Category: The Montmaray Journals

Britain at War: Masters of Illusion

This week, to mark the release of the North American edition of The FitzOsbornes at War, I’m going to be blogging about Britain during the Second World War. Today, it’s all about the artists who used their skills to camouflage buildings, guns, lorries, tanks, canals – and even entire cities – to protect them from Nazi attacks. Among these artists was the surrealist painter Julian Trevelyan, who was sent on a military camouflage training course in 1940. He learned how animals camouflage themselves in the wild with protective colouring, then was sent off with his paint tins and brushes to work in Cornwall, where he disguised concrete forts as cottages, public toilets and chicken houses, and used careful countershading to render anti-tank guns invisible against hedges. He also gave lectures to soldiers, showing them slide shows of how to camouflage themselves from air attacks (making sure he included slides “of nude girls under a camouflage net to wake up the men when they had dropped off”1). He was later stationed in North Africa and Palestine, where he disguised military tanks and created a dummy army to deceive the German Afrika Korps.

Inflatable dummyTank
A dummy inflatable tank used by the Allies during WWII
Camouflage was also an essential part of Operation Normandy, the Allied invasion of occupied France and Belgium in 1944. The Allied strategists went to great lengths to fool the Germans into thinking the Allied troops would depart from Dover and land in Calais. There were hundreds of fake plywood planes stationed on Kent airfields, as well as dummy landing craft floating on the Thames. They set up inflatable rubber tanks and lorries to make it look as though the Allies had more equipment than they actually possessed, and the 82nd Group Camouflage Company spent weeks making fake tyre marks in the grass so that it would appear that an enormous army had been practising manoeuvres. They also built a huge fake oil-storage tank in Dover, which was regularly ‘inspected’ by the King and Queen for the benefit of German spies.

One of the most famous camouflage experts of the war was magician Jasper Maskelyne, who was recruited into the British army at the same time as Julian Trevelyan. Maskelyne had been particularly bored during the animal-camouflage lectures of their training course (“a lifetime of hiding things on the stage had taught me more about the subject than rabbits and tigers will ever know”2), but he went on to disguise military equipment in the Western Desert and even claimed that he’d made the city of Alexandria temporarily ‘disappear’. He truly was a Master of Illusion.

Tomorrow: Publication day for The FitzOsbornes at War! Also, I talk about some of my favourite non-fiction books about wartime Britain.

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  1. Julian Trevelyan, Indigo Days, quoted in Juliet Gardiner’s Wartime Britain 1939-1945 ↩
  2. Jasper Maskelyne, Magic – Top Secret, quoted in Gardiner ↩

The RAF Pilots’ Song, Plus Some WWII Girl Power

Did you know that, during the Second World War, some of the brave fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force formed their own boy band? And, when not shooting down Luftwaffe bombers, would dance in front of their Spitfires, singing harmonies about, among other things, Douglas Bader’s legs (“They’re not real”)? No, neither did I!1 But I think Toby FitzOsborne would approve. Take that, Hitler!

And let’s not forget the contributions made by British women during the war. If you think they were all stuck in the kitchen, you haven’t seen this! Or read The FitzOsbornes at War, which is all about girls being awesome in wartime, and is published in North America next month, and looks like this:

'The FitzOsbornes at War' North American edition
‘The FitzOsbornes at War’, published in North America on October 9, 2012

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  1. Thank you to Kate Constable, whose informative and entertaining blog post alerted me to the fact that the Horrible Histories books have now been turned into a TV series. I had no idea! I would have left a comment on her blog post as well, but Blogspot doesn’t like me and refuses to accept my comments. ↩

Vintage Classics Book Giveaway Winners

'A Brief History of Montmaray' Vintage Classic editionThank you so much to everyone who let us know their favourite film and TV adaptations of beloved books. Game of Thrones was very popular, although there were also many fans of various adaptations of the works of Elizabeth Gaskell, L. M. Montgomery and Jane Austen. I have never actually read any of Elizabeth Gaskell’s books, so I’ve added her name to the front of my book journal, along with Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, even though I suspect that book’s going to make me cry. Valerie also asked about a Montmaray mini-series, which I think would be an excellent idea. However, although there’s been some interest, no-one has actually bought the film and TV rights yet, so we can keep producing our own versions in our heads, casting our own personal favourite actors and actresses.

