Threshold Agents in the UK

[Lupus]

Huxley as an Agent? Great idea!!!

Well i was more listing people who are well known in this period..But yes he could be he'd fit well into MI_5(j)

[Lupus]

Money

British coinage during the `20s and `30s still used the old system of 12 pence to the shilling
and 20 shillings to the pound. Abbreviations used were `d' for pence, `s' for shillings and
`£' for pounds, although amounts were often written ass/d, even when the amount was
over £1 (eg, 30/6is 30 shillings and sixpence or £1 10s 6d). Many prices, particularly of
high quality goods, were often quoted in guineas; ie, multiples of 21s.

The coins and notes in common use were 1/4d (farthing), 1/2d and 1d in bronze; 3d, 6d, Is,
2/6 (halfcrown) and 5s (crown) in silver; £1 in gold (sovereign) and 10s, £1 and £5 as
notes. Larger notes did exist, but even a £5 note was so rare that shopkeepers usually
asked customers to sign it on the back before accepting it. In 1937, the silver 3d was
replaced by the famous 12-sided bronze coin.

Coins were dated with the year of issue on the back, and always showed the current monarch's head on the front.

The exchange Rate $5 to the £ at the end of WWI falling to $4 to the £ by the 1930's.

Some Sample Prices.

Gold fob watch   £8.10.0
Stop watch   £6.15.0
Ladies silver wrist watch   £1.10.0
Spectacles   6/6
Microscope   £4.10.0
Telescope   £3.15.0
Pocketcompass    £2.5.0
Boxcamera   £1.1.0
Zeiss Ikon Camera   £12.5.0
Kodak Portable Cine Camera   £25.0.0
Film, developing & printing   8d per picture
Radioreceiver   £13.0.0
Ball of string   51/2d
Parker Fountain Pen   21/-
Portable typewriter   £8.15.0
Handbag   11/6
Trunk   £9.12.0
Brandy flask   10/-
Cricket Bat   33/-
`Stowaway' folding boat   £17.17.0
Webley 12 bore hammerless shotgun    £22.0.0
100 shotgun cartridges   15/-
.45 revolver   £2.6.0
100 revolver bullets    5/-
Butterfly net   5/6
Naturalist's dissection kit    £1.15.0
Penknife   8/6
Skis   £2.12.6
Picnic basket(4persons)    £7.19.0
Sleeping bag    80/-
Camp bed with mosquito net   42/-
Tent 10ftx8ft    £14.18.9
Travelling spirit stove   7/-
Gardening scythe   7/-
Electric torch   10/6
Portable `searchlight'   12/6
Traveller's medicine case   £2.9.6
Bottle of Aspirin (100)    1/6
Bottle of hydrochloric acid(1 pint)   1/6
Church Processional Cross   £76.0.0
Copy of Burke's Peerage   105/-
London Post Office Directory   55/-
Wisden Cricketers' Almanac   5/-
Dunlop British Touring Atlas   3/-
Baedeker Guides to foreign countries    12/-
The Daily Mail   1d
The Times   2d


Chauffeur's Uniform. . £5.15.0
Evening dress suit. . 11 Gus
White suit for tropical climes. . 30/-
Plain white shirt. . 10/6
Evening dress shirt. . 15/6
Man's shoes (Oxford Brogues) . . 69/-
Pith Helmet.. 27/6
Bowler Hat. . 25/-
Top Hat. . 32/6
Cloth cap.. 10/6
Ladies shoes. . £13.0
Silk stockings . . 8/11
Maid's uniform . . 12/5 21/-
Leather driving coat. . £15.15.0

Tin of Heinz Baked Beans.. 6d
Blue Mountain coffee beans(lb) . . 3/4 10/-
Jar of Robertson's Jam. . 11 1/2d
Bottle of Rose's Lime Cordial . . 2/-
Tin of oysters . . 1/1
1Tin of Heinz Tomato Soup. . 6d
Tin of China Tea(5 lb) . . 24/8
Dundee cake (21b). . 3/6
Loaf of bread.. 1/-
Dozen eggs. . 2/2
Pound of butter.. 2/-
£Pound of steak.. 1/5
Bristol Cream Sherry. . 144/-
Cockburn's Ruby Port. . 66/-
Johnny Walker Red Label Whisky. . 12/6
20cigarettes. . 1/-
Pint of beer. . 6d

1stclass rail fare London- Southampton . . 16/5
10 day Mediterranean cruise . . 20Gns
Return flight London - Paris. . £12 .0.0
Gallon of petrol . . 1/7
Bicycle. . £5.5.0
BSA500cc motorbike. . £57.10.0
4mile bus fare. . 4d
3-bedroom semi-detached house. . £600.0.0
Luxury hotel room (1 night) .. 8/6
Hotel breakfast. . 2/6
Hotel dinner. . 5/6

