Fifty Years a Quicksand Guide

[Lomax]

Cedric Robinson is the Royal Guide to Morecambe Bay. This is a sand-flat off north-west England that - at low tide - measures 120 square miles. It is a beautiful but desolate place - and dangerous as hell if you don't know your stuff. There are great areas of shifting quicksands, and the tide comes in damn fast. In 2004, 23 illegal cockle-pickers drowned when their gang-boss made them stay out too long.

Due to the lay of the land, however, Morecambe Bay was a useful short-cut for travellers in the days when roads were often little more than wishful thinking. So back in the sixteenth century, a Royal Guide was appointed to lead travellers accross the sands.

Mr Robinson is the 25th such guide, and has been doing the job for half a century. For this he gets paid £15 ($23 or so) a year, plus the right to live in a cottage with neither electricity nor running water (well, it didn't fifty years ago - some modernisation MAY have occurred). He has never taken a holiday.

He has now published a book - Time and Tide - 50 Golden Years on Morecambe Bay.

[Green Heart]

only 23 pounds a year?

[Lomax]

only 23 pounds a year?

No. FIFTEEN pounds a year - equivalent to twenty-three dollars. He also has a smallholding, and does a bit of fishing on the side.

That's the problem with inflation when it runs for several centuries. Fifteen quid was a good salary once. By comparison, the Garter King of Arms (head honcho at the College of Heralds) earns £49 a year (tax-free, I believe). The Astronomer Royal earns £100 a year; and the poet laureate about the same (though he used to be paid in wine). They all have day-jobs as well.

[PM2K]

This sounds like a fascinating story.... and possibly could be a springboard for those who write qs fiction, too. Just saying....

[Lomax]

This sounds like a fascinating story.... and possibly could be a springboard for those who write qs fiction, too. Just saying....

I have a major project on the go. I promised to have it finished by mumble mumble mumble. But you're right - I think I'm going to buy this chap's book.

[Duncan Edwards]

After the National Geographic Quicksand documentary team was finished shooting in Chester with Chuck Lang I suggested they visit Sir Cedric. I was informed that they were headed to St. Louis from Chester and then on to England just for that purpose.

[bbjohn]

I can only imagine the stories this guy could tell! As far as quicksand art or literature goes, he could serve as the basis for the host or narrator of a series of stories, something like the Crypt Keeper in "Tales from the Crypt," or, if you don't want something that gross or morbid, perhaps like Rod Serling in "The Twilight Zone," or Alfred Hitchcock in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

The possibilities here are almost endless.

- Big Bad John

[PM2K]

I can only imagine the stories this guy could tell! As far as quicksand art or literature goes, he could serve as the basis for the host or narrator of a series of stories, something like the Crypt Keeper in "Tales from the Crypt," or, if you don't want something that gross or morbid, perhaps like Rod Serling in "The Twilight Zone," or Alfred Hitchcock in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

The possibilities here are almost endless.

- Big Bad John

That sounds like a cool idea....

[gcooper8]

I totally agree with Big Bad John and PM2K about the idea of a show.
We could call it "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood." Why, the theme song almost writes itself!
"It's... a... muddy ol' day in the Neighborhood,
A boggy ol' day for a Neighbor...
To sink right down...
Into the ground..."
Second verse, anyone?

[Lomax]

After the National Geographic Quicksand documentary team was finished shooting in Chester with Chuck Lang I suggested they visit Sir Cedric. I was informed that they were headed to St. Louis from Chester and then on to England just for that purpose.

Not Sir Cedric, I'm afraid (though I grant that he would be a more worthy recipient of the honour than many who've been dubbed by Her Nibs), just plain Mr Robinson - though a bit of rummaging does inform me that he IS the recipient of an MBE as well as two honorary degrees. Degrees in what, I can't say.