#archibald cronin

[ksiega-jesiennych-demonow2]

„Uśmiech kosztuje mniej od elektryczności i daje więcej światła”

-  Archibald Joseph Cronin

[scotianostra]

19th July 1896 saw the birth of AJ Cronin, the Scottish novelist and doctor.

For one short period Archibald Joseph Cronin was the highest-earning novelist in the world, outselling even Agatha Christie, and he is credited with encouraging the foundation of the National Health Service.

Born as Archibald Joseph Cronin in Cardross, Dumbartonshire, A J lost his father when he was young to tuberculosis and the family moved to Dumbarton, where he was educated at the Academy , before they moved again to Yorkhill, Glasgow and he attended St Aloysius' College. He was a fine athlete as well as an outstanding student; going on to study at Glasgow University qualifying in medicine at with top honours.

He worked at the Rotunda, Dublin, and on the Clyde before moving to Tredegar in Wales. He was a Medical Inspector of Mines, and was involved in the mining disaster at Ystfad colliery in which 38 miners drowned, and drew on these experiences in his writing. He moved on to Harley Street in London and finally established a very successful practice at 152 Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill, west London, where he practised until 1930.

Cronin’s writing career began when he was given six month’s bed rest for a digestive complaint. While convalescing from an attack of gastric ulcers on a lonely farm in the Highlands, he wrote Hatter’s Castle in 1931, about a Scottish hatmaker obsessed with the idea of his noble birth. It became a best seller. In the United States, a reviewer for The New York Times found it a work of a novelist “destined for the seats of the mighty.”

After the success he enjoyed with his first novel Cronin devoted himself full-time to writing. In 1935, he wrote The Stars Look Down, the story of a North England mining community that quickly captured attention. While The Times of London said the author had “a bent for melodrama,”

The Citadel drew on Mr. Cronin’s own experiences. It was the story of a young Scottish doctor in a Welsh mining village who sets up a fashionable practice in London and realizes the values of the life he had abandoned. It was made into a film starring Robert Donut.

The New York Times found him “uncannily like Dickens.” In 1940, the book was made into a highly praised film directed by Carol Reed for M-G-M.

The Citadel again drew on Mr. Cronin’s own experiences. It was the story of a young Scottish doctor in a Welsh mining village who sets up a fashionable practice in London and realizes the values of the life he had abandoned. Agaon it was made into a film starring Robert Donut. The Citadel did not go down well with the medical profession and Cronin made enemies in the medical profession, there was a concerted effort by one group of specialists to get The Citadel banned.

When The Keys of the Kingdom was published in 1941, it passed the half-million mark in sales and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. The hero of the novel was a self-sacrificing Catholic priest sent by his superiors into long service as a missionary in China.

Arguably Cronins most well known work, at least here at home, is ‘Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, about a pair of Scottish doctors sharing a practice. It became one of the longest-running British television series. Dr Finlay practised in the fictional town of “Tannochbrae”. The first few episodes of the original TV series were filmed in Milgavie, filming moved to Callander. The 90’s reboot was filmed in Auchtermuchty, Fife. But I hope I have demonstrated in this post that A J Cronin was not just all about Dr Finlay, which he didn’t start writing until 1952 by which time he had over 20 works published and was a very well established author.

By 1958, the total sales of his books in the United States alone had passed the seven million!

There have been numerous adaptations of his works made into Film and television series. The Citadel alone has been made into a Film once and a TV mini-series 4 times, the latest being in 2003 in Italy. Doctor Finlay has seen two TV adaptations through the years A J Cronin died at the age of 84 in a clinic in the village of Glion, near Montreux, Switzerland, where he had lived for the last 25 years of his life. He is buried in Cimetière de La Tour-de-Peilz, La Tour-de-Peilz.

Cronin may have spent many years away from Scotland, but oor country was always in his heart and thoughts, I love this quote from him;

“Although I have travelled the world over I must say in all sincerity that my heart belongs to Dumbarton… In my study there is a beautiful 17th century coloured print of the Rock… I even follow with great fervour the fortunes of the Dumbarton football team.”

