Post by Catsmate on Mar 31, 2020 19:43:16 GMT
The Asterix Club
I briefly mentioned the Asterix Club in another thread but I thought it was time to expand on this unusual group and suggest some uses for them within the Whoniverse.
The club appears in two of the four mystery/detective novels written by the undeservedly obscure British writer Pamela Branch (wiki) in the early 1950s. The first of these, by far her best work, was The Wooden Overcoat1 and the second Murder Every Monday.
The club was based in an old house at 13 Flood Walk in Chelsea2, about 300 metres from the river Thames and is discreet to the point of secretiveness. Not really surprising given the qualification for membership; one must have been wrongly acquitted of murder.
Dramatis Personae.3
Benjamin Cann
A newly acquitted murderer. Strangled his lover, possibly unintentionally. Is hunted by Flush and invited to join the club. Rather nervous at first.
Clifford Flush.
One labelled the ‘Balliol Butcher’. Murdered three women in 1937 on the Great Southern Railway (Bournemouth, Bath, Folkestone). Founder and President of the Asterix Club. Also owner of Flush, Inc, a company posessing a number of large vans...
Mrs. Naomi Barratt
A self-made widow (twice, ground glass). Later dispatched the chauffeur whom she murdered her husband for and married.
The Creaker
An enormous man with a wooden leg, frightens his fellow Asterisks. Connected to organised crime. His crimes are never detailed but are alluded to as being particularly horrible. His acquittal was particularly unpopular and led to an attempted lynching.
Lilli Cluj.
Another self-made widow, Hungarian femme fatal(e).
Colonel Quincey
Treasurer of the club. Killed his wife with a motor car. Expert with firearms, vehicles, engines and mechanical contrivances.
Bombardier Frisbee
A country member of the club (not resident in Chelsea) and employee of Flush, Inc.
Beecher.
Flush's argumentative minion. An expert (if legally unsuccessful4) burglar. Butler and factotum to the club. Loyal to Flush. Fond of electric torches.
Two (or more) unnamed maids.
14 Flood Walk.
Bertha Berko, weaver
Fan Hilford, artist
Peter Hilford, amateur photographer and detective novelist. Creator of Inspector Carstairs. Her husband.
Marleem, their ineffectual and amorous servant.
Mr Alfred. L. Beesum, Rodent Operative (retired). Probably the most skilled ratcatcher in Britain. A serious man with a suitcase full of poisons. Not resident.
Rex, dancer and friend of Fan. Very strong, rather camp and decidedly ebullient. Not resident.
Bunny, ‘friend’ of Rex. Prone to alcohol and cross-dressing. Not resident.
Setting and period.
Loosely the period can be summarised as 'rats and rationing'. Britain was still decrepit and almost bankrupt after the Second World War, housing was limited due to limited resources for reconstruction and rebuilding (the sharing of Number 14 by two young couples is a significant aspect of the plot).
Rationing remained in force in 1950 (the setting of The Wooden Overcoat); the February 1950 general election was largely fought on the issue of rationing. While the Conservative Party campaigned based on ending rationing as quickly as possible the Labour Party argued for the continuation of rationing indefinitely. Labour was returned to power but with their parliamentary majority slashed to just 5 seats. Their term would last barely twenty months and end woth the election of October 1951.
Petrol, sugar, chocolate and confectionery, soap and meat were rationed during the novel. One character suggests pillaging the unused coupons of one victim...
It's the same period as the Telos Time Hunter stories are based in.
Plot.
Clifford Flush recruits Benjamin Cann, a gentleman’s outfitter acquitted of murder, as the latest member of the exclusive Asterix Club. Unfortunately, there isn’t room for him in the club itself so Flush arranged to lodge him next door, in a rat-infested house inhabited by two artistic couples (the Berkos and Hilfords).
Murder ensues...
Media adaptions.
The only media adaption of any of Branch's work was a one-hour BBC Radio 4 drama, adapted and heavily abridged by Mark Gatiss in 2009, of The Wooden Overcoat starring David Tennant as Peter Hilford. Frankly it was mediocre at best.
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
1. The title refers to the professional slang term used by undertakers for a coffin and is only introduced in the last few pages.
2. A real address, subsequently demolished for council flats
3. At the start of the first book; not all the members survive.
4. Fourteen convictions.
5. A problem Beecher's skills may help with.
6. It's a decade early for Graham Young but a precocious boy (or girl) might be experimenting...
7. Teaching a diverse range of topics including Alibis, Ballistics, Courtroom Etiquette, Body Disposal, Traps and Poisons.
And now, my classmates; ye remaining few
That number not the half of those we knew,
Ye, against whose familiar names not yet
The fatal asterisk of death is set,
Ye I salute! The horologe of Time
Strikes the half-century with a solemn chime,
And summons us together once again,
The joy of meeting not unmixed with pain.
