Category Archives: personal

Aircraft Repair Depot

June 2, 2016 – 5:38 pm

Above is a painting of an Aircraft Repair Depot towards the end of the war. Not No. 3 Western depot in Gloucestershire where my grandfather was stationed, but No.1 Southern Aircraft Repair Depot, South Farnborough. The painting is by Graham Glen, and shows  ‘Women’s Royal Air Force at Work on Aeroplane Salvage’. Click it to […]

By George Simmers | Also posted in History, War Artists | Comments (3)

My grandfather

May 30, 2016 – 8:07 am

Thanks to those who helped clear up the ‘ T.F.’ mystery. I’m more used to reading novels than Army records. Maybe readers could help me a bit more… I’ll start by telling the story of my grandfather’s Army service, so far as I know it, which isn’t very far, in the hope that someone might […]

By George Simmers | Also posted in Military | Comments (10)

T.F.?

May 28, 2016 – 10:35 am

At the National Archives last weekend, I did a little more research on my grandfather, and will post about it soon. Meanwhile, I am puzzled by an abbreviation in the London Gazette : What does T.F. mean? I bet there’s someone out there who knows.

By George Simmers | Also posted in Military | Comments (9)

A decade of blogging

May 2, 2016 – 4:44 pm

I woke this morning to an email congratulating me to the fact that this blog is ten years old today. I really hadn’t realised. Occasionally I get fed up with commemorations and anniversaries, but here is one that I suppose I ought to mark. Ten Years. Quite a while.

By George Simmers | Also posted in blogging, memory | Comments (6)

Debits and Credits

February 24, 2016 – 6:38 pm

Yesterday I bought a new copy of Debits and Credits. My previous copy has been read to bits. It is an American (Doubleday, page & Co.) first edition of 1926, picked up somewhere by my father during his seafaring years. Its cover is stamped with a rather attractive picture of an ancient ship, which I […]

By George Simmers | Also posted in novels, Shell-shock, Short stories | Comments (3)

National Libraries Day

February 6, 2016 – 4:42 pm

Regular readers of this blog may have twigged that a fair bit of the reading I mention here is actually re-reading. ‘Sapper’, Ian Hay, A.E.W. Mason, P.G. Wodehouse, H.G. Wells, Agatha Christie, Leslie Charteris, George Bernard Shaw, G.K. Chesterton: these and others are writers whom I first read as a young teenager. Mostly I found […]

By George Simmers | Also posted in libraries, novels | Comments (3)

‘Sapper’ in Amiens

April 2, 2014 – 6:33 pm

Tomorrow I shall be going to Amiens, to deliver a paper on “‘Sapper’ : from realism to melodrama” to a conference organised by Les Amis du Roman Populaire. This is an association devoted to all kinds of popular fiction – but especially to the French fiction of the last century, and this conference is considering […]

By George Simmers | Also posted in academic | Comments (1)

Oh What a Lovely Programme

May 13, 2012 – 5:13 pm

I’ll be moving house next week, so have been doing the final stages of an attic clear-out. Today I found something I never realised I’d kept, the programme of Oh What a Lovely War from Wyndhams Theatre, where I first saw it in 1963. It reminded me of  a thrilling evening, and the first time, […]

By George Simmers | Also posted in Theatre | Comments (8)

Wishing you a merry Christmas

December 24, 2011 – 6:49 pm

…and a peaceful New Year.

By George Simmers | Comments (2)

Richard Holmes memorial service

May 30, 2011 – 3:43 pm

An email from the Wilfred Owen Association tells me: The memorial service for Richard Holmes is being held at the Royal Memorial Chapel, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Camberley, GU15 4PQ  on Wednesday 8th June at 2.30pm.  Those who wish to attend should inform: PWRR HQ on 01227 818056 or: rhq@123pwrr.co.uk or Steph Muir on: profsdiary@tiscali.co.uk

By George Simmers | Also posted in academic | Leave a Comment