toilet with a view and no electric power. We are about 200ft. above the Lake and can look down on cultivated terraces. Above is a high bank of cloud that catches the last sun rays of the day. Many of the party remark on the silence of our surroundings. Darkness comes around 6pm, some are prepared and have brought along those headlight devices. While the coast of Bolivia can just be seen, impressive is an electric storm, sharp flashes of blue/white against an almost black background, this continues throughout the night. The Spartan room has a bed with thick blankets that keeps out the cold night air. Next day after what passes for breakfast we take the long walk back to the pier and the return by boat to Puno. It’s here we see much larger ships and learn the story of how they reached the land locked Lake. [See page 10 the story of ‘Ships brought overland’] Then it’s on alone by air to Bogota, Colombia and the many warnings of how dangerous the country can be. Perhaps the warning was referring to Bogota traffic , there’s lots of it. To reduce this crawling mass it’s even number plates one day, odd numbers the next. But who penalizes those motorists who disobey? At weekends restrictions lifted but warned by my taxi driver if I wanted to see outside the city limits to do so before 7am. My stay is short so cram in as much sight seeing as possible. A remembered highlight was a visit to the famed Zipaquire salt cathedral, 30 miles North of Bogota. Almost a carbon copy of the salt mine in Weiliczka outside Krakow in Poland but thankfully there’s no steps to descend. Zipaquire seems much bigger. There are many galleries to see each with small cross and altar brilliantly carved and beautifully illuminated. But the cathedral deep within the mine is breath taking. This consists of many sculptures and three naves, the larger one we are told can accommodate 8,000 worshipers, is 80ft high and nearly 400ft long. There’s a long altar and at the end a huge high cross. Our guide asks, a trick question, what do we think the cross is made from. The answer is air, for it is carved inside out with strong flood lights for back ground illumination. Sightseers from many countrieJsU hSaTv Ae cToHmOeU toG HseT e Colombia’s wonder of wonders, only realized when so many different language tours are on offer.

7

A bachelor’s life is no life for a single man. Not all men are fools, some are unmarried. SHIPMATES HUMOUR

During a check-up a patient asked his doctor. “Do you think I’ll live a long healthy life?” “I doubt it somehow, he said, Mercury is in Uranus right now.” The patient said, “I don’t go in for any of that astrology crap.” “Neither do I, replied his doctor. But his thermometer had just broke off! ‘Ouch,’

My mates wife left him last week – said she was going out for the milk and never came back. I asked him how he was coping. “Not too bad, I’ve been using some of that powered stuff!”

A chap bought a neAwN sDti cNkO dWeo FdOorRa nStO tMheE o StEhAerS OdaNyA. LT hJOe KinEsS tructions said:- remove cap and push up bottom. He found he could barley walk, but when he farts the room smells lovely.

The son of a Mafioso writes out a Christmas wish list addressed to baby Jesus. I have been a good boy, so I what a…..Screws up the page and throws it away. Dear baby Jesus I have nearly been a good boy and I want…..Screws up the page and throws it away. Then he gets an idea, goes into his mother’s bedroom and takes the statue of the Virgin Mary and locks it in a wardrobe. Taking another sheet of paper he writes. Dear baby Jesus, If you want to see your mother again……..

One Christmas Eve three men died in a car accident and all go to heaven, At the Pearly Gates to be allowed in they’re asked to produce something Christmassy. The first one shows a sprig of mistletoe - Enter. The second shows a paper cracker - Enter. The third pulls out a pair of women’s stockings. St. Peter asks, “How can they possibly be Christmassy?” “Well they are Carol’s.”

What do you call a bunch of chess Grandmasters braggiing of their best games in a hotel lobby. Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.

How come we hardly ever hear of the tenth Santa’s reindeer – Olive? There’s Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, & Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. Also Rudolph, then from his song Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, had a very 8 shiny nose etc. Olive the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names!!! THE CHRISTMAS QUIZ

