Water Gipsies
C. Marin Faure
Cornish flower farm (he wrote a number of very delightful books dealing
with this subject), and in one of them he mentions a novel called "The
Water Gipsies" written by his friend, A.P. Herbert, sometime, I assume, in
the 1950s or '60s. This book is apparently about the canals, and was
later turned into a musical for the stage. I have never heard of this
book until now, and I'm curious if anyone on this list has read it, and if
so, is it a book about life on the UK canals?
C. Marin Faure
author, Flying A Floatplane
David Long
Marin Faure <fau...@halcyon.com> writes
torn wrapper earlier this year. The blurb on the inside flap runs:
"Those who in 'Riverside Lights' (Herbert also) heard the half-humorous,
half-pathetic, plaint of the servant-girl who sang 'It may be life...'
and hankered for 'Life' as it is led in the pictures, will recognize
Jane Bell. She belongs to that large number of Britons who have no
reading but the Sunday papers, no recreation but the pictures, and no
excitement but the 3.30; [Transatlantic translation: pictures = movies;
the 3.30 = horse racing] and have to do their love-making on omnibuses
and in the parks. The story describes the efforts of Jane and her
family, who live picturesquely on a barge [sic] in West London, to lift
themselves to the 'higher' life of the pictures - and Jane's particular
search for 'Love's Bliss'. We are taken to the Derby, to the dog-races,
to a Socialist Sunday School, to pubs and skittles matches, and up the
Grand Union Canal, where the simple life of the 'Water Gypsies' is
vividly described. The book is a sympathetic and intimate study of the
lives of poor people."
It was published in 1930, ran to 13 editions in the next four years, and
was reprinted as a Penguin paperback (though I've not come across a copy
yet). It is readily available (you can have a later edn. for 2.50 +
p&p...).
Herbert was quite a prolific, and sometimes polemic writer (advertised
on the back of the cover is 'The Bomber Gypsy' - "Beneath the humour of
these poems, the author is one of the closest critics of the army").
He wrote as A.P.H. in Punch, did 20,000 miles patrolling the Thames in
his launch "Water Gipsy" under the white ensign in the Royal Naval
Auxiliary Patrol, and was a President of the IWA, amongst other things.
--
David Long
Sankey Canal Restoration Society
http://www.scars.org.uk/
Updated March 2000 - New Editions of Newsletter - and Bulletin Board
David Long
<Da...@scars.org.uk> writes
>In article <faurecm-1009...@blv-pm406-ip10.nwnexus.net>, C.
>Marin Faure <fau...@halcyon.com> writes
>>I just finished reading several of Derek Tangye's books about life on a
>>Cornish flower farm (he wrote a number of very delightful books dealing
>>with this subject), and in one of them he mentions a novel called "The
>>Water Gipsies" written by his friend, A.P. Herbert, sometime, I assume, in
>>the 1950s or '60s.
I've dug a little further along my book shelves. I have APH's 1970
autobiography. He begins the "Preamble":
"First, a thousand genial maledictions on my dear friends Jean and Derek
Tangye..., they urged me to write a book of recollections, to mark my
eightieth birthday". He continues with a short account of his
relationship with them - including that the gull in Derek's first book
"A Gull on the Roof" was named after him.
Among the illustrations is a picture of "Water Gipsy" leaving
Westminster Pier in 1939 when in the "River Emergency Service". He had
her based there to be handy for Parliament and his MP's duties. There's
also a picture of him and his dog Gaby at its helm. The wartime exploits
are covered in "The Thames", 1960.
Molly
David Long (David Long <Da...@scars.org.uk>) wrote
(re A.P. Herbert)
>
>Among the illustrations is a picture of "Water Gipsy" leaving
>Westminster Pier in 1939 when in the "River Emergency Service". He had
>her based there to be handy for Parliament and his MP's duties.
He was, IIRC, the last Independent MP until Martin Bell.
--
Molly (remove -nospam to email me)
Visit http://www.thehungersite.com for a totally free and simple way
to donate food to the hungry. (Go on, try it!)
