Swallows and Amazons will never be the same again!

[Mirelle]

Ah, but you are overlooking the blatant colonialism of the explorers in "Secret Water"...

"Hey, you! Big fella! Strong man! Belong topside plenty chop!"

(Someone once seriously suggested this! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif)

Anyone who has his foreign girlfriend entered on his passport at a time when he is still married to an Englishwoman at home, with permission from the Foreign Office, has more than usual influence with the Powers that Be.

 

[oldharry]

Good grief Mireille! Haven't you read Missee Lee. Talk about flag waving....... Quite clearly Nancy and Capt Flint believed that anyone who could not speak English was an uneducated ape who would never dare touch the white man.

 

[Mirelle]

Funnily enough I have just re-read it, and confirmed my relative un-enthusiasm for it, although I do have a friend, a Cambridge-educated international banker, who closely resembles Missee Lee - who was apparently a composite of an actual lady pirate, Lee Choi San, and Soong Ching Ling, widow of Sun Yat Sen and later President of the Peoples' Republic of China, whom Ransome had met in Shanghai.

 

[oldharry]

Quite agree Mireille - its the only one of the series that really misses the mark altogether.

But it stands to reason, and i think reinforces the story knowing that there was a 'real' Missee Lee - and no disrespect to your friend - an undoubtedly daunting Lady! /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[bilbobaggins]

The well-known aphorism 'Who cares who wins!' did not originate in Bradbury Lines at the top of the Wye Valley, or even in the 'Special Forces Club', but in the Civil Service College near Guildford.

 

[trouville]

Does the civil Service realy need a college? They do seem to do quite well.

 

[bob_tyler]

[ QUOTE ]
clearly Nancy and Capt Flint believed that anyone who could not speak English was an uneducated ape who would never dare touch the white man.

[/ QUOTE ]

But that's absolutely true, isn't it?