Winston Churchill's Toyshop by Stuart Macrae

At the ACCU conference in 2012 I asked the person from Bletchly Park if they had heard of my grandfather Norman Angier. They passed my enquiry on the fantastic Dr Phil Judkins who, once we sorted out the Angler/Angier transcription problem, sent me a host of details:

He began in the research laboratories of the Gramophone Company (part of EMI), joined the International Broadcasting Corporation in 1938 and then had a very interesting war developing secret weapons for Churchill's private research establishment in Whitchurch; post-war he did indeed join DECCA but as Technical Recording Manager.

Dr Judkins also attached an image from the book Winston Churchill's Toyshop: The Inside Story of Military Intelligence (Research).

Mentions of Dr Norman Douglas Angier CBE

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Soon I was able to hire two very nicely furnished offices at 35 Portland Place and then to induce the IBC Chief Engineer, Norman Angier, to tackle some of our experimental work.

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Norman Angier gained his OBEin January 1944 for work on switch number 9 'L' delay, a lead based delayed action fuse.

I would recommend the book as it is a window on a bygone age. This bunch of driven, amateur, brilliant oddballs really did contribute significantly to the war effort.

eric by Terry Pratchett

Just when I thought I had read all the Diskworld novels I found an unread one on my shelf.

I must have bought it a long time ago and intended to read it later, it really was unread, the spine unmarked and the pages undogged.

Sadly the cover art is as subtle as a brick:

FAUST
  eric

but I guess many of the intended audience would other wise miss the literary reference.

© 1990 Terry and Lyn Pratchett
This edition 200 Millennium - Gollanz