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* JustPlaneWrong: The 1983 TV adaptation changed the downed German bomber from a Heinkel He 111 to a Junkers Ju 52. Shame that the Ju 52 was only used as a bomber during the 1939 invasion of Poland and was being exclusively used as a transport plane by 1941.
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* BlackMarketProduce: Nicky's house is being used a billet by a group of naval ratings; there's fresh bread and huge tins of real butter lying around open in the kitchen. Turns out these and a steady supply of booze are being smuggled off navy destroyers by several of the sailors.
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* NotSoAbandonedBuilding: In order to help conceal the location of the Fort, the gang spread rumours about [[spoiler: Nicky's bombed-out house]] being haunted by the ghosts of dead sailors.
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* NotSoAbandonedBuilding: In order to help conceal the location of the Fort, the gang spread rumours about [[spoiler: Nicky's bombed-out house]] being haunted by the ghosts of dead sailors. They also put up fake War Office signs warning of unexploded bombs and minefields.
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* OldDarkHouse: In order to help conceal the location of the Fort, the gang spread rumours about [[spoiler: Nicky's bombed-out house]] being haunted by the ghosts of dead sailors.
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* OldDarkHouse: NotSoAbandonedBuilding: In order to help conceal the location of the Fort, the gang spread rumours about [[spoiler: Nicky's bombed-out house]] being haunted by the ghosts of dead sailors.
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* OldDarkHouse: In order to help conceal the location of the Fort, the gang spread rumours about [[spoiler: Nicky's bombed-out house]] being haunted by the ghosts of dead sailors.
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* {{Tomboy}}: Audrey; described as being a girl who has hockey muscles, skinned knees and is as good at climbing drainpipes and trees as most boys.
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* HonorBeforeReason: Invoked by the Headmaster of Garmouth Boys Grammar before caning Chas for his [[CombatPragmatism method of fighting Boddser]].
--> ''"British boys do not use weapons, they fight with their fists!"''
--> ''"British boys do not use weapons, they fight with their fists!"''
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Changed line(s) 18,22 (click to see context) from:
** TheHero -- Chas
** TheLancer -- Cem
** TheSmartGuy -- Nicky
** TheBigGuy -- Clogger
** TheChick -- Audrey
** TheLancer -- Cem
** TheSmartGuy -- Nicky
** TheBigGuy -- Clogger
** TheChick -- Audrey
to:
** TheHero -- Chas
Chas: he's the serious and driven one whose plan the whole affair is right from the start.
** TheLancer --Cem
Cem: Chas [=McGill=]'s longest friend, even if their fathers don't entirely see eye-to-eye. Quieter and slower to act than Chas.
** TheSmartGuy --Nicky
Nicky: Thin, slightly sickly, described as being effeminate and initially more the TagalongKid, Nicky gets 'upgraded' after [[spoiler: his house gets bombed and his mother dies]] providing a place for the gang to build the gun's hiding place.
** TheBigGuy --Clogger
Clogger: recruited to the gang by Chas mostly because of his school reputation as a hard, quiet soul that no one wants to mess with. Definitely not a case of DumbMuscle.
** TheChick --AudreyAudrey. Tomboyish, knows First Aid and also tends to be the one to resolve arguments between the group. She was also the only person who sympathised with Chas during his WhatTheHellHero? time; as a girl, she sees nothing wrong with beating someone bigger and harder than you with a weapon.
** TheLancer --
** TheSmartGuy --
** TheBigGuy --
** TheChick --
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* FiveManBand:
** TheHero -- Chas
** TheLancer -- Cem
** TheSmartGuy -- Nicky
** TheBigGuy -- Clogger
** TheChick -- Audrey
** TheHero -- Chas
** TheLancer -- Cem
** TheSmartGuy -- Nicky
** TheBigGuy -- Clogger
** TheChick -- Audrey
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Changed line(s) 5,6 (click to see context) from:
But the police and his teachers know someone at the school stole the machine gun from the wreck, and [=McGill=] is one of the prime suspects. How long can they keep the gun and its hiding place a secret, from both the adults ''and'' [=McGill=]'s collection rival, school bully Boddser Brown. Things are further complicated when the gang almost shoots down a Me 110, causing it ''actually'' be shot down by a trio of three Spitfires. The rear-gunner bails out and manages to blunder into the children's secret fort and be captured by them. They can't let him go; in case he tells the authorities about them. What to do with a captured German airman and a stolen machine gun, especially when the signal of a German invasion comes.
