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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 170 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Forsyth, Frederick
Germany, 1957, Celle. It is the height of the Cold War when the unnamed RAF pilot narrates his flight home on Christmas Eve from the German air station of Celle. (1957 was the year of my birth, incidentally)
Vampire. What a name for a jet, especially around Christmas, huh? Falcon's a made-up name, the other two are from the two World Wars.
Lakenheath. From Lakenheath, he plans to catch a bus to London and from there ride to his home, Kent. Canterbury is in Kent, and besides being the background of Chaucer's famed Tales, is the birthplace of famed British filmmaker Michael Powell.
his compass and radio fail. A blown fuse knocks out his compass and radio, so he can't find his way or radio for help. Two of the false answers might be more fitting for the old "Twilight Zone" TV show!
slow his plane's speed. He remembers his old instructor, Flight Sergeant Norris, telling him it's best to slow the plane down so to conserve valuable fuel. He prays later, and won't bail out because he is over the North Sea later and doesn't want to risk freezing to death in the ocean. He doesn't wet himself either!
fog blocks out the earth. If his oxygen ran out or his engines stalled he'd be dead! And blindness wouldn't be any better! Fog rises over the land when a sea breeze blows over the frigid earth, thus blocking out any views of city lights that would give the pilot bearings.
fly in small triangles. Another procedure taught to him by Norris is to fly in small triangles so that he can be detected on radar screens and help can be sent to him.
DeHavilland Mosquito. The DeHavilland Mosquito is a propeller-driven plane of WW2 vintage. It is ostensibly the rescue aircraft or "shepherd" (appropriate in the Yuletide season!) sent to guide the pilot to the nearest airstrip.
JK. No, JK isn't for Joe Kennedy, Jr., firstborn son of Joseph Kennedy. Joe, Jr. died in a secret bombing mission.
RAF Minton. The pilot thinks he's landed at RAF Merriam St. George, but he learns he's at Minton, a barely used RAF storage depot.
Flight Lieutenant Marks. Marks is an old "ground wallah" who runs the near deserted air station. Peter D. Carter is the pilot who gets a second chance at life in the Powell-Pressburger fantasy "A Matter of Life and Death" (US title "Stairway To Heaven")
Joe. Steward Joe looks after the pilot when the latter is squared away for the night in a spare room.
John Kavanagh. The pilot learns John Kavanagh, an Irishman, flew the WW2 plane that guided him to the air station (his initials were on the plane).
he died in 1943. Saw it coming, didn't you? Kavanagh fell into the North Sea on Christmas Eve, 1943. Still, it's a heck of a good Christmas story if you can find a copy!
his wife Carole. Forsyth wrote the story as a Christmas gift for his wife Carole. Hope you enjoyed the quiz!
Day of the Jackal. In 1973 it was made into a very enjoyable movie staring Edward Fox. There was also a remake made in 1998 starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere which I haven't seen yet.
Five. Every second story in this book was set in Ireland, I assume that was intentional. Story #2 was about snakes in Ireland, then #4 was about a bungled hijacking in Ireland, and so on.
Whispering Wind. When you read this story, beware, for not all is as it seems!
| Which book starts off with the introduction: "The Cold War lasted forty years. For the record, the West won it. But not without cost. This book is for those who spent so much of their lives in shadowed places. Those were the days, my friends..."? | The Works of Frederick Forsyth
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The Deceiver. I'm guessing Frederick Forsyth's last remark "Those were the days..." is also a reference to the Mary Hopkins' song with the same name (which a Soviet Defector in CIA custody listens to at one point).
A rich womaniser wants to kill the husband of the woman he loves.. The rich man hired an assassin to sneak into the husband's beach house in Spain and shoot him there. The plan actually works and the assassin is back in England, boasting to his employer that there will be "no comebacks". In addition, the victim's wife walked in at the last moment and the assassin killed her too!
| Who, in the short story "Money with Menances", turned out to be responsible for the bomb wiping out the blackmailers' flat (not to mention the blackmailers themselves)? | The Works of Frederick Forsyth
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Nutkin - the blackmailed protagonist. Poor Mr Nutkin was one of the many businessmen who found himself blackmailed after spending a lunch break with a woman who'd advertised in the "Personals". But unlike the others, he had been a bomb-expert during World War Two.
No. It was in fact set in the 1960s (just after John F. Kennedy was shot) but did feature Hitler's old thugs hidden away under new names, plus the eye-witness account of an old concentration camp survivor.
The Biafra Story. Written in 1969, this book was set in the Biafran War (Nigeria going to war to prevent its eastern province seceding).
Sheep. In 1957 an RAF pilot is returning from Germany to England. Then suddenly, over the North Sea fog begins to close in, radio contact ceases, and the compass goes haywire. Without these navigational aids - a crash is imminent. Luckily another plane soon appears to "shepherd" him through the fog to the nearest runway, and he lands safely. However, when the pilot is relaxing in the airport's hanger, he sees a photo of a young pilot who died during World War Two. The very same man who just shepherded him!
Quinn. We never learn Quinn's first name (in fact he'd had it erased from CIA records when he left the service). Lebel was the hero in "Day of the Jackal", McCready was the hero in "The Deceiver" and Peter Miller in "The Odessa File".
The Sicilian Mafia. A wealthy Italian jeweller's daughter had been kidnapped by Sicilians. They held her for ransom and Quinn had negotiated her ransom price. But the little girl was accidentally killed in the crossfire between the bandits and some hired guns the father sent after Quinn (without telling him) to ensure the girl AND the money came home. Quinn blamed himself and resigned.
Oxford. He went overseas to vacation/study in England. As President Cormack's son, he was always followed by secret servicemen in an unmarked car wherever he went. They were killed one morning, though, when a white van suddenly appeared out of nowhere, shot them, chloroformed Simon, and zoomed away with him in the back. Margaret Thatcher herself rang Washington to tell Cormack senior the bad news.
The CIA. Quinn was living incognito in Spain at the time. As soon as he saw the kidnapping on the news at the local pub he mentally prepared himself for an imminent visit from his former employers. He was not disappointed, they were already waiting for him when he got home.
All these reasons. The story starts off with a Russian army commander despairing about depleting USSR oil supplies, then takes us to America where an oil tycoon and a shipping tycoon band together for the same reason. They think if they can keep President Cormack from signing the peace treaty and enhance US belligerence, it will be the first step to ending American dependence on the "corrupt Arabs" once and for all.
Saudi Arabia. The new president makes it clear to the world that he is not interested in war (not least with his peace treaty). The conspirators want the vice-president, a man who feels quite the opposite, to replace him. Kidnapping Cormack's son and later killing poor Simon will render the president emotionally unfit to be in office. So they think.
All of these (Canada, France, West Germany). You can guarantee Frederick Forsyth's books will always give a good guide to European roads!
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