Factual errors in novels

[jsabine]

One of the Swallows and Amazons books had a plot device where the kids deduced which tyre was which when they were hunting for a bicycle with two different makes of tyre on it.

Which one? I don't remember that.

One of the Norfolk Broads ones. Coot Club? Think it was the lad with a camera who did the deduction in question.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Definitely one of the Norfolk Broads stories but I think it might have been The Big Six. I remember that tracing the bike in question was something to do with Dunlop tyres as opposed to John Bull.

[PeteB99]

Yes - The big six. They photographed tyre tracks to try and trace who was responsible for some vandalism. Though now I think of it the John Bull and Dunlop tyres may have been on different suspects bikes.

[drossall]

Thanks. I always loved those books but, when it came to it, I'm not sure whether the long row on the shelf ever actually included that one. So I read it on Kindle yesterday. I don't recall a Ransome in which bikes got quite so many mentions

One of the things I like about the books is the echoes of a world in which kids went off exploring, sailing (and cycling) for a day or more at a time. And I always remember the use of Semaphore in The Picts and the Martyrs and others.

[Kathy]

For factual errors, I give you anything written by an American set in London.

I rather like The Rook (The Checquy Files Book 1), but it's full of people driving in central London to get around in a hurry, and everyone having guns, and just driving up to Scotland and back for the morning!

[T42]

For factual errors, I give you anything written by an American set in London outside America (and even then...).

FTFY

[David Martin]

One of the Swallows and Amazons books had a plot device where the kids deduced which tyre was which when they were hunting for a bicycle with two different makes of tyre on it.

John Bull's and Dunlops. I think it was 'The Big Six', set in the Broads