to:
But the police and his teachers know someone at the school stole the machine gun from the wreck, and [=McGill=] is one of the prime suspects. How long can they keep the gun and its hiding place a secret, from both the adults ''and'' [=McGill=]'s collection rival, school bully Boddser Brown. Things are further complicated when the gang almost shoots down a Me 110, causing it to ''actually'' be shot down by a trio of three Spitfires. The rear-gunner bails out and manages to blunder into the children's secret fort and be captured by them. They can't let him go; in case he tells the authorities about them. What to do with a captured German airman and a stolen machine gun, especially when the signal of a German invasion comes.
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Changed line(s) 12 (click to see context) from:
* TheBlitz: Set in a fictional North East town in England during 1940; bombs, blackouts, Air Raid Wardens, the Home Guard all get a look in, unsurprisingly.
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* TheBlitz: Set in a fictional North East town in England during 1940; 1941; bombs, blackouts, Air Raid Wardens, the Home Guard all get a look in, unsurprisingly.
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* RecklessGunUsage: A fairly key plot point: this is a book in which a group of children somewhere between 11 and 16 steal a fully-loaded, fully-functional aircraft-mounted machine gun and several thousand rounds of ammunition. It happens at less metaplot level when they capture Rudi; he's petrified that they'll accidentally kill him or themselves with his Luger pistol, which they casually hand around whilst it's cocked and loaded. So much so, he goes out of his way to show Clogger how to uncock the gun and operate the safety catch.
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* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Averted. From the outset, one of the most major concerns the authorities have about the missing machine gun is that, in the wrong hands, it's bullets can accidentally kill people some way off by going through walls. Indeed, towards the end of the novel, the police sergeant pursuing Chas and the gun gets a lead precisely because a bullet from the weapon lodged in someone's wall.
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* AdultsAreUseless: Used, since the entire plot revolves around a group of children hiding something highly dangerous from their parents and the authorities. Played straightest with Nicky and Clogger; Nicky's mum is a borderline alcoholic who barely notices his existence and spends more time with the seamen billeted in their house. Clogger has to live with his Aunt, who only pays him any regard because she gets extra rations due to his presence.
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Changed line(s) 11 (click to see context) from:
* TheBlitz: Set in a fictional North East town in England during 1940
to:
* TheBlitz: Set in a fictional North East town in England during 19401940; bombs, blackouts, Air Raid Wardens, the Home Guard all get a look in, unsurprisingly.
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* CombatPragmatist: Confronted by Boddser on the street, surrounded by the bigger boy's gang of followers, Chas opts to clobber his aggressor with his steel gasmask case.
** Chas does it to Boddser, continuing to hit him with the metal case for his gasmask even after he's knocked Brown down.
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* OopNorth: Aye lad, we're gannin' oop North for this ane.
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* OopNorth: Aye lad, we're gannin' oop North for this ane. Justified, since it's set in the North East of England and based on the writer's own childhood there.
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* WhatTheHellHero: Chas gets hit with this after pulling what pretty much everyone ''except'' him thinks was an unacceptably dirty move in his fight with Boddser Brown.
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* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Clogger does exactly this to [[spoiler: Boddser Brown]]. With steel-toed boots, no less.
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-->-- '''"Clogger" Duncan''', ''The Machine Gunners''
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* ViolentGlaswegian
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* ViolentGlaswegian
ViolentGlaswegian: "Clogger" Duncan, a kid relocated from Glasgow to Garmouth as his father is serving and his mother is dead. Lives with his drunken Aunt and Uncle and is mean fighter with his steel-toed boots. The 'violent Glaswegian' stereotype gets conversed; after Clogger lays a [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown savage beating]] on [[spoiler: Boddser at Chas' behest]] and Clogger confronts him about his not being very happy with he result:
--> ''"So you'll no be speaking to me anymore. You've nae time for Glasgow hooligans. It was'' you ''who said to do him proper."''