[Lupus]

Cars

Model Year Country Seats Speed Cost Prestige
Austin Seven (Baby Austin) 1923-1938 Britain 4 45 £125-165 *
Bentley3 litre 1920-1927 Britain 2/4 98 £1,200* *****
Ford Model T 1908-1927 USA 2/6 125 £4,000 *****
Hillman Ten 1913-1924 Britain 4/5 68 £100 *
Hispano Suiza H6C 1919-1931 France 2/5 105 N/A ****
Lancia Lambda 1923-1931 Italy 4/6 78 £810 ***
Bullnose Morris Oxford 1913-1926 Britain 4 55 £175 *
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost 1906-1925 Britain 2/7 65t £1,350* *****
Vauxhall Prince Henry 1908-1919 Britain 2 80 £945 **
Vauxhall OE 30/98 1923-1927 Britain 4 80 £1,150 **

A licence cost 5s a year and tax £6 for a car, £1 10s for a small bike and £3 for a large bike.

[Breten]

Awesome stuff man. 

[Lupus]

Awesome stuff man. 

If a job is worth doing its worth doing right..

Keep checking some of the posts as i'm updating elements as i go.

Just looking at some interesting places for people to investigate

[LidlessEye]

FANTASTIC stuff!  And here I thought I was going overboard researching early 20th century flashlights.  Keep running with it - you're getting me all inspired. 

It's amazing how history lends itself so well to inserting eldritch madness, as truth often turns out to be stranger than fiction.  For example, when Woodrow Wilson's illness caused him to lose the ability to communicate, his wife brought none other than renowned psychic Edgar Cayce to the White House to attempt to get through to him.

[Lupus]

FANTASTIC stuff!  And here I thought I was going overboard researching early 20th century flashlights.  Keep running with it - you're getting me all inspired. 

It's amazing how history lends itself so well to inserting eldritch madness, as truth often turns out to be stranger than fiction.  For example, when Woodrow Wilson's illness caused him to lose the ability to communicate, his wife brought none other than renowned psychic Edgar Cayce to the White House to attempt to get through to him.

I have to say i'm glad wiki is Free   Though i have found some stuff in whats left of an old copy of Green and Plesent Land as well for big chunks to help out.

Main areas really left is to research the rail system and to add a few more heads of the team so people know whose about.

Then areas to look at and  .

A few times in psychics and priets are called into things they shouldn't of been.

Then we have the whole asylum thing that seemed to ahve reached a peak during the 20/30's..

[Lupus]

Trains

Coronation Scot (LMS - from 1937)
London (Euston) - Glasgow
Lancastrian(LMS - from 1927)
London (Euston) - Manchester
Merseyside Express (LMS -from 1927)
London (Euston) - Liverpool
Royal Scot (LMS)
London - Glasgow
Devonian (LMS/GWR - from 1927)
Bradford - Paignton
Coronation (LNER - from 1937)
London (Kings Cross) -Edinburgh
Flying Scotsman (LNER)
London (Kings Cross) -Edinburgh
Queen ofS cots Pullman (LNER)
London (Kings Cross) -Glasgow
Silver Jubilee(LNER-from 1935)
London (Kings Cross) -Newcastle
Cheltenham Flyer(GWR)
London (Paddington) - Cheltenham
Cornish Riviera Express (GWR)
London (Paddington) -Penzance
Brighton Belle (SR Pullman)
London (Victoria) -Brighton
Golden Arrow (SR)
London - Paris (via Dover & ferry)

London Terminal

London has a bewildering array of railway stations, a legacy of the pre-Grouping era.
The principal stations and the areas they served are below.

Paddington(GWR) - South Wales, Oxford,Bath, Bristol & the South West, South Midlands, Birmingham.
Euston (LMS) -Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, North & West Scotland, North Wales.
St Pancras (LMS) - East Midlands (Leicester, Nottingham)
Marylebone (LMS) - Buckinghamshire & South Midlands
Kings Cross (LNER) - Yorkshire, North East, South East Scotland
Liverpool Street (LNER) - Cambridge,Harwich, East Anglia
Waterloo (SR) -Southampton,Bournemouth & Exeter
Victoria (SR) - South East(Brighton & Dover) & France

Fares

In theory, the cost of passenger travel was proportional to distance, but there were many deviations, especially where more than one route was possible . In 1923, the standard 3rd class rate was 11/2d per mile and 1stclass 21/2d per mile. Return tickets were available but at no saving. Singles were valid for 3 days and returns for 3 months. The ticket often specified the route to be taken. Breaks of journey were permitted along the way, although in cases of journeys covering more than one company breaks were not normally allowed outside the issuing company's territory.

