Wibbo's Words

June's entertainment

An Isolated Incident (DCI Logan, Book 11) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by J. D. Kirk, narrated by Angus King

The Mercy Chair (Washington Poe, Book 6) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by M. W. Craven, narrated by John Banks

The Midnight Feast [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Lucy Foley, narrated by Roly Botha, Lawrence Dobiesz, Joe Eyre, Tuppence Middleton, Sarah Slimani

A Village in the Third Reich: How Ordinary Lives Were Transformed by the Rise of Fascism [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Non-fiction] by Julia Boyd with Angelika Patel, narrated by Julie Teal

Ripley's Game (Ripley, Book 3) [Kindle Edition] by Patricia Highsmith

Panic (Alexander Gregory Thrillers, Book 5) [Kindle Edition] by L. J. Ross

When We Believed in Mermaids [Kindle Edition] by Barbara O'Neal

Ten Seconds (Ben Harper, Book 3) [Kindle Edition] by Robert Gold

A Very British Murder [Kindle Edition] [Non-fiction] by Lucy Worsley

March's entertainment

A Whisper of Sorrows (DCI Logan, Book 6) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by J. D. Kirk, narrated by Angus King

The Big Man Upstairs (DCI Logan, Book 7) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by J. D. Kirk, narrated by Angus King

The Plantagenets [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Non-fiction] by Dan Jones, narrated by Dan Jones

The Hollow Crown [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Non-fiction] by Dan Jones, narrated by Dan Jones

The Templars [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Non-fiction] by Dan Jones, narrated by Dan Jones

Making it So: A Memoir [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Non-fiction] by Patrick Stewart, narrated by Patrick Stewart

Lost Victim [Unabridged Audiobook] [BorrowBox] by Helen H. Durrant, narrated by Lucy Price-Lewis

Fahrenheit 451 [Kindle Edition] by Ray Bradbury

The Fake Wife [Kindle Edition] by Sharon Bolton

The Searcher (Cal Hooper, Book 1) [Kindle Edition] by Tana French

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar [Kindle Edition] [Non-fiction] by Simon Sebag Montefiori

December's entertainment

The Quaker (DI McCormack Mysteries, Book 1) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Liam McIlvanney, narrated by Angus King

The Heretic (DI McCormack Mysteries, Book 2) [Unabridged Audiobook] [BorrowBox] by Liam McIlvanney, narrated by Angus King

Bloodwork [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Re-listen] by Michael Connelly, narrated by Dick Hill

The Poet [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Re-listen] by Michael Connelly, narrated by Buck Schirner

Sea of Tranquility [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Emily St. John Mandel, narrated by John Lee, Dylan Moore, Arthur Morey and Kirsten Potter

17 Carnations: The Windsors, the Nazis and the Cover-up [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Re-listen] [Non-fiction] by Andrew Morton, narrated by Cameron Stewart

Bodies from the Library 5 [Unabridged Audiobook] [BorrowBox] by Tony Medawar, narrated by Philip Bretherton

Graveyard of Empires (Ben Hope Series) [Unabridged Audiobook] [BorrowBox] by Scott Mariani, narrated by Colin Mace

Bad Actors (Slough House, Book 8) [Kindle Edition] by Mick Herron

Laidlaw (Laidlaw Trilogy, Book 1) [Kindle Edition] by William McIlvanney

The Angels of Venice [Kindle Edition] by Philip Gwynne Jones

November's entertainment

Dear Little Corpses (Josephine Tey, Book 10) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Nicola Upson, narrated by Sandra Duncan

Angel Maker (DI Jamie Johansson, Book 1) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Morgan Greene, narrated by Sofia Engstrand

Perfect Dead (DI Frank Farrell, Book 2) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Jackie Baldwin, narrated by David Monteath

Only the Innocent (DCI Tom Douglas, Book 1) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Rachel Abbott, narrated by Kristin Atherton

Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar [Unabridged Audiobook] [Non-fiction] [Audible] by Ton Holland, narrated by Mark Meadows

The Foundation [Kindle Edition] by Isaac Asimov

Mayflies [Kindle Edition] by Andrew O'Hagan

Food for Life [Kindle Edition] [Non-fiction] by Professor Tim Spector

Spying in Guru Land [Kindle Edition] [Non-fiction] by William Shaw

Sphinx [Paperback Edition] by T. S. Learner

June's entertainment

Dead Rich [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by G. W. Shaw, narrated by Charlotte Worthing

