Sir Andrew Caldecott's guest appearances

Sir Andrew Caldecott

 A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast

Classic Ghost Stories

EnCrypted: The Classic Horror Podcast

J Sheridan Le Fanu

Fritz Leiber

Ray Bradbury

Shirley Jackson

Mark Gatiss

Clark Ashton Smith

Erich Zann

Robert Louis Stevenson

Edith Wharton

Gerald Durrell

Ambrose Bierce

Mr Jones

Lord Dunsany

Edgar Allen Poe

Margaret Oliphant

OwlTail

Branch Line to Benceston by Sir Andrew CaldecottBranch Line to Benceston was published in the collection Not Exactly Ghosts in 1947. He turned to writing after retirement from the Malaysian Civil Service, again like many of our ghost story writers, he had a career in the Colonial Civil Service of the British Empire. Sadly, he didn’t live long after retirement and died aged 65.Sir Andrew Caldecott (1884–1951) was born in Kent. He was educated at Uppingham School and at Exeter College, Oxford, where he became an Honorary Fellow in 1948. His father was a clergyman. Spooky. how this happens so much.He had a very distinguished career in the Colonial Service and was Governor of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1937 until 1944 (so during the Second World War), and before that Governor of Hong Kong (1935–1937). He also worked in Malaya and Singapore and there is a station named after him in Singapore.He had a lifelong interest in the supernatural and, as is evident from his two volumes of supernatural tales, he was an accomplished writer, but it wasn’t until after his retirement in 1944 that he published his first volume of ghost stories. Not Exactly Ghosts was published in 1947 by Edward Arnold &amp; Co. It contains twelve tales. Interestingly, features of Caldecott’s own interests, such as playing the piano, crop up in his stories and I suppose that is true for most writers, hence my frequent mentions of Hawkwind.In ‘Branch Line to Benceston’, Adrian Frent, a railway enthusiast and herbalist, is the first tenant of ‘Brentside’, the newly-built house next to the narrator’s own house in Brensham. Frent is a partner in a firm of music publishers, but he hates the other partner with a vengeance, feeling that the man has messed up his life stence since they were boys. He wishes his partner dead, and then when he does die, things turn weird. But the story is not exactly a ghost story. C aldecott does a couple of things wonderfully. Firstly; this story is a portrait of Metroland, the area outside London that was developed in the first half of the twentieth century with the benefit of faster rail connections to allow the middle classes, to have the benefits of living in a suburbia that appeared and was sold as being the English countryside, while still able to travel easily into London to their day jobs. Vast swathes of the Home Counties were gobbled up and railways proliferated. John Betjeman, the English poet laureate captured all of this in his film entitled: Metroland and much of his poetry is set in this half-and-half land bathed in the sunlight of the English dream.The second thing I think Caldecott does well is the set up of the story. The death of the Dachshunds and the herbalism and poison seems to be a red-herring. Though giving his great enemy Paul Saxon one of the tinctures he makes reminds Frent of his wish to kill Paul, and thus his sin, he does not actually poison the man. This is a misdirection, I think: a red herring.However, the real set-up is the trap-door. We have already been told how Frent tends to go off half-cocked, but after a brief mention of this trap-door, Caldecott leaves it. This is subtle and I didn’t get that until the end. Caldecott is a great wit and his comment about the coroner’s view that these houses are death-traps being ignored as normal with coroner’s comments reflects his own professional experience, I am sure, and is a bit of a joke because we are going to ignore this clue too, at least I did. Caldecott even flags this clue up saying he has recorded it for a reason that will become clear later. This to me is a great example of burying the obvious, and doing it well.The pSupport the showVisit us here: www.ghostpod.orgBuy me a coffee if you're glad I do this: https://ko-fi.com/tonywalkerIf you really want to help me, become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/barcudMusic by The Heartwood Institute: https://bit.ly/somecomeback

