Shield Moment
In which an animated shield provokes reflections on family heritage. Plus updates on some new words published, and words spoken on podcasts released.
For me one of the highlights of the various Marvel movies and TV shows has been the development of Peggy Carter from “Steve Roger’s girlfriend,” to secret agent, then a founder of SHIELD, and on to her current incarnation as the multiversal time-tossed warrior Captain Carter.
As well as the character development I hooked on to the iconography of her Captain Carter shield from the moment it debuted.
The symbology of it really resonated with me as a visual representation of our dual-nationality.
Our British heritage at the center of our American journey and life.
I initially saw a couple of boxes just stacked on the floor at our local Target just before Christmas that proclaimed that within them they held a replica of said shield. I totally geeked out when I saw them as I didn't even know they were a thing. Unfortunately these particular ones were obviously waiting to go on the shelves; they weren't priced and not yet on sale..
A quick online search after the holidays when I had some Christmas gift $$ to spend resulted in finding a source that had them for sale at a big discount. So I ordered one, pronto.
I’m now delighted to have an example of that very shield hanging on my home office wall.
Other Stuff
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Brabazon Bits
This isn’t directly Brabazon related, but it’s an anecdote I came across in Sir Archibald Russell’s autobiography, A Span of Wings that is a perfect illustration of the intractable narrow thinking of the British airlines in the early 1950s.
While working on the requirements for what would become the Britannia airliner the design team at Bristol asked the team from BOAC (the British national airline at the time) why they insisted on a specification for just thirty-six passengers when for just a four percent increase in take-off weight the aircraft would be able to carry forty-eight passengers and still meet its mandated performance characteristics. - The answer was that thirty-six was the capacity of a standard BOAC airport bus!
Word Slinging
I was delighted to find an unexpected Christmas Day surprise waiting for me in our parcel locker.
Box of copies of the wonderful Outside In Regenerates collection celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who from ATB Publishing that includes my own contribution focused on the 1st Doctor’s musical interlude in Tombstone.
Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2023 - “Inside Shelby American” by John Morton
In the early 1960s young wanna-be racing driver John Morton moved to California to try his hand at a racing school, and shortly after blagged his way into a job pushing a broom at the legendary racer Carroll Shelby’s new sports car company.
This engaging autobiography tells the joint intertwined stories of Shelby’s rise through the development of the iconic Cobra to its relationship with Ford and the development of the Le Man winning GT40, alongside Morton’s own struggles to rise through the amateur ranks to championship winning professional sports car racer.
Maybe because it’s so well documented elsewhere, I found the “inside Shelby” stuff less interesting than Morton’s personal story which provided a vivid glimpse of life at the lower levels of US club racing in the 60s.
Podcast Procastinations
The final episode of Bond Music: Six of the Best podcast is now online for your listening goodness as Jarrod Albreich and I wrap up almost five years of talking about the sounds of 007. - What a great journey it’s been, and you can join us right HERE.
A few months ago Gill and I sat down with the folks at the James Bond Complex podcast to discuss our thoughts on Ian Fleming’s novel You Only Live Twice.
The podcast episode just went live this week - Just search for The James Bond Complex on the podcast platform of your choice or click HERE
Bond Briefings
The new bi-weekly James Bond Lexicon newsletter is off to a great start with more subscribers than we could have hoped for over the first few weeks. - Thanks to everyone who has subscribed.
In our latest issue we took a look at The Many Faces of Dr. No.
If you enjoy the worlds of 007, and haven’t subscribed, you can join us at the link below
Before They Were Beatles Updates
The Forgotten Beatles first episode is now online. We kick things off with a look at Pete Best’s story both before and after his time as a Beatle. - You can give it a listen right HERE
The December issue of the Before They Were Beatles newsletter is also out now, in which we introduce a young George Harrison to our story. If you don’t want to miss out on the expanded story of the early Beatles history, you can sign up for a subscription below.
Weekly Web Round-Up
Forest Comics & Books - Over the holiday break Gill spent some time adding a bunch more SF paperbacks as well as some graphic novels to the eBay store. You can check out the new additions plus our other current offerings HERE
Batman On The Cover - The journey through Batman’s comics publishing history continues this week we continue our journey through September 1968, with issues published in Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, and Norway
Although its a reprint of the original US cover from the previous year’s Detective Comics #369, I think the removal of the world balloons and punching up the color saturation makes this Italian version way more powerful and dramatic than the original.
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See you next time
Alan J. Porter
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