Who Is That Masked Man?
In which a few bars of music make me think of a man on a white horse. Plus news on an upcoming book launch.
At the end of the evening after a good stretch of writing, I often like to unwind by watching old black-and-white TV westerns. The shows of choice recently have been Tombstone Territory (1957), Bat Masterson (1958), with an occasional foray into The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955). I usually just watch an episode at a time alternating between the shows.
But this week while flicking through the channels on the Roku TV in my office I caught the image of a certain masked man. I had to check him out.
The first few notes of the William Tell Overture opened a floodgate of memories.
I may be getting my dates mixed up and memory may be playing tricks on me, but as far as I recall The Lone Ranger was one of the first TV shows that I claimed as “my show” when it came to TV watching time. - I guess I had a thing for heroes with secret identities from an early age.
I wasn’t a brave or physically active kid - in fact, my mother actively discouraged participation in anything where I might get hurt - so the idea of putting on a mask and hiding your identity to ride out and help people had a certain appeal.
My other early memory of the masked man was the cartoon from the mid-1960s.
Now this is where memory may have been playing tricks as it is more likely that this was my first exposure to the Lone Ranger at around six years old, and I caught the older show on reruns (or repeats as we called them in the UK). - I guess it doesn’t really matter because what stuck was what The Lone Ranger meant to me.
Over the years he has remained something of a background figure for me. Never top of my long list of interests, yet always somehow there in the background. I make sure to watch every new movie (good and bad) and read each new comic series. I can never hear that piece of music without immediately wanting to recite the opening narration of the TV show.
Just how much The Lone Ranger meant to me was brought home a few years ago. My first (and only) attempt at trying skydiving resulted in a bad landing which gave me a pretty severe concussion - although I wasn’t aware of it at the time. After the skydiving lesson (aka incident) we headed to Waco to visit the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum for the afternoon.
A few days later, thanks to the concussion, I realized that I couldn’t recall a single thing about that visit (and still can’t) with one exception - I can still visualize the display that held actor Clayton Moore’s Lone Ranger mask and my excitement at seeing that strip of black cloth in person. Six-year-old me could never have imagined.
And as for rediscovering the original TV show this week? The one episode an evening went straight out of the window as I binged three episodes in a row.
Now if you’ll excuse me it’s time I returned “to those thrilling days of yesteryear…”
Alan
Other Stuff
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Brabazon Bits
I’m delighted to announce that we will celebrate the UK launch of the Brabazon book at the Aerospace Bristol Museum on Saturday, June 7th.
And I can’t think of a more fitting venue as the museum is located just across from the runway and the iconic hanger where the mighty Brabazon was built and first took to the skies.
I’ve also started to book some podcast interviews to talk about the writing of the book, as well as the Brabazon’s story. - More on those as details firm up.
“Bristol Brabazon: The Ocean Liner of the Skies and its Ongoing Legacy” will be published on 30 MAY, 2025 in the UK and 30 JULY, 2025 in the US.
In the meantime, the book is available for pre-order on both Amazon UK and Amazon US sites.
The book is also now available for pre-order direct from the publisher
Word Slinging
Work continues apace on the Casino Royale project as this week I have been researching and writing notes on the movie’s enigmatic producer Charles K. Feldman.
It was a good news week on future projects, too. As I got the go-ahead on a couple of magazine article ideas and a short-story pitch for a new anthology series. It’s going to be a busy few months at the keyboard.
Podcast Procrastinations
The audience for the first Chronological Christie podcast continues to grow each day. And we are delighted at the reception our discussion on Hercule Poirot’s debut in The Mysterious Affair At Styles has received so far.
If you haven’t given the show a listen yet, you can find it HERE
The second episode discussing The Secret Adversary is completed and staged and will go live on February 9th.
Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2025 - “All The Beauty In The World” by Patrick Bringley
Following the death of his brother and in need of a place to address his thoughts, author Bringley gave up a high-flying job at the New Yorker and became a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This book of his ten years at The Met is a poignant delightful and moving exploration of life, art, and how to step back from our time-pressed lives and just observe and think.
If you’ve ever been to The Met this will make you want to return asap and revisit it with fresh eyes. If you’ve never been, then what are you waiting for?
Over at our online bookstore at Bookshop.org I’ve now added a new section listing books read so far in 2025, so you can pick up copies of any that interest you, while also helping out local independent bookstores.
Weekly Web Round-Up
Forest Comics & Books - Shipping of the War Doctor this week marks the end of our current stock of Doctor Who related FunkoPops, but we still have a bunch of Batmen in need of new homes. You can check out our current active listings HERE.
Batman On The Cover - The journey through Batman’s comics publishing history continues through November 1969 with reprint and translated editions published in Denmark, France, and Germany
The standout this week has to be this French cover. I have no idea what Batman is meant to be doing here, or even what sort of location he is in. The random rays and the floating green stuff (is it meant to be gas?) just add to the confusion. - Yet somehow I still like it.
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See you next time
Alan J. Porter
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