92-599: Ruined City is a 1938 novel by Nevil Shute , published by Cassell in the UK. In the US, the book was published by William Morrow under the title Kindling . The story is set in the Depression years of the 1930s, when a rich London financier, Henry Warren, suffering from health problems and a broken marriage, decides to disappear from his old life, and travel incognito in the industrial North, now plagued with unemployment. In
184-507: A biblical framing in July 1918, using an interrogative from Exodus 16 in ancient Hebrew : "One thing is for certain—the doctors are at present flabbergasted; and we suggest that rather than calling the disease influenza they should for the present until they have it in hand, say Man hu —'What is it?'" Outbreaks of influenza-like illness were documented in 1916–17 at British military hospitals in Étaples , France , and just across
276-472: A "technical" pandemic that principally affected those 26 years of age and younger. While some natural explanations, such as the virus remaining in some frozen state for 20 years, have been proposed to explain this unprecedented phenomenon, the nature of influenza itself has been cited in favor of human involvement of some kind, such as an accidental leak from a lab where the old virus had been preserved for research purposes. Following this miniature pandemic,
368-461: A CBS made-for-television movie, in 1990; On the Beach in 1959 and again in 2000 as a two-part miniseries; and No Highway in 1951. A Town Like Alice was adapted into a film in 1956, serialised for Australian television in 1981, and also broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1997 starring Jason Connery , Becky Hindley , Bernard Hepton and Virginia McKenna . Shute's 1952 novel The Far Country
460-661: A Spanish bar hostess in the Balkans ( Ruined City ) or a brilliant but unworldly boffin ( No Highway ). His novels are in three main clusters: early pre-war flying adventures; Second World War tales; and stories set in Australia. Another recurrent theme is the bridging of social barriers such as class ( Lonely Road and Landfall ), race ( The Chequer Board ), or religion ( Round the Bend ). The Australian novels are individual hymns to that country, with subtle disparagement of
552-600: A director of Airspeed Ltd . In 1935, Airspeed signed a manufacturing licensing agreement with Fokker and considered making the Fokker D.XVII fighter for Greece, who wanted to buy from Britain for currency reasons. Shute (now managing director) and a Fokker representative "who was well accustomed to methods of business in the Balkans" spent three weeks in Athens but did not close the deal. Nevil Shute Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 1899 – 12 January 1960)
644-431: A dubious oil-rich Balkan state, in need of tankers. To float the new company, Warren must sign a prospectus, declaring falsely that the yard is well-placed to make a profit. But when the oil-state suffers a revolution, its business is lost, and the only way to save the yard is for Warren to take personal responsibility for the deception, earning him two years’ jail. On his eventual release, he revisits Sharples, to find that
736-636: A hobby, driving a white Jaguar XK140 . Some of this experience found its way into his book On the Beach . Shute died in Melbourne in 1960 after a stroke. Norway Road and Nevil Shute Road at Portsmouth Airport, Hampshire were both named after him. Shute Avenue in Berwick, Victoria was named after him, when the farm used for filming the 1959 film On the Beach was subdivided for housing. The public library in Alice Springs , Northern Territory
828-786: A late peak between January–April 1920. Mexico experienced a fourth wave between February and March. In South America, Peru experienced "asynchronous recrudescent waves" throughout the year. A severe third wave hit Lima , the capital city, between January and March, resulting in an all-cause excess mortality rate approximately four times greater than that of the 1918–1919 wave. Ica similarly experienced another severe pandemic wave in 1920, between July and October. A fourth wave also occurred in Brazil, in February. Korea and Taiwan , both colonies of Japan at this time, also experienced pronounced outbreaks in late 1919 and early 1920. By mid-1920,
920-524: A little ship that he would be the senior naval officer and "have to do something". So he ended up in the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development . There he was a head of engineering, working on secret weapons such as Panjandrum , a job that appealed to the engineer in him. He also developed the Rocket Spear , an anti-submarine missile with a fluted cast iron head. After the first U-boat
1012-819: A major outbreak of the illness spread among people who had attended the parade. From Europe, the second wave swept through Russia in a southwest–northeast diagonal front, as well as being brought to Arkhangelsk by the North Russia intervention , and then spread throughout Asia following the Russian Civil War and the Trans-Siberian railway , reaching Iran (where it spread through the holy city of Mashhad ), and then later India in September, as well as China and Japan in October. The celebrations of
