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The wondrous life of James R. A. Bailey, DFC – founder of DRUM Magazine, South Africa
Anybody who has spent any time at all in South Africa knows DRUM Magazine, a publication that has had its ups and downs in the past six decades but was always on the front line of the struggle for freedom. Since I spent some time in Jo’burg in the early 1990’s, DRUM has turned into more of a black urban lifestyle publication but there was a time when the tabloid told stories that no one else could without getting banned.
What I didn’t know before now, and only just discovered this past week, is that DRUM was started and financed for decades by a white ex-Royal Air Force fighter pilot named Jim Bailey. To my great delight an old friend presented me with a birthday gift of Bailey’s wartime biography The Sky Suspended – A fighter pilot’s story. That led me to looking up the author online and there I found the story of Jim Bailey and DRUM. Isn’t the Internet a wonderful thing?
As near as I can discern from the online stories, Bailey poured much of his inherited wealth into starting DRUM as a “black” publication in 1950. It was a true tabloid with girls, crime and violence to keep the readers titillated and the numbers up but it developed a reputation for coming right up to and crossing the line about freedom issues. I think BFP’s readers will understand our appreciation of that marketing philosophy. 🙂
When the police beat Steve Biko to death in 1977, DRUM showed the activist in his coffin. When Desmond Tutu wanted to tell the people why he met with the South African apartheid government, he did so in the pages of DRUM. When the bodies piled up on the streets in the townships, DRUM showed them beside the photos of the white police who shot them down. These were dangerous stories to cover, but DRUM did so and made a difference.
Jim Bailey died in early 2000 but he left a legacy of books and poetry that I’ve yet to read. I’m only 40 pages into The Sky Suspended, but other than writing this post I doubt I’ll do any work for the next few days until I finish the book.
Later this week I’ll put up a few more posts on Bailey and his role in Sooth Africa at the time, but for now here’s what he says about what it takes to be a fighter pilot…
It became a study of mine, one I pursued meticulously at this time, to discover what type of man makes the best fighter-pilot. I found, for example, that only children, pilots without brothers or sisters, were particularly helpless. When a new pilot came to us, I would try to guess after a day or two whether he came from a large family or not and then go and ask him. If he did, he had a better chance to survive.
Good pilots are common, good fighter-pilots were rare. It is as with polo: many can ride, but few play polo well; and among those who play well, many ride in a crude and efficient way, without good hands or precision. I arrived at a few conclusions. The qualities that made for success in a fighter-pilot seemed to be just those sturdy qualities that made for success in other professions; observation, initiative, determination, courage, including the courage to run away.
Battle of Britain veteran Jim Bailey on what makes a great fighter pilot
Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson: “Catch a Nigger by the toe, when he squeals…”
UPDATED May 7, 2014: Poll closed due to organised campaign to support Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson
Did Top Gear or Jeremy Clarkson hire some backroom operation to change the results of BFP’s poll? That’s a definite possibility.
BFP’s poll asked if our readers could hearing Clarkson saying the word ‘nigger’ in the YouTube video. For the first few days the results were running about 90% yes… but then we saw dozens and dozens of ‘no’ responses coming from two IP numbers in the UK, where the people involved were obviously conducting an organised effort to change the results of the poll in Clarkson’s favour.
Naughty, naughty!
So we’ve frozen the poll where it ended up, but our readers should know that the displayed result doesn’t reflect the actual views of BFP’s readers that is running about 90% ‘yes’ and 8% ‘no’ and 2% ‘can’t tell, too drunk to care’.
Cliverton
“Einee meenie miney moe…”
“There’s a slope on it…” (Clarkson as an asian man walks on a bridge. YouTube video below.)
And we haven’t even told you about Clarkson’s Nazi salute or his black dog named after a black footballer.
Is Jeremy Clarkson unthinking, always over the line… or truly a racist?
I haven’t decided for myself as yet, but here are a few tidbits for your consideration – including an
apologyexcuse from Clarkson.Is the BFP crew going to the TopGear festival at Bushy Park? You bet! We wouldn’t miss it for anything… no matter what Mr. Clarkson thinks or says about the colours of our skins.
Jeremy Clarkson’s
apologyexcuseHey… no matter what he says about mumbling, I hear the word ‘Nigger’ clear ’nuff in the video at the top of this post. How about you?
Further Reading and Viewing…
UK Mirror: Jeremy Clarkson’s previous ‘race rows’: From black dogs and Nazi salutes to Lenny Henry
UK Mirror: Video: Watch Jeremy Clarkson use n-word in unseen Top Gear footage
The Guardian: Jeremy Clarkson ‘begs forgiveness’ over N-word footage
Jeremy Clarkson: Twitter feed with
apologyexcuse.49 Comments
Filed under Barbados, Celebrities, Culture & Race Issues, Race
Tagged as Barbados, Barbados Race and Culture, Controversy, Jeremy Clarkson N Word, Jeremy Clarkson Racist Comments, Race, Top Gear, Top Gear Barbados, Top Gear Controversy, Top Gear Race Controversy