Hi! This is my first visit. My attention was drawn to a message here on
May 24th 2006 following an article in the Daily Telegraph re the
Telegraph compilers.. There was a query about this which asked how I
was able to join the Royal Navy at the age of 15.

I was a Sea Scout during the war. In 1947 you could join the RN at age
15 as a Boy Seaman 2nd Class - there's nothing lower - which I did
after gaining my School Certificate at Wolverhampton Grammar School.
Training took place at the infamous HMS Ganges and, as a Boy Seaman 1st
Class, went to sea at 16. Boy Seamen were treated as full crew members
and did go on active service. I then became an AB, then a Leading
Seaman, before becoming possibly the youngest ever Petty Officer Seaman
at age 20, whereupon I volunteered to fly in the Fleet Air Arm. After
training I joined my first carrier squadron as a Lieutenant at 22, and
flew for 11 years.

My hobby was magic and I qualified for the Magic Circle under my stage
name of "El Squalido". When bad weather prevented flying the aircrew
played cards for money. Having shown them a trick in which I dealt
cards from a shuffled pack and finished with 13 spades they were very
reluctant to allow me to participate. On land I started solving
crosswords instead. When we went to sea, without newspapers, I started
compiling and sold my first puzzle to the Radio Times in 1963. In 1961
I added escapology to my magic by escaping from a crashed aircraft off
Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), leaving the sinking aircraft 60 feet below the
surface.

I left the RN in the same year and earned my living from my hobbies -
magic, acting and crosswords. When my marriage foundered, I gave up
"show business" to stay home to look after my two boys, and
concentrated on crosswords. In 1978 I entered the Guinness Book as the
World's Most Prolific Crossword Compiler.

1981 was a great year for me; I was made crossword editor of the
Birmingham Post and was accepted on to the Guardian and Financial Times
as a compiler. 1986 I joined the Independent and Telegraph, followed by
The Times in 1993.

At age 74 I still supply the Guardian (Rufus), Telegraph and FT
(Dante), among other outlets. Still recognised as the Most Prolific
setter on the Guinness website with over 65,000 published puzzles in
over 500 different publications, with over 71 abroad.

As someone commented, magicians are viewed as tricksters in some places
- it's a thing we have to live with!

At age 74 I still supply the Guardian (Rufus), Telegraph and FT
(Dante), among other outlets. Still recognised as the Most Prolific
setter on the Guinness website with over 65,000 published puzzles in
over 500 different publications, with over 71 abroad.

a friend and I solve your puzzle as well as contribute
to the British economy by consuming a liquid product from Scotland.

On Sat, 09 Sep 2006 09:21:32 +0800, Uncle Yap <yfyap@pop.jaring.my
launched the following text through the ether:
snip
a friend and I solve your puzzle as well as contribute
to the British economy by consuming a liquid product from Scotland.

I didn't know you liked Irn Bru, Uncle Yap :-)

OT
Actually .it was Robbie Dhu, an Indian whisky? HinDU D(H)U

crypticcrosswords@hotmail.com wrote:
Hi! This is my first visit. My attention was drawn to a message here on
May 24th 2006 following an article in the Daily Telegraph re the
Telegraph compilers.. There was a query about this which asked how I
was able to join the Royal Navy at the age of 15.

I was a Sea Scout during the war. In 1947 you could join the RN at age
15 as a Boy Seaman 2nd Class - there's nothing lower - which I did
after gaining my School Certificate at Wolverhampton Grammar School.
Training took place at the infamous HMS Ganges and, as a Boy Seaman 1st
Class, went to sea at 16. Boy Seamen were treated as full crew members
and did go on active service. I then became an AB, then a Leading
Seaman, before becoming possibly the youngest ever Petty Officer Seaman
at age 20, whereupon I volunteered to fly in the Fleet Air Arm. After
training I joined my first carrier squadron as a Lieutenant at 22, and
flew for 11 years.

My hobby was magic and I qualified for the Magic Circle under my stage
name of "El Squalido". When bad weather prevented flying the aircrew
played cards for money. Having shown them a trick in which I dealt
cards from a shuffled pack and finished with 13 spades they were very
reluctant to allow me to participate. On land I started solving
crosswords instead. When we went to sea, without newspapers, I started
compiling and sold my first puzzle to the Radio Times in 1963. In 1961
I added escapology to my magic by escaping from a crashed aircraft off
Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), leaving the sinking aircraft 60 feet below the
surface.

I left the RN in the same year and earned my living from my hobbies -
magic, acting and crosswords. When my marriage foundered, I gave up
"show business" to stay home to look after my two boys, and
concentrated on crosswords. In 1978 I entered the Guinness Book as the
World's Most Prolific Crossword Compiler.

1981 was a great year for me; I was made crossword editor of the
Birmingham Post and was accepted on to the Guardian and Financial Times
as a compiler. 1986 I joined the Independent and Telegraph, followed by
The Times in 1993.

At age 74 I still supply the Guardian (Rufus), Telegraph and FT
(Dante), among other outlets. Still recognised as the Most Prolific
setter on the Guinness website with over 65,000 published puzzles in
over 500 different publications, with over 71 abroad.

As someone commented, magicians are viewed as tricksters in some places
- it's a thing we have to live with!

Speaking of "The Herald" which we were in another thread -- are you
also known as RMS?