Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

of a dog perhaps . . . " So clearly, I was already developing a particular interest in
polar exploration!
The Woods had a boathouse on the lakeshore below the house which held a 14 ft
clinker built sailing boat ‘Daphne’, a comfortable broad beamed boat with a brown
lug-sail and centre-board. There was also a 10 ft carvel-built dinghy, built by
Cuthbert Woods. Both were very well constructed and maintained. He taught Bill
and myself to sail and we had numerous excursions to explore the lake; where we
were in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ territory. As we became more expert and confident
we were allowed to go out on our own. It was a difficult place to learn to sail,
because, although there were no complicating tides and rough seas, there were
strong winds and they came from all directions, reflected off the hills. So one had to
keep one’s wits about one. I thoroughly enjoyed “messing about in boats”, landing
on the many islands on the lake, swimming from the boat or shore, and fishing.
Although I never was very skilled in sailing, the experience of using boats was useful
in later years – in the Antarctic and at South Georgia, and subsequently in central
Africa.
Entertaining ourselves
I also read with pleasure the other books from the shelves, among them novels
by Winston Churchill (the novelist, not the politician), Walter Scott, Stevenson,
Dickens, Jane Austen, and Fennimore Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans”. Also plays -
Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw, poetry - Francis Thompson, Walt Whitman, Robert
Browning, Wordsworth and others.
I also began to buy books with my pocket money, usually from the bookshop in
Kendal. I acquired David Lack's "The life of the Robin", which really opened my eyes
to an interest of animal behaviour, and a number of books on natural history, like
those illustrated by Archibald Thorburn, the "Wayside and Woodland" series. Also,
an anthology "A Book of Birds" with Tunnicliffe's engravings, Clare Leighton's "Four
Hedges", Robert Gibbings "Blue Angels and Whales", set among Pacific coral islands,
illustrated with woodcuts of underwater scenes . . . . . and many others. I think these
all influenced my choices later in life. There was of course no television but we
listened to the radio news and occasional programmes like Tommy Handley's
"ITMA" and "Much Binding in the Marsh", which seemed hilariously funny at the
time. We played card games, ‘Up Jenkins’ and ‘Monopoly’ in the winter evenings.
We went to the cinema in Windermere or Kendal from time to time. The films,
or plays, that I remember start in 1940 with ‘Bluebird’, ‘Gullivers Travels’,
Pygmalion. In l941 there was Charlie’s Aunt (play), ‘Pinocchio’, Charlie Chaplin's
‘Great Dictator’. In l942, ‘The Merchant of Venice’, ‘Gone with the Wind’, notable for
its length. At the end of March l942 we put on a Scout concert (The Gang Show) in St
John's Rooms one evening, in which Bill and I took part. It was entertaining and
amusing, and well attended.
Holidays
My parents, or my mother alone, came over to Windermere several times each year,
for a half term weekend or a week or so at other times. They were much in
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