Last year's bottles, lying on the shore...
Here's all the edited highlights of comments from 1999, starting with the most recent at the top. You can go forward to 2000, or go here for the 1998 page.
From: Sabrina Campagnolo, of Italy; 29 Dec 99:
"I'm writing to you because I'm writing a thesis on Dahl and I'm searching any kind of material about him. I'm especially looking for any writings about the relationships between the author and the movie versions for children of his books. As I'm not a good web-navigator would you please give me any ideas on how searching with possible good results on this immense ocean? Thank you in advance for your interest and my compliments for your pages."
For some good Roald Dahl sites, see the links section of my Dahl page.
From: Craig Sanders, of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; 19 Dec 99:
"I've been browsing in an attempt to locate the words to a piece of Poetic Greatness called "MacArthur's Fart". It's a bit of simple humour in a poem along the lines of The Man from Ironbark" et al. Any help on where I could obtain these words would be appreciated."
If anyone can help, let me know and I will pass on the info! (The language used here may also stretch the usual high standards of decency applied at this site - if you find this offensive, please accept my apologies!)
From: Cerys Jones, of Wales, UK; 17 Dec 99: (taffydaff@hotmail.com)
"Really good idea and site!"
From: vel, of Maryville, Tennessee, USA; 17 Dec 99: (tater@intermediatn.net)
"just to say hello." 3 Jan 2000: "this is a neat site what is the most fun part about it is waiting to see who gets it"
From: Maureen Wissel, of Minnesota, USA; 25 Nov 99:
"I have spent about a year researching the book - trying to find any mention of it at Random House and at Disney - needless to say, I haven't come across it. I have a copy of the book that was given to my Uncle when he was 8 years old. I used to love to read it and the pictures were wonderful! I was excited to finally see that it was an important book - not with what it says, but in rarity. Neat! Dates me doesn't it! :) Well, nice to send a note to someone who has a copy!
Maureen - you did not leave a complete e-mail address, so I have been unable to reply. Please drop me a line if you would like to keep in touch!
From: Richard Standish, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 10 Nov 99:
"Keith, very nice home page. How long have you been putting this together. Mine is 11:30 hours old. What program do you use to design it and yes we can exchange links."
Richard is another colleague at Telstra. This site was originally hand-cut HTML using a plain text editor. With this re-build of the site (Jan-Feb 2000) I have completely redone all pages using MS FrontPage Express Version 2 in Windows NT4. The site first started as a simple single-page "home page" (now deceased) on 16 Apr 98. The first version of the site proper was on 20 Apr 98 (as per the date at the footer of the front index page). The site only had 9 pages and four articles then! It is now approaching 40 pages, with 15 articles.
From: Laszlo Schuster, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 2 Nov 99: (laszlo.schuster@i-biz21.com)
"Hi Keith, really enjoyed your site. I have a good friend who is a member of the Mensa Institute in the USA. Do you find membership beneficial? ... Once again, thanks for sharing your site."
From: Steve Kindel, of San Francisco, California, USA; 30 Oct 99: (stephenkindel@hotmail.com)
"Left a message in your bottle for a pen-pal. I live in San Francisco would love to visit your country."
From: Simon Chapman, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 22 Oct 99:
"I was impressed by your interest in Ion Idriess, My father and I have been collecting for a while now and it has become somewhat of a passion, good luck finding all the books some are really hard to get. If you are interested, the editor of the Australian book collector (periodical/magazine) is in control of the Idriess estate (his books) and is bringing out a limited run of the Guerilla series (only 200 will be available) good luck again." 23 Oct 99: "I use www.bookfinder.com when searching for my books as it lists advanced book exchange dealers and also many other search engines, it's a catalogue of catalogues if you like. Out of interest, recently I purchased a copy of the Cornstalk publications (1927) Madman's Island. I was very excited to find it had an inscribed message of thanks to A. Chisholm - the birdman at the daily Telegraph in Sydney. You may find this interesting if you read the authors notes in the A&R first reprint of the book.