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#17327796833851104-651: A major training ground for troops of the American Expeditionary Forces , to other U.S. Army camps and Europe, becoming an epidemic in the Midwest , East Coast , and French ports by April 1918, and reaching the Western Front by the middle of the month. It then quickly spread to the rest of France, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain and in May reached Wrocław and Odessa . After the signing of
1196-583: A popular song from a zarzuela . Spanish flu ( gripe española ) is now a common name in Spain, but remains controversial there. Othering derived from geopolitical borders and social boundaries. In Poland it was the ' Bolshevik disease', while the Bolsheviks referred to it as the ' Kirghiz disease'. Some Africans called it a 'white man's sickness', but in South Africa , white men also used
1288-470: A pound." Several of Shute's novels explored the boundary between accepted science and rational belief, on the one hand, and mystical or paranormal possibilities, including reincarnation , on the other hand. Shute did this by including elements of fantasy and science fiction in novels that were considered mainstream. They included Buddhist astrology and folk prophecy in The Chequer Board ;
1380-423: A profit in wartime), Otjiherero : 'kaapitohanga' (disease which passes through like a bullet), and Persian : nakhushi-yi bad (disease of the wind). This outbreak was also commonly known as the 'great influenza epidemic', after the 'great war', a common name for World War I before World War II . French military doctors originally called it 'disease 11' ( maladie onze ). German doctors downplayed
1472-460: A public information campaign before the end of the summer, and Britain began preparations in the autumn with the manufacture of vaccine. In Japan, the flu broke out again in December and spread rapidly throughout the country, a fact attributed at the time to the coming of cold weather. Pandemic-related measures were renewed to check the spread of the outbreak, and health authorities recommended
1564-667: A result of the lifting of the ban on public gatherings. Pandemic interventions, such as bans on public gatherings and the closing of schools, were reimposed in many places in an attempt to suppress the spread. There was "a very sudden and very marked rise in general death rate" in most cities in January 1919; nearly all experienced "some degree of recrudescence" of the flu in January and February. Significant outbreaks occurred in cities including Los Angeles , New York City, Memphis , Nashville , San Francisco , and St. Louis . By 21 February, with some local variation, influenza activity
1656-617: A strict maritime quarantine had shielded the country through the latter part of 1918. It assumed epidemic proportions first in Melbourne , peaking in mid-February. The flu soon appeared in neighboring New South Wales and South Australia and then spread across the country throughout the year. New South Wales experienced its first wave of infection between mid-March and late May, while a second, more severe wave occurred in Victoria between April and June. Land quarantine measures hindered
1748-633: Is fundamentally the same condition as the influenza of this present pandemic." This " purulent bronchitis " is not yet linked to the same A/H1N1 virus, but it may be a precursor. In 1918, ' epidemic influenza ' ( Italian : influenza , influence), also known at the time as 'the grip' ( French : la grippe , grasp), appeared in Kansas in the U.S. during late spring, and early reports from Spain began appearing on 21 May. Reports from both places called it 'three-day fever' ( fiebre de los tres días ). Many alternative names are exonyms in
1840-503: Is in town," making 'the Spanish lady' another common name. The outbreak did not originate in Spain (see below ), but reporting did, due to wartime censorship in belligerent nations. Spain was a neutral country unconcerned with appearances of combat readiness , and without a wartime propaganda machine to prop up morale ; so its newspapers freely reported epidemic effects, including King Alfonso XIII 's illness, making Spain
1932-759: Is the Nevil Shute Memorial Library. In the Readers' List of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th century, A Town Like Alice came in at number 17, Trustee from the Toolroom at 27, and On the Beach at 56. 1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 flu pandemic , also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu , was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by
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#17327796833852024-506: The 1977 Russian flu and the 2009 Swine flu pandemics. This pandemic was known by many different names—some old, some new—depending on place, time, and context. The etymology of alternative names historicises the scourge and its effects on people who would only learn years later that invisible viruses caused influenza . The lack of scientific answers led the Sierra Leone Weekly News ( Freetown ) to suggest
2116-516: The Armistice of 11 November 1918 also caused outbreaks in Lima and Nairobi , but by December the wave was mostly over. The second wave of the 1918 pandemic was much more deadly than the first. The first wave had resembled typical flu epidemics; those most at risk were the sick and elderly, while younger, healthier people recovered easily. October 1918 was the month with the highest fatality rate of
