- Reaction score
- 12,913
- Points
- 1,160
My favourite fun fact about 'On the Beach' is that the author invented the Panjandrum
Nevil Shute Norway (he dropped Norway when writing) must have been fond of the beach, because he invented a beach-based weapon of mass destruction called the Panjandrum. Figuring it might be a tad suicidal to launch a frontal assault on the Nazi machine gun nests in Normandy, the British called upon Sub-Lieutenant Norway to come up with a device capable of breaching defences while everyone sheltered in the landing craft. The Panjandrum was two giant wheels connected by a drum, powered by rockets and loaded up with explosives. The idea was you rolled it out of the boat, lit the fuse and stood well back, whereupon it would spin up the beachhead like an out-of-control Burning Man installation and blow the Nazis to smithereens.
It didn’t work. In testing, the Panjandrum ran amok, haring off along the beach at 100km/h, launching missiles in every conceivable direction. It almost wiped out the entire Allied high command, who were observing from a very unsafe distance. It later appeared on Dad’s Army.
The Australian book you've finally got time for: On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Ignore the poor fortunes of its Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner-led film. Shute’s apocalypse novel is a dynamite isolation readwww.theguardian.com
Behold the Grand Panjandrum
The Great Panjandrum Scares a Dog | Military.com
The result of a bottle od Scotch and a Catherine Wheel. I