[totallyhussein-blog]

Be Inspired by A.J. Cronin

Archibald Joseph Cronin is best known as A. J. Cronin and was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is The Citadel which was published in 1937 and is a story about a Scottish doctor who serves in a Welsh mining village before achieving success in London. The themes explored in The Citadel inspired the creation of Britain's National Health Service (NHS) after World War Two.

[avereunsogno-62]

“Preoccuparsi non toglie mai al domani la sua pena, ma toglie all’oggi la sua forza.”

Archibald Joseph Cronin

[miastaslow]

Plebiscyt w Kielcach - wybraliśmy najlepszą ze stu wspólnie przeczytanych lektur

Za nami już sto wspólnie przeczytanych książek! Uczestnicy spotkań i sympatycy kieleckiego Klubu z Kawą nad Książką wspólnie wybrali najlepsze z lektur, z jakimi mierzyliśmy się w naszym klubie. Oto podsumowanie oddanych głosów!

Niekwestionowanym zwycięzcą okazała się nasza setna wspólna lektura, czyli Pan Lodowego Ogrodu. Tom 1 Jarosława Grzędowicza. Zaraz za Grzędowiczem, z równą ilością głosów i wynikiem drugiego miejsca, uplasowały się dwie powieści napisane przez kobiety: nieco metaforyczny Sen o okapi Mariany Leky oraz Gdzie śpiewają raki Delii Owens.

Na podium uplasowała się również szkolna lektura, czyli Lalka Bolesława Prusa! Co każe przemyśleć wszechobecną krytykę listy lektur w liceach. :-) Mamy nadzieję, że zgadzacie się z prezentowanymi wynikami. A może mieliście innych faworytów? Podzielcie się z nami swoimi typami!

Kasia Leśniak

Poniżej prezentujemy listę wszystkich przeczytanych wspólnie lektur, biorących udział w plebiscycie:

1. Lekcje pana Kuki, Radek Knapp 2. Dopóki mamy twarze, Clive Staples Lewis 3. Szopka, Zośka Papużanka 4. Korzenie, Alex Haley 5. Poszukiwacze muszelek, Rosamunde Pilcher 6. Bez mojej zgody, Jodi Picoult 7. Smilla w labiryntach śniegu, Peter Hᴓeg 8. Księżniczka z lodu, Camilla Läckberg 9. Dzień, noc i pora niczyja, Ewa Nowacka 10. Miłość w czasach zarazy, Gabriel García Márquez 11. Dom dzienny, dom nocny Olga Tokarczuk 12. Ciemno, prawie noc, Joanna Bator 13. Grek Zorba, Nikos Kazantzakis 14. Szklany klosz, Sylvia Plath 15. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov 16. Grona gniewu, John Steinbeck 17. Mnich. Romans grozy, Matthew Gregory Lewis 18. Brühl, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski 19. Kwiaty dla Algernona, Daniel Keyes 20. Wielki Gatsby, Francis Scott Fitzgerald 21. Analfabetka, która potrafiła liczyć, Jonas Jonasson 22. Na południe od granicy, na zachód od słońca, Haruki Murakami 23. Szum, Magdalena Tulli 24. Tak sobie myślę..., Jerzy Stuhr 25. Głowa Niobe, Marta Guzowska 26. Pochwała macochy, Mario Vargas Llosa 27. Odwrotniak, Jakub Małecki 28. Po prostu bądź, Magdalena Witkiewicz 29. Masakra, Krzysztof Varga 30. Słowik, Kristin Hannah 31. Ślady, Jakub Małecki 32. Bodo wśród gwiazd, Anna Mieszkowska 33. Czarna bezgwiezdna noc, Stephen King 34. Morderstwo w Orient Expressie, Agatha Christie 35. Czerwona jaskółka, Jason Matthews 36. Tonąca Ruth, Christina Schwarz 37. Ulisses, James Joyce 38. Kobieta w oknie, A. J. Finn 39. Gra w klasy, Julio Cortázar 40. Istota zła, Luca D'Andrea 41. Wielka samotność, Kristin Hannah 42. Patrick Melrose, Edward St Aubyn 43. Listy do pałacu, Jorge Díaz 44. Gwiazdozbiór Psa, Peter Heller 45. Hipopotam, Stephen Fry 46. Siedem sióstr, Lucinda Riley 47. Miłośnik wulkanów, Susan Sontag 48. Tożsamość, Milan Kundera 49. Narcyz i Złotousty, Herman Hesse 50. Iluzjonista, Remigiusz Mróz 51. Lawendowy pył, Danuta Marcinkowska, Ewa Marcinkowska-Schmidt i Klaudyna Schmidt 52. Bez skrupułów, Harlan Coben 53. Maria i Magdalena, Magdalena Samozwaniec 54. Szadź, Igor Brejdygant 55. Wodny nóż, Paolo Bacigalupi 56. Rysa, Igor Brejdygant 57. Pantaleon i wizytantki, Mario Vargas Llosa 58. Gambit królowej, Walter Tevis 59. Klucze królestwa, Archibald Joseph Cronin 60. Miasto niedźwiedzia, Fredrik Backman 61. Tajemniczy przybysz, Mark Twain 62. Tato, William Wharton 63. Gra szklanych paciorków, Herman Hesse 64. Gdzie śpiewają raki, Delia Owens 65. Ludzie na drzewach, Hanya Yanagihara 66. Lalka, Bolesław Prus 67. Wszystko za Everest, Jon Krakauer 68. Domofon, Zygmunt Miłoszewski 69. Jeździec miedziany, Paullina Simons 70. Biała wilczyca, Theresa Révay 71. Kamienny anioł, Katherine Scholes 72. Piękne kłamstwa, Lisa Unger 73. Przygody dobrego wojaka Szwejka podczas wojny światowej, Jaroslav Hašek 74. Żniwa zła, Robert Galbraith 75. Dotknięcie ziemi, Rani Manicka 76. Biegnąca z wilkami, Clarissa Pinkola Estés 77. Lektor, Bernhard Schlink 78. Dygot, Jakub Małecki 79. Siódme wtajemniczenie, Edmund Niziurski 80. Kirke, Madeline Miller 81. Dzieci północy, Salman Rushdie 82. W ciemnej dolinie. Rodzinna tragedia i tajemnica schizofrenii, Robert Kolker 83. Lot ćmy, Ken Follett 84. Światy wzniesiemy nowe, Urszula Jabłońska 85. Czego pragnie kobieta, Zbigniew Lew-Starowicz i Krystyna Romanowska 86. Diabeł, którego znasz. Psychiatria sądowa bez tajemnic, Gwen Adshead i Eileen Horne 87. Azazel, Izaac Asimov 88. Bogowie, groby i uczeni. Powieść o archeologii, C. W. Ceram 89. Wyspa dnia poprzedniego, Umberto Eco 90. Dobry wilk. Tragedia w szwedzkim zoo, Lars Berge 91. Zanim wystygnie kawa, Toshikazu Kawaguchi 92. Jak nie zabiłem swojego ojca i jak bardzo tego żałuję, Mateusz Pakuła 93. Zatoka Francuza, Daphne du Maurier 94. Sen o okapi, Mariana Leky 95. Dożywocie, Marta Kisiel 96. Droga do zapomnienia, Eric Lomax 97. Petersburg. Miasto snu, Joanna Czeczott 98. Nie zaczęło się od ciebie. Jak dziedziczona trauma wpływa na to, kim jesteśmy i jak zakończyć ten proces, Mark Wolynn 99. Miasto Śniących Książek. Powieść z Camonii autorstwa Hildegunsta Rzebiarza Mitów, Walter Moers 100. Pan Lodowego Ogrodu. Tom 1, Jarosław Grzędowicz

[kaggsy59]

For the #1937Club, a guest post considers a much-loved classic...

As has become a tradition, Mr. Kaggsy has offered up a review for the #1937Club and this time he takes on a book and author who have been much loved – though I wonder how much they’re read nowadays? The title is “The Citadel” by A.J. Cronin, and I think Mr K. was a little underwhelmed… Archibald Joseph Cronin (born 1986, Dunbartonshire, 1896; died 1981, Montreux) was both a doctor and prolific…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Arrested for Forgery." Montreal Gazette. January 23, 1913. Page 2. --- Toronto, January 22. - Detectives Archibald and Cronin left tonight for Beattie, Wash., to bring back Orlando Muses and W. Jones, wanted here on charges of forgery. The two men are accused of forging money orders of the Dominion Express Company, the orders being for sums amounting to about $1,000 in all.