Longfellow., Morituri Salutamus
That number not the half of those we knew,
Ye, against whose familiar names not yet
The fatal asterisk of death is set,
Ye I salute! The horologe of Time
Strikes the half-century with a solemn chime,
And summons us together once again,
The joy of meeting not unmixed with pain.
Longfellow., Morituri Salutamus
The club appears in two of the four mystery/detective novels written by the undeservedly obscure British writer Pamela Branch (wiki) in the early 1950s. The first of these, by far her best work, was The Wooden Overcoat1 and the second Murder Every Monday.
The club was based in an old house at 13 Flood Walk in Chelsea2, about 300 metres from the river Thames and is discreet to the point of secretiveness. Not really surprising given the qualification for membership; one must have been wrongly acquitted of murder.
Dramatis Personae.3
Benjamin Cann
A newly acquitted murderer. Strangled his lover, possibly unintentionally. Is hunted by Flush and invited to join the club. Rather nervous at first.
Clifford Flush.
One labelled the ‘Balliol Butcher’. Murdered three women in 1937 on the Great Southern Railway (Bournemouth, Bath, Folkestone). Founder and President of the Asterix Club. Also owner of Flush, Inc, a company posessing a number of large vans...
Mrs. Naomi Barratt
A self-made widow (twice, ground glass). Later dispatched the chauffeur whom she murdered her husband for and married.
The Creaker
An enormous man with a wooden leg, frightens his fellow Asterisks. Connected to organised crime. His crimes are never detailed but are alluded to as being particularly horrible. His acquittal was particularly unpopular and led to an attempted lynching.
- Tom, his enormous, malodorous, molting and wheezy ginger cat.
Lilli Cluj.
Another self-made widow, Hungarian femme fatal(e).
Colonel Quincey
Treasurer of the club. Killed his wife with a motor car. Expert with firearms, vehicles, engines and mechanical contrivances.
Bombardier Frisbee
A country member of the club (not resident in Chelsea) and employee of Flush, Inc.
Beecher.
Flush's argumentative minion. An expert (if legally unsuccessful4) burglar. Butler and factotum to the club. Loyal to Flush. Fond of electric torches.
- Squires, easily terrified assistant to Beecher. Criminality unknown.
Two (or more) unnamed maids.
14 Flood Walk.
Bertha Berko, weaver
- Croyden, her temperamental miniature poodle
Fan Hilford, artist
Peter Hilford, amateur photographer and detective novelist. Creator of Inspector Carstairs. Her husband.
Marleem, their ineffectual and amorous servant.
Mr Alfred. L. Beesum, Rodent Operative (retired). Probably the most skilled ratcatcher in Britain. A serious man with a suitcase full of poisons. Not resident.
Rex, dancer and friend of Fan. Very strong, rather camp and decidedly ebullient. Not resident.
Bunny, ‘friend’ of Rex. Prone to alcohol and cross-dressing. Not resident.
Setting and period.
Loosely the period can be summarised as 'rats and rationing'. Britain was still decrepit and almost bankrupt after the Second World War, housing was limited due to limited resources for reconstruction and rebuilding (the sharing of Number 14 by two young couples is a significant aspect of the plot).
Rationing remained in force in 1950 (the setting of The Wooden Overcoat); the February 1950 general election was largely fought on the issue of rationing. While the Conservative Party campaigned based on ending rationing as quickly as possible the Labour Party argued for the continuation of rationing indefinitely. Labour was returned to power but with their parliamentary majority slashed to just 5 seats. Their term would last barely twenty months and end woth the election of October 1951.
Petrol, sugar, chocolate and confectionery, soap and meat were rationed during the novel. One character suggests pillaging the unused coupons of one victim...
It's the same period as the Telos Time Hunter stories are based in.
Plot.
Clifford Flush recruits Benjamin Cann, a gentleman’s outfitter acquitted of murder, as the latest member of the exclusive Asterix Club. Unfortunately, there isn’t room for him in the club itself so Flush arranged to lodge him next door, in a rat-infested house inhabited by two artistic couples (the Berkos and Hilfords).
Murder ensues...
Cann is found poisoned, Fan believes her husband killed him and attempts to dispose of the body. She tries to fob off Flush but he is suspicious. Lili is sent to investigate, attempts to seduce Peter and is in turn poisoned. The two couples try to hide the increasing body count from their servant, their neighbours, the police and eveyone else. Various attempts at disposing of the growing accumulation of corpses fail humourously. The four begin to suspect each other but eventually decide to dump the bodies next door and 'fort up'.
Finally the club assault number 14 and hold everyone at gunpoint and the killer is revealed.
