Talk:John Craig (fictional agent)

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	I wrote 100% of this article at Wikipedia. I intend to expand it. Hayford Peirce 15:25, 3 September 2007 (CDT)
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Notes for expanding the article -- just getting started

The Man, page 7: "His voice changed to a parody of a half-educated, middle-class woman's, mellow with self-esteem, firm with ignorance."

page 62 -- "It'll probably turn out to be Grierson having a randy night out and too shy to tell us about it."

Not COL Grierson of the Buffalo Soldiers? Howard C. Berkowitz 23:30, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Captain Grierson, I think, toughest man in Loomis's stable until Craig comes along.... Hayford Peirce 23:40, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Philip Grierson, 37, "ex-Marine Commando captain, an excellent pistol shot, and a man of quick and resourceful wit." Page 63. Hayford Peirce 23:54, 13 June 2009 (UTC) "a big man, lean, sure in his movements; hard, bloody hard under that easy manner." Page 94. Hayford Peirce 02:09, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Department K of MI-6. Page 101. Hayford Peirce 00:16, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

You've sometimes asked about plausibility of weapons and such. I can't say with certainty for MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service), but MI5 practice had been to designate its departments alphabetically from A, rather than mnemonically. "K" would sound high. Howard C. Berkowitz 00:23, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I think the author is just winging it. Earlier in the book he has a bad guy shoot someone with a silencer on a *revolver* -- I was gonna ask you about that, just to make sure. Hayford Peirce 01:22, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

(undent) Let's put it this way — a classical silencer will not work on a revolver, because there's gas and sound leakage around the cylinder. A classical silencer screws onto the muzzle, and, for a pistol to be reasonable to handle, that's necessary.

Yep, that's just what I thought. Wanted to be sure, though. Hayford Peirce 02:07, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

If some clever person, however, had a reason to need a revolver, and could conceal the revolver, cylinder and all, inside a briefcase or purse, then all could be muffled. But who would ever need to do such a thing? Howard C. Berkowitz 01:59, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

No one I know. Not even the Department of Wet Affairs, either, I suppose.... Hayford Peirce 02:07, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I have always been amused to think of "Candygram for Mongo" and the first assassination by Pavel Sudoplatov, using a box of candy given to a Ukrainian leader — pre-Department V Wet Affairs; I don't remember which of the Organs of State Security was current. Howard C. Berkowitz 15:59, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

To how many levels does this go?

Does one need a fictional agent agent to represent a book, of this genre, to the publisher? What if the (intelligence/security) agent character had a cover identity as a literary agent? Would the representation then need to be by a fictional agent agent agent, or fictional agent fictional agent agent? Howard C. Berkowitz 23:29, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Well, I suppose that you could ask, not me, or John Craig, but John Brock, who is, of course, in his *other* life, a mild-mannered advertising agent.... Hayford Peirce 23:34, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

FYI, winging it again

Special Boat Service didn't exist in 1941. The first 1941 British small boat raiding operation was British Army, and later moved into the Royal Marines. It was the Special Boat Squadron by Korea; SBS, to put them on a publicity par with the Army's Special Air Service, probably was coined in the 1970s. I really need to write articles on these. Howard C. Berkowitz 15:57, 15 June 2009 (UTC)