I Read Therefore I Am discussion

I have to share this with you - I've only just found out that:
- The Hugo Boss designed the SS and Gestapo Uniforms!!!!
- and Henry Ford signed all profits from Ford car sales in Germany over to the Nazi party and every year, on Hitlers birthday, donated 50,000 dollars to it - helping to pay for the Nuremberg rallies!!!!!!!!

I suppose if Hugo Boss was German it would just be in the line of business - was he? But Henry Ford is a bit of a surprise! I suppose what you have to rememberis that people didn't know what was actually going on, especially at the beginning when he seemed to be just what the Germans needed to get the country working again.

Yes Hugo Boss was a German - and also an enthusiastic member of the Nazi party - as for Henry Ford - it was Hitlers views on race that appealed to him. I'm just really shocked.

Now I am shocked ! I assumed that Ford wasn't aware of what Hitler and the Nazis believed. But should we be shocked given how the US treated their own black citizens at the same time?

True- and I guess plenty of business men have funded evil dictators before and since it's just you wonder how much the money helped Hitler gain power ( and the idea of the Gestapo dressed by Hugo Boss??!!!)

I kind of get the feeling I've heard that before somewhere about Hugo Boss and Henry Ford. This country had a sort-of British version of the Nazi party but I can't remember what they were called.

I can't remember their name either but Mosley was their leader and they dressed in either black shirts or brown shirts.

They were called, simply, Blackshirts., I think. Associated with Moseley's British Union of Fascists

@ Lee - I saw the first part of Hitler's Rise on Channel 4 last week, and found out about Boss and Ford then, had no idea before that a d was shocked.

Yes we recorded it and watched it today - did you like the nice photos of Hitler in his shorts - taken to appeal to the ladies?

Strangely, they didn't appeal to me!

Of course, we look at it all with the benefit of hindsight, knowing how evil he was; difficult to imagine the appeal he would have had in the 20s/30s when Germany was in a bad way after WW I

True - and ladies did seem to keep falling obsessively in love with him - a power thing perhaps.

I think people like him can appear to be very charismatic

I'm very shocked to hear about Henry Ford.
My mum was living in West ham, London, at the time of the blackshirts (she was born in 1919) and I remember her saying how frightening they were when they went on street marches.

It must have been. It was a scary time to be alive all round - was she in London for the blitz? I guess she would have been evacuated.

Mum was an adult by the start of ww2 of course but yes the family moved down to Somerset, where she met & married my dad - so never went back.

I'm going on holiday tomorrow for a week, so probably won't post.
Lee - The Raw Shark Texts is one of the paperbacks I'm taking to read. Looks original.

Have a nice time Joy!

Have a lovely Holiday Joy - let us know how you get on with The Raw Shark Texts - hope you love it as much as I do :0)

Have a lovely holiday, Joy :)

This should be under Bargain Books - but it's a Kindle Daily Deal and there's not much time to go (Don't Panic) It's called Reading Like A Writer A Guide for People who Love Books and Those who Want to Write Them and delightfully enough it's by a lady called Francine Prose and it looks really good and it's 99p until midnight and here's the link (gasps for breath) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0...

Managed to sit in the garden this evening and enjoyed a couple of rum cocktails and a clandestine puff on a cigar while minding it for my husband - happy days!

Sounds good Lee - I like the smell of cigars but have never tried one!

I recommend King Edwards (cigars not potatoes)!

Ooh, I've had a tax rebate for last year!! And just in time for the Cheltenham Literature Festival.....

It's so nice when that happens - about 10 years ago I got 2 rebates in a row and since then every time I get a letter from HMRC I can't help thinking it might contain a cheque. Spend it wisely my child :0)

Lucky you! On the very rare occasion when I've had one it feels as though HMRC have given me a present - I seem to forget that its money I've originally earned and they've taken!

It does feel a bit like that, because you thought it was gone forever and suddenly you have it back :) Of course, if we owe HMRC, they charge interest, but don't pay it on the amounts they owe to us!!

Aww nice one Ellie! That was good timing :)

Was cycling through Cheltenham yesterday and saw all the tents up in preparation for the festival - hope you have a wonderful time and return home with armfuls of books :0)

I would love to go to a really top flight book festival. I've been twice to the one held at Wigtown in the borders but it's very small really. It's a great place for book lovers though. Lots and lots of second hand book shops, you come across all sorts of interesting books that you just can't resist buying.

Have you been to the Hay festival Ellie?

Not yet, Hilary, but plan to go to the next one if possible

Ellie and I were obviously not the only ones to have watched " The Rise of Hitler" I just found out that Russell Brand was ejected from the GQ awards for making a comment in his acceptance speech about the awards sponsors Hugo Boss's links with the Nazis. Here's his article about it all.
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/20...

I do like Mr Brand- though he is a bit of a prat sometimes

I can't stand him, but in this instance, fair play to him.

He's spot on in this article though isn't he? And I never thought I would be agreeing with Noel Gallagher but he is obviously sharper than I gave him credit for.

I just nearly bumped into Sebastian Faulks. Quite literally. Was about to overtake some slow-walking people in front of me and he was coming up the path in the opposite direction

Wow!- it's always a shock to see famous people just wondering about like ordinary folk isn't it?

Ellie wrote: "I just nearly bumped into Sebastian Faulks. Quite literally. Was about to overtake some slow-walking people in front of me and he was coming up the path in the opposite direction"

Lol Ellie - I did exactly the same thing to Robson Green a few years ago :)

I get confused - is Robson the bearded policeman in Ripper Street - or is that Jerome?

Robson is the extreme fisherman

Ah!

Just off on a tandem ride, then Buddha's Delight for tea, Strictly and Young Montalbano on the box, Mist Over Pendle to finish and a bottle of Nutty Black (curiously Dark Ale to enjoy)! Hooray!
What's everyone else up to?

I'm off to walk the dog after baking apple and blackberry crumble to take down to share with my son for tomorrow's lunch. I'm hoping to avoid the football traffic in Sunderland by not leaving until 3.

I'm about to see Cerys Matthews at Cheltenham Literature Festival

Enjoy the weekend everyone! I've been to the hairdressers to get my hair coloured, now I'm just chilling out before I start work at 6.

@ Hilary, sounds yummy

@ Ellie - I love her radio 6 programme - have a good time

@ Laurel - is this the hospital radio?

@ Everyone, have great weekend

@ Lee - it's my waitress job that I took on cos there was no work happening with the teaching agency :)

I would be so rubbish at that - I'm the clumsiest person alive - everyone would end up covered in food - hope the agency comes up with something soon :0)