1645 - The House Of Bones

[House of Usher]

Indeed. In the real world the acronym 'GUBU' was coined in 1982 (as I learned courtesy of Tordelback), and Sir Isaac Newton wasn't knighted until the C18th by Queen Anne.

So if Nye Bevan, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Rudyard Kipling or Cole Porter should turn up as characters we ought not to complain.

[Dark Jimbo]

Indeed. In the real world... Sir Isaac Newton wasn't knighted until the C18th by Queen Anne.

In the real world there was no 17th century zombie incursion either! Had such a thing occured, one could well imagine that Newton would be one of the first to step up to the plate and start devising new methods to repel the undead hordes, and that a duly grateful Charles II might be inclined to knight him for his services to his country during times of such crisis.

[House of Usher]

We've covered this ground before. 

[Dark Jimbo]

Aye - just find it odd that people keep quibbling over such matters when the events of Defoe would have set his world on such a radically different course post-1666. Pat Mills may be guilty of many things, but not doing his research is certainly not one of them.

The GUBU thing, however...

[House of Usher]

a duly grateful Charles II might be inclined to knight him for his services to his country during times of such crisis.

There's an alternative explanation. Thinking about the running gag in Spitting Image about Donald Sinden's never-ending disappointment at not getting a knighthood, I recall that in a voiceover it was revealed "Donald Sinden changed his name to Sir Donald Sinden... but he never got his knighthood."

Maybe in a similar vain, the 1668 Sir Isaac Newton wasn't actually knighted by the King; he's just using the name he was given by his parents!

[TordelBack]

The Gubu thing isn't a problem - there's no reason to think that the Irish political one of the 1980's and the Clockpunk one of 1668 are related.  'Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre and Unprecedented' versus 'Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre Underling'.  Clearly separate things gravitating towards an appealing sound, much like Mr. Chud.

At this point I'm prepared to forgive Defoe anything, so wonderous is it.

 

[House of Usher]

The Gubu thing isn't a problem - there's no reason to think that the Irish political one of the 1980's and the Clockpunk one of 1668 are related.

Coincidence. Nothing more.

[Sefton Disney]

I thought the acronyms were hilarious! Nowadays, I come across acronyms all the time where it's obvious the actual words were chosen after the Marketing Department decided a certain word looked sexy capitalized. I thought the sheer clunky daftness of Hooke's acronyms was a nice pisstake of corporate bollocks-ese and weirdly realistic.

And TordelBack is right: Defoe is wonderful.

[House of Usher]

Thames Valley University is advertising for a lecturer in Strategic Hospitality Information Technology. Well, fancy that! It looks like a classy place as you pass it on the M4.      (...not)

[TordelBack]

Coincidence. Nothing more.

Heh!  Precisely!  And I quote from Wikipedia's excellent article on GUBU, because it needs a wider audience:

"On 22 July 1982, nurse Bridie Gargan (27) had been sunbathing in the Phoenix Park in Dublin during her time off work. MacArthur, intending to steal her car, bludgeoned her with a hammer. In the ensuing confusion, MacArthur drove off leaving the dying nurse Gargan on the back seat.

At this point a passing ambulance became involved and escorted MacArthur to the hospital as the driver mistook him for a doctor because of a windscreen sticker which nurse Gargan had. MacArthur later abandoned the car nearby. Three days later, having found alternative means to get to Edenderry, MacArthur visited the farmer Dónal Dunne and murdered him with his own gun after examining it. MacArthur then stole Dunne's car and drove it to Dublin.

MacArthur was acquainted with Patrick Connolly, the then Attorney General who was the chief legal advisor to the Irish Government. Both attended a match in Croke Park, several days after the murder, and this led to a discussion between Connolly and the then Garda Commissioner, Patrick McLoughlin, in the presence of MacArthur regarding the murder. On 13 August 1982, MacArthur was arrested on the private property of Connolly, and had been staying in the property for some time as a guest. Connolly, who had been getting ready for holiday, continued on his journey to the United States and did not give any interview to the Gardaí on the matter.

A serious effort was made to prevent the relationship with Connolly and MacArthur becoming public and indeed it was claimed that this was homosexual, something that was later discounted. Connolly was promptly requested to return to Ireland where he then resigned on 16 August. Haughey attempted to distance himself from the fiasco and described the event as "a bizarre happening, an unprecedented situation, a grotesque situation, an almost unbelievable mischance.""

[Sefton Disney]

And to think, some anarchists and malcontents distrust politicians and the criminal justice system...