--> ''"So you'll no be speaking to me anymore. You've nae time for Glasgow hooligans. It was'' you ''who said to do him proper."''
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* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Garmouth is a fairly obvious [[FictionalCounterpart to real North Eastern town, Tynemouth]], where Westall was born and raised.
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* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Garmouth is a fairly obvious version of [[FictionalCounterpart to real North Eastern town, Tynemouth]], where Westall was born and raised.raised. At least, to anyone familiar with the area.
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* ShellShockedVeteran
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* ShellShockedVeteranShellShockedVeteran: Chas' grandad is a WorldWarI veteran who, if he hears the rattle of kettle lid whilst it's boiling, will lapse into remembering his days in the trenches (the noise reminds him of the rattle of machine gun fire).
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* BritishAccents: "Aah divvn't knaa, like, but ah reckon thars some Geordie bein' used in this book." (I'm not sure chaps, but I believe someone may be employing the local dialect of the North East of England, in particular the Tyne and Wear area and it's inhabitants and rendering it phonetically, within this literary work.)
Deleted line(s) 13 (click to see context) :
* EnglishAccents: "Aah divvn't knaa, like, but ah reckon thars some Geordie bein' used in this book." (I'm not sure chaps, but I believe someone may be employing the local dialect of the North East of England, in particular the Tyne and Wear area and it's inhabitants and rendering it phonetically, within this literary work.)
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Changed line(s) 5,6 (click to see context) from:
But the police and his teachers know someone at the school stole the machine gun from the wreck, and [=McGill=] is one of the prime suspects. How long can they keep the gun and its hiding place a secret, from both the adults ''and'' [=McGill=]'s collection rival, school bully Boddser Brown. Things are further complicated when the gang almost shoots down a Me 110, causing it ''actually'' be shot down by a trio of three Spitfires. The rear-gunner bails out and manages to blunder into the children's secret fort and be captured by them. They can't let him go; in case he tells the authorities about them. What to do with a captured German airman and a stolen machine gun now.
to:
But the police and his teachers know someone at the school stole the machine gun from the wreck, and [=McGill=] is one of the prime suspects. How long can they keep the gun and its hiding place a secret, from both the adults ''and'' [=McGill=]'s collection rival, school bully Boddser Brown. Things are further complicated when the gang almost shoots down a Me 110, causing it ''actually'' be shot down by a trio of three Spitfires. The rear-gunner bails out and manages to blunder into the children's secret fort and be captured by them. They can't let him go; in case he tells the authorities about them. What to do with a captured German airman and a stolen machine gun now.
gun, especially when the signal of a German invasion comes.
* EnglishAccents: "Aah divvn't knaa, like, but ah reckon thars some Geordie bein' used in this book." (I'm not sure chaps, but I believe someone may be employing the local dialect of the North East of England, in particular the Tyne and Wear area and it's inhabitants and rendering it phonetically, within this literary work.)
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* KidsAreCruel: Even the protagonist and his group of friends are mean, initially, to Nicholas Nicholls, the posh kid from the big house.
* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed
* OopNorth
* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed
* OopNorth
to:
* KidsAreCruel: Even the protagonist and his group of friends are mean, initially, to Nicholas Nicholls, Benjamin "Nicky" Nichol, the posh kid from the big house.
*NoCommunitiesWereHarmed
NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Garmouth is a fairly obvious [[FictionalCounterpart to real North Eastern town, Tynemouth]], where Westall was born and raised.
*OopNorthOopNorth: Aye lad, we're gannin' oop North for this ane.
*
*
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Changed line(s) 5,6 (click to see context) from:
But the police and his teachers know someone at the school stole the machine gun from the wreck, and [=McGill=] is one of the prime suspects. How long can they keep the gun and its hiding place a secret, from both the adults ''and'' [=McGill=]'s collection rival, school bully Boddser Brown.
to:
But the police and his teachers know someone at the school stole the machine gun from the wreck, and [=McGill=] is one of the prime suspects. How long can they keep the gun and its hiding place a secret, from both the adults ''and'' [=McGill=]'s collection rival, school bully Boddser Brown.