2208-645: The Boston Navy Yard and Camp Devens (later renamed Fort Devens ), about 30 miles west of Boston, other U.S. military sites were soon afflicted, as were troops being transported to Europe. Helped by troop movements, it spread over the next two months to all of North America, and then to Central and South America , also reaching Brazil and the Caribbean on ships. In July 1918, the Ottoman Empire saw its first cases in some soldiers. From Freetown,
2300-553: The English Channel at Aldershot , England . Clinical indications in common with the 1918 pandemic included rapid symptom progression to a "dusky" heliotrope cyanosis of the face. This characteristic blue-violet cyanosis in expiring patients led to the name 'purple death'. The Aldershot physicians later wrote in The Lancet , "the influenza pneumococcal purulent bronchitis we and others described in 1916 and 1917
2392-752: The H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus . The earliest documented case was March 1918 in the state of Kansas in the United States, with further cases recorded in France, Germany and the United Kingdom in April. Two years later, nearly a third of the global population, or an estimated 500 million people, had been infected in four successive waves. Estimates of deaths range from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of
2484-602: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918), Germany started releasing Russian prisoners of war, who then brought the disease to their country. It reached North Africa, India, and Japan in May, and soon after had likely gone around the world as there had been recorded cases in Southeast Asia in April. In June an outbreak was reported in China . After reaching Australia in July, the wave started to recede. The first wave of
2576-476: The de Havilland Aircraft Company . He used his pen-name as an author to protect his engineering career from any potentially adverse publicity in connection with his novels. Dissatisfied with the lack of opportunities for advancement, he took a position in 1924 with Vickers Ltd. , where he was involved with the development of airships , working as Chief Calculator ( stress engineer ) on the R100 airship project for
2668-571: The ethnophaulism 'kaffersiekte' (lit. negro disease). Japan blamed sumo wrestlers for bringing the disease home from a match in Taiwan by calling it 'sumo flu' ( Sumo Kaze ), even though three top wrestlers died there. World Health Organization 'best practices' first published in 2015 now aim to prevent social stigma by no longer associating culturally significant names with new diseases, listing "Spanish flu" under "examples to be avoided". Many authors now eschew calling this
2760-469: The first of these post-1918 pandemics , in 1957, the virus was totally displaced by the novel H2N2 , the reassortant product of the human H1N1 and an avian influenza virus, which thereafter became the active influenza A virus in humans. In 1977, an influenza virus bearing a very close resemblance to the seasonal H1N1, which had not been seen since the 1950s, appeared in Russia and subsequently initiated
2852-528: The 'Spanish grip'. And wherefore Spanish? …this epidemic was not born in Spain, and this should be recorded as a historic vindication." But before this letter could be published, The Serbian Newspaper ( Corfu ) said, "Various countries have been assigning the origin of this imposing guest to each other for quite some time, and at one point in time they agreed to assign its origin to the kind and neutral Spain…" French press initially used 'American flu', but adopted 'Spanish flu' in lieu of antagonizing an ally. In
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2944-603: The Beach and A Town Like Alice . Shute was born in Somerset Road, Ealing (which was then in Middlesex ), in the house described in his novel Trustee from the Toolroom . He was educated at the Dragon School , Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford ; he graduated from Oxford in 1922 with a third-class degree in engineering science. Shute was the son of Arthur Hamilton Norway, who became head of
3036-794: The Post Office in Ireland before the First World War and was based at the General Post Office, Dublin in 1916 at the time of the Easter Rising , and his wife Mary Louisa Gadsden. Shute himself was later commended for his role as a stretcher-bearer during the rising. His grandmother Georgina Norway was a novelist. Shute attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich , and trained as a gunner. He
3128-488: The R100 and R101 as a primary illustration of his thesis that governments are usually incompetent managers of technology projects. In 1931, with the cancellation of the R100 project, Shute teamed up with the talented de Havilland-trained designer A. Hessell Tiltman to found the aircraft construction company Airspeed Ltd . A site was available in a former trolleybus garage on Piccadilly, York . Despite setbacks, including
