WesWorld

This is the BBC Home Service…

October 12
The Admiralty today confirmed that another new radio-location set has been installed on several ships, the Radio Locator Director Type 282.

October 14
Today the first Miles M.19 Master Mk II production aircraft were delivered to RAF Flying School No.4. The Mk II is identical to the Mk I now in RAF service but the engine has been switched to an 870hp Bristol Mercury XX radial and 200 are currently on order.

October 15
The London Midland & Scottish Railway under Sir William Stanier has been experimenting with diesels since 1934 and this has resulted in two classes of diesel shunters being built since 1937, one such new class entering service earlier this year.
Close co-operation with English Electric has resulted in the new LMS 10000/10001 powered by a 1,600hp EE16SVT diesel and built by English Electric. Although two prototypes are now undertaking operational trials a total of 35 are on order so far and will enter full service next year.

October 24
The Weir W.6 helicopter designed by C.G. Pullin today made its first flight at Dalrymple, Ayrshire. The W.6 is an enlarged W.5 with two seats and powered by a 205hp DH Gipsy and it’s estimated that it can cruise at 79mph and reach 12,500ft. The W.6 is Britain’s second successful helicopter but so far there is no official interest in any of the Weir products.

"Ah Come in Ambassador, you're always welcome. Please have a seat."
"May I introduce Commodore Greenwood"
"Good morning, so this is your new naval attache?"
"Yes your excellency. Commodore Greenwood is come straight from London with good news from the Admiralty."
"Indeed?"
"Commodore would you outline their Lordship's plans?"
"Of course Sir. Well, er, the Admiralty have approved your nation's request for four destroyers. They will be old admittedly but should prove perfect for inshore work. Your Navy's desire to have a training vessel and flagship can be met at ease. It just so happens that a vessel has become available at short notice for loan to your Navy for any period you wish. Here are the plans of the ship if you want to..."
"Yes I very much would like to."
"As you can see it should prove ample for your needs, you see the specification is very reasonable."
"Indeed Commodore Greenwood, its very large but certainly what I had in mind, fast and also a powerful warship. Yes indeed it is what we want. When could your Admiralty arrange delivery?"

Now let the guessing on which nation it is begin!

"So it was you Monsieur who went to the garage at midnight and you who had ample time to damage the brakes. You had the manual technique in your room and it was you who that morning refused to drive the car."
"You liar, I would not have killed him, it's all lies!"
"I think so to mon ami. You had the method and time but not the motive mon ami. No, someone else had good reason to kill the King. Ah yes, not the motive politique, not the smokescreen of the lovers but instead a cold calculating mind. A cold-bloodd killer who framed Monsieur Al' Hassam knowing he had the access commit the murder but it was not he. No the killer is here among us in this room. A man so overcome by greed that no-one was safe. Not the waiter at the Hotel Royale who tried to warn the King and was stabbed through the heart, or the best friend of the King who got in the way too many times. Yes our murderer was clever in concealing his crimes and yet so ingenious and so perfect was his plan of deception that the little grey cells found the answers and made the connection. The obvious clues were so obvious as to be false trails and yet they lead to the only one man who had the motive to kill. Let us go back to that fateful morning and see who really was the driver of that truck..."

Interesting.

...actually, very good job on Pirot's voice. He does actually sound to me like Christie's Pirot!

Interesting indeed!
...
...
...
So... if I read that correctly, instead of abdicating Edward, you decided to kill him.

===========================

Yayoko: "And now, the famous French detective, Hercule Poirot..." <name pronounced with French accent [SIZE=1](i.e. the way Poirot pronounces it)[/SIZE]>

Poirot: "*Ahem* Belgian detective, Madame Akaibara."

Yayoko: "The famous Dutch detective Hercule Poirot..." <name pronounced with English accent [SIZE=1](i.e. the way all other characters pronounce it)[/SIZE]> "... shall reveal to everyone in this room and to everyone in the world who the true killer is..."

Kimi: "Charlie did it. No doubt about it. Kimi's sure."

Yayoko: "... why? Because there are no surfboards around?"

Kimi: "What the hell do you know about surfing? You're from goddamned Tateishi!"

Yayoko: "...anyway... Was it the Cook? Was it the Mexican Ambassador? Maybe the Butler did it after all... just like in all those awesome detective novels I read. It could easily have been the one present in this room who actually gets paid to kill people *cough cough*[SIZE=1]me[/SIZE]*cough cough*. Maybe it was the Wop, Canadian SuperScience!™ gone wild, the deadly Filipino killer penguin or the Ninja hiding in the chimney. Stay tuned! After the commercial interruption, all will be revealed."

ROFL!

No doubt there will be a few more stiffs around after the commercial break.