Paul Jerome
David Long <Da...@scars.org.uk> wrote in message
news:tQJswJAK...@cableinet.co.uk...
David
Interested to read your replies, one of the second hand stalls at the
National had the water gypsies.
I don't suppose you have the score of the musical do you? I think it is by
Vivian Ellis. (Not sure of spelling.)
Paul Jerome
Steve King
Faure) wrote:
> in one of them he mentions a novel called "The
>Water Gipsies" written by his friend, A.P. Herbert
Is this the book that deserves the blame for dubbing canal boatman as
gypsies?
If so, it surely did a thorough job of promoting that myth, and shows
how widely an incorrect premise can pervade the mind of the public.
Fortunately Tony Lewery went a long way towards disproving the idea in
'Narrow Boat Painting'.
Did the book also mention that boats have to be cold and damp in the
winter?
Steve
David Long
<paul....@nospam.cwcom.net> writes
>
>I don't suppose you have the score of the musical do you? I think it is by
>Vivian Ellis. (Not sure of spelling.)
>
piles of sheet music in order to find a copy whenever I'm out browsing.
David Long
<steph...@easynet.co.uk> writes
>On Sun, 10 Sep 2000 18:21:48 -0700, fau...@halcyon.com (C. Marin
>Faure) wrote:
>
>> in one of them he mentions a novel called "The
>>Water Gipsies" written by his friend, A.P. Herbert
>Is this the book that deserves the blame for dubbing canal boatman as
>gypsies?
>
same name was published by LT Meade in New York in 1879 (a pirate copy
of a series from an English magazine of 1878). Meade wrote a number of
books aimed at improving the young.
By the way, has anyone had a posting on this subject from Mike Stevens?
He sent me an email copy of a posting he made this morning, but it
hasn't appeared in my postbox and, judging from the thread, no one else
seems to have seen it either.
Brian J Goggin
<mo...@mockfords-nospam.clara.co.uk> wrote:
>On Mon, 11 Sep 2000, in article <tQJswJAK...@cableinet.co.uk>,
>David Long (David Long <Da...@scars.org.uk>) wrote
>
>(re A.P. Herbert)
>>
>>Among the illustrations is a picture of "Water Gipsy" leaving
>>Westminster Pier in 1939 when in the "River Emergency Service". He had
>>her based there to be handy for Parliament and his MP's duties.
>
>He was, IIRC, the last Independent MP until Martin Bell.
... and for a university seat: he represented Oxford University from
1935 to 1950. (O/T: we still have university seats --- for the more
respectable universities --- in Ireland, in the Upper House, the
Senate.)
I remember two of Herbert's pieces in particular. One is about the
crime stories of the day, in which the criminal, after doing some
dastardly deed in a house by the Thames, runs to the bottom of the
garden, leaps aboard a powerful launch and zooms away downriver.
Herbert pointed to some of the practical difficulties in doing
anything of the sort, especially at night, in an unfamiliar boat; he
also spoke of the problems associated with dropping a body into the
Thames without having the matter noticed.
Another piece concerned his hero, Mr Haddock --- the man who wrote a
cheque on a cow; the court said it was legal tender --- who had been
prosecuted for driving his car on the right hand side of the road
during a flood; Haddock maintained that seagoing rules applied.
And in *Painting the Boat* he writes
"And here is the place where she was biffed in the blackness of the
tunnel at Blisworth, on the Grand Union Canal, travelling to
Birmingham. It was 7 a.m., many years ago, and I had hay-fever badly;
and while I sneezed she met something. [...] For six days we have been
painting the boat; and every day some new and unsuspected area
appears, insistently demanding paint. We have not the heart to refuse,
for this is the last time. She does not keep the rain out now; she
will hardly keep the river out through another winter. She is doomed.
And so we cannot say, 'That can wait till next year'. It is now or
never. Nor will we say, 'She is not worth it'. She is worth anything.