3220-529: The RNVR. Shute's first novel, Stephen Morris , was written in 1923, but not published until 1961 (with its 1924 sequel, Pilotage ). His first published novel was Marazan , which came out in 1926. After that he averaged one novel every two years until the 1950s, with the exception of a six-year hiatus while he was establishing his own aircraft construction company, Airspeed Ltd. Sales of his books grew slowly with each novel, but he became much better known after
3312-441: The Spanish flu, instead using variations of '1918–19/20 flu/influenza pandemic'. Some language endonyms did not name specific regions or groups of people. Examples specific to this pandemic include: Northern Ndebele : 'Malibuzwe' (let enquiries be made concerning it), Swahili : 'Ugonjo huo kichwa na kukohoa na kiuno' (the disease of head and coughing and spine), Yao : 'chipindupindu' (disease from seeking to make
3404-503: The United States as early as late November 1918, with the Public Health Service issuing its first report of a "recrudescence of the disease" being felt in "widely scattered localities" in early December. This resurgent activity varied across the country, however, possibly on account of differing restrictions. Michigan , for example, experienced a swift resurgence of influenza that reached its peak in December, possibly as
3496-421: The United States subsided as swiftly as it had appeared, reaching a peak in early February. "An epidemic of considerable proportions marked the early months of 1920", the U.S. Mortality Statistics would later note; according to data at this time, the epidemic resulted in one third as many deaths as the 1918–1919 experience. New York City alone reported 6,374 deaths between December 1919 and April 1920, almost twice
3588-752: The Vickers subsidiary Airship Guarantee Company. In 1929, he was promoted to deputy chief engineer of the R100 project under Barnes Wallis . When Wallis left the project, Shute became the chief engineer. The R100 was a prototype for passenger-carrying airships that would serve the needs of Britain's empire. The government-funded but privately developed R100 made a successful 1930 round trip to Canada . While in Canada it made trips from Montreal to Ottawa , Toronto, and Niagara Falls . The fatal 1930 crash near Beauvais , France, of its government-developed counterpart R101 ended British interest in dirigibles . The R100
3680-544: The apparent locus of the epidemic. The censorship was so effective that Spain's health officials were unaware its neighboring countries were similarly affected. In an October 1918 "Madrid Letter" to the Journal of the American Medical Association , a Spanish official protested, "we were surprised to learn that the disease was making ravages in other countries, and that people there were calling it
3772-409: The claim that young adults had a high mortality during the pandemic has been contested. Malnourishment, overcrowded medical camps and hospitals, and poor hygiene , exacerbated by the war, promoted bacterial superinfection , killing most of the victims after a typically prolonged death bed. The 1918 Spanish flu was the first of three flu pandemics caused by H1N1 influenza A virus ; the others being
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3864-560: The country were soon to follow. Certain pandemic restrictions, such as the closing of schools and theaters and the staggering of business hours to avoid congestion, were reimposed in cities like Chicago, Memphis, and New York City. As they had during the epidemic in fall 1918, schools in New York City remained open, while those in Memphis were shuttered as part of more general restrictions on public gatherings. The fourth wave in
3956-399: The deadliest pandemics in history . The pandemic broke out near the end of World War I , when wartime censors in the belligerent countries suppressed bad news to maintain morale , but newspapers freely reported the outbreak in neutral Spain , creating a false impression of Spain as the epicenter and leading to the "Spanish flu" misnomer. Limited historical epidemiological data make
4048-474: The disease was regarded as being milder than it had been the year before, albeit more infectious. Despite its rapid peak at the beginning of the year, the outbreak persisted throughout the winter, before subsiding in the spring. In the United States, there were "almost continuously isolated or solitary cases" of flu throughout the spring and summer months of 1919. An increase in scattered cases became apparent as early as September, but Chicago experienced one of
4140-716: The disease was soon misnamed 'Spanish influenza'. In a 2 June 1918 The Times of London dispatch titled, "The Spanish Epidemic," a correspondent in Madrid reported over 100,000 victims of, "The unknown disease…clearly of a gripal character," without referring to "Spanish influenza" directly. Three weeks later The Times reported that, "Everybody thinks of it as the 'Spanish' influenza to-day." Three days after that an advertisement appeared in The Times for Formamint tablets to prevent "Spanish influenza". When it reached Moscow, Pravda announced, " Ispánka (the Spanish lady)