Some great pictures of stuff here.

http://www.ltmcollection.org/photos/dates/decade.html?IXfromdate=1920&IXtodate=1929

Maps

http://www.hipkiss.org/data/maps.html
http://www.ponies.me.uk/maps/osmap.html
http://www.nls.uk/maps/os/popular_list.html

I've also noticed that if you search for specific towns aor areas you can normally find better mapping info as well.

[Lupus]

Okay the main people at the top of MI_5(j) are all added in now.

Next step places to look at

[Lupus]

Mystical Britain

Britain is a place rich with Mystical places.  be it small stone circles to rambling moors that can hide any number of ancient and evil creatures.

For moorlands you have area's.

    * Bleaklow, Dark Peak, UK
    * Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, UK
    * Curry and Hay Moors, Somerset, UK
    * Dartmoor, and Dartmoor wildlife, Devon, UK
    * Emley Moor, West Yorkshire, UK
    * Exmoor, West Somerset & North Devon UK
    * Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire, UK
    * Marston Moor and North York Moors, North Yorkshire, UK
    * Rannoch Moor, Highland, Scotland, UK
    * Rombalds Moor, West Yorkshire, UK
    * Saddleworth Moor, Pennine hills, UK
    * Shropshire Hills, small pockets of moorland such as the Long Mynd ,
    * Staffordshire Moorlands, South West Peak District, UK
    * Ythan Estuary complex, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, largest coastal moorland in the United Kingdom, known for high biodiversity.

General Site

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/

Things in the water look at the Isles of Uist and Lewis.

Stone Circles

Great resource site http://www.mystical-www.co.uk/sbook.html

Haunted Houses

Great resource site http://www.mystical-www.co.uk/ghost/gbook.htm

[Lupus]

Okay so what am i missing folk's??

A little to close to it so need to know what people would like added.

[Scorpio]

One personal addition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._A._Wallis_Budge
"Budge returned from his many missions to Egypt and Iraq with enormous collections of cuneiform tablets, Syriac, Coptic and Greek manuscripts, as well as significant collections of hieroglyphic  papyri. Perhaps his most famous acquisitions from this time were the beautiful Papyrus of Ani, a copy of Aristotle's lost Constitution of Athens, and the Tell al-Amarna tablets."

"Budge's works were widely read by the educated public and among those seeking comparative ethnological data, including James Frazer, who incorporated some of Budge's ideas on Osiris into his ever-growing work The Golden Bough. Budge was interested in the paranormal  and believed in the reality of spirits and hauntings. Budge had a number of friends in the Ghost Club (British Library, Manuscript Collections, Ghost Club Archives), a group in London committed to the study of alternative religions and the spirit world, and told his many friends stories of hauntings and other uncanny experiences. Many people in his day who were involved with the occult and spiritualism after losing their faith in Christianity  were dedicated to Budge's works, particularly his translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which was very important to such writers as the poet William Butler Yeats and James Joyce."

[Lupus]

Nice find mate and a huge source of links to other important people of the time as well.

What brought him up for you then?

[Scorpio]

Oh, I had read a lot of his stuff back in college, and always been a fan of 'Egyptology.'

[twrchtrwyth]

How about the National Library of Wales?

In 1873 a committee was set up to collect Welsh material and house it at the University College, Aberystwyth. In 1905 the government promised money in its Budget, and the Privy Council appointed a committee to decide on the location of the two institutions. Aberystwyth was selected as the location of the library after a bitter fight with Cardiff, partly because a collection was already available in the College. Sir John Williams, physician and book collector, had also said he would present his collection to the Library if it were established in Aberystwyth; he also eventually gave £20,000 to build and establish the library. Cardiff was eventually selected as the location of the National Museum of Wales. The Library and Museum were established by Royal Charter on 19 March 1907.

Designed by architect Sidney Greenslade who won the competition to design the building in 1909, the building at Grogythan, off Penglais Hill, was first occupied in 1916. The central block, or corps de logis, was added by Charles Holden to a modified version of Greenslade's design.

Librarians

    * John Ballinger (1909–1930)
    * William Llewelyn Davies (1930–1952)

The building houses over 4 million printed volumes, including many rare books such as the first book printed in Welsh (Yn y lhyvyr hwnn, 1546) and the first Welsh translation of the complete Bible  (1588). It also keeps many rare and important manuscripts including the Black Book of Carmarthen  (the earliest surviving manuscript entirely in Welsh), the Book of Taliesin,  and a manuscript of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer.  As a copyright depository, it is entitled to receive a copy of every published work from the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Its collecting policy is focused on Wales, Welsh-language and Celtic material.

It also keeps maps,  photographs,  paintings, topographical and landscape prints,  periodicals and newspapers.  It also holds the largest collection of archival material in Wales.