PANJANDRUM: Video report

PANJANDRUM: slideshow

CFZtv SPECIAL REPORT: The Panjandrum

Back when I was a nurse, a quarter of a century, one of the Nursing Officers at Langdon Hospital was a Scottish chap called Bill Millen. I have no idea where he is now, or even whether he is still alive (and as he would be 86 now it is certainly a possibility that he won't be). But I knew him quite well for a few months in 1983-4, and I know exactly what he was doing 65 years ago tomorrow. He was one of the pipers who obeyed Lord Lovatt's illegal instruction to lead the trrops up the beach on D-Day, and was, and I hope still is, a living embodiment of the sort of foolhardy silliness that makes Britain a great country. These days the Health and Safety officers would never have allowed it, and Britain is a far poorer place because of such pettifogging wussy idiocy.

Tomorrow is the 65th Anniversary of D-Day, and as readers of a political bent will know, there is more than a little stink internationally about the celebrations. So we have jumped in with both feet (as usual) and can salve our consciences by saying, quite truthfully, that we are doing it to boost literacy (one of our stated aims as the CFZ)

Today our friends at the Appledore Book Festival launched this year's catalogue by staging a re-enactment of one of the more bizarre events of WW2 - the testing of a peculiar `secret weapon` (that actually was not so secret after all) on the beach at Westward Ho!

We would not have missed it for the world, and are happy to mark the event with a couple of articles, a slideshow, and a filmed report...

Graham Inglis on the historical panjandrum of 1944
Corinna Downes on today's events
Slideshow
Video Report
Appledore Book Festival

THE GREAT PANJANDRUM: Graham Inglis

In 1943, some people walking on the beach at the North Devon resort of Westward Ho! saw a strange sight: a device around eight feet in diameter, and resembling a large cotton reel, or the type of drum used to deliver large coils of cable to a building site – but rolling along, propelled by rockets that spewed sparks and smoke.

The original panjandrum devices had their hubs packed with explosive: it was basically a bomb that was intended to roll up a given beach until it encountered fortified defenses – whereupon it would explode and blow a hole in them. However, they had a tendency to fall over, or to run wildly off-course.

These experiments were part of the preparations for the Allied invasion of Europe, to drive the German armies out of France - although it’s debatable whether the device was actually intended to play a part in the Normandy landings on D-Day, or whether it was part of an elaborate scheme to mislead the Germans as to Allied intentions. Fake military activity occurred in many locations, to give the opposition a variety of false impressions.

The somewhat public testing of the device, on many successive days, could suggest the War Office wanted Hitler to hear all about it.

Today, the countdown, through a loudhailer, reached zero and a bang and a shower of sparks announced the panjandrum’s moment had arrived. Its method of locomotion is similar to the firework known as a Catherine wheel – 16 rockets attached to each wheel, dispersed around the rim, fire simultaneously and impart propulsive force to the device.

In terms of directional travel, the 2009 panjandrum out-performed its World War 2 predecessor, as today it didn’t veer off course or fall over. However, its speed was much lower than that or the originals. It progressed along the beach at around a walking pace, to cheers from the people lining the ridge. The originals were designed to go ten times as fast.

If the sight appeared strangely familar to some people, this may have been due to the “Dad’s Army” television episode called “Round and Round went the Great Big Wheel,” which featured just such a device. However, the one in this TV sitcom was radio-controlled, which neither the 1943 original nor the 2009 recreation were.

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday’s News Today

Yesterday’s News Today
http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

What do I pop here up on Fridays along with the latest cryptozoology news from the CFZ daily cryptozoology news blog? Tea of the week? Not anymore, now its Fact Friday!
Fact: in 1450 the future king Louis XI of France Commissioned the Abbot of Baigne to create a pig organ. This consisted of a number of pigs of various ages that would emit a squeal of an exact pitch when pricked and could produce recognisable tunes.
And now, the news:

'Gay penguins' rear adopted chick
Tasmanian tiger sighting claimed
Did Burlington Man Get 'Champ' Footage Last Weekend?
Breeding like bustards
Local explorer returns to Papua New Guinea
OSPCA Suspends Toronto Humane Society's Ability To Probe Cruelty Cases After Complaints
Prince Charles calls for squirrel cull
Bear wanders into Aurora neighbourhood

What do you call a white bear with a hole in?
A polo bear.

A STRANGE ONE

I have just received the following e-mail and I really have no idea what to make of it. I also have no idea what to reply:

Dear Sir

I have been an amateur cryptozoologist for 30 years yet find myself insufficiently informed to answer the intriguing question posed by my youngest grandchild this morning who, despite her few years, will not accept a fairy-story-type explanation. Could you help me at all, please? If a mermaid were to fall ill, would one treat it as a fish or a human? As facile as it sounds, this is a serious question.

Thank you very much

Yours sincerely

Sostratus Winston

I can only refer Mr Wilson to a section of one of C.S.Lewis's books when he describes centaurs as having both human and horselike metabolisms. However, as I strongly believe that merfolk are all either hoaxes, zooform in nature, or - at best - unidentified sirenians, the answer is probably that they should be treated as any other marine mammal. However, this is a very peculiar question with which to start the day...

STARCHILD UPDATE JUST IN

Despite not believing in aliens, I have known Lloy Pye for ten years now, and am very fond of him. I also believe that the starchild skull is a very important specimen. I just don't believe it is an alien. Just in from Belinda who handles Lloyd Pye's publicity:

REMINDER: DON’T MISS!! Lloyd Pye who is currently touring Europe & UK and will be presenting the latest information on the Starchild Skull project and related matters at the following locations:
London on Saturday 20th June afternoon
Nottingham on Thursday 25th June evening
Leeds on Saturday 27th June (Exopolitics all day conference)

The London event on 20th June ‘An Afternoon with Lloyd Pye’ is from 1.30 to 5pm at the University of London Union in ‘The Venue’, Malet St., WC1 (tube: Goodge St).

To book by PayPal go to www.starchildproject.com events or send a cheque to B.McKenzie, 83 Priory Gardens, London N6 5QU. Tickets £10 advance booking till 15th June (slight extension for the favoured few!!), thereafter £15 (or £5 for University of London students).

See you there!

Belinda