Moses was an employee of the company and it is claimed he stole the' orders from the company and that two men went east and passed them. The theft took place last November and since then the company have been receiving the forged orders.

[642stories]

Story #79 "Mapping My Childhood"

That was a creative writing exercise from my tutor, and it's a mix of fiction and real-life events.

There was a heavy wooden bookcase in the living room of our old two-bedroom, creaky dusty shelves storing all kinds of books - detective stories, thrillers, romances that would make the most jagged reader blush. I rummaged through it from top to bottom and stopped my gaze on “Hatter’s Castle” by Archibald Cronin, a hefty volume of blue color - the book my younger self, fascinated with British and American literature – devoured whole in one week. Took me another week to digest it, before embarking on Dreiser’s “American Tragedy”.  We’ll get back to that.

Kesha, our green and yellow budgie, was tweeting in his cage as I stood there hypnotizing the book, trying to decide if it was worth a read. As I made up my mind to give it a shot, I sauntered over to the kitchen to boil some water for tea. Benny, our beautiful white mongrel, looked at me with her wet brown eyes – always seemingly sad – and I paused by the door of the kitchen with my manuscript.

Later.

We could look through Hatter’s castle later. Tea could wait too. It was time to walk.

“Hey, let’s go out for a while.”

She didn’t hesitate and jumped on me, pawing my knees excitedly.  I crouched down to be level with her lovely fluffy face and pulled her increments closer. Maybe somewhere in the back of my head, I had already known it would be one of our last times together. As I had known that one sunny day in June, I would forget to pull down the bar of Kesha’s cage while filling his bowl with fresh food, and he would fly away.

We tended to keep the balcony doors open in summer, but I still believed the chances he’d find his way out would be close to nil. Well, fucking stupid of me. But what would you expect from a fourteen-year-old – a clusterfuck of uncertainty and confusion? 

Fourth floor. Eighty-eight steps up and down. Every day for the past six years, and then the next ten. Inside it smelled like dump plaster and cigarette smoke. I used to know all my neighbors by name, the types of plants they had (they asked us to water them when on holiday), and the loudness of their spouses’ voices once a row was in full swing.

Every four weeks it was our turn to sweep the floors of the lobby and wash two flights of stairs. Twenty-two steps. Up and down. I wish we had a rug there, so I could sweep under it all the dirt and humiliation I felt every time I got spotted by a random passerby.

Checking the postbox was the thing I loved best. There were letters and postcards I could read. When I was in high school, newspapers joined them. Later, when I entered the college, catalogs and brochures were added to the pile of the mess our postbox had become.

“What you got there?” The boy from the top floor – the fifth – asked me as he stepped across the narrow two-by-two lobby to check the box of his own.

“Yves Rocher catalog,” I mumbled and he pivoted on his heels swiftly.

“What?”

“Yves Rocher catalog,” I repeated louder and then felt compelled to clarify. “You can buy a lipstick there or a mascara.”

The boy smirked and swept my body down with his eyes, grinning wickedly.

“You think it’ll help?”

At his words, my face started burning. I kept staring at him with eyes wide open, acutely aware that if I closed them for a second, the tears that had already filled the back of my throat would spill over my lashes. I swallowed a sob ready to escape any moment and brushed past the guy, bumping his shoulder painfully with my backpack.

“Fuck you.”

[alredered]

Alredered Remembers Archibald Joseph Cronin, English author of Citadel, Shining Victory, on his birthday.

"Hell is that state where one has ceased to hope."

