Posted on 02/28/2026 3:28:15 PM PST by Twotone
In Nevil Shute's 1957 novel On the Beach there's a scene set in the "Pastoral Club" in Melbourne – a fictional combination of the real-life Australian Club and Melbourne Club, relics of the country's "more British than Britain" men's social clubs. John Osborne, a scientist, is visiting with Peter Holmes, a lieutenant in the Australian navy, and they encounter John's great-uncle, Sir Douglas Froude, a commander of the country's army during the last war.
The old man tells the two younger men that "three years ago my doctor told me that if I didn't stop drinking the club port he couldn't guarantee my life for longer than a year. But everything's changed now, of course."
What's changed, as we already know a third of the way into the book, is that the southern half of Australia is one of the last habitable places in the world as a cloud of nuclear fallout is descending from the northern hemisphere and ending life as we know it. The old man can drink as much of the club port as he wants to since nobody's likely to be alive by the end of that year.
Some of that port is eminently drinkable but a lot could stand to age in the cellar for a few more years. "I blame the Wine Committee very much, very much indeed," says Sir Douglas. "They should have seen this coming." It's what passes for humour in Shute's story.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
Nevil Shiite wrote some great novels. A TOWN CALLED ALICE is my fave.
"Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed, but I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops! Uh, depending on the breaks."
Love that movie.
$.99 on Kindle
Avoid the remake. It’s crap.
I saw the movie at the cost of 25 cents, when it was out in the 50s. I don’t remember the most of it, except for the theme song, “Waltzing Matilda”, which was played endlessly. I did look up a summary of the movie and the lyrics to the theme song years later on the internet.
I first read Trustee from the Tool Room as one of those Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. Wasn’t until later that I found the full version. Still my favorite.
When I was a kid, we had a bunch of the Reader’s Digest Condensed Books around the house, mostly from the late 50s. I read a lot of them, but after I read the unabridged version of one (The Last Angry Man, by Gerald Green) I never touched one again.
Agree. Totally defeatist.
Thing is, he was also behind The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T with Dr. Seuss (another lefty). But I must confess I don't see a lefty message in it.
One of those read-once books.
I much prefer “Slide Rule” and “Around the Bend” with their depictions of the heady early days of commercial aviation. The R100 and R105 contest reminds me of the current competition between Starship and SLS — an engineering high achievement vs. a political boondoggle.
I felt that way with Woodrow Call on his way from Montana to Texas with the body of Gus McCrea - the book version, of course. Or the way we all stayed up through the night making Mr Wilbarger comfortable through his last hours
I always liked “Round the bend”.
A good book and movie, I discovered it and Alas Babylon around fifth grade in our school library. Just the thing to read in 1967 while living in centra Florida. Still not as good as finding Barbarella as an English language bound illustrated book in the public library, and they let a 12 yr old check it out, because it was a comic book. Ruined for life.
Never heard of it before, but I just watched “On the Beach” (1959) and liked it a lot.
It is free streaming (with limited ads) on Tubi, which is a streaming channel on Roku and similar platforms.
The film was released in the U.S. on Dec. 17, 1959, so you must have been one of the first in America to see it.
Regards,
Simply and completely false. Essentially, better Red than Dead. Steyn is usually better on his science.
Yes, it was the character from the movie. I quoted him to show what message the movie was promoting.
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