It's History

No!  Not That Single By The Comsat Angels

Which has to be from nearly forty years ago, meaning your memory would have to be excellent to recall same.  

     Of course Your Humble Scribe had the single when it came out -

     Which is, again, nothing to do with what we're on about this afternoon.  For we are looking again at political shenanigans in South Canada, which occurred so long ago that they are historical, not Political <shudders in horror> and certainly not Current Affairs <shudders in horror and disgust>.

                     The only thing more horrifying and disgusting than Political Current Affairs

     For we are journeying back in time to 1946 and the South Canadian state of Georgia, which was named after King George and which the rebellious natives didn't dare change*.  There had been an election for Governor, you see, which the incumbent (Ellis Arnall) had lost, yet the winner (Eugene Talmadge) managed to surprise everyone by dropping dead before being able to take up his post.

South Georgia.  Close enough.

     This led to Mister Arnall loudly declaring that HE was the king and refusing to quit his office.  Into this breach of political protocol steps the Lieutenant-Governor, Melvin Thompson, who argues that HE is the king and you'd better not forget it, buddy.  Then the deceased's son, Herman Talmadge, said it wasn't fair and HE ought to be king, because of dad.  The State legislature decides to award the position to Herman, because of dad, so he becomes Governor.  Proving that he has the political wiles of a real pro, he waits until Arnall and Thompson are out of the building before changing the locks.

The Governor's Mansion

     Then the Federal government ruled this inheritance was illegal, so Thompson got to be king, despite dad.  No mention of locksmiths this time around.  This state of affairs lasted until young Herman got himself officially appointed as a gubernational candidate and was voted in.  At which point everybody heaved a sigh of relief and went back to eating peaches**.
     South Canadian politics; positively simplistic when compared to our M8s over the Channel.
     Motley!  Take these five carefully-spiked juggling balls - and don't drop them, one is full of nitroglycerine.

Butterfingers Motley strikes again

"Greyhound"

The film is based on a novel by C.S.Forester, "The Good Shepherd" and rather to my surprise the protagonist is indeed a South Canadian, and so is his ship.  As the plot description points out, so Conrad had already reasoned.  The Captain of the Greyhound ("Icarus" in the novel) is a career Navy man, but his convoy escort mission is his first wartime one, whereas the Royal Navy and Royal British American Navy ships out alongside him have two and a half years experience at this sort of thing.  Art!

"Sir, this cruise ship is not what I was promised."

     Conrad is unaware of the Mid-Atlantic Gap being nicknamed "The Pit", also.  It looks far too cold and wet to have anything of Hades about it.  

You What?

Conrad is vaguely aware that what he's posting below is to do with sport, mostly because it was published under that heading over at the BBC website, rather than any familiarity with whatever it is.  Art?

What is this strange argot they speak?

     Your Modest Artisan deduces that a "triple-bogey seven" is a bad thing, to judge by context.  Why this means "Disaster Hole" is unclear.  

     There's no debate or discussion about this hole being a disaster, most especially if you were driving over it when it came into being.  A whole year's worth of triple-bogey sevens, if you ask me.

Tis To Tell Of Telpherage

Yes, there is mileage in this subject yet. Conrad came across a work written by a big fan of H.G. Wells, a person with the attitude that he was the best thing since sliced bread, and whom was trying to track down HG's "inventing" telpherage systems for the Western Front.  It seems that HG sent his ideas in to the War Office in 1916, and that a Captain Leeming turned the idea into a practical solution, even getting a patent for it.  However, it came into being too late to be used in the front lines.  There was a Hamilton Portable ropeway, which extended to 32 miles, according to The Great War Forum.  Then we have the report which our fan dug up, at the Public Record Office, where it had been misfiled after being written, thanks to having "Aerial" in the title.  They do not identify the file!  So the quote they provide has absolutely no provenance.  It took them long enough to dig up the file, so why didn't they identify it?  All very suspicious to Conrad, because without identification nobody can corroborate their story.

     You can have that picture of a light railway at work, because there's nothing on the internet about aerial ropeways or telpherage systems on the Western Front, which rather reinforces the feeling that they were extremely niche and small-scale in use <snaps contemptuous fingers at HG Wells>

Alsace

I did mention this briefly earlier this week (yes yes yes that's code for "I can't remember when and can't be bothered to look") and also trains, and how trains revolutionised warfare, because you could move enormous armies quickly over long distances.  The Prussians were the first to manage this scientifically, most especially in the Franco-Prussian Unpleasantness, where they beat the tar out of the M8s (since they were unwisely fighting without Perfidious Albion alongside them), and then dictated a swingeing peace.

CAUTION! Reality is somewhat grubbier

     The Prussians, very unwisely in the opinion of Conrad, laid hands on the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, because in war the Teutons are always greedy little goblins.  This did not sit well with the M8s, who had a rallying call for a couple of generations, as they intended to get both provinces back, Full Stop The End.  There was always going to be bad blood between the two nations as long as the Teutons retained a grip on Alsace and Lorraine.  For context, imagine a bullying Mexico annexing California and daring anyone to come get it back.

Finally -

I was going to blather on about "The White Company" except we've hit the Compositional Ton, so that and "Field Guns In France" will have to wait until tomorrow.  Because we are done!

*  This might not be entirely correct.

**  Definitely peaches.  Not pineapples.