Noel Ponting

The thrust of this book is ostensibly a history of the Association of Wiltshiremen in London, but there are other themes too, including cool things you may not have known about the county, and its fertile sub-genre, people you didn't realise were born in Wiltshire. The 'Moonies in London', as they were known (referring to Wiltshire people being known as Moonrakers) met for an annual dinner and speeches in the capital. The reports of these gatherings tell us much about Wiltshire people and their achievements, what bound (and perhaps still binds) them together, and about life in the county in the past that isn't obvious in other sources: the deep roots of organisations such as the Moonies in London (they were one of several); the role of the military in society; the shifting of influence between the upper and middle classes; social etiquette; attitudes to women; attitudes to charity and the 'deserving' poor; the role of apprenticeships in Swindon's railway history; and much more besides.

Welcome to a book that was never intended. After all, when A Swindon Wordsmith was published in 2019, highlighting the life and works of railwayman and parttime writer George Ewart Hobbs, the authors were satisfied that it achieved both of their main aims: showcasing work by someone who had undeservedly been forgotten since his death in 1946, but also opening a fascinating window on Swindon in times gone by. However, the surprise discovery of more works by George made it necessary to produce a second volume, and this book therefore samples some of the articles he wrote and published in the 1920s and 1930s, mostly in the Swindon Advertiser. Like its predecessor, this new book covers a wide range of George's interests, including religion, philosophy, astronomy, spiritualism, engineering and more. And as he came to terms with a changing world at home, and as the world spiralled towards the second declaration of global war in his lifetime, it chronicles the views of an increasingly radical thinker, who was always ahead of his time. Along with a simultaneously published companion book, A Visit to Venus (George's 1927 science fiction tale), A Swindon Radical completes the story of this fascinating wordsmith and free-thinker.