Friday, August 29, 2008

Rockets Galore


I love my students. They bring me all sorts of space things - plastic astronauts, pop-up books, science fiction magazines, records. A few days ago darling Martin gave me "Rockets Galore" by Compton Mackenzie, with the dustjacket intact. I read "Whiskey Galore" years ago, but did not know about this sequel, in which the British Government attempts to build a rocket range on some remote Scottish islands. It's fabulous. There's a German rocket scientist, Dr Hamburger, crofters turned off their land and forced to migrate (shades of the Kourou expropriations), protests, and, of course, a romance.

It was originally published in 1957, the year Sputnik 1 was launched, and 10 years after the establishment of Woomera, and was also made into a feature film. Haven't finished reading it yet but will be curious to see if they do mention Woomera ....


4 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:07 pm

    It's a pretty unmemorable movie, unfortunately, to the point where I can't even remember if there were any actual rockets in it! It shows up on the ABC late at night from time to time.

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  2. What a shame! I must say the main characters, Hugh McInnes and Jane Kinsella, are rather wet ....

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  3. And you know I was in Melbourne last week, pottering about Lygon St only a stone's throw away from Melbourne Uni. Perhaps next time I'm there I should try and find you?

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  4. Anonymous5:13 pm

    Absolutely! My email is bholman at airminded dot org or you can drop me a line via my website, next time you're coming down this way.

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