This is interesting, as Chisholm also had a close relationship with E.J. Banfield, the "Beachcomber" of Dunk Island, in Queensland. I may put up some more info on Banfield some time - a fascinating character.
From: Mike Chevallier, of Brooklyn, New York, USA; 25 Sep 99:
"The CIA and The Russianb KGB have been using mind control secrets and methods via satellites and other devices to control government and the people at large. They have ruined my life and that of others You must help! This serious and urgent buisness. Please contact the British Intelligence and inform them of this happening. I am a British American citizen. Please help me! The CIA has controlled me and have incapacited me mmentally and wishes to make everyone think I'm insane and dangerous to others. They have had me put in a psychiatric ward several times during my lifetime. I am 46 yrs. old and have a college degree with concentrations in psychology, education, and literature. I am not falsifying any of these statements. Please contact me as soon as possible! Thank you! P.S. The CIA tried to prevent my writing this message to you through mental and physical torture. Refer me to other websites/sources that may be able to help us! Thanks!" 29 Sep 99: "Listen, both the mob and the KGB have been hurting me and others with their mind controlling devices. The KGB gave it to the American mob and now we have more enemies than we can handle. Can you help? If not who can? Write back soon!"
What can I say?
From: Andrew Pingree, of Geelong, Victoria, Australia; 18 Sep 99:
"I finally got around to looking at your website. There's quite a lot of content there. It makes my site look a little thin on the ground for all the hubris and fancy graphics. Is "4MYEGO" a real number plate you saw once or one that you thought up yourself? It makes quite a striking title. (You can forget about personalised number plates. A personal domain name is now the very epitome of egotistical powerliving). The site contains articles and data on acoustics, digital audio and music, as well as sound samples and a heap of links."
Andrew is my nephew. "4MYEGO" was a personalised number plate on a Rolls Royce used by some guy in Sydney some years ago in an advertisement. You can tell how effective the advertising was - I can remember the plate, but not the product! It was related to his own ability in entrepreneurship in some way.
From: Martin Reid, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 14 Sep 99:
"I came across your page on The Gremlins and must say I enjoyed it very much. I have an Australian release copy of The Gremlins that I wish to sell and was looking around the net to see what I could find as far as Australian contacts go. I'm in Victoria and would like to sell locally to save all the potential problems. I am aware of the books value as stated on your page and my copy is in very good condition with wear on the spine, a slight tear on the bottom of one page where it has been turned, (approx 5 mm) with no writing or marking inside the book. Just the general ageing process. Anyway, I thought you would be a first good contact point as you may have visitors to your page looking for a copy of the book. I'm in no desperate rush to sell, but if the right price could be agreed on I have a number of bills that could do with the relief!"
This is a rare book; see more info on my Gremlins page. I assume at time of writing that it is still available. If anyone is interested, let me know, and I can pass on the info.
From: Nigel Greenaway, of the UK; 12 Sep 99:
"If you ever get a spare copy of Ion Idriess's Lurking Death please drop me a line. Thanks"
The Australian Guerilla series is extremely rare. A limited run of facsimile versions of the full set, and some other Idriess titles, is now available from The Australian Book Collector, at $A50 each. These are an excellent reproduction of the original. See here for more info.
From: Gray Cutlack, of Cairns, Queensland, Australia; 7 Sep 99:
"Please help ... who wrote 'Click go the Shears'?"
'Click go the Shears' is a traditional Australian song. For some reason, I seem to have lost the full text of Gray's original e-mail. My reply to Gray follows:
According to all the references I have, the author is unknown. In "Eureka - The songs that made Australia", Warren Fahey gives a version of it which seems to be pretty much what is usually heard. He quotes the source as follows: "... from the singing of swagman Jack Pobar of Toowoomba, Queensland, and was collected by Warren Fahey in 1973. Jack Pobar commented: 'Here it is and it's ALL Australian!' " A quick search on the web (Alta Vista at Yellow Pages, Aus. sites only) reveals what looks like a good Oz folk music site at:http://www.cpd.mq.edu.au/boomerang/songnet/songnet.html. It also states that it is traditional, and adds some other details on collection. It states that the tune comes from a North American song "Ring the Bell, Watchman", by Henry Clay Work. Maybe it's not ALL Australian, after all!