Brown. Things are further complicated when the gang almost shoots down a Me 110, causing it ''actually'' be shot down by a trio of three Spitfires. The rear-gunner bails out and manages to blunder into the children's secret fort and be captured by them. They can't let him go; in case he tells the authorities about them. What to do with a captured German airman and a stolen machine gun now.
''The Machine Gunners'' was adapted by the BBC for television in 1983 and again for radio in 2002. A stage play by Westall also exists and has recently had a run at the Polka Theatre in London, commissioned by the Imperial War Museum (no, not [[StarWars that Empire]]). The book won the CarnegieMedal in 1975 and was voted in 2007 as one of the ten most important children's novels of the last seven decades by the Carnegie Medal panel.
''The Machine Gunners'' was adapted by the BBC for television in 1983 and again for radio in 2002. A stage play by Westall also exists and has recently had a run at the Polka Theatre in London, commissioned by the Imperial War Museum (no, not [[StarWars that Empire]]). The book won the CarnegieMedal in 1975 and was voted in 2007 as one of the ten most important children's novels of the last seven decades by the Carnegie Medal panel.
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* TheBlitz
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* TheBlitzTheBlitz: Set in a fictional North East town in England during 1940
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* KidsAreCruel
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* KidsAreCruelKidsAreCruel: Even the protagonist and his group of friends are mean, initially, to Nicholas Nicholls, the posh kid from the big house.
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* TheBully
to:
* TheBullyTheBully: Boddser Brown, the Garmouth Grammar School bully and Chas' most avid rival in the great game of collecting war souvenirs.
* GangOfBullies: Boddser has his little club of followers to go with his "official bully" status.
* GangOfBullies: Boddser has his little club of followers to go with his "official bully" status.
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* ThoseWackyNazis: Rudi is one of the PunchClockVillain Nazis, without much deep-seated loyalty to Der Führer.
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* ViolentGlaswegian
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* NoCommunitiesWereharmed
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* NoCommunitiesWereharmedNoCommunitiesWereHarmed
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* NoCommunitiesWereharmed
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* ShellShockedVeteran
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The Machine Gunners, published in 1975 was the first novel written by English childrens and Young Adult author, Creator/RobertWestall. Based on his own experiences as a child in Tynemouth during TheBlitz, the book is the story of Charles "Chas" [=McGill=], a young schoolboy who collects 'war souvenirs'; pieces of fallen bomb, shrapnel from Anti-Aircraft fire, and other detritus of the bombings.
During one air raid, a German Heinkel bomber is shot down and crashes in the woods near to [=McGill=]'s home. He finds it one morning and discovers that it's rear turret machine gun is still in place, intact and in full working condition. This, he decides, will be the finest war souvenir he's ever collected. With the help of a group of his school friends, he steals the gun and hides it, eventually building a secret hiding place for them to keep the weapon away from the prying eyes of grown-ups.
But the police and his teachers know someone at the school stole the machine gun from the wreck, and [=McGill=] is one of the prime suspects. How long can they keep the gun and its hiding place a secret, from both the adults ''and'' [=McGill=]'s collection rival, school bully Boddser Brown.
----
!!Contains Examples of:
* TheBlitz
* OopNorth
----
During one air raid, a German Heinkel bomber is shot down and crashes in the woods near to [=McGill=]'s home. He finds it one morning and discovers that it's rear turret machine gun is still in place, intact and in full working condition. This, he decides, will be the finest war souvenir he's ever collected. With the help of a group of his school friends, he steals the gun and hides it, eventually building a secret hiding place for them to keep the weapon away from the prying eyes of grown-ups.
But the police and his teachers know someone at the school stole the machine gun from the wreck, and [=McGill=] is one of the prime suspects. How long can they keep the gun and its hiding place a secret, from both the adults ''and'' [=McGill=]'s collection rival, school bully Boddser Brown.
----
!!Contains Examples of:
* TheBlitz
* OopNorth
----