[olumsuzsozler]

HAYATIN ANLAMI VE BİR MANASI OLMAK ZORUNDA DEĞİLDİR: Evet, bu hayat bana ait değildi. Hayat hiçbir şey değildir, itinayla yaşayiniz. İnsan, kendisine bir mânâ vermeye çalışan tek mahlûktur. Fakat herkes bilir ki hayat, yaşanmak zahmetine değmeyen bir şeydir. İnsan da, yaşam da saçmadır; boşunadır, rastgeledir, sağlam hiçbir şey yoktur; ama yine de yaşamak gerekir. Albert Camus * SON SÖZ: Diğer canlı türleri gibisin. Hayatta kalır ve ürersin. Hayata bir anlam vermek zorunda değilsin, vereceksende sen canlılara, doğaya, faydalı bir insan olursun. Bu senin için bir anlamı olur.

CEZA YERİ CEHENNEM NEDİR? Cennet de cehennem de buradadır! José Mujica Cehennem, umudunu kaybetmektir. Archibald Joseph Cronin Vicdan azabı, insanın içinde bir cehennemdir. Lord Byron Belki de bu dünya başka bir gezegenin cehennemidir. Aldous Huxley Ölümden sonra ceza korkusu ve ödül iştahıyla hareket eden kişi zavallıdır. Albert Einstein Cennet Cehennem düşüncesi, dini zekânın uydurabildiği en büyük bönlüktür. Panait Istrati Cehennem para babalarının icadıydı; amacı, yoksulların dikkatini mevcut sefaletlerinden saptırmaktı. John Berger Cehennemi başka bir dünyada aramaya ne gerek var? Cehennem zaten bu dünyada kötülerin vicdanındadır. Jean-Jacques Rousseau Ömer Hayyam Der ki: Beni özene bezene yaratan kim? Sen! Ne yapacağımı da yazmışın önceden. Demek günah işleten de sensin bana: Öyleyse nedir o cennet cehennem? Eğer cennette oturuyor olsaydım ve milyarlarca insanın cehennemde tarifsiz acılar çektiğini bilseydim ve onlara yardım etmek için elimden birşey gelmeseydi. İşte asıl cehennem bu olurdu. Richard Carrier * SON SÖZ: Ben iyilik yaparım, ve iyilik yapmak için herhangi bir kitaba ihtiyaç duymuyorum. Tek derdim, Cennete gitmek değil, Cenneti, Dünya'da yaşatmaktır. Cehennem korkunun olduğu yerdir. İsterse bu evin hatta beyinin içi olsun. Fark eder mi? Ölümden sonra korkulduğu için insan sonsuz yaşam kurgulayıp hayal etmiştir. Bu duruma birde kutsallık tanrısallık kılıfı giyidirilmiştir. Doğada ne ödül ne de ceza vardır; sonuçları vardır.

ÖDÜL YERİ CENNET NEDİR? Cennet (var) olduğum yerdir. Voltaire Cennet de cehennem de buradadır! José Mujica Cennet bir yer değil, zihnin bir halidir. Wayne Dyer Sürekli bir cehennem, sürekli bir cennet yoktur. Allen Ginsberg Kesinlikle cennet, nerede olursa olsun, kusurlar içerir. Henry Miller Cennet için savaşanlar, cenneti ararken cehennemi yaratanlardır. Özdemir Asaf Cennet, gidilecek bir yer değil, edinilebilecek bir bilinç durumudur. Stephen Covey Cennet Cehennem düşüncesi, dini zekânın uydurabildiği en büyük bönlüktür. Panait Istrati

Kiliselerin içinde yarattığımız dışında bir cennet yok. Yaşama duyduğumuz öfke dışında bir cehennem yok. Henri Barbusse Şehitlik diye sorgusuz cennete gidilecek bir makam gerçekten olsaydı, zenginler o makamı fakirlere bırakmazdı. Ali Şeriati

Seni cennet vaadiyle kandırıp fakirliğe mahkum edenlerin hayatlarına bak bu dünya'da cenneti yaşadıklarını göreceksin.. Charles Darwin Bu dünyada din, ilim, iman, cennet, cehennem, ahiret, kabir azabı malları satarak karşılığında para kazananlar, iptidai ve yobaz tüccarlardır. Osman Pamukoğlu

* SON SÖZ: Cennet diye birşey yoktur; Bu, karanlıktan korkan insanlar için bir peri masalıdır. Stephen Hawking

RUH VAR MIDIR? Ruh peşinde koşan birinin ruhu yoktur. Friedrich Nietzsche Ruh nedir? Kimsenin bundan haberi yoktur. Bir ruhun varlığı saçma bir varsayımdır. Ölmez bir ruhun varlığı daha saçma bir varsayımdır. Jean Meslier * SON SÖZ: Ruh diye bir şey yoktur. Bu küçük çocukları korkutmak için uydurulmuş bir şeydir.

