Household Appliances

The bookstands in 1939 will have been groaning and heaving under the weight of newly released novels and works. 

It seems to have been a particularly prolific year for the great contemporary writers and no doubt a breakthrough year for many yet to be established names. 

Steinbeck brought out his “Grapes of Wrath”, Du Maurier her “Rebecca”. Agatha Christie published a couple including the politically correctly renamed “And then there were none”. 

Chandler issued “The Big Sleep” in his Philip Marlowe series and Anne of Green Gables, the character creation of L.M. Montgomery, continued her girlish adventures. 

Other populist authors were also active with works by Orwell, Dorothy L Sayers, PG Wodehouse, Edgar Rice Burroughs and more of the Hornblower exploits by C S Forester. 

The big hitters were no less represented with “Finnegans Wake” by James Joyce, “Old Possums Book of Practical Cats” by T S Eliot and not forgetting “Enchanted Wood” by Enid Blyton. 

Later big screen adaptations took on the 1939 book releases of “How Green was My Valley” by Richard Llewellyn, “Arsenic and Old Lace”, Kesselring and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber. 

One book from that year that I have been enjoying as a BBC audio broadcast is “Rogue Male” by the not so glamorously named Geoffrey Household. 

It must be my third or even fourth time of hearing this version narrated by Michael Jayston. His distinctive factual and unemotional delivery serves to heighten the drama and tension of what is a good old rambling thriller. 

I do not wish to put out too many spoilers for those who have not yet read or listened to Rogue Male although, frankly, I doubt if there are many and certainly not in my age group who do not have knowledge of this story. 

It is based on a fugitive trying to elude sinister agents of a foreign power and therefore fits many similar plot lines of the movie world but critically Household got there just about first. 

It is surprising that the film studios have not exploited this classic tale apart from an adaptation under the title of “Manhunt” from 1941 by Director Fritz Lang and starring Walter Pidgeon and Joan Bennett and a very camp portrayal of the lead character by Peter O’Toole in 1976. 

This 70’s film is already a bit grainy on the You Tube posting and the performances and production are, by current expectations, a bit low budget and forced. 

I was introduced to the book during senior school English language lessons and it has remained one of my favourites ever since. 

The tone of the writing is very much of the later inter war era and the main protagonist, although not actually named or identified is of upper class or landed gentry status. In fact he is widely recognised by those he seeks help from or comes across on his extended travels in Europe and around the Dorset and Somerset borders as though , no pun intended, he is a household name, a contemporary celebrity of some sort. 

There is a hint of a romantic involvement sometime in his past with references to a female political activist who may have been killed as an enemy of an emerging State but otherwise there is no contact or dialogue with the opposite sex at all, give or take brief conversations with pub landladies or Sub Post Office Mistresses. It is a bit of a Boys Own adventure if it is not too sexist or discriminatory to say the obvious.

The heaviest of hints revolve around  the attempt by the Rogue Male to assassinate Adolf Hitler although in a clever writing ploy the target is similarly not confirmed as to identity. Household himself did admit in later interviews that the intended recipient of the high velocity rifle round was indeed the Nazi Leader as he was a strong opponent to all that this brutal regime represented and he felt that a symbolic gesture of defiance was needed.

The author was an interesting character with a wartime military involvement and post war employment in a shattered Europe. 

This experience and depth of background was invaluable in Household's writing which included multiple thrillers and action based story lines. 

Rogue Male is very much a study and analysis of human resilience when faced by adversity and a very real peril to life and limb. There is a graphic description of the torture and attempted murder of our hero and the desperate measures that he had to take to survive a very persistent foe. 

Much of my own childhood seems to have been inspired by the Rogue Male as though he was a Role Model. I was always happy to take part in wide ranging adventure games, not so much with Secret State Police as with the kids off the neighbouring council estate. 

Dens and hideouts were made out of anything lying around and my Scout training meant that my campcraft and outdoors skills could help me survive in the wild until, well, at least until my Mother called me in from the garden for tea and bedtime. 

I drew a line at having dealings with any body parts of cats but I will leave that particular story thread for you to find out for yourself.