Game use.
For a one-off scenario the PCs could be in London in 1950, lodging in a house when a new lodger is found murdered. As they may wish to avoid police and official scrutiny (do they have ration books? Identity cards?) they need to solve the mystery themselves. During the investigation they discover the nature of the odd club next door... Will they assist each other? Will murder ensure? How many will die?
An interesting twist, probably best suited to a one-off, is have the PCs be the members of the club, with a few NPCs for early victims. They're all seeking a quiet, and genteel, life and fallowing general principles of avoiding trouble. Then a new member is killed (and before he wills his worldly goods to the club5). What do they do? Are they bring attacked? How do they respond? The club does have skills, a number of people to call upon, certain special resources and a well stocked armoury...
Perhaps one of their number has cracked? Or has one of the neighbours decided to try his hand at murder6? Or is someone experimenting with resuscitating a damaged Cyberman in the basement? Is there a Psychic Vampire in the club?
Murder Every Monday.
The second of Branch's novels about the antics of the Asterix Club was published in 1954. After giving in to his frustrations at the poor Bridge bidding of a fellow-member of his bridge club named Armitage and failing to kill him, he and teh club are forced to leave London.
They relocate to a desolate and dreary country house and set up a school for prospective murders7. After several successful classes graduate trouble ensues when a new group, including two antagonistic American gangsters, a hack writer and her lover and one Bill Thurlow take up residence.
Game use.
A rather inferior work and one that doesn't lend itself to easy use. However it's a Whovian trope that the PCs arrive somewhere and are mistaken for expected visitors. What if they find themselves in a school run by murderers? Do they try to leave? Can they maintain their cover?
Or maybe they're trying to infiltrate the school to find something hidden there. Or someone, perhaps one of the staff, a domestic or student, is actually a time traveller, alien or other oddity.
- "We're up against the professionals".
- "I regret to say we have become involved with the insufferable amateur".
Finally the club assault number 14 and hold everyone at gunpoint and the killer is revealed.
Game use.
For a one-off scenario the PCs could be in London in 1950, lodging in a house when a new lodger is found murdered. As they may wish to avoid police and official scrutiny (do they have ration books? Identity cards?) they need to solve the mystery themselves. During the investigation they discover the nature of the odd club next door... Will they assist each other? Will murder ensure? How many will die?
- Alternatively the club next door may have a rather different reason for it's secretiveness. They may be aliens, time travellers or people fleeing a parallel universe where the Nazis succeeded.
An interesting twist, probably best suited to a one-off, is have the PCs be the members of the club, with a few NPCs for early victims. They're all seeking a quiet, and genteel, life and fallowing general principles of avoiding trouble. Then a new member is killed (and before he wills his worldly goods to the club5). What do they do? Are they bring attacked? How do they respond? The club does have skills, a number of people to call upon, certain special resources and a well stocked armoury...
Perhaps one of their number has cracked? Or has one of the neighbours decided to try his hand at murder6? Or is someone experimenting with resuscitating a damaged Cyberman in the basement? Is there a Psychic Vampire in the club?
Murder Every Monday.
The second of Branch's novels about the antics of the Asterix Club was published in 1954. After giving in to his frustrations at the poor Bridge bidding of a fellow-member of his bridge club named Armitage and failing to kill him, he and teh club are forced to leave London.
They relocate to a desolate and dreary country house and set up a school for prospective murders7. After several successful classes graduate trouble ensues when a new group, including two antagonistic American gangsters, a hack writer and her lover and one Bill Thurlow take up residence.
Game use.
A rather inferior work and one that doesn't lend itself to easy use. However it's a Whovian trope that the PCs arrive somewhere and are mistaken for expected visitors. What if they find themselves in a school run by murderers? Do they try to leave? Can they maintain their cover?
Or maybe they're trying to infiltrate the school to find something hidden there. Or someone, perhaps one of the staff, a domestic or student, is actually a time traveller, alien or other oddity.
Media adaptions.
The only media adaption of any of Branch's work was a one-hour BBC Radio 4 drama, adapted and heavily abridged by Mark Gatiss in 2009, of The Wooden Overcoat starring David Tennant as Peter Hilford. Frankly it was mediocre at best.
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
1. The title refers to the professional slang term used by undertakers for a coffin and is only introduced in the last few pages.
2. A real address, subsequently demolished for council flats
3. At the start of the first book; not all the members survive.
4. Fourteen convictions.
5. A problem Beecher's skills may help with.
6. It's a decade early for Graham Young but a precocious boy (or girl) might be experimenting...
7. Teaching a diverse range of topics including Alibis, Ballistics, Courtroom Etiquette, Body Disposal, Traps and Poisons.