ÖLDÜKTEN SONRA NE OLACAK? Ey insan! Milyonlarca yıl önce ne idiysen, o olacaksın. Jean Meslier Ben doğmadan kaderimi yazan Tanrı, ben öldükten sonra neden hesap soruyor? Stephen Hawking Öldüğünde doğmadan önce neysen o olacaksın. Ve adını hatırlayan son kişi öldüğünde hiç doğmamış olucaksın. Ernest Karloviç Watson Ölümden korkmak bilge kişi için anlamsızdır, çünkü yaşadığımız sürece ölüm yoktur, ölüm geldiğinde ise artık biz yokuz. Epikür * SON SÖZ: Dinler yakıtını bitirdi mi ölür. Abdullah Rıza Ergüven Allah'a inanmak otomatik bir çocukluk alışkanlığıdır. Jean Meslier Din, fakirler bu dünyada zenginleri katletmesin diye onlara öbür dünyada eşit bir cennet vaat eder. Napolyon Cennet, Cehennem, Ruh, Ölüm, Hayatın Anlamı, Gibi konulara Cevap insanlar genelde hazırda olan paket dinlerden cevap bulurlar. Aslında kendileri bunu ortaya koymamışlardır. Ellerinde hazır bulmuşlardır. Ve bu hazır olan cevapları inanmak yoluyla kolay olanı seçmişlerdir. Bu bir nevi hazırcılık, kopyalamadır. Kendi düşüncelerini hiç kullanmadan halihazırdaki verileri olduğu gibi nakil ile almışlardır. Bu bir gelişim asla değildir. Bu bir donukluk tenbelliktir. Ve o verilerin akla mantığa bilime aykırılıklarıda varken üstelik bireyler tarafından kabul görmemişken Bilimsel dayanakları yokken, ya kabul ediyorlar, ya da başkasına bunu zorla dayatıyorlar. Başka türlü olmuyor. Esenkalın değerli insanlar.

[ma-pi-ma]

Credo che la vita possa risultare molto più allegra di quello che è se si ha un amico.

Archibald Joseph Cronin

[creativefucke]

📚 Открываю рубрику #уголокнеудовлетверонности от прочтения книг, может даже просмотра неких кинолент. В данной рубрике хочу осветить то, что лучше не читать и никогда не брать в руки. Сегодня расскажу о трёх книгах, которые никакой пользы мне не принесли, оставили неприятный осадок и загнали в мысленный тупик. 📖"Замок Броуди" Арчибальд Кронин. Этот рассказ посоветовал прочесть друг, конечно же из благих намерений. Но читать стало противно, когда в главном герое (отрицательный герой) я узнала очень знакомую личность. Рассказ о семье, о непростых взаимоотношениях и о том , что горбатого могила исправит! Тяжело было наблюдать за страданием детей в семействе. Непростое время, которое, как мне казалось, может измениться в любой главе, но нет. Многие люди меняются, а некоторым это незачем делать,т.к.они лучше всех всё знают! 📖"Рассказ служанки" Маргарет Этвуд. Антиутопия. Рассказ о будущем, что может нас ожидать, т.е. женщин. Одни запреты, ходить по стрункам, Библию всю перервали, люди распределены на категории, почти все нельзя, что раньше казалось банальным и безобидным сейчас запрещенно. Такой бредятины я ещё не читала! А само написание хромает так, что поначалу вы читаете про Фому, а оказывается, что про Ерёму! Не интересно, не вкусно, не хочется смаковать каждую строчку. Хочется найти все книги и сжечь! 📖"Тошнота" Жан-Пол Сартр. Название полностью соответствует описанному в книге. Типо философский трактат, но по мне вся философия рождается от лени. Герой писатель пишет книгу. Любит писать по ночам, а днём смотреть на себя в зеркало, либо скитаться по улицам, сидеть в кафе и разглядывать людей. Про себя он их осуждает, выносит человеческие пороки в своей голове, на себя бы посмотрел. От его лени рождаются философские мысли, и ничего хорошего. 📕 Как видите, никакого эстетического удовольствия от вышеперечисленных книг я не получила. Вынесла вам на суд своё чисто субъективное мнение. А решать вам - читать или нет. Но лучше сразу сэкономить своё драгоценное время, чем тратить его в пустую на ненужную литературу.

