Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
I'll give you an example.
Early on, Bacon talked about how the Great War caused the industrialization of Halifax and cited (his only citation) the Willis and Bates company, which he said manufactured doughboy-style helmets because it had previously made metal lampshades with a similar shape.
This stopped me in my tracks, as it made no sense. Metal lampshades? Lampshades are designed to let light through! Moreover, I'm familiar with the shape of the doughboy helmets and they look like no lampshade I've ever seen. So I googled Willis and Bates.
Guess what? The company, which did manufacture lanterns in both world wars, was located in Halifax, England, not Halifax, Canada. This is where I would have stopped reading, had it not been for the NLBC.
For all we've criticized him for the stuff he lifted from other authors, it's at least more accurate than the stuff he came up with on his own.
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Hahaha! That's classic, what a maroon!
(though I have seen plenty of metal lampshades, usually the kind that hang high on the ceiling so that the light comes from beneath, rather than through the lampshade, so it didn't jar when I read it)