Just for fun – answers on the back page

1. Double Agent Mata Hari was executed by whom? 2. What has the longest wing span of any bird? 3. If it’s noon GMT what time is it in Mexico City? 4. Name the first British top ten hit for Shirley Bassey? 5. How is goat fish also known? 6. Which football team was formally known as Shaddongate United? 7. Why is grapefruit so called? 8. Which cocktail was named after Tom Harvey? 9. Name the horse that won the 1996 Grand National? 10. In 1972 who recorded ‘Help me make it through the night? 11. Which heroine was given the Freedom of London in 1908? 12. In which Dickens novel does Jerry Crucher appear? 13. What name is given to the larva of the fly? 14. Which canal links Liverpool with London? 15. How long was Hitler married to Eva Braun? 16. What does a Geiger Counter measure? 17. What is the popular name for the anaesthetic nitrous oxide? 18. Who was British Prime Minister during the abdication crisis? 19. In ‘All creatures great and small’ who replaced Carol Drinkwater? 20. What is the only English anagram of Grandiose? 21. Who was Britain’s first Socalist MP? 22. What name do the Spanish give to medium dry sherry? 23. Which Welsh town became a city in 1969? 24. In Kipling’s Jungle book what sort of animal is King Louie? 25. Which Arthur Miller play is about witchcraft? 26. Which cartoon character had nephews Dewey, Huey and Louie? 27. In music, if a piece is in three flats which notes will be flats? 28. In Britain what was the minimum age for women voting in 1918? 29. A loganberry is a cross between which fruits? 30. What was the first children’s programme broadcast on BBC 2?

Why did Santa spell Christmas N-O-E? Because the angel said, “No L.” Why is Christmas like a day at work? You do all the work and the fat guy in the red suit gets all the credit. 9 What do you call Santa’s little helpers? Subordinate Clauses. SHIPS BROUGHT OVERLAND

SS Ollanta 1930 – still afloat and being renovated

In 1929 Earles Shipbuilding Company in Hull, England built this vessel for the Peruvian government in kit –form, put together with nuts & bolts. Each part of this 2,200 ton ship was marked with a number dismantled, sent by sea to Mollando, Peru on the Pacific coast, then transported by rail over the Andes mountain range to Puno. A slip-way had to be built, Ollanta finally riveted together, took to the Lake in 1931. A most luxurous steamer that could make 14 and a half knots from her oil fired boilers, could accommodate 66 first class passengers, 29 second class and carry a maximum of 950 tons of cargo; she was the biggest vessel on the Lake. More astonishingly sixty-nine years earlier in 1862 Thames Iron Works in West Ham, London did a similar job of building two vessels Yavari and Yapura for the Peruvians each of 210 tons. Like the above shipped from the U.K. [not through the Panama Canal no built until 1914] the long haul around Cape Horn in kit form none of the 2,766 parts had to be heavier than a mule could carry. For the first part of the journey from the coast transported by steam train, forty miles later the tracks stopped at the Andes foothills. From there it would be mules carrying the ship over the mountain to Lake Titicaca. But the project came to a stand still in acrimonious disputes between the muleteers, the consignees and the Peruvian government. Additionally an earthquake disrupted operations. Meanwhile the parts lay rusting for over five years! Eventually disputes settled and work resumed, at long last all the parts were finally delivered to the Lakeside. Now came the task of building the ships with unskilled labour, not until 1873 were both afloat. The older of the two Yavari at 148 year old can claim to be the oldest in service gun boat in the world. The Peruvians like to get value for money 10 NAVAL PERSONALITIES [19]

Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort [1774-1857] Creator of the Beaufort wind scale

Born in County Meath, Ireland, the Beaufort’s were descended from French protestant Huguenots. Beaufort first went to sea for the East India Company, he was present at the battle ‘The Glorious First of June 1794.’ Soon promoted from Midshipman to Lieutenant then Commander. Badly wounded leading a cutting-out operation off Malaga made a slow recovery, and put on half pay While he had only a formal learning his self education was sufficient for him to associate with scientists and mathematicians of his day such as John Hershel and Charles Babbage. Experts were impressed such as Alex Dalrymple who remarked, “We have few, if any, who have Beaufort’s knowledge and ability his zeal and perseverance cannot be excelled.” His accomplishment was in chart making both in Britain and abroad his work being highly detailed and accurate. He became Admiralty Hydrographer a post held for 25 years, during which he converted a minor department into the finest surveying/charting institution in the world. Beaufort was involved with expeditions such as HMS Beagle, that carried Charles Darwin on his four year voyage of discovery, also the artic voyages of James Clark Ross to measure terrestrial magnetism. He was a Council member of the Royal Society, the Royal Geographic Society, which he helped to found and supported many research projects. He retired with the rank of Rear Admiral in 1846. Beaufort married twice between marriages he had an incestuous relationship with his sister that tortured him with guilt. Only discovered many years later when students read his letters, cloaked in a reversal of the famous Vigenere cipher of 1523. But it is for his wind scale that he is best known. The Beaufort scale [1805] used by the Met office and marine forecasters, is based on observation of the sea state rather then accurate measurement. The scale is numbered 1, sea mirror smooth, absolute calm [wind speed nil] followed by scale 2 light airs, 3 light, 4 gentle, 5 fresh, 6 strong breezes, 7 high winds, 8 gale, 9 strong gale, 10 storm whole gale and 11 violent storm. The final scale number is 12 hurricane force winds, seas phenomenal [wind speed 70mph plus] by wave height Many others had thought about such a terminology but it was Beaufort who made precise descriptions of sea states that not only would have been in use by Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar but are in use world wide to this very day. 11 THE ROYAL MUSEUMS GREENWICH

