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Old 26th Sep 2018, 10:46 pm   #1
Phil G4SPZ
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Default "Thermion"

I've recently been reading some old Practical Wireless magazines from between 1959 and 1961, and was struck by the curmudgeonly nature of the monthly column 'On Your Wavelength' written by "Thermion".

It is widely reported (here, for example) that "Thermion" was none other than F J Camm himself. However, Camm died in February 1959 but the column in PW continued for some years after his death - I've just read the October 1960 issue and "Thermion" is still writing. I'm assuming that someone else, or possibly more than one person, adopted the pen name and carried on writing in the same style.

Can anyone shed any more light on what eventually happened to "Thermion" and the column?
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Old 26th Sep 2018, 11:06 pm   #2
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Default Re: "Thermion"

Hi!

Whilst I can't remember who the actual author of "Thermion's" "On Your Wavelength" was from memory - there is at least one opinion that our friend we all knew and loved, Les-Lawry-Johns, may have been behind it, I can say for definite - the last "On Your Wavelength" column was July 1964, there was no column August 1964, then "Practically Wireless" began with No 1, "Kitmanship", as the sucessor column in P.W. to "On Your Wavelength" in September 1964 - I once had both my Dad's original paper copies, and thanks to the American Radio History site, the scanned ones to refer to!

I believe Les DID author "Practically Wireless", but if anyone can correct me, please feel free!

Chris Williams

PS!

Subjects that got regularly ranted about in O.Y.W. were "religious advertising"/religious drivel on the radio, "pirate broadcasters", over-loud "trannys" used in public and on beaches, etc., and car-ignition interference!
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Old 26th Sep 2018, 11:27 pm   #3
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Default Re: "Thermion"

I used to love those columns, and there were a few to go at if you read all the mags. Thermion, Cathode Ray and Free Grid spring to mind, and after sitting here chewing my pen I recalled Henry (was he in PE?) and possibly Iconos (?) in Prac Television. There must be more...
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Old 26th Sep 2018, 11:45 pm   #4
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Default Re: "Thermion"

Hi!

Among the combined theory/humour/servicing series, there was "In Your Workshop" hosted by "Dick & Smithy" that bagin in April 1956 in R.C., at first intermittently, then every issue from about mid-1957 until the mag's closure in 1981, and there was also "The Experiments of Professor Ernest Eversure" in Everyday Electronics, not all of these were directly electronic, but most were, and there were a few valve-based articles as well!

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Old 27th Sep 2018, 12:02 am   #5
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Default Re: "Thermion"

H W (Mac) Hellyer's Tape Recorder Service articles started as straightforward information, but fairly swiftly eased into a more conversational style, leavened with digressions and asides, which passed valuable information in a most enjotable way. I first read him when I was about nine...wonderful stuff.
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Old 27th Sep 2018, 12:06 am   #6
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Default Re: "Thermion"

I think we mentioned G9BF in an earlier thread, but I've forgotten whether he was in SW Mag or the RSGB Bulletin. His column was often hilarious, with the most outrageous claims for his homebrew equipment and operating techniques. Probably wouldn't be allowed now.
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Old 27th Sep 2018, 4:39 am   #7
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Default Re: "Thermion"

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Originally Posted by Andrew2 View Post
I used to love those columns, and there were a few to go at if you read all the mags. Thermion, Cathode Ray and Free Grid spring to mind, and after sitting here chewing my pen I recalled Henry (was he in PE?) and possibly Iconos (?) in Prac Television. There must be more...
I seem to remember 'Ruminations' by 'Sensor' in Everyday Electronics. There was also 'Shop Talk' in that magazine which I am pretty sure was written by the man who owned Home Radio (Mitcham).

