My 39 Steps Moment…..
I have never been much of a reader, but
at times I have become attached to an author. When I was young I was a
voracious reader of the Biggles novels by Captain W.E. Johns. I remember buying
the hardback books for half a crown (2/6 = 12.5p). Later I progressed, if that
is the word, to the works of Donald E. Westlake and finally the Science Fiction
novels written by Russians Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Their wonderful short
novel ‘Roadside Picnic’ (Пикник на обочине, Piknik na obochine) still resonates
in my mind as I type this. Then for no apparent reason I stopped reading for
thirty years, until that is I got my Kindle twelve months ago.
I have always loved Alfred Hitchcock’s
1935 Masterpiece, ‘The 39 Steps’, (starring Robert Donat and Madeleine
Carroll), adapted from the novel by John Buchan which first appeared as a
serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915. Out of copyright
the book was freely available as a digital download. Having already listened to
Orson Welles’s excellent 1939 ‘Mercury Theatre on the Air’ version (Broadcast
August 1, 1939), I knew the plot of the book was not strictly followed by
Hitchcock. As it transpired the only part of the plot Hitchcock had followed was
the title and the name of the main character. In every other major respect
Hitchcock made up his own story. For example, in the book the ‘Steps’ are steps,
whereas in the film as Mr. Memory so eloquently says ‘The 39 Steps is an
organisation of spies’. Never mind, it was a good read, but not as good as the
film. I Googled and found Buchan had written other novels featuring Hannay, so
I downloaded them all. I read the first sequel, ‘Greenmantle’; it was puerile
nonsense, full of absurd coincidences and unbelievable characters. I came to
the conclusion John Buchan could not write for toffee and although the other
novels are on my Kindle, they remain unread. My reading had stopped again – I
curse you John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada
But the point of this story was not to
vilify the late author, but rather to describe my own ‘39 Steps Moment’.
Some years ago when I had a show on the
ancestor of ‘103theeye’, ‘The Wireless Company’, Pat Macracken asked me to
represent the station at a symposium in Melton Mowbray. He did not mention the
purpose of the event; he simply alluded to the fact that in some way it related
to radio. I made myself a packed lunch, drove to the place in question and
consumed my sandwiches in the car park. I got out and walked to the door. On
the glass panel was an A4 piece of paper with the word ‘Publicity’ boldly
printed in large letters. I opened the door and walked in. I could see through
a line of windows a group of people seated in chairs. As I walked up to the
door a number of the people looked towards me. I opened the door and walked in
to be greeted by the following immortal words, ‘Oh Good, the speaker has
arrived’.
I looked around expecting to be followed
in by the speaker, but as I did so I was ushered towards a seat at the front. I
sat and desperately looked towards an agenda being held by the chairwoman, but
could not read a word. The woman was quite agitated, I was clearly late, she
gave some words of gracious introduction and I was on my feet! In the few
moments I had been seated I had taken a blank piece of paper from my pocket and
written down ‘The 39 Steps.’
In the Hitchcock movie Hannay is mistaken
at one point for the warm up man for a prospective Liberal candidate who he
refers to as ‘Mr. McCrocodile’. I had entered a similar scenario….
I began by mentioning the scene in
question and then proceeded to speak for about fifteen minutes. As to what I
said, I have no recollection! I sat down to a mixture of quite enthusiastic
applause and one or two strangely glazed looks. The chairwoman looked slightly
more baffled than most, but seemed quite pleased by my contribution. She stood up, thanked me and told the assembly
that after lunch I had agreed to lead one of the discussion groups!
Yes, there was lunch, a superb buffet
that, already full of sausage sandwiches, I hardly touched.
Oh and of course the question of the discussion
group…
After lunch, still having not seen an
agenda, armed with a large felt tip pen and A1 board I lead the first of two
sessions. Just before the end of the first session, which seemed to go remarkably
well… who should arrive…. but Pat!
I said that as regrettably I had to leave
for another engagement Pat would take over and with that I left.
I still have no real idea what it was
about, but it will always be my ‘39 Steps Moment’….
