Talk:Nevil Shute

message: Geraldine Fitzgerald was an Irish Actress; not an Irish-American actress.  As she was born on November 24, 1913, it is impossible that she is the person to whom Nevil Shute's brother Fred proposed to in Dublin in 1913. Irl32csc (talk) 19:08, 2 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Geraldine Fitzgerald

message: After initially getting a 404 Not Found for "The Nevil Shute Book Page," I fixed the URL. I then took a closer look at the site, and 
and it appears to be not much more than an ad for someone selling second-hand Nevil Shute books. I could find very little information or material on Nevil Shute at this site.
I believe the link ought to be removed and will remove it in a day or so unless someone can give me a good reason why it should stay or point to something I've missed at the site. Dpbsmith 03:21, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: That Mr Norway site is very interesting. Great stuff. Thanks for adding it. -- Dpbsmith (talk) 12:36, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Great link, thanks for adding it

message: I removed one. - DavidWBrooks 19:01, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  No book-seller links, please 

message: Objectivists recommended his novels  (see February 1985 issue of The Objectivist Forum) Randroide (talk) 08:32, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Objectivist recommendation 

message: Looks like some of the materials is derived from this link
http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Nevil_Shute
PeaSea
:It's the other way around. Congratulations, you've found a Wikipedia mirror. Scroll to the bottom of the page at your link and you'll notice it says: "This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nevil_Shute". 
:But thanks for keeping your eyes peeled. If it had been copied from another website, you could have listed it under Wikipedia:Copyright problems or someone else could have listed it for you. Copyright violation is a big problem for Wikipedia and we can use help in spotting it. Dpbsmith (talk) 00:05, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Little bit of plagiarism 

message: I corrected the plot summary, which previously said the valuables were smuggled out of England "to avoid taxes". See Talk:Trustee from the Toolroom for the explanation. -Rbean 23:03, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Incidentally it's well documented that one of Shute's aquaintances, Edgar T. Westbury and many other believed he was was the inspiration for Keith Stewart, the protagonist of Trustee from the Toolroom. Stub Mandrel (talk) 19:22, 28 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Trustee from the Toolroom

message: The links within this article to Round the Bend go to an article about a kids TV show. I raised the matter on the talk page for that Round the Bend article but the suggestion came back that it should be fixed at the Nevile Shute end. I can edit the Nevile Shute page to remove the link but I was wondering if there is a real article somewhere for the Round the Bend novel? Couldn't find it using search. 193.113.57.163 14:20, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Round the Bend 

message: I have removed the claim that none of Shute's books are in print - a quick look on amazom.co.uk shows this is not the case  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.205.127.214 (talk) 17:44, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not out of print 

message: Have added the date of death to the infobox - if someone can get the infobox to calculate the age at death without making him 109, go ahead! Hugo999 (talk) 00:39, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Age at Death

message: Regarding the large deletion, and then re-instatement of this section of the article, it can be said that it seems to be original research.  It's interesting, and possibly completely accurate, but it does need references.  This may be the reason behind the original deletion.  Though any such major edit should have been discussed first. --Perry Middlemiss (talk) 23:18, 5 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  doesn't the explicit internal evidence of the text count at all?  Must it have been regurgitated by some academic before Wikipedia will include it?  If so, why are there plot synopses through WP's articles on authors and literary works? (don't try to tell me they were all written by tenured academics!)  Hasn't anyone heard of the famous "Il n'y a pas que l'hors-texte" ("there is nothing but the text")? Chrismorey (talk) 04:38, 19 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Belief in Private Enterprise 

message: Article reads: "As soon as peace broke out ..."
Perhaps this could benefit from rephrasing?  One usually says "war broke out," not peace.  Indeed, the phrase "In 1945, peace broke out" was used to comic effect in a Monty Python sketch.
Karl gregory jones (talk) 22:29, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: You certainly can rephrase it if you wish, but "peace broke out" is common enough that, among other things, it is part of many a book title. Just wander through any online bookstore and  you'll see. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 22:54, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Peace Broke Out" -- rephrase? 