From: Colin De La Rue, of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; 30 Aug 99:
"Big brother is watching you"
From: Bruce Rogers, Zeus Publications, of Australia; 27 Aug 99: (zeus@omcs.com.au)
"Very impressed with your website and your work. Maybe you and your visitors would be interested in a special book which is pure Australiana in the raw!...take a look at the preview at http://www.zeus-publications.com/football.html".
I do not personally endorse this book - be warned that the language used at this site may be a little impolite!
From: John Vance, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 8 Aug 99:
"As an avid student (mature and can use words) I used to read as many books of Idriess as possible (having got a taste of it at School in the 60's)and would like to see an Australian Project Gutenberg site being established. Was on there today and no mention of any Australian Authors and they seemed to have missed out on (shock horror) some of their own best authors. Thays how I cam to look at their site and i suddenly thought of Australian authors, none mentioned so I thouhgt of my favourite (well known to me) Only in Australia is he mentioned so far. But his books rank as parts of Australia's bush lore, history and should be stood on a pedestal. But how would you go about it?"
Interesting idea! I expect that Angus & Robertson would need to be approached. Anyone interested in following up please contact me!
From: Terry Hyde, of Cairns, Queensland, Australia; 6 Aug 99:
"I have been keeping an eye out for the book Man Tracks which I thought was written by Jack but have never been certain. I have a few of his books, mainly editions released in the past fifteen years. I have been particularly interested in his books to do with North Queensland and the Northern Territory. I read Man Tracks some thirty five years ago as a kid. The book belonged to my father who I believe had read it at school. I'd be pleased to hear confirmation that it was some of his books and the date that it was written. It would be nice to know of the availability. I often wondered over the years why a movie had not been done on any of his stories. Some of his characters would make Crocodile Dundee pale. I am pleased I jagged your web site, I'm new at this."
Yes, Man Tracks is an Idriess title. It was published in 1935.
From: James Urquhart, of Armidale, New South Wales, Australia; 6 Aug 99:
"I was just viewing your homepage on Ian Fleming & saw your email address. I thought I would email you to let you know that my Grandfather has one of Ian Fleming's Cars. It is an Armstrong Siddley, he purchased it from a Doctor in Sydney. He has had the car now for about 20 years. Everything on the car is still original, you won't find a speck of dust anywhere. It has also won numerous prizes at car shows."
James wrote again with more details on 20 August. See the full message at the Ian Fleming page.
From: Andrew Glynn, of New Zealand; 2 Aug 99:
"Greetings from one of the few Australians living in New Zealand. I was pleased to find your site. It is interesting because I have been collecting idriess books since 1983. I have many of them, although I have never even seen the guerilla series although I have tried a few time to purchase a set of them. Do you know of any for sale. I'll try the Amazon for the new copy .... but it's not the same. I have some doubles, they are hard to find nowdays in good condition but I have had pretty good luck since I have been in NZ. Please let me know which you don't have and I'll have a look. I have many in different versions. But i still lack a decent Nemarluk, Outlaws of the Leopolds, Opals and Sapphires, Must Australia Fight. I was only ever interested in the bush ones, so in the early 80's I turned down a few Cyaniding for Golds which I now regret!!! You'll find the later ones more difficult to get copies."
