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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Woodward? Would Woodward? Would Woodward really?
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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I reckon I am Lonely (nervous as a cat at Crufts)
Boro is Callan (ony good for assassinations, legally unemployable)
Mick is Hunter (handing out red files)
Hats is Lisa Langdon. (super efficient, err not many options here)
Sorry, Grant, but Toby Meres it has to be.......
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Toby Meres is the only character with any depth. The others are all of a piece. He started out as equally cardboard--public school toff, disdainful of grammar school Callan, effortlessly bested by Callan etc etc. The clue is in the name.
But Anthony Valentine (the clue is in the name) developed episode by episode to become first a foil of and then a comrade of Callan. Insofar as Edwood Woodwood was capable of friendship, Toby could be considered a friend of Callan.
When the series ended Britain was in safe hands both class-wise and security-wise. We shall not see their like again. Or in Lonely's case smell his like again.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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Mitchel's forte was what we now refer to as "world building", the characters in my opinion work well together if you accept The Section, just as you lot accept Slough House.
| We shall not see their like again. Or in Lonely's case smell his like again. |
I know why it's a irritation for Wiley that Jackson Lamb is smelly....
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I entirely agree. What is important when it comes to canonical status is resonance. Jackson Lamb has had it in spades, Lonely achieved only televisual immortality. Though no doubt he excited Mick Herron into action.
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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You can tell the passing of time better by the length of skirts. I shall have to look up these (the Callan episodes, I mean) in case there are any not previously shown on Talking Pictures.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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As James Mitchel had been denied access to the canon. I would suggest that you also consider ruling out the John Craig spy novels written by James Munro.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Duly ruled out, Wiley. You're really getting the hang of this.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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A bit of googling discovered Adam Hall, who wrote the Quiller novels. I was passing him up on the grounds that I had never read him, only to discover that Adam Hall is Elleston Trevor, who wrote an early Wiley favourite, "Flight of the Phoenix", which is exceptionally good if you have just migrated from Biggles. It features a plane crash in the Sahara, water running out, no hope of rescue, so in desperation, and keep in mind they are being bumped off by Bedouins, they decide to rebuild a plane (The Phoenix) from the original wreckage, with added skids to take off. What the survivors don't realise is that the "aeronautical engineer" in charge of the rebuilding has only previously assembled Airfix models. It is a fantastic twist.
If the spy novels are as good, he must surely be in.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| A bit of googling discovered Adam Hall, who wrote the Quiller novels. |
I know the Quiller Memorandum. Quite a good spy film. But not otherwise.
| I was passing him up on the grounds that I had never read him, only to discover that Adam Hall is Elleston Trevor, who wrote an early Wiley favourite, "Flight of the Phoenix", which is exceptionally good, if you have just migrated from Biggles. It features a plane crash in the Sahara, water running out, no hope of rescue, so in desperation, and keep in mind they are being bumped off by Bedouins, they decide to rebuild a plane (The Phoenix) from the original wreckage, with added skids to take off. What the survivors don't realise is that the "aeronautical engineer" in charge of the rebuilding has only previously assembled Airfix models. It is a fantastic twist. |
So not a spy book then.
| If the spy novels are as good, he must surely be in. |
Like I keep saying, quality is not a central issue. Would Ian Fleming get in if it was? There has to be more fame than Adam Hall/Elleston Trevor achieved if I've never heard of him. Not an absolute bar but, you'd have to admit, a reasonable one.
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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| Wile E. Coyote wrote: | I reckon I am Lonely (nervous as a cat at Crufts)
Boro is Callan (ony good for assassinations, legally unemployable)
Mick is Hunter (handing out red files)
Hats is Lisa Langdon. (super efficient, err not many options here)
Sorry, Grant, but Toby Meres it has to be....... |
Very kind of you to volunteer me for active service again. In a way, it's ironically appropriate. My current day-job employer has just been disposing of 100's of surplus human bodies. The Human Remains Department has been extraordinarily busy of late. I'm still not sure whether they still employ me for my antiquated skills, or because I know where the virtual bodies are buried in the corporate dysfunctional systems.
Either way, it comes at a good time as I'm dithering over whether to cash in my pension fund, to keep M'Lady in the style she's accustomed to.
If I am coming out of retirement, I may have to re-equip. However, I seem to recall that last time round, Callan was supplied with the (cough) personal tools by Lonely. Just a bit concerned whether this time round Lonely Wiley will be sourcing equipment from the Acme Corporation?
Mick as Hunter seems appropriate. But will he be able to oblige with big fat brown envelopes with the readies? Non-sequential numbers please. If that takes time to organise, a little bit of petty cash for expenses would be handy. Or do we need to submit requests in triplicate to Hatty for a withdrawal from the AEL "pension fund"?
If you ever need to get heavy and park AEL tanks on someone's front lawn, I can nip down to Tidworth and see if they have any suitable surplus there. Failing that, we might be able to borrow a couple from the same place the farmers used for their attempt to park tanks on Starmer's front lawn.
As shown in this video ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ehUfZ9z6s
Which shows a very British way of organising a protest, driving a couple of tanks in a very polite manner through the very centre of London. And hardly anyone bats an eyelid.
I can't quite imagine it happening in the same way in France. They would have at least have provided some fully-loaded muck spreaders.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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"Probably best to start with yellow folder surveillance first Mr Callan, and maybe a trip down the firing range to practise, before you take on a red, hit job. I really wouldn't want you shooting yourself in the todger with my self loading Acmearmalite. No, sir, I wouldn't want that to happen."
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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If I remember correctly:
The self-loading Acmearmalite was just one of a series of products of the Acme Corporation. They had one feature in common: they usually backfired or caused much more harm to the holder of the product than the intended recipient.
Now wondering:
Were the EU sanctions against Russia designed by the Acme Corporation?
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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| Wile E. Coyote wrote: | | "Probably best to start with yellow folder surveillance first Mr Callan,." |
I may make a start on the kind of surveillance they often did in a pub, while drinking lots of beer and whisky. It may take me a while to get up to speed with the necessary volume. But I'm willing to give it a try.
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