People - James Landale

If you missed The Last Duel on BBC 2 last Friday night, don’t worry as I am sure it will be shown again. It’s a story of two men who fought to the death with pistols in 1826. David Landale, a respected merchant, reluctantly provoked into an unwanted duel, the other a professional soldier, steeped in military tradition. The professional soldier also happened to be the merchant’s bank manager. It would end with the death of one man and mark the demise of a 600-year-old ritual.

One hundred and eighty years after the duel was fought, James Landale, a descendant of the linen merchant, and an ex-Clipper crew from the 2000 race retraces his ancestor’s steps. James has also written a book on the subject called Duel. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duel-True-Story-Death-Honour/dp/1841958220
James was Political Editor for The Times when he crewed in London Clipper. His fiancé, Cath meanwhile was a crewmember in Jersey Clipper and so there was great rivalry between them, especially as one waited impatiently for the other to finish. James is now the Chief Political Correspondent of BBC News 24 but has found time to publish as second book called Landale's Cautionary Tales - comic verse for the 21st century. ISBN: 1 84195 847 6
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Landales-Cautionary-Tales-Comic-Century/dp/1841958476/ref=pd_sim_b_2/202-7297246-3084669

With Hilaire Belloc firmly in mind James Landale has created a gallery of awful children doing dreadful – but very modern – things. His book of warnings for children and parents alike brings Belloc’s verses bang up to date, for example:

Percy
Who Swore and broke the Law

The foulest mouth I ever knew
Belonged to Percy Pelligrew,
A little boy who thought it fun
To swear and curse at everyone.
He’d say ‘damn
this’ and ‘balls to
that’
And ‘stuff it up your effing hat’

So did you know a Percy Who Swore and broke the Law or a Gloria Bone who:

was Apt to
Drone
All day upon her Mobile
Phone.
The moment she got out of
Bed
She clamped the thing fast to
Her head
And would put it down only if
Her signal was a tad Skew-Whiff.

Here is poetic justice for the modern sins of children and, occasionally, their parents too.
Meet Gloria, a young shopaholic who learns the value of money the hard way (Moral: “If you shop until you drop / One day the trust fund will stop”); or Jonathan, who picks more than his nose (Moral: “Orificial exploration / Is but good in moderation”).