From: Terry Lane, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 19 Jun 99: (lanet@alexia.net.au)
"Reading your page on Dahl's The Gremlins reminds me that when I interviewed RD, in one of the most nerve wracking encounters of my career, I started by talking about The Gremlins, because I had a copy when I was a kid - about 7 or 8. It scared the living daylights out of me, but I loved it. He was very chuffed that anyone should mention it as his first book. The tape of the interview is still available from ABC Tapes [I think]... It was one of the most popular tapes ever because it contains RD reading his poem The Anteater."
Now the pieces fall into place! It was this radio interview that inspired me to write The Gremlins, my first article! The ABC is still looking for a copy of the tape for me. Terry is an author and broadcaster, well known to listeners of Australia's ABC. He has been here before. (Exactly 12 months ago, by odd coincidence!)
From: Lucie Kucharova, of the Czech Republic; 12 Jun 99:
"I was looking for messages in a bottle."
Lucie - the e-mail address you left doesn't seem to work - drop me another line if you want to be on the mailing list!
From: Tim Playfair, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 31 May 99:
"Keith, You are a gem. In one fell swoop you have provided me with access to book and CD purchases. Oh joy ... in the meantime, I am going looking for the CD of 'Sky, Live in Westminster Abbey'."
Tim is a colleague at Telstra. He has been here before.
From: The AFR/Telstra Australian Internet Awards 1999; 28 May 99:
"Congratulations! Keith De La Rue's Island in the Big Pond web site has been nominated in the Personal Web Page category for the Australian Financial Review/Telstra Australian Internet Awards 1999. The AFR/Telstra Awards is the premier competition for acknowledging and celebrating the achievements of Australian talent and expertise on the Internet."
... but I still didn't win. Maybe some other time?
From: Allan LeBaron, of USA; 16 May 99:
"About mid-January 1942 my brother's squadron (USN Patrol Squadron 22, flying Catalinas) landed at Darwin en-route to Ambon and the NEI. As the Allies were chased out of those places they returned to base at Darwin and he was on patrol during the big Japanese attack on 19 Feb, picked up by a ship which was in turn sunk, made it to Bathurst(?) and was picked up by HMAS Warrnambool and returned to Darwin a day or two later - they lost only one man out of a crew of eight.
"There are a number of us (both in Australia and the U.S.) researching USN Patrol Wing TEN, which had been based in the Philippines on Dec 8 1941 and which VP-22 was to join at Ambon and Surabaja...If any photos of any of PatWing TEN's Catalinas are available, would be most interested in copies."
The "Bathurst" reference is probably Bathurst Island, off Darwin. Drop me a note if you can help Allan. Allan has been in touch before about Nevil Shute Norway, as well.
From: Will Kynoch, of Melbourne, Australia; 14 May 99: (willwk@mpx.com.au)
"I was just reading your article re personalised plates and saw the mention of VERVE. My wife and I own Verve Beauty Therapy in Kew and some years ago tried to obtain VERVE from Vicroads. Since then we have occasionally seen the pale blue Corolla (I think) with that registration. We settled for MATIS and MATIS2 for our cars - it's the name of the French skin-care brand we stock. Have you seen IONO1 and XASERB8"
From: Lynn-Philip Hodgson, of Canada; 12 May 99:
"You might find my site interesting."
Lynn has written a book on Camp X, the secret Canadian WWII training base for Intrepid. The Web address takes you to an intro to each chapter. You can now buy a copy of the book from the Web site. This relates to discussion in my story The Gremlins.
From: Angela, of Canada; 5 May 99:
"Good morning! My book club has decided to study Mr. Norway's books. This is welcomed by many of us, after a steady diet of Canadian authors! As I am the only member with a computer, I was told to find all I could on the Internet... Finally, after much frustration, I came across your site... I liked your "message in a bottle". 6 May 99: Keith, thank you so much for your reply... I am SO impressed with this E-mail and Internet stuff. I cannot believe you are in Australia and yet we can correspond!!
From: Glenn; 10 Apr 99:
"Interesting website......if you will, can you tell me if there is a Neville Island in your vicinity?"
