What Did You Do in the Virus, Daddy?

If you have seen What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (I haven’t), tell me about it.

It cost $7 million and reaped less than $3 million at the box office. Blake Edwards directed this fiasco, released in 1966. He got the hang of it after that when, inexplicably, the Pink Panther films became almost as successful as the Bond franchise. Music by Mancini, cartoons by somebody and Peter Sellers are the best bits. Worth another try over Christmas maybe?

When I worked I interacted with colleagues and clients in the day and went out to party in the evenings and at weekends. My social landscape has changed. I chat with dog walkers at Cranford Park. Beth, Sophy, Terry, Robert, Tom et al are my new friends. Fortunately they put up with me because they are fond of Bertie. I really enjoy 1 1/2 hours in the park, walking, talking, clocking the ‘planes landing at Heathrow.

World War Two through German Eyes and The Splendid and the Vile are chalk and cheese. The former is prosaically presented, the latter is written almost like a thriller although it is not fiction. Reading the two side-by-side is a revelation. Erik Larson looks through British eyes, expecting an imminent invasion of Britain in the summer and autumn of 1940. James Lucas writes about the planning and logistics from a German perspective. The Luftwaffe is supposed to destroy Britain’s Fighter Command as a prelude to invasion. The army want to land across a broad front on the channel coast. The navy are only able to move the army across a a narrow part of the channel and have inadequate transport. In a nutshell that is why Hitler postponed invasion until 1941. Fortunately he opened a second front with Russia, America joined in and eventually the war was won.

That was a vaccine moment and we’ll win the war against the virus; not quickly or without some sacrifice; but cheer up. A clip with a nice nod to The Usual Suspects, a film with cinema genes going back to Casablanca, where the tide turned for the Allies.