Okay, I'm just full of questions now

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

This one is merely at the "oiks" level; I have ways of getting around it, but would like to get it as correct as possible and need a quick answer to get something out the door. :D

Repton: does it really exist? Is it supposed to be a stand-in for Claybury Hospital? Or something else? Oiks.

And the "Doyle's injuries" post is really thought-provoking, as I just discovered a real MD has responded to that question...

Comments

[murphybabe]

I can't find anything on Repton, except that interestingly I am directed to an archived page on secure mental health institutions which no longer exists *spooky*

Um... perhaps I'm being a bit thick (probable), but can I ask about "oiks"? To me, that's a reference to yobs, uncouth persons, rather ungenteel people of unpleasant habits. Is it an abbreviation?

[unbelievable2.livejournal.com]

You're right - that's what 'oik' means. Maybe what was meant was geek?
;)

Collins dictionary says

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

1. Brit a person regarded as inferior because ignorant, ill-educated, or lower-class

I'm sure I've read, if not that article, then another, which came to the conclusion that the portrayal of Doyle's treatment was pretty accurate.

I've always wondered about the blood, they're leary of showing it in the show, we get milk instead. But if you injure the heart you can end with less blood than you'd think because you've damaged the pump.

And also things like knives and bullets can act as a stopper. It's never as obvious as it seems.

Re: Collins dictionary says

[unbelievable2.livejournal.com]

Brit a person regarded as inferior because ignorant, ill-educated, or lower-class

LOL! :))

RE: Collins dictionary says

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

I had a pet theory in graduate school - if you go to the statistical abstracts of different nations, and you look at the first table after the initial population once, it tells you a LOT about what social issues influence the country.

For the US, it was population by race.
For Israel, it was population by (in effect) religion.
And I believe for the UK it was a proxy for class (maybe income).

It's been a while, and it may have changed since then (and what's important may have changed since then). But the theory held up across a number of countries, for sure.

RE: Collins dictionary says

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Those stats are more accurate than you'd think; I remember watching a program on TV where this stats guy (and memory is vague, so 'stats guy' is as close as I'm getting to what he actually did for a living :0)) who predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union by its child under 5 mortality stats.

From memory, they weren't much above the European average (the USSR had stonking good medical care, bit old school in ethos, but effective), he said it was enough. I think the collapse came within five years of me hearing that, everybody else had been looking at the guns and resources - healthy population, big guns. But this guy was convinced that that stat was more telling.

As for the class thing, its always a mistake to directly equate wealth with class in the UK, Becks and Posh might have moved up the income scale, but they're still the same class. But it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't high on the list, it still dictates a hell of a lot.

And recent studies say social mobility is worse now than it would have been in the 60's and 70's. That doesn't surprise me at all. There always was an issue with fast tracking (whether it's directly class based or not), but now it's about the only way to get anywhere. If you can't get anywhere young and quick, chances are, you won't get anywhere at all.

Middle aged people have got a house but their pensions have been eroded, they're gonna end up using the house equity to subsidise their old age. Young people can't get a house.(and now are unlikely to inherit one) and won't have a pension at all. Most studies show a decline in the standard of living (although to be fair, that's hardly surprising, in three decades we went from austerity and rationing to consumer luxuries and foreign holidays - you can't keep that up forever).

It started with the structural reforms of the 1980's, which were needed, but didn't stop when they should have. In my humble opinion it's stuff like that which has put an outsider like Jeremy Corbyn where he is. I don't think he'll win, but I think he's been a bit of a wake up call. And you never know, maybe he will, and maybe that won't be so bad.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

That's definitely what oiks are.

I thought GB perhaps meant a sort of cross between eek and oi-vey, about asking the questions... *g*

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

I'm at work and will answer in more detail later; but YES! This. %^)

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

No, it's me making random onomatopoeic sounds on the other side of the keyboard. And as byslantedlight put together, it was more "ho, boy, another question while waving my arms in the air."