4232-449: The disease, a novel one in 1918, assumed a more familiar nature, coming to represent at least one form of the "seasonal flu". The virus, H1N1, remained endemic, occasionally causing more severe or otherwise notable outbreaks as it gradually evolved over the years. The period since its initial appearance in 1918 has been termed a "pandemic era", in which all flu pandemics since its emergence have been caused by its own descendants. Following
4324-467: The editors of the U.S. Public Health Service 's academic journal Public Health Reports . Within days of the 4 March first case at Camp Funston, 522 men at the camp had reported sick. By 11 March 1918, the virus had reached Queens , New York. Failure to take preventive measures in March/April was later criticized. As the U.S. had entered World War I, the disease quickly spread from Camp Funston,
4416-640: The effective use of a planchette in No Highway; a messiah figure in Round the Bend ; reincarnation, science fiction, and Aboriginal psychic powers in In the Wet. Twenty-four of his novels and novellas have been published. Many of his books have been adapted for the screen, including Lonely Road in 1936; Landfall: A Channel Story in 1949; Pied Piper in 1942 and again in 1959, and also as Crossing to Freedom,
4508-477: The fictional town of Sharples, whose only shipyard has just closed, he is taken ill and admitted to hospital, where he is mistaken for one of the unemployed. After a successful operation, and a burgeoning friendship with Alice, the hospital’s almoner , he takes stock of the local situation, and resolves to use his wealth to help the community. Knowing that the shipyard is for sale at a knockdown price, he buys it secretly, but finds that he can only attract business from
4600-461: The first major outbreaks of the flu beginning in the middle of January. The Public Health Service announced it would take steps to "localize the epidemic", but the disease was already causing a simultaneous outbreak in Kansas City and quickly spread outward from the center of the country in no clear direction. A few days after its first announcement, PHS issued another assuring that the disease
4692-539: The first quarter of 1918. However, the first wave caused a significant disruption in the military operations of World War I , with three-quarters of French troops, half the British forces, and over 900,000 German soldiers sick. The second wave began in the second half of August 1918, probably spreading to Boston , Massachusetts and Freetown , Sierra Leone , by ships from Brest , where it had likely arrived with American troops or French recruits for naval training. From
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#17327796833854784-401: The first time in my life I saw how people live in an English-speaking country outside England." Although he intended to remain in Australia, he did not apply for Australian citizenship , which was at that time a mere formality because he was a British citizen . In the 1950s and 1960s he was one of the world's best-selling novelists. Between 1956 and 1958 in Australia, he took up car racing as
4876-459: The first time just in October 1918, experienced a severe second wave, with mortality peaking in August 1919. Montevideo similarly experienced a second outbreak between July and September. The third wave particularly affected Spain, Serbia , Mexico and Great Britain, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. It was in general less severe than the second wave but still much more deadly than
4968-415: The flu lasted from the first quarter of 1918 and was relatively mild. Mortality rates were not appreciably above normal; in the United States ~75,000 flu-related deaths were reported in the first six months of 1918, compared to ~63,000 deaths during the same time period in 1915. In Madrid, Spain, fewer than 1,000 people died from influenza between May and June 1918. There were no reported quarantines during
5060-555: The form of a true "third wave". Hong Kong experienced another outbreak in June, as did South Africa during its fall and winter months in the Southern Hemisphere . New Zealand also experienced some cases in May. Parts of South America experienced a resurgence of pandemic activity throughout 1919. A third wave hit Brazil between January and June. Between July 1919 and February 1920, Chile , which had been affected for
5152-418: The honest artisans and their social integrity and contributions to society more than the contributions of the upper classes. Aviation and engineering provide the backdrop for many of Shute's novels. He identified how engineering, science, and design could improve human life and more than once used the anonymous epigram, "It has been said an engineer is a man who can do for ten shillings what any fool can do for
5244-522: The initial first wave. In the Northern Hemisphere, fears of a "recurrence" of the flu grew as fall approached. Experts cited the history of past flu epidemics, such as that of 1889–1890, to predict that such a recurrence a year later was not unlikely, though not all agreed. In September 1919, U.S. Surgeon General Rupert Blue said a return of the flu later in the year would "probably, but by no means certainly," occur. France had readied
