The heroic tale of Tim the Piegon [sic]

[rthstewart]

So, thanks to Syrena, I posted about Tim the Pigeon and how Sir Peter Pevensie, Dame Commander Susan Pevensie Tebbitt Walker, the Right Honourable Edmund Pevensie, and Lucy Pevensie, MD, DD, partially solve a 70-year old mystery.  The story of Pigeon 40TW194 Reporting for Duty is here. 

For those who have followed along, it's obviously got lots of Food for Thought, The Stone Gryphon and its AU parts, Rat and Sword Go To War, and even a little of the Avengers cross-over.  Some of it is very light and humorous, other parts not as much.  There are mentions of a new character who I have referenced before, here, Miriam.  Mary and Colonel Walker-Smythe are mentioned, as well as Helen and that Susan was married to Tebbitt, who died. 

There are many articles on Tim the Pigeon and the efforts to decode the message.  Here's one.
Jedburgh teams are here and many other places, including some of my SOE books.
The Battle of Caen is here and here and there is also a whole series on it on You Tube.  The pictures are very, very grim. 
The men and women who died at the Caen prison on 6 June 1944 and the Museum for Peace are mentioned here and in other places like here.

So, yeah, not really expected, but there it is.  I hope you enjoy it and that it does not land with a thud as ominous as Tim's poor broken pigeon bones stuck in a chimney for 70 years.

Comments

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

I am reading it at this very moment, but couldn't wait to comment and tell you how much I am enjoying these Modern!Titled-to-the-ears-in-multiple-worlds!Pevensies.

[lauren-titmus.livejournal.com]

I started to tear up after reading this...

[the_rck]

I really enjoyed that! It was fun to see the Pevensies grown old.

Thanks for writing!

[elouise82.livejournal.com]

Peter needing a hearing aid - LOVE SO MUCH. Also, Edmund's cats that clearly rule the household (as do all cats, come to think of it), and that Susan has a highly intelligent wolfhound. And Lucy has internet memes about her! Of course she does.

My only complaint isn't really a complaint at all, just my own particular bias - whither Eustace? I would so love to see Elderly Eustace. But then, I love to see Eustace whether he's young or old, so yeah. Like I said, I'm biased.

I almost feel sorry for the church officials who had to face Susan's wrath.

[autumnia]

I can't believe I forgot to mention Tebbitt and the Colonel in my review! I think I'd be very interested in reading the published book of Tebbitt's poetry. And oh Peter, he seems to be so different from the High King he once was, but in such a funny way.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

She lives! I did not think you were still reading! Thank you!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I figure Eustace is in the bowels of some American or Canadian museum or he's off in China looking at feathered dinosaurs. He's very, very weathered from decades in deserts and badlands. He's also an Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic and when there are new discoveries, he's always sought after for clever quotes, like how they now know the color of one dinosaur's feathers.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

You know, I guess I did hint that Susan's first husband died in Food For Thought but this is the first time I've said bluntly, yes, she and Tebbitt get married and yes, he dies. I don't have any head canon with regard to the second husband.

I had originally written a bit of conflict over bombing of civilian targets with Peter getting all I'm in charge so stop arguing. But I just decided that they really were beyond those sorts of disputes about immoral means and moral ends. Peter and Susan pre-train crash, no, but here, yes. Peter's deaf and he's not quite like the High King, but he's throwing his political weight around too. I had cut stuff about his long decades of constituent service, his multiple Cabinet positions, and his knighting. That all came out. I didn't need to go that deep. But he does work very hard to get Susan knighted and she is before he is, which is truly very gracious. Further, going back to Agnes and the Tarot cards in TQSiT, it is a very long time before Peter Pevensie wins his spurs, again.

Thanks for reading!

[autumnia]

But he does work very hard to get Susan knighted -- to me, this seems perhaps his way of making sure his sister finally gets some recognition for all she's done, both here and in Narnia. He mentioned that perhaps he should've knighted her back then but her contributions here are probably far more reaching in England and the rest of this world.

And as for Peter with his multiple positions, political clout, and a knighting (which I picture in my head as a source of much amusement amongst the siblings since Peter's already a Knight and a King), etc... well, his father might finally forgive him for being a 'disappointment' when Peter chose to fight instead of heading off to university in Rat and Crow Go to War....

Oh Agnes, I do miss reading about her too.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

his father might finally forgive him for being a 'disappointment'

Exactly. That is one reason why the line is in there about the trust monies that are used for many things other than education. Head canon again is that Peter never finished university and does other things instead in the post-war England which John is furious about. Yet, ultimately, Peter becomes the coveted civil servant, though again not as his father envisioned. Peter is a spectacularly successful politician and member of the Labour party. I had something else in there about how Peter really, really dislikes Margaret Thatcher. He butts heads with her A LOT in the 70s. There was loads of head canon I had that didn't make it in.