Formally the National Maritime Museum

The Royal Museums Greenwich is the leading maritime museum of the UK, and may well be the largest such museum of it’s kind in the World. The 200 acre World Heritage site, founded in 1675 by Charles ll, incorporates not only the large museum of naval/maritime exhibits and artifacts, with two million items, [free entrance, though temporary exhibitions may charge a fee] a large reference library, but also incorporates the Greenwich Observatory with it’s longitudinal line on the ground making the Greenwich Meridian, from which all other lines of longitude are measured [G.M.T. too.] Then there’s 17th century Queen Anne house as well as the fully rigged ship Cutty Sark with it’s tall masts and yards, enough to bring a tear of pride to any mariner. [Recently your editor made use of the their reference library. Quite a rigmarole to acquire a readers ticket, that resembles a bankers card featuring a full passport type photograph, full name and signature with home address and post code kept on file. Previously made contact to get the reference numbers of files/documents I wish to see, as well as giving a time and date for attending.] In the museum there is much to see that could take several visits. There’s charts and maps, coins and medals, figure heads, historic paintings and photographs, ships plans, time pieces, weapons and uniforms. One such is admiral Lord Nelson’s frock coat that he wore at the battle of Trafalgar. From fifty feet away alongside was the high fighting platform on the main mast of the French ship Redoubtable from where a marksman took aim at the admiral below, squeezed the trigger of his musket, split seconds later the ball hit Nelson’s left shoulder, the entrance hole can be clearly seen in the coat, went on to shattered his spine between the sixth and seventh vertebrae and lodged against his right shoulder blade. 12 In one of the exhibition halls can be seen Prince of Wales oared barge of 1751 built not far away on the Thames embankment, 64ft long powered by 21 oarsmen and having an ornate carved cabin gilded with 24 carat gold. HMS GIRDLE NESS and the SEA SLUG MISSILE

HMS Girdle Ness [1945-1970] Sea Slug missile

HMS Girdle Ness [A387] was originally HMS Penlee Point [F04] one on many such transports built in Vancouver, Canada, came over to Britain in 1945. In 1953 the ship was moved to Devonport dockyard for conversion into a trials ship; principally to test Britain’s first generation ship to ship or surface to air guided missile ‘ Sea Slug.’ The County Class -Devonshire, Hampshire, Kent, London [1960-61]-Fife, Glamorgan, Antrim and Norfolk [1964-67] were designed around this missile system. Each ship had a twin launcher on the Q.D., and a very large magazine below deck amidship to stow these weapons; intended to engage high flying reconnaissance aircraft or bombers before they could launch stand-off weapons. The weight of each missile was 1,800lbs, range 33,000yds, ceiling 55,000ft. at a speed of 685mph– directed to the target by a beam. Later versions tried on Girdle Ness could reach speeds of 1,370mph, range 35,000yds, ceiling 65,000ft. Type 901 fire control radar, for control beam tracking & Type 965 air search radar for target acquisition meant a lot of top weight for the ships that required weight compensation below decks. The cost of each Sea Slug missile at 1961 prices was £50.000 but Girdle Ness claimed a single shot kill with an average of 92 per cent accuracy. Later improved types were developed against ships and ground targets. On it’s one and only time in action, sadly used outside the missile’s operational capacity, occurred during the Falklands conflict by HMS Antrim who failed to bring down an Argentine aircraft. According to a Royal Navy architect [no name given, was he also an expert on missile and missile systems?] is reported to have said, “The Sea Slug didn’t live up to expectations and was obsolete by 1957!!!!!!!” No doubt readers will make their own judgment.