"No its a lie, a lie I tell you. This French Infidel comes here and tells us a story like the Arabian nights. He thinks he can pin the murder on me! He has no proof!"
"This Belgian Infidel has the proof. Indeed the little grey cells worked hard to place you with the keys but when I realised only you had been at the house that night and that you had been several times before stayng late and befriended Monsieur Al' Hassam. With your gambling debts you needed help, why not your cousin the King who had the power to conceal your crimes. When he refused you threatened to expose his affairs to his wife. But then you found him meddlesome in your affairs and you suspected that he had already, as you say, carried on an affair with your own mistress. So you carefully planned the murder and tried to deflect the attention onto other Arab groups with your accomplice who also vanished after the evil deed was done."
"You lying dog you'll never prove..."
*Crack*
"Great Scott Poirot watch out!" Captain Hastings dives across and pulls Poirot to safety and pulls out his trusty Webley.
*Crack* "Aiiiiiieeee"
"My God he's dead Poirot"
"Ahhhhhhh!"
*splintering glass*
"Mon dieu Hastings someone has murdered him"
"I say maybe he wasn't the murderer after all Poirot?"
"Non Mon Ami he was the murderer that fateful day. But I think the mastermind behind these killings was blackmailing him. Non we still have much work to do."

Quoted

Originally posted by Rooijen10
Poirot: "*Ahem* Belgian detective, Madame Akaibara."

Strangely the most* famous Belgian people, Poirot and Tintin are both fictional.

I'm usually pretty good with detective novels but I'm a bit stumped here. Best to blame the Mexican ambassador in the meantime.

*only?

Maybe Belgians make the best fictional characters.

Poirot is investigating the murder of King Ghazi of Iraq.
So far the blame has been Arabs, Brits, Indians and all sorts of other dodgy folks.

So far it seems his cousin did the deed but who masterminded the plot...

Quoted

Strangely the most* famous Belgian people, Poirot and Tintin are both fictional.

Hergé is Belgian and is famous as the creator of Tintin and when looking at European comics, quite a few are done by Belgians.

November 16
When the Vickers Warwick was cancelled earlier this year Rex Pierson quickly offered the RAF a suitable replacement until the newer heavy bombers can enter service. It is a modification of the Wellington as the Wellington Mk IV. It differs from the earlier marks by being powered by two 1,615hp Bristol Hercules V radials for a speed of 235mph, better equipment and no side guns. The Mk IV is built from DTD646 light alloy to increase maximum loaded weights with minimal increase in empty weight and several aerodynamic, electrical and undercarriage refinements have been included. The service ceiling is 19,000ft and range 1,540 miles with 4,500lbs bombs. It flew from Wisley for the first time today and its hopeful that owing to the few design changes that the RAF shall receive its first production bombers early next year.

November 22
Recently described as “the most technically challenging British aircraft ever built,” the Bristol 159 Manchester took to the skies above Filton, near Bristol, for the first time today. The Bristol 159 Manchester has been developed to B.1/37 as the ‘Ideal Bomber’. The Manchester is a seven-seat heavy bomber powered by four 1,615hp Bristol Hercules V radials. It can carry up to 15,000lbs of bombs and the self-defence armament will consist of a dorsal and ventral turret both armed with four 20mm Orkileon cannon. The fuel tanks hold a total of 2,580 gallons for a range of 2,900 miles with 9,000lbs of bombs. The first flight should be in late 1939 with service entry by 1943.
With a span of 114.6ft; length 80.3ft and a wing area of 1,800 sq ft the Manchester is a massive aircraft and one of the biggest yet built in Britain. Although a technically challenging project it is hoped the aircraft will enter frontline service in 1943. The prototype that flew today is a flying shell in that it lacks any of its war-like equipment and the first prototype shall undertake aerodynamic and flight testing, the second prototype equipment and engine trials and the fully-equipped third prototype armament trials. There is also a static structural test airframe too. The other prototypes should fly during the first half of next year.

I'm not sure I'd go with the Wellington Mk IV, it just doesn't seem that useful. Really Vickers needs to carry on building something but the Wellington is getting old in the tooth.

I'd ask whether the RAF needs yet another bomber to go alongside the Birmingham, Manchester and Lancaster. I don't think any of them really meet the RAF's needs. They're great if you want to bomb Northern France or Germany, but the RAF isn't going to do that. Really I imagine they're after longer (much longer) range to cope with Asia.

This links in with the Vickers problem to an extent, as the Windsor (probably better to go with another city name) offers the longer range needed. Still a bit early yet, so I'd maybe newbuild some Wellingtons in the MPA role.

I've got to wonder whether it isn't worth abandoning the Manchester and Lancaster in favour of the Windsor or another long range bomber.

I'm sure the Manchester could go further with some refinements. Anyway, Vickers needs orders to keep going and I'm sure Coastal Command will get their fair share.

Numbers are much smaller than OTL, probably no more than 200-300 Lancs by 1943. You never know where or who the enemy is. The Lanc will have its uses based abroad I'm sure.

Quoted

Originally posted by Red Admiral
Strangely the most* famous Belgian people, Poirot and Tintin are both fictional.

Herman van Rompuy?
Mercator?
Audrey Hepburn, at least on a technicality?
Egide Walschaerts?
Eddy Merckx?

That's just to name a few: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Belgians

They are, however, somewhat challenging to name from memory, hence the game: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1038692

Forgot about Eddy Merckx and never realized that Jacky Ickx was Belgian too.

Dr Evil, technically. He was raised by Belgiums since he was a baby.

We're talking about famous Belgians in a British news thread. At least Hepburn's father was British.

Quoted

Originally posted by Rooijen10
We're talking about famous Belgians in a British news thread. At least Hepburn's father was British.

And Dr. Evil's father was also British.