In which we cover crossword clues, Latin and the tactical deployment of heavy anti-aircraft guns. If this is not the tanks, zombies and atom bombs that you were expecting, then - not sorry at all. Roll with it. Learn mental dexterity. Besides, there will be other items, nicht wahr?
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| Very beaky |
Okay, first of all, pay attention to that "So To Speak" because what we are talking about here is what a particular Latin phrase sounds like, and before we tackle that, we need to pay attention to a crossword clue. Yes, I am referring to my birthday present Collins Big Book Of Crosswords; is there a problem with that?
"Omnipresence (8)" which possibly needs a Latin etymology lesson of it's own. Anyway, the answer was "UBIQUITY" and Conrad considers the confused crossworders who lack basic Latin skills or military history knowledge. The word derives from the Latin "Ubique", meaning "Everywhere", and which sounds like "You Beak".
Everyone up to speed? Good. Now, I need to go check on the laundry, so talk amongst yourselves for a few minutes.
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| A judge, also known as a "Beak" in the UK, for no good reason I can find |
Okay, what Regiment of Perfidious Albion's army has the motto "Ubique"?
If you don't hail from these shores that's an unfair question, as there are a shedload of regiments, so allow me to enlighten you: the Royal Artillery*. Art?
Other regiments unkindly know them as the "Drop Shorts", which is a military in-joke you need to think about for a second.
Aaaaand thus we come to the 3.7" anti-aircraft gun, as used by Perfidious Albion in the Second Unpleasantness. Art?
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| A rather large piece of kit |
I have previously broached the subject of why, in the desert war portion of the Second Unpleasantness, Perfidious Albion did not use the 3.7" in an anti-tank role. It most assuredly had the performance to turn any Axis tank of the time into iron filings, as it fired a massive 28 pound shell at 2,500 feet per second, which is optimum anti-tank criteria. However, it was a huge gun that was about 4 times the weight of it's Teuton equivalent, the 88 mm, meaning it wasn't at all speedy. It had no optical sights, since, as an anti-aircraft gun, it used radar input to locate targets. It had no protective gunshield for the crew. And, as it had been designed to fire at an elevation, using it horizontally over-stressed all the hydraulic gear.
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| Before people worried about skin cance |
One thing I've been short of in the past is examples of the 3.7" being used in the ground role. But! I did discover some information over on Warfare History Network, being inspired to look it up after seeing the subject mentioned in David French's work "Raising Churchill's Armies". It seems that after General Ritchie managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the Battle of Gazala, one of the British "boxes" at El Adem was allowed by the local commanders to use it's 3.7"s in an anti-tank ground role. Art?
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| This sort of thing |
They fired only 200 rounds, which is not a lot for a battery of guns during the whole day, and apparently the Teuton tank commanders refused to go anywhere near the El Adem box all day long, knowing full well they'd be scragged at least a mile away.
So there you have today's title, and a lesson in Latin.
Motley! Shall we play a few rounds of Exploding Golf?
Well, Well - How Apposite!
<checks Collins Concise to make sure this is the correct use of the word - it is>. If you recall, earlier today I was burbling on about the Loch Ness Monster and how skeptical enquiry has removed all possibility of the thing being real.
So, it was with some interest that I approached the BBC sidebar entitled "Eight Unsolved British Mysteries", as well as trepidation, for it is gospel that explaining away a mystery sells no books, whereas "MY GAY ALIEN ABDUCTION LOVE TRYST ON MARS!!!" will clear the shelves in seconds.
I was right to be skeptical. Can we have the credulous nonsense from the website on-screen?
1. The Rendelsham Forest Incident
This one’s the basis for The Whisperer In Darkness. On Boxing Day, December 1980, a number of servicemen at RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk, reported some strange lights descending into nearby Rendlesham Forest. When they went to investigate, they claimed they found a glowing metal object, which darted off through the trees when they tried to approach it. A second sighting occurred two nights later. There have been various claims of a hoax in the decades since, but it remains probably the most famous UFO ‘sighting’ in the UK.
Ah me, ah me. This has been explained away a long time ago by people who did not have books to sell. Allow me to present to you the "UFO" in question:
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| No! It's not a rocket waiting to take off! |
What they saw were the lights from Rendlesham Lighthouse, the end. I know it's not very Mulder-and-Scully. Sorry if the real world gets in the way of credulous nonsense sometimes*.
Finally -
Right, after the literary equivalent of weeing on your chips, let us change subjects to something less contentious, like LITHIUM WAFER BATT - perhaps not.
Aha! Yes, "Yottskry". Another of those names that pop up in my head unbidden. In this case the search for it's origin was short, as it's the name of a character in that bonkers British American-German sci-fi series "Lexx". Worth a watch, though it does have a relatively high Tut-factor, so probably not whilst Mum and Dad are in the room, although they'll probably not have the faintest idea what's going on. I know I didn't. Anyway!
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| Not a good look for you, matey. |
And with that we are done, and I can go and get some tea. Chin chin!
* This nomenclature confuses foreigners terribly. Royal Air Force - check. Royal Navy - check. Royal Army - NO NO NO! although, once again confusingly, there are various bits of it that are Royal - the Royal Greenjackets, Royal Artillery, Royal Tank Regiment.
** When I say "Sorry" what I mean is "I'm not sorry AT ALL."
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