Certainly not that I am aware of. The only Neville Island I can find is one in the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, PA. Anyone else have any ideas?
From: Shirley Norway, of USA; 25 Mar 99: (shirleyn@kdsi.net)
"Hi. Her name was Sally Bessant... Stanley Kramer's film crew and actors, with the exception of Fred Astaire, were persistently and uniformly ill mannered to Dad (Nevil Shute Norway), and I don't think he went anywhere near them."
Shirley is referring to comments from Patricia Taws regarding my story on Nevil Shute Norway - see here. Shirley's full comment is here, along with further discussion and controversy.
From: Mike Marsh, of Australia; 22 Mar 99:
"Thanks. I enjoyed your N S Norway anecdote, located via the NSN mailing list."
From: John R. Henry, of USA; 20 Mar 99: (johnh@changeover.com)
"I did know that Shute dabbled in sports car racing and even wrote a bit about it in On the Beach and Requiem for a Wren. I'll mention your site in the newsletter. That was particularly interesting about his cameo appearance in the movie. As you seem like a fan, I've added your name to the mailing list for the newsletter. PS-I took a brief look at your site and it looks neat. I'll be back for a better visit when I have a bit more time."
This led to contact with Nevil Shute Norway's daughter, Shirley, and a certain amount of controversy! See here for more details. John's site is the home base for the International Nevil Shute Society.
From: Mark Henson, of Great Britain; 20 Mar 99:
"Hello there. I have just seen your most interesting encounter, with the Black Panther at the Prom. I am writing to you, because I am interested in big cats being seen in unusual places around the world. I also have a website, devoted to these cats, The British Big Cat Mystery. As well as Great Britain, I am also looking to expand my sightings log..."
For the rest of Mark's comment, jump to here. I have added this at the end of my story about Big Cats.
From: Elsie M. Lehmann, of Canada; 12 Mar 99: (emlehmann@sk.sympatico.ca)
"You have a very interesting site. I was just browsing around when I came upon it. I taught school in Colac for many years, so I have deep feelings for Aust. The panther story was of interest; I'd like to hear more on the subject."
From: Amanda Bionda, of Ontario, Canada (I think); 4 Mar 99:
"Hello!! I would just like to say that Roald Dahl is my favorite author ... I would also like to say that this is a nice website for information !!!"
From: Martin Hesketh, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 2 Mar 99:
"I remembered your website from our discussions at a place far far away at a time long long ago. I have had a quick look but I'll be back for more... Sensational, I have enjoyed the opportunity to visit your site and it's great, as usual with everything thing you do spot-on, you're one of nature's true gentlemen."
Another web-enabled colleague. Thanks for the kind words!
From: Samuel Hodgkinson, of Australia; 1 Mar 99:
"Could you please help me to find out where the big cow, pineapple, lobster, trout and orange are located? Sam Age 9."
Slightly unusual request; but I do pride myself on having an eclectic site! I was able to help Sam with most of these, and a few more as well. Hmm. Are there any catalogues of "big" tourist attractions of Australia? Maybe that's material for another page...
From: Shawn McLean, of USA; 19 Feb 99:
"Great story about Dahl. Thanks!!"
From: Karrie Sebryk, of Canada; 2 Feb 99:
"Enjoyed the insight into pre WWII spying with your article. Am researching William Stephenson and Bill Donovan. Can you share any other interesting stories of that time?? How did you come by the book? Look forward to hearing from you!!!"
From: Almitra, of USA, now walking across Australia; 20 Jan 99:
"Pleased you made it home safely, and you got see yourself on the web. I'd love to be linked to your site. 13,783 km , Wow!! I'm impressed"
Almitra, the Photogypsy, after we got home from our trip by car to Western Australia. We met her crossing the Nullarbor in Aug and Oct 1998 - at Mundrabilla on our way across, and Yalata on our way back.
If you wish to change anything in an entry here, Contact Me!
Updated: 29 Nov 2000
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