5336-638: The innovation of developing a hydraulic retractable undercarriage for the Airspeed Courier , and his work on R100, Shute was made a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society . On 7 March 1931, Shute married Frances Mary Heaton, a 28-year-old medical practitioner. They had two daughters, (Heather) Felicity and Shirley. By the outbreak of the Second World War, Shute was a rising novelist. Even as war seemed imminent he
5428-485: The last quarter of 1918 alone. Pandemic activity persisted, in general, into 1919 in many places. This persistence in activity is possibly attributable to climate, specifically in the Northern Hemisphere , where it was winter and thus the usual time for influenza activity. The pandemic nonetheless continued into 1919 largely independent of region and climate. Cases began to rise again in some parts of
5520-879: The manuscript incomplete. According to Dan Telfair in the foreword of the 2002 edition, some of the themes in The Seafarers and Blind Understanding were used in Shute's 1955 novel Requiem for a Wren . In 1948, Shute flew his own Percival Proctor aeroplane to Australia and back, accompanied by the writer James Riddell , who published a book, Flight of Fancy, based on the trip, in 1950. On his return, concerned about what he saw as he "felt oppressed by British taxation", he decided that he and his family would move to Australia. In 1950, he settled with his wife and two daughters on farmland at Langwarrin , south-east of Melbourne . Remembering his 1930 trip to Canada and his decision to immigrate to Australia, he wrote, in 1954, "For
5612-523: The mores of the United States ( Beyond the Black Stump ) and overt antipathy towards the post-World War II socialist government of Shute's native Britain ( The Far Country and In the Wet ). Shute's heroes tended to be like himself: middle-class solicitors, doctors, accountants, bank managers, and engineers—generally university graduates. However (as in Trustee from the Toolroom ), Shute valued
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#17327796833855704-425: The number of the first wave in spring 1918. Other U.S. cities including Detroit, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and St. Louis were hit particularly hard, with death rates higher than all of 1918. The Territory of Hawaii experienced its peak of the pandemic in early 1920, recording 1,489 deaths from flu-related causes, compared with 615 in 1918 and 796 in 1919. Poland experienced a devastating outbreak during
5796-905: The pandemic continued to spread through West Africa along the coast, rivers, and the colonial railways, and from railheads to more remote communities, while South Africa received it in September on ships bringing back members of the South African Native Labour Corps returning from France. From there it spread around southern Africa and beyond the Zambezi , reaching Ethiopia in November. On 15 September, New York City saw its first fatality from influenza. The Philadelphia Liberty Loans Parade , held in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on 28 September 1918 to promote government bonds for World War I, resulted in 12,000 deaths after
5888-406: The pandemic was largely considered to be "over" by the public as well as governments. Though parts of Chile experienced a third, milder wave between November 1920 and March 1921, the flu seemed to be mostly absent through the winter of 1920–1921. In the United States, for example, deaths from pneumonia and influenza were "very much lower than for many years". Seasonal Influenza after the end of
5980-484: The pandemic's geographic origin indeterminate, with competing hypotheses on the initial spread. Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the young and old, with a higher survival rate in-between, but this pandemic had unusually high mortality for young adults. Scientists offer several explanations for the high mortality, including a six-year climate anomaly affecting migration of disease vectors with increased likelihood of spread through bodies of water. However,
6072-447: The pandemic, began to be reported again from many places in 1921. Influenza continued to be felt in Chile, where a post pandemic fourth wave affected seven of its 24 provinces between June and December 1921. The winter of 1921–1922 was the first major reappearance of seasonal influenza in the Northern Hemisphere after the pandemic ended, in many parts its most significant occurrence since the main pandemic in late 1918. Northwestern Europe
6164-431: The practice of making new infectious diseases seem foreign. This pattern was observed even before the 1889–1890 pandemic , also known as the 'Russian flu', when the Russians already called epidemic influenza the 'Chinese catarrh', the Germans called it the 'Russian pest', while the Italians in turn called it the 'German disease'. These epithets were re-used in the 1918 pandemic, along with new ones. Outside Spain,
6256-423: The publication of his third to last book, On the Beach , in 1957. Shute's novels are written in a simple, highly readable style, with clearly delineated plot lines. Where there is a romantic element, sex is referred to only obliquely. Many of the stories are introduced by a narrator who is not a character in the story. The most common theme in Shute's novels is the dignity of work , spanning all classes, whether