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

But he does work very hard to get Susan knighted and she is before he is— I just teared up reading that line.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

There's so much in the throwaway asides in here that I like, as well as the whole of it! Including "several expunged records and pardons for civil disobedience" in with the list of honours, for example. :)
It was good to see intelligent, empathetic wolflike Shep there, and as pencildragon and autumnia have said, to see that Peter worked so hard to get Susan the knighthood. Helen's calm and confidence in talking about lions to Julia was interesting, as was the fact that Narnian things have not been kept hidden from Julia, but she's been left to make her own way and draw her own conclusions about what it means. And Miriam... :) and finding out who all the cousins are... I can see (I hope) that I have much reading ahead.

[(Anonymous)]

You could always post the cut out on your blog, (hint: take out a club and metaphorically beat author into posting....)

doctor dolly

[(Anonymous)]

You brilliant tease. This was very good and makes you wonder and hope for more.

[(Anonymous)]

oops. I suppose I should sign this.

doctor dolly

[iopgod.livejournal.com]

Excellent, really fun stuff! I particularly enjoyed Peter's hearing aid (and lack of use) and Lucy's internet memes.

(Also: How did Edmund get his Rt. Hon.? the judiciary (Lord Justice Pevensie! Though I suppose it would be unlikely he got that far without a knighthood)? followed Peter in to the Cabinet? Ended up a senior Bishop in the CoE?)

[adaese.livejournal.com]

MD *and* DD? I'm impressed - how did she ever slow down enough to write up her theses?

Did you mean to imply that Peter's abortive academic career was at Lewis Carroll's old college (pictured in my icon)? Because it's very subtle, but you just have.

I think I'm more impressed with the civil disobedience than all the honours. Though of course, once you've been Emperor of the Lone Islands and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion, other honours don't mean all that much.

Thank you.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

A bishop is Right Reverend. He's probably a member of the Privy Council. Though as you say, if he got that through the judicial route, he really should have been knighted.

[iopgod.livejournal.com]

Quite so... being a member of the PC seems to be the only way for someone not a child or wife of certain titles to get a personal Rt. Hon. But membership of the PC is largely restricted to some members of HMs personal staff, senior judges, senior politicians (every member of the cabinet plus a few opposition leaders) and a few senior bishops...

[adaese.livejournal.com]

HM's personal staff - ooh, nice possibilities there! My mind is now boggling at the thought of Edmund (well, any of them, really) as Lord Chamberlain. Preferably through the Sixties.

[lauren-titmus.livejournal.com]

RL got in the way. Have not long finished doing 8 weeks work experience at a local marketing company that left me shattered! I've barely had time to read my emails let alone fanfic...

I am still reading, just trying to catch up...

[lauren-titmus.livejournal.com]

I concur & second this motion!

[lauren-titmus.livejournal.com]

I just had the most amazing idea come into my head: The Pevensie Enquiry! (I'm not sure how big a thing the Levenson Enquiry is outside the UK, but I rather suspect that Edmund would have a most interesting view... Your opinion, oh most excellent authoress?)

[lauren-titmus.livejournal.com]

Do you really think that Peter would do anything without Edmund being his right had man?

OR

Do you think that Head of MI5 or MI6 would count as a senior civil servant? Rat & Crow and all...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

"The Sovereign may appoint anyone a Privy Counsellor, but in practice appointments are made only on the advice of the Government, and generally consist only of senior members of parliament, the church and judiciary.

The Church of England's three senior bishops—the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London are made Privy Counsellors on their appointment. Senior members of the Royal Family may also be appointed—Prince Philip is a member, the most senior at present in terms of service, and is the only present member not to be appointed by the current monarch, having been appointed to the council by her father. The Private Secretary to the Sovereign is always appointed to the Council, as is the Lord Chamberlain, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and the Lord Speaker.

Several senior judges—Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, judges of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, judges of the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland and judges of the Inner House of the Court of Session (the highest court in Scotland)—are also named to the Privy Council.

The bulk of Privy Counsellors, however, are politicians."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom#Composition

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

I third! We want more about the Careers and Adventures of the Not-Dead Pevensies!

[snacky]

You know, I kind of want to see a family tree for all the new Pevensies we did (or didn't!) meet in this fic! :D

[(Anonymous)]

I second the request for the Pevensie family tree. And I could really see Edmund as a judge, then becoming a Law Lord, after a spectacular career as a defense barrister,followed by an equally brilliant stint in the Crown Prosecution Service. Or vice versa.

ClaireI

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I was just wondering about doing a fake Sun article complaining about the Pevensies and that those communists have finally bribed their way into a Knighting for that no good Labour back bencher bomb throwing Peter Pevensie.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I propose that iopgod and adaese develop an amazing, clever theory on Edmund's knighthood. You are free to write it yourselves, yes please, please please. Barring that, if you provide links to hilarious anecdotes and historical tidbits (and I'll probably need a proper Brit-picking), I'll be glad to try to write something. As I said in today's post, I have assumed that Edmund rose to a position of significant in the UK judiciary and in international human rights jurisprudence.

I was also thinking of a fake editorial (what we call op ed) in the Sun or some other right leaning publication bemoaning that those insane Pevensies have managed to buy themselves another knighthood for that gawd awful MP Peter Pevensie.