[scotianostra]

On January 6th 1981, the Scottish author AJ Cronin died in Switzerland.

Archibald Joseph Cronin was born on the 19th July 1896. He attended Dumbarton Academy and later studied medicine at Glasgow University. He became a Royal Navy surgeon and later entered general practice and worked in South Wales and then Harley Street in London.

His work and experiences provided inspiration - most obviously for The Citadel which was at the same time his most commercially successful and his most crusading work. It has been said that its exposure of inequalities in medical provision contributed to the introduction of the National Health Service.

Of course, Cronin is best known - if anyone has heard of him at all! - through the very popular1960s television series Dr Finlay’s Casebook, which was based on one of his books, although he wrote so many fine novels besides on widely different themees.

Cronin]s very first novel, Hatter’s Castle, which he wrote while on holiday in Inveraray for three months in 1931, is a masterpiece and was accepted at once by the only publishing house to which the manuscript had been submitted! The plot revolves around many characters and has many subplots, all of which relate to the life of the hatter, James Brodie, whose narcissism and cruelty gradually destroy his life. (The book was made into a successful film in 1941 starring Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr, and James Mason.)

A J Cronin died a\on this day in 1981, at the age of 84 in a clinic in the village of Glion, near Montreux, Switzerland, where he had lived for the last 25 years of his life.

[ltwilliammowett]

Mutiny of HMS Hermione 1797

The year 1797 was a year of great mutinies. Among them was one whose end went down in history as one of the most brutal, and that was only because the ship had an extremely cruel captain.

Captain Hugh Pigot was given the captaincy in 1794 of HMS Success, 32- guns, in the West Indies. In a period of just 38 weeks he then inflicted 85 separate  floggings, with a total of 1392 lashings. In 1797, Pigot moved to command HMS Hermione, also with 32- guns.

HMS Hermione being cut out of Puerto Cabello by boats from HMS Surprise, 1799, by Nicholas Pocock, late 18th - early 19th century (x) 

The Hermione was ordered out for a 7 week patrol of the Mona Passage as the disaster started. Midshipman David Casey was in charge of the maintop, and was about to come down when he noticed a carelessly dangling reefpoint. He waited while a Sailor went out to secure it. On deck, Captain Pigot began to screaming insults at Casey in front of all the crew, demanding that Casey knell and apologize publicly, Next morning, the Midshipman was stripped to the waist, tied to the grating and given 12 lashes, a no go with Midshipman,and a warning to the already informed crew. Five days later, in a squall, Pigot ordered the topsails to be reefed. He cursed at his men to hurry, especially at the youngsters on the mizzen- topsail yard. In the raging storm, the three lost their footing and fell to their deaths on the deck.

Pigot ordered, Throw the lubbers overboard. The maintopmen began to protest, and Pigot ordered the bosun’s mates to go up and lash at them in this precarious position, and to take their names. Next morning, each of these maintopmen also received a formal lashing. That night, men grabbed the marine guarding the captain’s door. Crewmen smashed into his cabin. Pigot grabbed a dagger but after a brief figh, he was killed and his body was thrown into the sea through his cabin window.