6348-516: The reemerged H1N1 became endemic once again but did not displace the other active influenza A virus, H3N2 (which itself had displaced H2N2 through a pandemic in 1968 ). For the first time, two influenza A viruses were observed in cocirculation. This state of affairs has persisted even after 2009, when a novel H1N1 virus emerged, sparked a pandemic , and thereafter took the place of the seasonal H1N1 to circulate alongside H3N2. Despite its name, historical and epidemiological data cannot identify
6440-408: The severity by calling it 'pseudo influenza' (Latin: pseudo , false), while in Africa, doctors tried to get patients to take it more seriously by calling it 'influenza vera' (Latin: vera , true). A children's song from the 1889–90 flu pandemic was shortened and adapted into a skipping-rope rhyme popular in 1918. It is a metaphor for the transmissibility of 'Influenza', where that name
6532-524: The size of girders in German airships. The calculations for just one transverse frame of the R100 could take two or three months, and the solution '"almost amounted to a religious experience." But later he wrote that '"the disaster was the product of the system rather than the men at Cardington"; the one thing that was proved is that "government officials are totally ineffective in engineering development" and any weapons (they develop) will be bad weapons. The R101 made one short test flight in perfect weather, and
6624-431: The spread of the disease, resulting in varied experiences of exposures and outbreaks among the various states. Queensland was not infected until late April; Western Australia avoided the disease until early June, and Tasmania remained free from it until mid-August. Out of the six states, Victoria and New South Wales experienced generally more extensive epidemics. Each experienced another significant wave of illness over
6716-534: The spring of 1918, British soldiers called it 'Flanders flu', while German soldiers used ' Flandern-Fieber ' (Flemish fever), both after a famous battlefield in Belgium where many soldiers on both sides fell ill. In Senegal it was named 'Brazilian flu', and in Brazil , 'German flu'. In Spain it was also known as the 'French flu' ( gripe francesa ), or the 'Naples Soldier' ( Soldado de Nápoles ), after
6808-418: The use of masks. The epidemic intensified in the latter part of December before swiftly peaking in January. Between October 1919 and 23 January 1920, 780,000 cases were reported across the country, with at least 20,000 deaths recorded by that date. This apparently reflected "a condition of severity three times greater than for the corresponding period of" 1918–1919, during Japan's first epidemic. Nonetheless,
6900-691: The usual problems of a new business, Airspeed Limited eventually gained recognition when its Envoy aircraft was chosen for the King's Flight . With the approach of the Second World War , a military version of the Envoy was developed, to be called the Airspeed Oxford . The Oxford became the standard advanced multi-engined trainer for the RAF and British Commonwealth, with over 8,500 being built. For
6992-473: The whole pandemic. In the United States, ~292,000 deaths were reported between September–December 1918, compared to ~26,000 during the same time period in 1915. The Netherlands reported over 40,000 deaths from influenza and acute respiratory disease. Bombay reported ~15,000 deaths in a population of 1.1 million. The 1918 flu pandemic in India was especially deadly, with an estimated 12.5–20 million deaths in
7084-567: The winter months, with its capital Warsaw reaching a peak of 158 deaths in a single week, compared to the peak of 92 reached in December 1918; however, the 1920 epidemic passed in a matter of weeks, while the 1918–1919 wave had developed over the entire second half of 1918. By contrast, the outbreak in western Europe was considered "benign", with the age distribution of deaths beginning to take on that of seasonal flu . Five countries in Europe (Spain, Denmark, Finland, Germany and Switzerland) recorded
7176-507: The winter. The second epidemic in New South Wales was more severe than the first, while Victoria saw a third wave that was somewhat less extensive than its second, more akin to its first. The disease also reached other parts of the world for the first time in 1919, such as Madagascar , which saw its first cases in April; the outbreak had spread to practically all sections of the island by June. In other parts, influenza recurred in
7268-471: The yard has managed to prosper, thanks to new rearmament projects, and the management has erected a bronze plaque, honouring his part in saving the local jobs. When he is recognised, the whole town rushes to greet him, including Alice who has been loyally awaiting his return. The book is loosely based on Shute's own experience at Howden in Yorkshire as Calculator of the R100 project and his experience as
7360-578: Was clipped to the apheresis 'Enza': I had a little bird, its name was Enza. I opened the window, and in-flu-enza. The pandemic is conventionally marked as having begun on 4 March 1918 with the recording of the case of Albert Gitchell, an army cook at Camp Funston in Kansas , United States, despite there having been cases before him. The disease had already been observed 200 miles (320 km) away in Haskell County as early as January 1918, prompting local doctor Loring Miner to warn
