Normally you would be quite justified in rolling your eyes and complaining that Conrad is up to it, again, with terrible puns about loose leaf Darjeeling or how to brew an Oolong in your Bodum*.
"Operation Teapot" was a long series of 14 nuclear tests carried out by the South Canadians in the middle Fifties, which included the MET test (for "Military Effects Test").
Why is this relevant? Art?
| MET - Make Extreme Terror |
Please note the trellis pattern of smoke-trails in the background, behind the ascendant fireball. These were created by rockets fired just before detonation to provide an immediately visible method of scaling the explosion. In other words, a test artefact. Which means that a nuclear explosion in the wild, so to speak, out not to have any such trellis of smoke trails.
Which means that Steve Yeowell's replication of MET in 2000AD, standing in as Berlin is destroyed by atom bomb**, complete with smoke trails, is both accurate and wrong.
 |
| Don't be around when it goes off. Simple, really |
Then there was Operation Plumbob. One of these tests possibly put an object into solar orbit a couple of months before Sputnik, which impressed the world on 4th October 1957. Op. Plumbob's Pascal B shot ( a mere 0.3 kt yield) took place at the bottom of a shaft, which had been capped by a steel disk weighing in at 2,000 pounds (or 900 of those horrid kilograms). The subsequent explosion propelled the steel disk upwards at about 6 times escape velocity. An ultra-high speed camera captured a single frame of this possible orbiter, before it was lost to sight. Scientists theorised that it may have been vapourised by the acceleration it experienced - or it may still be in a lonely orbit around the sun, waiting to be discovered, because no trace of it was ever recovered on Planet Earth. Just a thought.
 |
| Steep Latte. Close enough |
"Scaphism"
As you know already, Conrad has an unhealthy fascination with poisons, explosives and nuclear weapons. Torture is a relatively new field for him - bar having to sit through musicals - so the mention of "Scaphism" brought his attention to bear.
Apparently it was invented by the ancient Persians, who could be quite horribly inventive when it came to being inhuman to your fellow human.
"Tell us! Tell us!" I hear your ghoulish chorus. Well, okay, but only in the interests of historical accuracy.
First, take two canoes, or hollowed-out tree trunks. Then, insert your hapless victim between them and lash them together. Ensure the Hapless Victim's head projects freely. Then, force feed them milk and honey.
 |
| Innocuous on it's own ... |
Nature will take it's course inside the torture device, of which we shall say nothing, for BOOJUM! is verily SFW. The Hapless Victim would eventually expire, after a considerable period, due to infection, vermin infestation, dehydration and exposure.
Enough ghastliness! More sweetness and light needed!
"Cocktail Time" By P.G. Wodehouse
Your humble scribe is now reading the above volume, which is essentially set in a timeless universe of Plum's own devising. Things take place in an England which is circa 1919 - 1969. This novel does acknowledge the modern age - if barely - by mentioning "flying saucers" and "rock and roll". As usual with Plum, he also works in some incidental details that are unfamiliar to your humble sceibe. "Colney Hatch" for example. What is it? A little Google-fu is in order.
The Haul
Ah, me, how weak I am. I have discovered that there is a Waterstones present on the upper floor of the Arndale Centre, perilously close to where I work. It only has a small frontage, but goes back into the building for miles. And, yes, I had to take a stroll into the far distant interior, and, yes, I bought some books. Art?
The one about drugs and Nazi Germany is very interesting indeed. Apparently the Third Reich fell in love with "Pervitin", which is basically crystal meth in refined and pure form. The pharmaceutical companies that made it, and the doctors they threw it at, and the pill-guzzling Teuton public, all thought it was wonderful. Simply wonderful!
Large-scale drug abuse over time, eh? What can POSSIBLY go wrong?
Ah, Colney Hatch
I think what Plum was referring to was 'Friern Hospital', which was a psychiatric hospital that stood in the borough of Colney Hatch. For loonies, don't you know, as in the case of Lord Freddie Ickenham, whom is widely seen as being a bit light on logic.
* A go-to brand of teapot.
** Yes, an alternate reality. If it had happened here, people would have noticed. Probably.
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