For she was born in that great grim year 1914, and has seen many
adventures and travelled to Birmingham of the one part and Gravesend
of the other part. She shall have all the paint she asks, though we
know it to be but a funeral garment."
bjg
sean neill
>
> He was, IIRC, the last Independent MP until Martin Bell.
He wrote 'Uncommon Law' which includes a story where a cheque was written on
a cow
'Was the cow crossed?'
'No, your worship, it was an open cow'
> --
> Molly (remove -nospam to email me)
Sean
Mike Stevens
> By the way, has anyone had a posting on this subject from Mike Stevens?
> He sent me an email copy of a posting he made this morning, but it
> hasn't appeared in my postbox and, judging from the thread, no one else
> seems to have seen it either.
Don't know what happened to that, then. I thought I'd seen it on the group.
Perhaps I'm imagining things. Perhaps I hit "Reply" instead of "Reply
Group". Perhaps a virtual crocodile ate it. Anyway I've re-posted it now.
--
Mike Stevens, nb Felis Catus II
No man is an island. So is Man.
Off-list replies, please, to michael...@which.net
Paul Jerome
That's OK, I wouldn't expect you to. I'll just keep looking round here.
Got any G&S? :-)
Paul Jerome
David Long
<paul....@nospam.cwcom.net> writes
>
>David Long <Da...@scars.org.uk> wrote in message
>news:woZr+VAI...@cableinet.co.uk...
>> In article <Sb9v5.8611$LD6.14243@news2-hme0>, Paul Jerome
>> <paul....@nospam.cwcom.net> writes
>> >
>> >I don't suppose you have the score of the musical do you? I think it is
>by
>> >Vivian Ellis. (Not sure of spelling.)
>> >
>> No - and I'm not very happy at having to include ploughing through dusty
>> piles of sheet music in order to find a copy whenever I'm out browsing.
>> --
>
Sorry - I meant the opposite! (Well, almost.) Browsing's part of the fun
of collecting - I just didn't expect to have to add the Music section to
the areas of bookshops you have to check to find waterways books. They
get stuck all over the place - topography, travel, industrial history,
maps and guides, local interest, maritime, children's etc.. It adds to
the fun of the chase, if you've got the time, and I don't always.
>
>Got any G&S? :-)
We don't see much of it.
Paul Jerome
> In article <C_vv5.15442$LD6.18930@news2-hme0>, Paul Jerome
>
> of collecting - I just didn't expect to have to add the Music section to
> the areas of bookshops you have to check to find waterways books. They
> get stuck all over the place - topography, travel, industrial history,
> maps and guides, local interest, maritime, children's etc.. It adds to
> the fun of the chase, if you've got the time, and I don't always.
> >
> >Got any G&S? :-)
>
> We don't see much of it.
> --
> David Long
> Sankey Canal Restoration Society
> http://www.scars.org.uk/
> Updated March 2000 - New Editions of Newsletter - and Bulletin Board
The trouble I find with second hand book shops is:
1. The time seems to disappear rapidly, and what seems like a few minutes
turns out to be an hour or so.
2. I can't resist buying something, so I end up spending money I haven't
got.
Still, I get some good bargains, particularly music, which can be expensive
new. I just picked up an almost brand new Mission Praise for £7.50, it still
had a sticker on the back for £23.10!!!
G&S gets snapped up too quickly for me to get. We don't get much canal
related stuff here, too far south :-( I did see some of the PAL Vine books,
but I already had them.
Paul Jerome
David Long
<paul....@nospam.cwcom.net> writes
>
>The trouble I find with second hand book shops is:
>
>1. The time seems to disappear rapidly, and what seems like a few minutes
>turns out to be an hour or so.
>
>2. I can't resist buying something, so I end up spending money I haven't
>got.
>
>Still, I get some good bargains, particularly music, which can be expensive
>new. I just picked up an almost brand new Mission Praise for £7.50, it still
>had a sticker on the back for £23.10!!!
*That* kind of temptation I can resist - 75p would be my limit!
