Talk:A. P. Herbert

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"While in Parliament, he advocated the abolition of the entertainments tax, and for reform of the laws of divorce and obscenity."

More details on this? What were the reforms? -[drd]

His main divorce reform was the abolition of the King's Proctor, whose job was to ensure that there really was an innocent party. Couples who both misbehaved could not get divorced, which he thought absurd. --Henrygb 22:36, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

Is this the same Sir Alan Herbert...

Who was in The Sky at Night in August 1966 http://open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/programme/LGF7010J

Is the statement on the above page correct, that the episode contained astrology (!?), I was thinking it may be a mistake... Would the great Sir Patrick Moore allow astrology on his rather scientific astronomy show? So I guess the question is- was Sir Alan a fan of astrology? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bitplane (talk • contribs) 07:16, 14 March 2007 (UTC).

He's almost certainly the same as any other Sir Alan Herbert floating around in the post-war years, and he did have as I recall an interest in sundials. (He also wanted to rename the constellations, and get everyone using sextants again. Wonderfully mad). I have no idea what "the use of sundials in modern astrology" means, but I suspect it's about the only thing they could find to talk about - after all, sundials are of no actual use for anything these days... Shimgray | talk | 10:08, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Given the date they'll have been discussing the proposed change of name of GMT.MidlandLinda (talk) 22:39, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Baku, or the map game

AP Herbert wrote a funny poem about the difficulty of bombing your way to victory.

Patrick Osborn in "Operation Pike" (Praeger, 2000) says the poem was classified. He says it 'must be one of the few poetic efforts to be deemed "most secret" in world history' (pp 249-250) and in footnote 10 on page 258 says '"Baku, or, the Map Game," (undated but appears to have been writen in April 1940), AIR 9/138. It was indeed marked "most secret," and the author's name does not appear on the document.'

However, the poem was also published in AP Herbert's collection "Siren Song" (Methuen, 1940).

Baku, or the Map Game

It's Jolly to look at the map, and finish the foe in a day. 
It's not easy to get at the chap; these neutrals are so in the way. 
But what if you say 'what would you do to fill the aggressor with gloom?' 
Well, we might drop a bomb on Baku. Or what about bombs on Batum? 

Other methods, of course, may be found. We might send a fleet up the Inn.
We might burrow far underground and come up in the heart of Berlin. 
But I think a more promising clue to the Totalitarian doom 
is the dropping of bombs on Baku. 
And perhaps a few bombs on Batum. 

The scale of the map should be small if you're winning the war in a day. 
it mustn't show mountains at all, for mountains may be in the way. 
But, taking a statesmanlike view, and sitting at home in a room, 
I'm all for some bombs on Baku. And, of course, a few bombs on Batum. 

Sometimes I invade the dear Dutch. Sometimes I descend on the Danes. 
They oughtn't to mind very much, and they don't seem to have any planes. 
I slip through the Swiss and say 'Boo!'. I pop over the Alps and say 'Boom!'. 
But I still drop a few bombs on Baku. And I always drop bombs on Batum. 

Vladivostok is not very far. Sometimes I attack him from there. 
With the troops in a rather fast car, I am on him before he's aware. 
And then, it's so hard to say who, is fighting, precisely, with whom, 
that I know about bombing Baku, I insist upon bombing Batum.

AIR 9/138 is "Plan MA6: Russian oilfields". [1]

Maybe the poem was originally published in "Siren Song", and then quoted in AIR 9/138?

cagliost (talk) 09:38, 31 May 2017 (UTC)

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Why did he become a poet

Me 102.249.4.34 (talk) 10:48, 23 August 2023 (UTC)