And I was also thinking of some sort of touching thing between Peter and Edmund discussing Peter's second knighting and how Edmund would be there for this one, that it is too bad that Father wasn't there for either, and Julia is scratching her head and wondering who the heck Maugrim is and Sir Peter Wolfsbane.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

And why would Edmund as Lord Chamerlain through the 60s on HMs personal staff be boggling? I am so curious!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I am now annoyed because I did find some reference to the Right Honourable being an honorific for judges of certain higher courts and I can't find it, which means I may have gotten in wrong and/or confused -- both highly likely. Which is also embarrassing as I didn't pick it out of thin air but spent time trying to get it right. Well, I can either change it or we can come up with something fun to explain it!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reading.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I shall look forward to reading your explanation!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Didn't you see that lateral hand grenade toss to you, Adaese, Iopgod, Clairel and other citizens of the Commonwealth? Please feel free to develop an amazing, clever theory which (oh please please) you can write yourselves to explain Edmund's many title(s) or you can link to source material and I'll give it a go, recognizing that I am boorishly American and so will err though not for lack of trying to get it right. And my great thanks for the support.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

You, Adaese, Wellinghall, and iopgod get right on this, OK? I am open to suggestions! Links! Anecdotes! ideas! As you can see, a story about a dead piegon can lead quite far. Give me a bit of rope and I'll hang myself quite thoroughly. Why would Edmund on HM's personal staff (Lord Chamberlain Pevensie?) in the 1960s be interesting? Appropriate honorifics for judges -- really, I DID research the Right Honourable -- it came from somewhere and now I can't find the link. I feel like I need to spend some time looking at the history/protocols of knighthoods. Because there are some stories in there....

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Random bits -

Most titled person: the 18th Duchess of Alba, Dona Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart v Silva. She is 8 times a duchess, 15 times a marchioness, 21 times a countess and 19 times a Spanish grandee.

Most post-nominal letters: Lord Roberts had eight. Admiral of the Fleet Lord Mountbatten of Burma had seven: KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO.

Youngest age at which a person has had a peerage conferred on them: 7 days. HRH Prince George (later George IV) received the Earldom of Chester.

Edward William Fitzalan-Howard is simultaneously:
18th Duke of Norfolk (Premier Duke of England)
36th Earl of Arundel (17th of the 3rd creation) (Premier Earl of England)
19th Earl of Surrey
16th Earl of Norfolk
13th Baron Beaumont
26th Baron Maltravers
16th Baron FitzAlan
16th Baron Clun
16th Baron Oswaldestre
5th Baron Howard of Glossop
Earl Marshal
Hereditary Marshal of England
Chief Butler of England

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Because it would make him, among other things, responsible for censoring the theatres, and making sure no lewd, indecent or corrupting shows were performed. I can see him being extremely controversial here. That particular duty was dropped in 1968.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

The highest tiers of judges are automatically members of the Privy Council, as are Cabinet Ministers, and therefore get the title Right Hon. As I said, it's very likely that Edmund would, given a high-flying career which takes him into the judiciary, end up a Privy Councillor. The bit that got us going was that you hadn't mentioned a knighthood, which usually goes with it, and we therefore assumed that there wasn't one. But if you simply haven't listed all his many titles and honours, there's no problem.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Oh now, that's unfair. It was Lucy who threw the smoke-bomb.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Okay, try this for size. Edmund is first nominated for a knighthood some years before becoming a high court judge, but refuses (publicly; rather bad form), saying he won't accept such an honour while the British Government is still refusing to do anything about (insert blatant injustice of your choice here; I'd personally quite like to see him do something for the Chagoss Islanders). Some years later he gets made a high court judge & privy councillor, therefore becoming Rt Hon; at this point, I think, it is no longer possible to dodge the knighthood, but he still refuses to use the title, on principle.

I don't know what Miriam's views on all this are. If he won't call himself "Sir", she can't very well call herself "Lady".

[adaese.livejournal.com]

It cannot be at all easy spotting a correlation in another culture. Your British readers all say "hey, one title without another associated one?" but I can quite understand if it isn't spelled out explicitly anywhere, you'd have no chance.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I think Miriam would be terribly amused that she, a Polish Jew and camp survivor had to be called "Lady." And now I'm realising that I could fix the whole issue with a "Right Honourable Sir Edmund Pevensie" ? But then what is the fun in that?

And I love the idea you posed of him refusing the honour, at least at first due to some blatant injustice or another that has him refusing the honour and yes, I do like the Chagos Island situation/Diego Garcia/marine reserve. Of course, I could solve the whole problem by just adding "Sir"

[min023.livejournal.com]

Weekend's here, and I finally got a chance to sit down and read. I love what you've done with this, it's a really natural fit. Plus other current events, like the women bishops, and all the offhand mentions of current tech. Very enjoyable :-)

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

LOL. Do!

[(Anonymous)]

ROFL!

Do it! Do it! And leave a comments post for letters to the editor about it....

doctor dolly