7452-415: Was affected by "a substantial recrudescent wave" of influenza between January and April 1919. Portugal experienced a resurgence in pandemic activity that lasted from March to September 1919, with the greatest impact being felt on the west coast and in the north of the country; all districts were affected between April and May specifically. Influenza entered Australia for the first time in January 1919 after
7544-410: Was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from inferences by his employers (Vickers) or from fellow engineers that he was "not a serious person" or from potentially adverse publicity in connection with his novels, which included On
7636-399: Was filmed for television as six one-hour episodes in 1972, and as a two-part miniseries in 1987. Vintage Books reprinted all 23 of his books in 2009. Shute's final work was published more than 40 years after his death. The Seafarers was first drafted in 1946–47, rewritten, and then put aside. In 1948, Shute again rewrote it, changing the title to Blind Understanding, but he left
7728-585: Was given an airworthiness certificate for her flight to India to meet the minister’s deadline. Norway thought it probable that a new outer cover for the R101 was taped on with rubber adhesive which reacted with the dope. His account is very critical of the R101 design and management team, and strongly hints that senior team members were complicit in concealing flaws in the airship's design and construction. In The Tender Ship, Manhattan Project engineer and Virginia Tech professor Arthur Squires used Shute's account of
7820-468: Was immediately grounded and subsequently scrapped. Shute gives a detailed account of the development of the two airships in his 1954 autobiographical work, Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer . When he started, he wrote that he was shocked to find that before building the R38 the civil servants concerned '"had made no attempt to calculate the aerodynamic forces acting on the ship"' but had just copied
7912-634: Was not until later in the winter and into the spring that a clearer resurgence appeared in Europe. A significant third wave had developed in England and Wales by mid-February, peaking in early March, though it did not fully subside until May. France also experienced a significant wave that peaked in February, alongside the Netherlands. Norway , Finland , and Switzerland saw recrudescences of pandemic activity in March, and Sweden in April. Much of Spain
8004-533: Was particularly affected. All-cause mortality in the Netherlands approximately doubled in January 1922 alone. In Helsinki , a major epidemic (the fifth since 1918) prevailed between November and December 1921. The flu was also widespread in the United States, its prevalence in California reportedly greater in early March 1922 than at any point since the pandemic ended in 1920. In the years after 1920,
8096-414: Was reported to have been declining since mid-January in all parts of the country. Following this "first great epidemic period" that had commenced in October 1918, deaths from pneumonia and influenza were "somewhat below average" in the large cities of the United States between May 1919 and January 1920. Nonetheless, nearly 160,000 deaths were attributed to these causes in the first six months of 1919. It
8188-543: Was sunk by it, Charles Goodeve sent him a message concluding "I am particularly pleased as it fully substantiates the foresight you showed in pushing this in its early stages. My congratulations." His celebrity as a writer caused the Ministry of Information to send him to the Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 and later to Burma as a correspondent. He finished the war with the rank of lieutenant commander in
8280-809: Was unable to take up a commission in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War , which he believed was because of his stammer. He served as a soldier in the Suffolk Regiment , enlisting in the ranks in August 1918. He guarded the Isle of Grain in the Thames Estuary, and served in military funeral parties in Kent during the 1918 flu pandemic . An aeronautical engineer as well as a pilot, Shute began his engineering career with
8372-498: Was under the control of state health authorities and that an outbreak of epidemic proportions was not expected. It became apparent within days of the start of Chicago's explosive growth in cases that the flu was spreading in the city at an even faster rate than in winter 1919, though fewer were dying. Within a week, new cases in the city had surpassed its peak during the 1919 wave. Around the same time, New York City began to see its own sudden increase in cases, and other cities around
8464-566: Was working on military projects with his former boss at Vickers, Sir Dennistoun Burney . He was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) as a sub-lieutenant, having joined as an "elderly yachtsman" and expected to be in charge of a drifter or minesweeper, but after two days he was asked about his career and technical experience. He reached the "dizzy rank" of lieutenant commander, knowing nothing about "Sunday Divisions" and secretly fearing when he went on
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