Talk:W. V. Awdry

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[edit] Claimed to be in Birmingham till 1965

According to Crockford's clerical directory:

  • Curate, King's Norton, Birmingham 1940 to 1946
  • Incumbent, Elsworth, Diocese of Ely, 1946 to 1953
  • Incumbent, Emneth, Diocese of Ely, 1953 to 1965

It is unlikely that he would have lived in Birmingham while incumbent of parishes in Ely. Can someone better informed please have a look at this? Ringbark 20:50, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

I suspect this was created from the text of "Biography at the Official Awdry Family Website", which mentions his 'starting' at King's Norton in 1940, and the fact that Awdry retired from being a vicar in 1965: there is no information on his life between the two dates. However, the article for Sodor location Elsbridge states that "The name comes from the village of Elsworth, where Awdry lived at the time.", although this is not obviously mentioned in the books that I have. EdJogg 02:01, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
I am originally from Market Lavington, near where he went to school, and there was a story I'd heard when growing up about how he was the vicar of Great Cheverell, a nearby village, during the war but had to leave as his pacifism displeased the locals. This would fit in with what it says on the Wikipedia article for his son - who appears to have been born in Devizes (near Market Lavington) in 1940 but went to Kings Norton at age 5 months. This whole pacifism episode might be something worth putting into the article. Milvinder (talk) 01:08, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mention in Hansard!

Just bumped into this Hansard document while researching something else. There must be a way of incorporating it as it certainly boosts Awdry's notability rating!

The whole is a very long document spread over many pages, but the part in question is from a debate on "Passenger Services under Rail Privatisation" (note the date, 07/07/1995) starting at column 201 (here).

The reference to Awdry is later, on this page, at column 229:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-02-07/Debate-13.html

EdJogg 08:29, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How did he die?

I heard WV Awdry died from osteoporosis. Is this true? --S.C.Ruffeyfan 17:30, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Chauvinism?

I removed this unsourced claim:

The stories have been charged with the fault of male chauvinism as engines are always male and carriages female.

It was added anonymously ([1]); the existence of Daisy the diesel and Scruffy the truck seem to disprove it at first glance. Tlesher (talk) 18:16, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for finding that. It is interesting to see that it was me who that put the 'fact' tag there in the first place.
I have left this in place until now, as I'm sure there is a grain of truth in this statement -- not that Awdry was chauvinistic, but that this particular criticism has been levelled at the books... Unfortunately I have no references to prove it or otherwise.
EdJogg (talk) 23:55, 1 April 2008 (UTC)