Les Lawry-Johns certainly had articles published in PW under his own name. I remember a few such articles on servicing/repairs -- not really a series, they did not occur in successive issues. Things like 'Valve Radios', 'Car Radios', 'Audio Amplifiers'
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Old 27th Sep 2018, 7:30 am   #8
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Default Re: "Thermion"

Thanks to Chris for confirming when 'On Your Wavelength' ended. Yes, I remember many of the other columnists mentioned, but it's "Thermion" who intrigues me. Was F J Camm really "Thermion", and who wrote the column for the best part of five years after Camm had died?
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Old 27th Sep 2018, 10:51 am   #9
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Default Re: "Thermion"

I've just picked up my last remaining WW (sept 1977) and of course there is 'Sidebands' by 'Mixer'. It's not exactly a humour column, but he does make a few witty remarks on some subjects. I wonder who it was? A quick trawl through the American Radio History site indicates the column lasted only from June 1977 to August 1980.
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Old 27th Sep 2018, 7:39 pm   #10
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Default Re: "Thermion"

Les Lawry-Johns also wrote under the name of Simple Simon.
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Old 27th Sep 2018, 10:29 pm   #11
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Default Re: "Thermion"

'Henry', whoever he was!. wrote a regular page, called 'Practically Wireless' in PW in the 70s and maybe into the 80s. I still have some back issues stored away somewhere.
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Old 28th Sep 2018, 10:26 am   #12
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Default Re: "Thermion"

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris55000 View Post
Hi!

Among the combined theory/humour/servicing series, there was "In Your Workshop" hosted by "Dick & Smithy" that bagin in April 1956 in R.C., at first intermittently, then every issue from about mid-1957 until the mag's closure in 1981, and there was also "The Experiments of Professor Ernest Eversure" in Everyday Electronics, not all of these were directly electronic, but most were, and there were a few valve-based articles as well!

Chris Williams
I recall Dick & Smithy - I was amused by the fact that our opposition was run by a chap called Smithy! I recall one episode where Dick had made an error and was sentenced to a weeks compulsory dial-drive work as a result!
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Old 28th Sep 2018, 11:10 am   #13
Phil G4SPZ
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Default Re: "Thermion"

Does anyone have any specific knowledge of "Thermion" and the author(s) of the 'On Your Wavelength' column in Practical Wireless, particularly during the period between F J Camm's death in 1959 and the final edition of the column in July 1964?
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Old 28th Sep 2018, 12:37 pm   #14
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Default Re: "Thermion"

I feel sure that FJ Camm wrote the 'Thermion' column until his death, because the written style is very much in the Camm manner, such as his diatribes against other magazines and their projects when, in the 1930s, he published his latest PW designs.

The 'Thermion' columns published during the Camm years reveal strongly held views and a grasp of language with which to express them, sometimes quite forcefully. From all accounts, that is a description that could be applied to Frederick James Camm.

Widely skilled, well read, forceful and highly intelligent. He was a great loss to us all.

Tony
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Old 28th Sep 2018, 2:48 pm   #15
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Default Re: "Thermion"

FJC seems very likely to have been the author. I've always found the "social" columns in TV and Wireless Mags to have as much interest as the technical articles, usually quite accurately reflecting the social attitudes of the time.
A favourite in the sixties was the encroachment of the over loud "Transistor"
Set on the beach with its "Beat" Music! often accompanied by a Migill style cartoon featuring an enraged neighbour!

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Old 28th Sep 2018, 2:48 pm   #16
Phil G4SPZ
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Default Re: "Thermion"

Thanks Tony. I know he was reputed not to suffer fools gladly - if at all. I found it interesting in that, more than once, he would quote verbatim from letters he had received, and ridicule the writer in his column!

It shows how far ahead PW was being written in those days, as Camm died in February 1959 yet no mention of it appeared in PW until the May issue, published in early April.
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Old 28th Sep 2018, 2:49 pm   #17
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Default Re: "Thermion"

Ahh, but who took the part of his ghost in the years following his death?

N.B. The previous two posts appeared while I was typing!
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Old 28th Sep 2018, 3:45 pm   #18
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Default Re: "Thermion"

As a curmudgeon myself, even as a lad I always enjoyed reading Thermion's articles.

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