message: As a young engineer in the 1960s, working alongside aircraft engineers, I remember there was an idea around at that time that Shute had played a significant professional role in the field of metal fatigue.  Or was it just that one of his novels deals with that topic? (Is that true?  If so, it may be 'Trustee from the Toolroom'?)  Or may be he wrote a novel based on his personal involvement?  Does any editor have any thoughts on this?
It is 20 years since I read any Shute.Flying Stag (talk) 09:27, 4 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: You're thinking about No Highway. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 15:53, 4 February 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Metal fatigue 

message: Nevil Shute's attacks on racialism only appeared after 1945.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.194.200 (talk) 11:07, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: See his works of 1947 and 1951.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.194.200 (talk) 11:09, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Very much the same thing happened with Agatha Christie's novels. Racialist remarks vanished after 1945.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.194.200 (talk) 11:12, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Late date 

message: Shute's writing on R101 is criticized in the article but no details are given.
Since Shute spends perhaps 1/4 of his autobiography on the R100 and R101, one wonders what the inaccuracies were. Some justification for calling his account "hostile and distorted" seems indicated to allow the reader to see if the verdict is appropriate.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.83.185.67 (talk) 01:50, 27 October 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: seems to have been dealt with.  Much of Shute's writing is skeptical of the competence of the public sector - see talk post re this but the text as of now fairly summarizes his stated view. Chrismorey (talk) 04:45, 19 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Writing on R101 criticized 

message: Shute lived in Australia for under 10 years. I don't think this would give him dual-nationality. If Shute received Australian citizenship, this needs to be mentioned in his page, otherwise, his nationality should be changed to British. Shute's pages in most other languages refer to him as either English or British.   — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.243.155 (talk) 15:05, 27 December 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed. He is not listed in the National Archives of Australia as having naturalised. However, in those times it wasn't necessary for British subjects (like Shute) to naturalise as being British was all that mattered. The distinction between being an Australia citizen and a British subject didn't become important until after his death. I have edited the page to reflect this (first sentence, infobox, and on his immigration mid-article). I hope that makes it clearer. Kerry (talk) 00:20, 28 December 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  British-Australian  

message: Could someone with access to his autobiography clear up his WWI experience?
When the war started, he would have been 15 years old: we're told he attended Royal Military Acadamy, that he couldn't join the RFC (which would require a date prior to 1 April 1918, when it became the RAF), and instead served in the Suffolk Regiment. At the time of the Armistice he'd have been 19. 
This link http://www.nevilshute.org/Biography/dictionarynationalbio.php suggests (but does not actually say) that he might not have seen any active service outside the UK. Elsewhere on the same website there is this:
He joined the Royal Military Academy in 1918, with the aim of being commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps, where he trained as a Gunner for nine months, but his bad stammer led to him failing the final medical examination. This was at the time when the Royal Flying Corps ceased to be part of the army and became the Royal Air Force (RAF). Despite his best efforts, he never managed to get into the RAF, and in August of 1918 he enlisted in the infantry, and for the last three months of the war he mounted guard duty at the Thames Estuary. I would hate to suggest he had managed somehow to avoid being conscripted after his 18th birthday in January 1917 (when he became eligible for conscription) if in fact he entered the RMA in 1917 (say). Could anyone set his war service out in a bit more detail?Thomas Peardew (talk) 15:42, 20 January 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I cannot lay my hands quickly on the autobiography (Slide Rule) but I have the biography Parallel Motion in front of me. He left school at Christmas 1916. His father wanted him to get a commision in the regular army. He sat the exam and failed. so his father sent him to a crammer for six months. Summer 1917 he enters Royal Military Academy at Woolwich (presumably having passed the exam 2nd time). He elected to join the Royal Flying Corps (still part of the army at that time). He trained as a gunner for 9 months. He is about to pass out as a commissioned officer in April 1918, but fails the final medical on account of his stammer and is discharged. His father sends him to a specialist to see if he can get the stammer cured and get the commission. By august 1918 they give up on this (presumably the stammer isn't improving of the RFC make it clear there are no 2nd chances) and Shute enlists as a private in the infantry. Presumably he now enters another training phase (certainly he stays in England, presumably the 3 months you mention on the Thames Estuary) but then the war ends on Nov 1918 and he does not see active service. He then is assigned to be a clerk in a demobilization office until he is demobilized himself (around Jan-Feb 1919). He starts studying engineering at Oxford in Feb 1919.  So, I am guessing that the fact he was trying to get a commission from Jan 1917 exempted him from conscription in some way, but that isn't specifically explained. But looking at the dates and time frames mentioned it would appear he first tried to enter the army in early 1917, which was around his 18th birthday. Kerry (talk) 16:24, 20 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Early Life 

message: I've removed duplication in the two parallel lists of Shute's works, also structured the information on his career to identify the dual strands of engineering and literature.  IMO this is well worth doing as Shute was perhaps the only engineer who was also a ranking novelist.  The closest analogy I can think of is Primo Levi who was an industrial chemist. Chrismorey (talk) 04:42, 19 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Structure 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
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thread_title:  External links modified (February 2018) 

message: There are various things in this section that are italicied as though they are intended to be quotes from "Slide Rule"... they badly need checking but I don't have a copy.
Surely the design work was done at Cardington not Cardigan? MarkMLl (talk) 16:38, 16 February 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Career in aviation" needs work