>
>G&S gets snapped up too quickly for me to get.
Anything in particular you're looking for? If I've got to scour the
Music shelves for the APH musical I may as well pick up anything else
useful en passant.
>We don't get much canal
>related stuff here, too far south :-(
That often means that what is there is cheap.
>I did see some of the PAL Vine books,
Were they?
P & Q Brown
>
>1. The time seems to disappear rapidly, and what seems like a few minutes
>turns out to be an hour or so.
>
>got.
>
my wife. I've found two solutions so far:
- My Barbour jacket has an excellent 'poacher's pocket', which will
accommodate thick A4 size books.
- Encouraging her to buy art books, which are even more expensive than
canal books.
--
Peter Brown
Brian J Goggin
<p&q...@peter-quita.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>The third trouble I find is sneaking the book into the house/boat past
>my wife. I've found two solutions so far:
>- My Barbour jacket has an excellent 'poacher's pocket', which will
>accommodate thick A4 size books.
>- Encouraging her to buy art books, which are even more expensive than
>canal books.
There is another solution: buy the canal books *for* your wife. She's
bound to thank you for your generosity.
I'm allowed to buy waterways books for myself, but I buy pictures of
boats for my wife. I'm *sure* she likes them: after all, she's got
such a lot of them.
bjg
Paul Jerome
> In article <sYQv5.9466$hP2.23379@news1-hme0>, Paul Jerome
> <paul....@nospam.cwcom.net> writes
> >
> >The trouble I find with second hand book shops is:
> >
> >1. The time seems to disappear rapidly, and what seems like a few
minutes
> >turns out to be an hour or so.
> >
>
Child! Who has to be pacified by buying old comics :-)
> >2. I can't resist buying something, so I end up spending money I
haven't
> >got.
> >
> >Still, I get some good bargains, particularly music, which can be
expensive
> >new. I just picked up an almost brand new Mission Praise for £7.50, it
still
> >had a sticker on the back for £23.10!!!
>
> *That* kind of temptation I can resist - 75p would be my limit!
It's not my normal fare, but I do get asked to play things out of it
sometimes.
> >
> >G&S gets snapped up too quickly for me to get.
>
> Anything in particular you're looking for? If I've got to scour the
> Music shelves for the APH musical I may as well pick up anything else
> useful en passant.
>
I'm OK for most G&S, but if you see either The Grand Duke or Utopia Ltd. I
would be interested.
> >We don't get much canal
> >related stuff here, too far south
>
> That often means that what is there is cheap.
I'll keep looking, and let you know if there is anything interesting. Not
being an expert, I wouldn't know what a good deal is, I just like books! My
in-laws gave me a copy of Wilson's "The Ellesmere and Llangollen Canal" as a
present, but I don't know what they paid for it.
>
> >I did see some of the PAL Vine books,
>
> Were they?
> --
> David Long
> Sankey Canal Restoration Society
> http://www.scars.org.uk/
> Updated March 2000 - New Editions of Newsletter - and Bulletin Board
Paul Jerome
Paul Jerome
Brian J Goggin <b...@wordwrights.ie> wrote in message
news:61k1ssk120a64ggc4...@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 14 Sep 2000 10:02:02 +0100, P & Q Brown
> bound to thank you for your generosity.
>
> I'm allowed to buy waterways books for myself, but I buy pictures of
> boats for my wife. I'm *sure* she likes them: after all, she's got
> such a lot of them.
>
> bjg
>
It doesn't seem to be the money that Alison complains about, but the space.
She even complained about the 30p joke book I bought off the wrg stand.
Mind you, it may have been that I insisted on reading the jokes out to her
:-)
Do you think wrg would give me my money back?
Paul Jerome
Paul Jerome
martinp <mar...@wanadoo.nl> wrote in message
news:r0e2ssg36hhvuj7jb...@4ax.com...
> Do you think they would laugh all the way to the bank?
>
>
Not if they read the jokes in the book.
Paul Jerome