The continue reading link is borked.

God but this is good stuff.

Posted October 5, 2006 12:07 AM by Terry Karney

I have to post it in order to find what the link will be in order to put in the "continue reading" link. I have to add the link then resave.

And yes, it's good.

And there's more -- lots more. This is only a fraction of what's appeared here.

Posted October 5, 2006 12:14 AM by James D. Macdonald

I know. But to have it all in batches...

Posted October 5, 2006 12:20 AM by Terry Karney

Nit to be picked: 'Open Thread 52' isn't linked to its post.

I wonder what he'd do with this week's news. Something really wild, maybe, although it's hard to top reality.

Posted October 5, 2006 12:27 AM by P J Evans

Thank you, Jim!

It's a ton of work, but much appreciated...

Posted October 5, 2006 1:26 AM by dan

Thank you, Jim!

It's a ton of work, but much appreciated...

Posted October 5, 2006 1:27 AM by dan

This does make me think that in future, the necessary final volume in an author's collected works will not be "The Letters of..." but "The Blog Posts of..."

Posted October 5, 2006 3:50 AM by Greg

I'm wondering a little why I didn't follow-up more on the Home Guard stuff, in October last year, but I suspect I was being overwhelmed by bureaucrats.

Still, a couple of bits for anyone who might be interested:

The Home Guard "irregulars" were known as the "Auxiliary Units", and that term will get you started on the subject. There is bibliography here which seems to give the cover title of the IED manual.

The thing about "Dad's Army" was that it was written by two guys who had been in the Home Guard, and (family history here) some of the standard Home Guard stories crop up everywhere.

On the other hand, the story about the drill session that coincided with Captain Clayton wearing his other hat as a Methodist local preacher, seems only slightly exaggerated. Captain Clayton was dissatified with the platoon's standard of drill, so Sergeant Bell was told to give them a proper drill session.

Captain Clayton's military service seems to have been limited to an office on a French Railway station, and much boasting about being at an improbable series of famous battles.

Sergeant Bell had the ribbon for the Military Medal on his tunic.

As the story arrived at my ears, the congregation were treated to the distant sound of the mating call of the Drill Sergeant. Although the distance does seem a trifle excessive. The rest of the platoon, while they did do some drill, had been warned in advance of what they would hear.

Posted October 5, 2006 5:09 AM by Dave Bell

Thanks for all four of those (and all yet to come ?).

I had missed some of them posts, and it was nice re-reading the others.

Posted October 5, 2006 9:36 AM by MD�

The words of one beat poetry is genius. I never tire of re-reading it.

Posted October 5, 2006 11:13 AM by beth meacham

Can we start calling "something one learned as a kid that nobody else seems to remember" a mikeford? My personal one is the Curate's Egg....

Posted October 5, 2006 11:16 AM by Tom Whitmore

Is it possible to collect his postings (or as many as possible) into an edited volume?

Posted October 5, 2006 1:58 PM by Fragano Ledgister

Very nice indeed. I had missed those posts of Mike talking about his medical conditions.

Posted October 5, 2006 2:13 PM by Martin Wisse

Someone called "Dave Who Turns" (Dave Turner?) has rendered the worm sonnet into "words of one beat". Read it here. I have mixed feelings, myself; the poem has been altered so much that it's more a one-beat-verse inspired by the original than a translation.

Posted October 6, 2006 4:06 AM by David Goldfarb

Someone called "Dave Who Turns" (Dave Turner?) has rendered the worm sonnet into "words of one beat". Read it here. I have mixed feelings, myself; the poem has been altered so much that it's more a one-beat-verse inspired by the original than a translation.

Posted October 6, 2006 4:13 AM by David Goldfarb

#11: good idea. I can see the evolution of the Mikeford Identification Request: "I vaguely remember reading/hearing about this obscure and interesting fact; can anyone help?"

Posted October 6, 2006 5:14 AM by ajay

I remember the curate's egg. Not from everyday conversation, though, only from reading fifty-year-old English adventure stories, so maybe it doesn't count.

Posted October 7, 2006 2:57 AM by Paul A.

Thank you for (re-)posting these. While I've been aware of John M. Ford for years, it's only since reading his comments on this blog that I realized just how amazing he was, and why. Condolences to all who loved him. Shame on us who never took the chance.

Posted October 16, 2006 9:45 AM by Thomas

I remember the Curate's Egg from reading back issues of Punch, where I saw the cartoon, though it was a reasonably common reference in British fiction of the 1920s-40s as well.
My mikeford is the story of the hundred thousand monkeys, from the Edwardian edition of the Book of Knowledge. The story is about a little boy in India who lets the meal burn and is smacked by his parents, so he runs off into the jungle. There he is invited to tell his sad tale to the hundred thousand monkeys so they can sympathise.
It turns out that he doesn't have nearly enough grief to satisfy a hundred thousand monkeys, and things get a little scary.
It's been a sort of benchmark for me - is this sad enough for all those monkeys? But no one ever knows what I mean unless I tell the whole story.
-Barbara

Posted October 17, 2006 1:55 PM by Barbara Gordon

I only just noticed this on the main page banner:

"Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate." — John M. Ford

Appropriate.

Posted October 21, 2006 1:44 PM by Rob Rusick