Talk:Beachcomber (pen name)

Untitled
does anyone know who the current Beachcomber really is? (User:Lee M)

Private Eye
Couldn't this article do with a link to Private Eye? Richard W.M. Jones 08:17, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

Why? No Beachcomber ever wrote for it an d the only tenuous link is the performances by Wells and Ingrams on the radio shows.62.31.13.100 23:31, 30 November 2005 (UTC)


 * No, I meant all the references to Ugandan affairs & Chief Justice Cocklecarrot, etc. which appear in Private Eye Richard W.M. Jones 08:45, 1 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Oh, I see what you mean, yes. I'll have a look at it. 193.138.107.181 12:16, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

Beachcombers in the South Pacific
I was a bit surprised to find this meaning of the word stowed away in Other uses. I was under the impression that this was the primary meaning of the word, having lived in New Caledonia and to some extent familliarised myself with its history. I'll add this article to my watchlist and do some research (or have my father do it) on the subject. - GSchjetne 09:23, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Hijacking of the word
I think to centralise the meaning of this world on a column in a newspaper and pointing out that this word can have other meanings is not right. On reading the page was under the impression that this is the only thing this word was used for and that the true meaning of the word itself is lost.

What was Orwell's criticism based on?
George Orwell acknowledged Morton's skill as a humorist (among "the best comic writers of our time" in Funny Not Vulgar, Leader, Dec 1944).

Elsewhere Orwell is strongly critical of Morton - along with Wyndham Lewis - for championing "reactionary causes" and "conducting endless propaganda against Socialism, The League of Nations and scientific research" (in As I Please, Tribune, 23 June 1944).

Was this criticism based on an interpretation of the "Beachcomber" columns or did Morton write elsewhere about such issues? Are there political columns not included in Ingram's and Frayn's collections? Orwell says Morton & Wyndham Lewis had together championed "Pilsudski, Mussolini, appeasement, flogging, Franco, literary censorship": can this really be found in the goings-on of Strabismus, Cocklecarrot et al?

I've always believed Morton's "Beachcomber" columns were a series of hilarious entertainments, nothing more, but have I missed something? Lyn50


 * If you look at the original volumes, as opposed to the Ingrams and Frayn selections, there is a fair amount of what Orwell calls "political Catholicism", Belloc-style, plus general Peter Simple-style lampooning of anything trendy. Orwell does over-state his case, though, for example by taking a column making fun of the Brains Trust as an attack on free speech.  I suppose you could interpret the Strabismus columns as an attack on scientific research, but you'd have to be pretty humourless. --Sir Myles na Gopaleen (the da) (talk) 08:44, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Other uses of Beachcomber
I removed the section on the other use of the word beachcomber since this article's title now makes it clear we're talking about the pen name only. There is now a disambiguation page at Beachcomber that list this and all other uses. --Cab88 15:59, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Please excuse me for not properly following etiquette I am just learning and am trying but will no doubt get it wrong.

I don't think there is any problem with Beachcomber being an article itself as long as it is disambiguated from those who comb beaches.

I can look up the Orwell references if you wish, in particular he disliked him as a "catholic apologist" but I think that would be the time of D. B. Wyndham Lewis, not J. B Morton. I could be wrong I would have to check, if you think it worthwhile.

Sorry I told you I am just getting used to it the Orwell referenes ar in Collected essays, various editions I have the penguins in paperback but I think they were originally published by Secker & Warburg. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.40.64.87 (talk) 12:03, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

I think the reference to Mrs Justice Cocklecarrot is extraneous though I imagine it is  a jibe at Cherie Blair/Booth. Worth mentioning?

BTW There is a book "The best of Beachcomber 'Selected and introduced by' Michael Frayn" (quotes as you prefer) ISBN 0-434-797606-5. Beachcomber I never liked much but I read widely. I have it here if you want a cover pic or anything not sure how copuright rules would work on that. This edition is published 1988 but copyright J B Morton 1963

I'll leave the autosign cos I have still not got this quite right but I am SiTrew username and trewy@live.co.uk email. Just not quite got the hang of it yet.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.171.129.72 (User SiTrew) 10:03, 6 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Mrs Justice Cocklecarrot was the wife of a judge, not a lawyer or a judge in her own right, and was mentioned fifty years before Cherie Blair was ever heard of. So nice try, but I don't think so. --Sir Myles na Gopaleen (the da) (talk) 08:46, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Lede
Currently the lede says: 'Beachcomber was the nom de plume used by two humorous columnists, D. B. Wyndham-Lewis and, chiefly, J. B. Morton as authors of the Daily Express column "By the Way" in the period 1919–1975. Two other authors have also used the name: Major John Bernard Arbuthnot MVO, the column's founder, and William Hartston, the current author of the column its revived form.'

Why not 'Beachcomber has been the nom de plume used by four humorous columnists on the Daily Express, between 1917 and the present day, with an interval between 1975 and 1996'? Valetude (talk) 19:37, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

Excellent article
This is a fine piece of writing, a good tribute to its author. Can I nominate it for any awards going? 83.217.122.76 (talk) 14:33, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Removed bold
The phrase "twelve red-bearded dwarfs" was in bold in this section. Could anyone please tell me if I did the right thing by removing it?--Thylacine24 (talk) 08:15, 18 March 2022 (UTC)

Overlap?
It was then passed to Morton during 1924, though it is likely there was a period when they overlapped.
 * Wyndham-Lewis passed it on to Morton because he was moving to the Daily Mail. I don't see how an overlap would have happened. Valetude (talk) 17:45, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

"By the Way" column
"By the Way" was originally a column in The Globe, consisting of unsigned humorous pieces; P. G. Wodehouse was assistant editor of the column from August 1903...
 * Not clear enough that the column dated back before 1903.

After the Globe's closure, it was reestablished as a society news column in the Daily Express from 1917 onwards...
 * The Globe did not fold until 1921. Valetude (talk) 23:32, 12 August 2022 (UTC)