I had a farm in Africa...

[Plynkes]

...at the foot of the Ngong Hills.

(Cue sweeping, majestic John Barry score which, while magnificent, does tend to sound rather like all the other sweeping, majestic John Barry scores.)


Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke, British East Africa 1913.








Here he stood, a Masai from Head to Foot


"A Masai warrior is a fine sight. Those young men have, to the utmost extent, that particular form of intelligence which we call chic; daring, and fantastical as they seem, they are still unswervingly true to their own nature, and to an immanent ideal.


Their style is not an assumed manner, nor an imitation if a foreign perfection; it has grown from the inside, and is an expression of the race and its history, and their weapons and finery are as much a part of their being as are a stag's antlers.


The muscles of their necks swell in a particular sinister fashion, like the neck of the angry cobra, the male leopard, or the fighting bull... 


...and the thickness is so plainly an indication of virility that it stands for a declaration of war to all the world with the exception of the woman."





Cole's Scouts


Cole's Scouts, tasked with protecting the Masai from German raids, Kilimanjaro region, 1915.

At the outbreak of war, 800 or so Somali horsemen offered their services to the British (Nairobi had a large Somali community). The were organised as part of the EAMR into a unit called Cole's Scouts, which was officered by eccentric British aristocrats.


Berkelely Cole and Denys Finch Hatton, of Cole's Scouts. Finch Hatton was Karen Blixen's lover (he apparently looked like Robert Redford, and despite being the son of the 13th Earl of Winchilsea somehow had an American accent). Some modern biographers assert that Cole and Finch Hatton were also lovers.

(Ha! you're imagining the Sundance Kid and Foyle from Foyle's War bumming each other now, aren't you - all thanks to me!  )


Really must do a mounted version of Berkeley Cole, because that picture is too cool not to turn into a figure.


The movie version of Cole's Scouts has them looking like wild and woolly irregulars, not all that different to Copplestone Somalis...


And yet in this pic that I found (with Finch Hatton seated, writing)...

...the trooper looks like a regular, kitted out rather like an Askari from a Somaliland KAR battalion, or the Somaliland Camel Corps. I have represented both types here in my little scene.




Baron Bror Blixen (an accomplished philanderer in his own right) and Finch Hatton discuss their situation...




"Think of it: never a man-made sound... and then Mozart!"


 

[Tsune]

WOWWW!! Really inspirational.

Fantastic!! 

[Prof.Witchheimer]

a storm of tremendous applause for our colonial god Mr.Plynkes!!!

[matakishi]

Sheer brilliance 

The Masai are superb but my favourite is the gramophone and the monkeys.
What film is the still from?

[Westfalia Chris]

Donner und Blixen!!! 

Most excellent, good Sir.

[Plynkes]

What film is the still from?

[Smokeyrone]

Great!

[Operator5]

Most excellent good sir. When might we see a game with these fine chaps?

[Driscoles]

One of my favourite movies.
Thank you Plynkes. I like your ideas with which you light our days !
Havent read the book though !

[Michi]

THIS IS THE SPIRIT OF THIS FORUM!!!

[Calimero]

Really nice

[General Roos]

Those pictures makes me wanna collect, paint and play the genre. Excellent! I love the music lovin´baboons.

Thanks for sharing!!! 

[carlos marighela]

"(Ha! you're imagining the Sundance Kid and Foyle from Foyle's War bumming each other now, aren't you - all thanks to me! )"

Not really, the image of Michael Kitchen doing anything vaguely animated and not involving an impression of himself being Michael Kitchen is simply too difficult to conceive. 'Ermm...................... [interminable pause]......... but that's not quite right is it?'

Still more power to your gifts of imagination, I suggest you submit a script to ITV about a wartime detective inspector, possibly suffering from Bell's Palsy and ably assisted by his aging, cross dressed WAAC driver.

Excellent vignettes by the way, love the gramophone and audience. One day, if you haven't already you really should give a tutorial on painting African skin tones, my wife won't stand still long enough for me to get a match to the right Vallejo. 

[Plynkes]

'Ermm...................... [interminable pause]......... but that's not quite right is it?'


'Yes it is, Berkeley, it goes in your bumhole. But I'm open to suggestions as to where else I should put it.'

[carlos marighela]

Not sure is that is the correct prophylaxis for dengue fever... wonderful thing a public school education.