13 THE FRIGATE HMS OPOSSUM CARRIED ROCKETS

Example of rocket racks attached to a ships gun mounting

All be it only small ones. These small rockets had to be hand assembled from ammunition boxes, screwed together and the tail fins added. They were fired from two racks either side of the gun shield of the twin 4inch ‘B’ gun, positioned just below the bridge. Admittedly much less expensive than £50,000 each even allowing for 1940’ – 1950’s prices. They were two inch rockets believed fired as a further anti- weapon an alternative to the ahead throwing weapon the ‘’ positioned on the same gun deck just aft of ‘B’ gun. This gun mount was also the main weapon for star shell illumination during hours of darkness. The rocket racks gave a fixed elevation of about 45 degrees, a weapon electrically fired in fives a distance ahead of about 2,000 yards that could do much mischief to a U-boat’s conning tower or casing. Since mentioning the Hedgehog anti-submarine weapon, a 24- spigot mount with small bombs fired ahead of the ship, the ASDIC operator could track the target right up to the point of attack, resulting in a success rate of one in every six attacks. Whereas it’s for runner the of which ‘Opossum’ carried four throwers on the quarter deck plus chutes on the stern, while a much demonstrative/spectacular weapon to watch from the surface was equally much less effective down below. Manly because ASDIC contact was lost between the and the detonation of the D/C, a time lapse of about five minutes in which an experienced U-boat commander could and did escape. The depth charge hydrostatic pistol set at a pre-selected depth detonated the charge, if the explosion got within 50-80feet shockwaves would breach the subs pressure hull. But out of 5,174 Second World War Royal Naval attacks 14 only 85 kills were obtained, putting it another way, on average out of sixty U- boat attacks only one was successful using this weapon. AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFIERNT - SEX, SIN and LUST - SHEER ESCAPISM in the 1940’s 1950’s

Here’s the anti hero Hank Janson actually the author of the stories that sold many copies during the 1940’s and 1950’s his name is Stephen Daniel Frances. Born in Lambeth South London in 1917 grew up in poverty, not surprisingly had left wing political views, during the Second World War became conscientious objector, tried his hand at several jobs, wrote a few newspaper articles and later founded a publishing company Pendulum Publications; in short a self publicist. If any male wanted a racy thriller a Hank Janson novel more than filled the bill. Without doubt Frances was the most successful British pulp fiction author of the post war years. The paper backed novels, usually priced 1/6 [one & six pence] were violent pseudo-American thrillers featuring erotic front covers painted in rich colours by Reginald Heade, vivid blondes with a ripped blouse, skirt hitched up to the waist struggling sweetly against chains/ropes with a small image top right corner in silhouette, presumedly Hank himself, open trench coat – trilby hat tipped back, cigarette dangling from the mouth. Between 1946 and 1953 the sales of Hank Janson novels are said to have topped 5 million, with such titles as ‘When dames get tough,’ ‘Gun smoke in her eyes,’ ‘Smart girls don’t talk,’ ‘ This dame dies soon,’ ‘ Her weapon is passion’ etc. Hank [Frances liked the name that sounded rough and ready but also rhymed with Yank] was a tough Chicago reporter, sometimes assistant to a private detective, would get out of more tight corners than Dick Barton but unlike Barton always with a woman or women in tow. The Obscene Publication Act brought the police raiding book shops. Frances avoided prosecution for obscenity on a technicality that he didn’t write the books, actually he dictated them into a Dictaphone and had a typist do the rest. His huge success brought fame and a comfortable life style., his last such novel 15 published in 1963 Later other authors took over the Hank Janson stories. Frances moved to Spain he died there from emphysema in 1989. THE SMALL MINI – OPOSSUM REUNION 2018

Attending:- Eddie Summerfold, Lewis and Vera Trinder & Sam Edgar

Answers to the quiz

1. The French, 2. Andean Condor, 3. 6am. , 4. The banana boar song, 5. The red mullet, 6. Carlisle United, 7. Grown in grape like clusters, 8. Harvey Wall Banger, 9. Rough Quest, 10. Gladys Knight, 11. Florence Nightingale, 12. Tale of Two Cities, 13. Maggot, 14. Grand Union Canal. 15. One Day, 16. Radioactivity, 17. Laughing Gas, 18. Stanley Baldwin, 19. Lynda Bellingham, 20 Organised, 21. James Keir Hardy, 22. Armontillado, 23. Swansea, 24. Orang- utan, 25. The Crucible, 26. Donald Duck, 27. B, E, A, 28. [30], 29. Raspberry & Blackberry, 30. Play School.

16