The Botanist (Washington Poe Book 5) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by M. W. Craven, narrated by John Banks

The Sun at Midnight [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Rosie Thomas, narrated by Rula Lenska

Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Non-fiction] by Robert Matzen, foreword by Luca Dotti, narrated by Tavia Gilbert

The Ultimate Evil: The Search for the Sons of Sam [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] [Non-fiction] by Maury Terry, narrated by Keith Szarabajka

The Wedding Murders [Unabridged Audiobook] [Library BorrowBox] by Sarah Linley, narrated by Helen Keeley

The Killing Song [Unabridged Audiobook] [Library BorrowBox] by Lesley McEvoy, narrated by Clare Corbett

The Cove [Unabridged Audiobook] [Library BorrowBox] by Alice Clark-Platts, narrated by Ciaran Saward

Triple Cross [Kindle Edition] by Tom Bradby

Trick of the Night (Matt Ballard Mystery Book 5) [Kindle Edition] by Joy Ellis

Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow [Kindle Edition] [Non-fiction] by Lucy Worsley

'Tis only a simple postcard, dear,

A Merry Christmas and Bright New Year.

Posted in Birmingham, George V (1910-1936) stamp.

Honorary relatives

I'm rehanging pictures in the hallway today. The walls have just been painted (I will avoid telling the year-long story of leaks from the flat upstairs/insurance claims etc) in Lime Explosion which is a brave colour choice from someone who's been stuck in it's-a-wall-paint-it-white mode since about 1964.

I adopted these two chaps as honorary relatives about 30 years ago when I rescued the photographs from a car boot sale. The top one is dated 1918 and that's a Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) flaming grenade cap badge at the bottom of the original copper-covered frame. The bottom photograph has a modern mount and frame; Schofield, Brighton is hand-written below the image.

A little more information

From the ICRC (International Commitee of the Red Cross) Historical Archives, this is Walter's record card while he was a prisoner of war. The PA numbers refer to separate records detailing his time as a prisoner and the R numbers refer to his repatriation. As I thought, he was captured on the first day of the Battle of the Somme; apart from this I'm having trouble deciphering some of the abbreviations on the records.

Walter

Yesterday's photo of Walter is a postcard sent to his mother and dated April 25th 1916 (O. A. S. = On Active Service; B. E. F. = British Expeditionary Force).

I've collected old photographs and postcards for years and this one was a present from a friend. Digging through the archives usually turns up one or two nuggets of information but I've been lucky with Walter. I started with census records, searched for Walter plus his mother's surname (Gittens) and found him aged 6 on the 1901 census. On the 1911 census, Walter is 16 and living with his father (Robert), mother (Amy) and sister (Edith) at 31 William Street, Hampstead Road, London.

Then I checked the British Army Service Records 1914-1920 (National Archives) hoping his records hadn't been destroyed during WW2. This is a brief summary of what I found:

Private Walter Robert Gittens, born June 18th 1894, enlisted June 18th 1912, Oxford Street, London, regimental number 1487, 1/9 London Regiment. Later (don't know when) his regimental number changes to 390054.

Military Character: V. Good. Service Record:

Home 5.8.14 - 3.11.14

France 4.11.14 - 30.6.16 (promoted in the field to Lance Corporal 28.1.15, promoted in the field to Corporal 15.3.16)

Prisoner of War 1.7.16 - 25.4.18. GSW (gun shot wound) chest and right shoulder, lost left leg.

Home 26.4.18 - 19.7.18 (Queen Mary's Convalescent Home, Roehampton)

Discharged 19.7.18 No longer fit for War Service.

I still have to check Prisoner of War records to find out where he was held prisoner, but suspect the date indicates that he was captured on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. 

More information, hopefully, to come.

Colours and Walter

The pattern is TGV (Rav link) and the yarns are Wollmeise, Yarn Yard and assorted leftover sock yarns. I'm shameless and will scrounge leftovers from anyone...

The chap sitting down is called Walter; I'll share his story tomorrow.

A postcard of the home town

 

11.11.11

Second Lieutenant K F Nichol, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force (image from Faces of the First World War - the first 100)

Faces of the First World War is an IWM project to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. They've uploaded 100 previously unseen portraits of those who served in the war to Flickr and will continue to upload images every weekday between now and the anniversary in August 2014.