Branch Line to Benceston by Sir Andrew CaldecottBranch Line to Benceston was published in the collection Not Exactly Ghosts in 1947. He turned to writing after retirement from the Malaysian Civil Service, again like many of our ghost story writers, he had a career in the Colonial Civil Service of the British Empire. Sadly, he didn’t live long after retirement and died aged 65.Sir Andrew Caldecott (1884–1951) was born in Kent. He was educated at Uppingham School and at Exeter College, Oxford, where he became an Honorary Fellow in 1948. His father was a clergyman. Spooky. how this happens so much.He had a very distinguished career in the Colonial Service and was Governor of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1937 until 1944 (so during the Second World War), and before that Governor of Hong Kong (1935–1937). He also worked in Malaya and Singapore and there is a station named after him in Singapore.He had a lifelong interest in the supernatural and, as is evident from his two volumes of supernatural tales, he was an accomplished writer, but it wasn’t until after his retirement in 1944 that he published his first volume of ghost stories. Not Exactly Ghosts was published in 1947 by Edward Arnold &amp; Co. It contains twelve tales. Interestingly, features of Caldecott’s own interests, such as playing the piano, crop up in his stories and I suppose that is true for most writers, hence my frequent mentions of <a href="http://Hawkwind.In" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hawkwind.In</a> ‘Branch Line to Benceston’, Adrian Frent, a railway enthusiast and herbalist, is the first tenant of ‘Brentside’, the newly-built house next to the narrator’s own house in Brensham. Frent is a partner in a firm of music publishers, but he hates the other partner with a vengeance, feeling that the man has messed up his life stence since they were boys. He wishes his partner dead, and then when he does die, things turn weird. But the story is not exactly a ghost story. C aldecott does a couple of things wonderfully. Firstly; this story is a portrait of Metroland, the area outside London that was developed in the first half of the twentieth century with the benefit of faster rail connections to allow the middle classes, to have the benefits of living in a suburbia that appeared and was sold as being the English countryside, while still able to travel easily into London to their day jobs. Vast swathes of the Home Counties were gobbled up and railways proliferated. John Betjeman, the English poet laureate captured all of this in his film entitled: Metroland and much of his poetry is set in this half-and-half land bathed in the sunlight of the English dream.The second thing I think Caldecott does well is the set up of the story. The death of the Dachshunds and the herbalism and poison seems to be a red-herring. Though giving his great enemy Paul Saxon one of the tinctures he makes reminds Frent of his wish to kill Paul, and thus his sin, he does not actually poison the man. This is a misdirection, I think: a red herring.However, the real set-up is the trap-door. We have already been told how Frent tends to go off half-cocked, but after a brief mention of this trap-door, Caldecott leaves it. This is subtle and I didn’t get that until the end. Caldecott is a great wit and his comment about the coroner’s view that these houses are death-traps being ignored as normal with coroner’s comments reflects his own professional experience, I am sure, and is a bit of a joke because we are going to ignore this clue too, at least I did. Caldecott even flags this clue up saying he has recorded it for a reason that will become clear later. This to me is a great example of burying the obvious, and doing it well.The p<a href="https://www.patreon.com/barcud" rel="payment nofollow" target="_blank">Support the show</a>Visit us here: <a href="http://www.ghostpod.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.ghostpod.org</a> Buy me a coffee if you're glad I do this: <a href="https://ko-fi.com/tonywalker" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://ko-fi.com/tonywalker</a> If you really want to help me, become a Patreon: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/barcud" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/barcud</a> Music by The Heartwood Institute: <a href="https://bit.ly/somecomeback" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/somecomeback</a>

Episode 65 Branch Line to Benceston by Sir Andrew Caldecott

Ho ho ho! We have a festive cracker of an episode for you this month (literally), as Mike and Will explore Sir Andrew Caldecott’s M.R. James-inspired tale, ‘Christmas Re-union‘. A big thank you to Tony Mears, who provided the readings for this episode. Check out his bands new track ‘A Hypothermia Banquet‘ on Bandcamp! Story notes:  ‘Christmas Re-union’ by Sir Andrew Caldecott (gutenberg.net.au) The collection in which this story appears can be read online at Project Gutenberg Australia. Sir Andrew Caldecott (wikipedia) Andrew Caldecott was a big cheese in the Colonial Office for much of this life, only starting to publish ghost stories after he retired. You can find out more about his career at britishempire.co.uk. Stories I Have Tried to Write by M.R. James (mrjamespodcast.com) Not familiar with the M.R. James essay from which Caldecott took his inspiration for this story? We put out a full reading of it back in 2011 which you can listen to online! Ghost story reviews: Not Exactly Ghosts (Tychy) An interesting review and commentary on the volume in which this story appears. Christmas Re-union (Anibalan.com) An essay on this story, and on Sir Andrew Caldecott in general. The Great Smog of London (wikipedia) The characters express a lot of concern about fog in this story. When you read about the Great Smog of December 1952 you will understand why! Sir Roger de Coverley (wikipedia) This famous country dance, mentioned in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, also makes an appearance in this story. 

Ho ho ho! We have a festive cracker of an episode for you this month (literally), as Mike and Will explore Sir Andrew Caldecott’s M.R. James-inspired tale, ‘<a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks14/1403341h.html#ch12" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Christmas Re-union</a>‘. A big thank you to Tony Mears, who provided the readings for this episode. Check out his bands new track ‘<a href="https://fatmac.bandcamp.com/track/a-hypothermia-banquet" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Hypothermia Banquet</a>‘ on Bandcamp! Story notes: <ul> <li><a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks14/1403341h.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">‘Christmas Re-union’ by Sir Andrew Caldecott (gutenberg.net.au)</a> The collection in which this story appears can be read online at Project Gutenberg Australia.</li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Caldecott" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sir Andrew Caldecott (wikipedia)</a> Andrew Caldecott was a big cheese in the Colonial Office for much of this life, only starting to publish ghost stories after he retired. You can find out more about his career at <a href="http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/ceylon/andrewcaldecott.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">britishempire.co.uk</a>.</li> <li><a href="http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/2011/11/reading-stories-i-have-tried-to-write/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stories I Have Tried to Write by M.R. James (mrjamespodcast.com)</a> Not familiar with the M.R. James essay from which Caldecott took his inspiration for this story? We put out a full reading of it back in 2011 which you can listen to online!</li> <li><a href="https://tychy.wordpress.com/2015/04/01/short-story-review-not-exactly-ghosts/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ghost story reviews: Not Exactly Ghosts (Tychy)</a> An interesting review and commentary on the volume in which this story appears.</li> <li><a href="https://anilbalan.com/2012/12/21/not-exactly-ghosts/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Christmas Re-union (Anibalan.com)</a> An essay on this story, and on Sir Andrew Caldecott in general.</li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Great Smog of London (wikipedia)</a> The characters express a lot of concern about fog in this story. When you read about the Great Smog of December 1952 you will understand why!</li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_de_Coverley" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sir Roger de Coverley (wikipedia)</a> This famous country dance, mentioned in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, also makes an appearance in this story.</li> </ul>

Episode 63 – Christmas Re-union by Sir Andrew Caldecott