Except this wasn't at the "ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH !!!!!" level of my post from the other day; it's just a.. well, an "oiks."

So, ahem. There you go - a tour of how my brain works. :-O

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

When you say "stand-in", d'you mean was Repton supposed to be Claybury Hospital...? According to Wiki, the current Repton Park is an estate of exclusive flats, converted from what was once the mental health asylum/facility called Claybury Hospital. If that was what BC was channelling, then he was seriously prescient, as apparently they didn't plan Claybury's closure until c1983 (http://thetimechamber.co.uk/beta/sites/asylums/london-county-asylum-claybury), well after Pros (though I suppose it might have been talked about before then - but presumably not yet renamed!). It was eventually renamed Repton Park after the landscape gardener who designed the Claybury Estate grounds, back in the late 1700s when it was still a house etc. (I know, you've read all that too... *g*) I can't see anything to suggest it was ever named after Repton back then though, and the bloke who owned the house and employed Repton then was a James Hatch. I suppose BC (actually Tony Barwick wrote this script, according to Rocca's book) might have been imagining Claybury and just chosen a name he knew was associated with it, for a kind of verity (reminiscent of the recent IRA discussion - scriptwriters using names that weren't real, but had a connection of some kind, so that people would be able to imagine what he meant)...

According to Rocca, they filmed the ep at St Hubert's House in Gerrard's Cross, but I can't see any association with a Repton there that they might have used... BC doesn't come up as associated with a Repton, nor does Tony Barwick... The Claybury House link sounds most likely to me, but I'll be interested to see if anyone can find anything different!

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

Although I'm thinking it was probably meant to be Rampton, I like the Claybury backstory, too... Things are loose enough I could use either. Thanks for this!

And I don't know where I put my copy of Bob's book. I saw it when I moved (thank goodness), so it's here somewhere...

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

If you don't already have this http://erushi.livejournal.com/403035.html it's an interesting discussion about the shooting etc

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

Yes! I did see that. It's really interesting, and now I'm rethinking a part of the BB, LOL.

Also interesting to find out what specifically could kill someone (not the fact that it would kill you, but the mechanics of it all).

[(Anonymous)]

I have always thought Brian Clemens could have been thinking of a derivation of Rampton Hospital - a secure mental health hospital in Notts. which still exists. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampton_Secure_Hospital

Mental health services underwent a huge reform in the 1980's in the UK, as a result of the Parkinson Report: Care In The Community Ref:http://studymore.org.uk/mhhtim.htm#CareintheCommunity

I was training in those days and, of the 5 fieldwork placements I went on, neither of the mental health or learning difficulties places existed a few years later. Hoping it wasn't a reflection on my being there...

Hope the references, although not exactly helpful to your question, prove interesting as background.
restorick

[dollidaydream.livejournal.com]

I always thought that he was thinking of Rampton, too.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I assumed Rampton too.

Though I regularly walk the dogs in Claybury Park these days, and the old brick tower is still a local landmark. The Humphrey Repton landscaped grounds were taken over by the local council as a recreation facility when the former hospital was sold for redevelopment - long after Pros ended so I doubt that there is any conscious or intended connection. Rampton was certainly in the public eye back in the day.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I'd forgotten Rampton!

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

From your description, I'm thinking this is what he had in mind, as well.

I can work this in to the story, yes I can. And have it make sense, even...

Maybe the structure was Rampton, but the name was "borrowed" from Claybury? Who knows.

And I have it on good authority that your placements stayed open longer because you were there. :nods:

Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

G B, if the last sentence was in reply to me: dunno about that being true - Care In The Community was clearing out places of sanctuary at that time = well-intentioned, but poorly planned and carried through - but thank you for saying it.

*g* Would that authority come from the fic I have tried to write, or from a certain 'roze-y' lady who has encouraged me no end? ; )

restorick