A “SPRUCE GOOSE” FANTASY
HOWARD HUGHES disliked the term “Spruce Goose” for what he preferred to call the Hughes Flying Boat. And indeed, spruce was only one of the woods used in the Hercules … Continue reading
THE BAROQUE CYCLE
EVERY SO often, I encounter a tale that calls for periodic rereading. James Clavell’s two-volume Shōgun is one (www.wp.me/p2ETap-1ln). Neal Stephenson’s trilogy of The Baroque Cycle is another, all 2633 … Continue reading
SUZUKA’S GRASSY HILLOCK, 1989
MARGIT MOTTA and I witnessed one of the most dramatic—and controversial—moments of Formula 1 racing at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix. The drama was a high point of the intense … Continue reading
HARRIET QUIMBY—AVIATRIX, AND SO MUCH MORE
HARRIET QUIMBY was the first woman in the U.S. to have a pilot’s license, indeed, only the 37th person in the world to have one. But she was also a … Continue reading
THERE’S A WORD FOR THAT
ALL LANGUAGES, not only English, are subject to evolution, often by borrowing words or concepts from other languages. A recent article in The New York Times, July 25, 2013, (http://goo.gl/PA8ktc), … Continue reading
NAPIER-RAILTON, PART 2
JOHN COBB and his 1933 Napier-Railton (www.wp.me/p2ETap-1lR) were certainly the pair for setting record after record on Brooklands’ 2 1/4-mile circuit in England. Between 1933 and 1937, Cobb’s Napier-Railton set world … Continue reading
NAPIER-RAILTON, PART 1
AUTOMOTIVE SPORTSMAN John Cobb’s directive to Thompson & Taylor Ltd. was clear: Build a car to set records at the 2 3/4-mile Brooklands circuit. Chief engineer Reid Railton responded with … Continue reading
LISTENING TO VINYL
ARE YOU back into vinyl yet? Or were you ever into vinyl? B.C.D., Before Compact Discs, the vibrations of sound that we call music were shared by a wiggly spiral … Continue reading
ABOUT ENGLAND
A BOOK is a wonderful gift, often because of unexpected things to which it leads. Georgina, a dear English friend, gifted us with a book that, according to its cover … Continue reading
MRS. THORNE AND ORSON WELLES
AN ODD synergy exists between a wealthy Chicago woman, Mrs. James Ward Thorne, and the theater/film/radio great, Orson Welles. It’s all the more curious in that Welles has been called … Continue reading