There were so many entries in the book giveaway that I’ve decided to choose five winners, rather than three. Congratulations to Jill, Karen K, Margaret Mayfield, Tara N and Kitty, who have each won a copy of the Vintage Classics edition of A Brief History of Montmaray. The book went on sale in Australia today, alongside lovely new editions of Little Women, I Capture the Castle, The Secret Garden, Swallows and Amazons, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and fourteen other classic children’s novels. Random House Australia is offering Australian readers a chance to win an entire library of Vintage Children’s Classics and is giving away, for a limited time, special gift packs to those who buy three Vintage Children’s Classics. Sorry, all that exciting stuff is for Australians only – but everyone else, keep an eye on this blog for an announcement about another Montmaray giveaway.

Vintage Classics Book Giveaway

'A Brief History of Montmaray' Vintage Classic edition

A Brief History of Montmaray is being re-published as a Vintage Classic Children’s book next month. This new edition has a lovely illustrated cover by Samantha Battersby and features the original illustrated introduction page by Zoë Sadokierski:

'A Brief History of Montmaray' illustrated introduction page

And there are some added extras – historical background information, reading group discussion questions and information about some of Sophie’s own favourite classics. It goes on sale in Australia and New Zealand on the first of August, but I’m also giving away three copies here. For all those North American readers who were curious about the original text of A Brief History of Montmaray before it was edited for American readers – here it is! And for Australian and New Zealand readers who already have the Australian edition – um . . . oh look, pretty cover! And cute sketches of puffins and teapots and cats inside the covers! (Note: if an Australian or New Zealander wins a book and would actually prefer a copy of the North American paperback, I’ll send them that instead.)

Usually, when I hold a book giveaway on my blog, I ask people for book recommendations, but I thought I’d do something a bit different this time. To enter this book giveaway, leave a comment below about your favourite film (or television series) adapted from a book you’ve loved. I’ll start you off with some of my favourites.

1. Brideshead Revisited, 1981 television series. One of those rare examples of a television series being better than the book, in my opinion. All those pompous sermons in the final section of the novel were turned into poignant monologues or the sort of dialogue that real people might actually speak. Special mention must go to Jeremy Irons for transforming snobby, wife-abandoning Charles into a sympathetic character. And the bear who played Aloysius did a pretty good job, too. (Let’s just ignore that 2008 film version, shall we?)

2. Cold Comfort Farm, 1995 film. This has a dream cast – Ian McKellen, Eileen Atkins, Miriam Margolyes, Rufus Sewell (in unbuttoned shirt), Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley and Kate Beckinsale. The film’s almost as funny as the book, and that’s high praise.

3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2005 film. I think this was my favourite Harry Potter film. The Yule Ball! Draco as a ferret! Hedges that eat people! A Voldemort who was even scarier than in the book! (They shouldn’t have killed the dragon, though – that was just mean.)

4. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 1981 television series. Admittedly, it’s been a long time since I watched it and I’m sure today’s teenagers would scoff at the low-tech special effects, but I really loved this series. It probably helped that quite a few of the cast members had been part of the original radio series, but I can’t imagine a better Arthur Dent than Simon Jones. (And no, I haven’t seen the 2005 film version.)

5. Careful, He Might Hear You, 1983 film. A lovely film with a stellar Australian cast (including Robyn Nevin, Wendy Hughes and Geraldine Turner), based on Sumner Locke Elliott’s beloved novel.

So, what is your favourite film or television series, adapted from a book you’ve loved? Comment below for a chance to win one of three signed copies of the new Vintage Classics edition of A Brief History of Montmaray.

Conditions of entry:

1. This is an international giveaway. Anyone can enter.
2. Make sure the e-mail address you enter on the comment form is a valid one, so I can contact you if you win (no one will be able to see your e-mail address except me, and I won’t show it to anyone else). Please don’t include your real residential or postal address anywhere in the comment. However, it would be nice if you mentioned which country you live in, because I’m curious about who reads this blog.
3. The three winners will be chosen at random, unless there are three or fewer comments – in which case, it won’t be random and all will win prizes.
4. This contest and/or promotion is not sponsored or authorised by Random House Australia. Random House Australia bears no legal liability in connection with this contest and/or promotion. (My Australian publishers say I have to put this bit in. This is the first time I’ve ever given away any of my Australian books on my blog.)
5. Entries close on the 1st of August, 2012, when the Vintage Classics edition of A Brief History of Montmaray goes on sale in Australia. The winners will be e-mailed then, and I will send off the winners’ books as soon as possible after that.

Note: This book giveaway is now closed. Click here to see the names of the lucky book winners.