Santa Cecilia, the former Hermione, 1799 (x)

At the same time, the third lieutenant Henry Foreshaw, who had the watch, was approached by a group of sailors. After slashing him, he fell over the side, but he hauled himself through a gunport, as he had fallen into the mizzen chains. He begged to be spared because of his wife and children, but was again thrown overboard. The second lieutenant Archibald Douglas, a friend of Pigot, ran naked from his cabin into the next one, and took refuge under the cot of the marine lieutenant, who was ill from fever. The sailors pulled him from under the cot, stabbed him repeatedly, then pushed his body through a gunport. Also awakened by the chaos, the men surprised the first lieutenant Samuel Reed and stabbed him as well and pushed his body overboard. A midshipman whose testimony had caused a sailor to be flogged was also beaten, stabbed and thrown overboard. After those five deaths the mutineers drank rum, before casting five more victims overboard. One Sailor threw the bosun overboard and then raped his wife, the only woman aboard. Nine officers, in addition to the midshipman, were killed. Four other men were spared- Midshipman Casey, the carpenter, the gunner and the ship’s master. Three petty officers joined the mutiny together with one midshipman, Surgeon's Mate Cronin, and Master's Mate Turner. Fearing retribution for their actions, the mutineers decided to navigate the ship toward Spanish waters. One reason the master's life was spared was that Turner could not navigate the ship properly without his help.

They sailed the Hermione close to La Guaiara in Venezuela to the Spanish. When asked what had happened to most of the officers, the mutineers replied that they had abandoned them as they had done on the Bounty. The Spaniards gave them the choice of joining the Spanish colonial army, doing hard labour or being used to refit their ship. The Spanish commissioned the Hermione under the name of Santa Cecilia, and her crew included 25 former crew members.

Only one of the few marines on board took part in the mutiny. The remaining half dozen were too outnumbered and too surprised to do their duty and oppose the mutineers. However, they remained under the command of a non-commissioned officer and insisted on being treated as prisoners of war by the Spanish authorities and later served as a witness along with the Master and Midshipman Casey. They were not punished, but were considered victims of the mutiny and were released into regular service. Casey even made it to the rank of lieutenant. 

British Sailors Boarding a Man of War, here the Hermione, by John Atkinson 1815 (x)

Meanwhile, news of the fate of Hermione reached Admiral Sir Hyde Parker when HMS Diligence captured a Spanish schooner carrying some mutineers. Parker wrote to the governor of La Guaira demanding the return of the ship and the extradition of the mutineers, but the governor merely moved the ship to Puerto Cabello. In the meantime, Parker dispatched HMS Magicienne under Captain Henry Ricketts to begin negotiations. Parker also set up a system of informants and offered rewards that eventually led to the capture of 33 mutineers. All of whom were hanged after a short court martial. 

Eventually, news reached Parker that the Santa Cecilia had been sighted at Puerto Cabello, and he ordered HMS Surprise to intercept her if she attempted to set sail.Captain Edward Hamilton of the Surprise decided that the honour of the Royal Navy depended on the recovery of the ship and was determined to recapture her. Anchoring near the harbour, he devised a plan to cut the ship out of the harbour and asked Parker for a boat and twenty extra men. Parker declared the plan too risky and refused to send the men, but Hamilton went ahead anyway.

Santa Cecilia (HMS Hermione) saiing out from Puerto Cabello after being secured by boats from HMS Surprise, by Thomas Whitcombe  (x)

The ensuing battle in the night of the 24 Ocotober 1799 was a massacre but the British managed to sail the ship out of the harbour. The Spanish suffered 120 casualties, while 231 prisoners were taken, 97 of whom were wounded. The British, on the other hand, had not lost a single man and had only twelve wounded, four of them seriously. One of these was Hamilton himself, who had suffered a blow to the head with a musket, as well as wounds from a sabre, a pike and a boats hook.

Parker had the recaptured Hermione renamed HMS Retaliation, after which the Admiralty ordered her renamed HMS Retribution on 31 January 1800. The Hermione was recognised as a Prize, making all involved very rich, and Hamilton was knighted for the deed.

[sospesicomelanterne]

Ci separammo duramente, bruscamente. Come al solito avevo rovinato ogni cosa.

[plasticneonart]

My to read list

The stars look down by Archibald Cronin ✅️

The Castle by Franz Kafka ✅️

The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier

The Clown by Heinrich Böll

We: a novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin ✅️

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Gertrud by Hermann Hesse✅️

Narcissus and Goldmund (Death and the Lover) by Hermann Hesse

Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway

Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch

A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

The Foundation Pit by Andrei Platonov

King, Queen, Knave by Vladimir Nabokov