The player is loading ...
Sign up to get updates from us
Need a break from typhoons (Taiwan)? Need to escape the non-stop election-related noise (USA)? Or maybe you simply would like to hear John and Eryk babble about a couple of strange out-of-print books with a Taiwan connection (everyone)? This week we meander, go off on tangents, tell virtually unknown stories (including mysterious deaths), and discuss two books we bet you’ve never heard of, let alone read.
Also: Happy Halloween (and of course, it's Chiang Kai-shek's birthday).
Cover shows covers of the two books discussed: A Maid From Heaven (1966 published by MacMillian) and, Band of Brothers (1973). Photos by John Ross.
Below: The back flap of the book, A Maid From Heaven, with the author's bio. (Real name - Kenneth Grenville Gee, (1915–2008), was an Australian prosecutor, a judge and barrister). Pic by John Ross.
Below: Malaysian Chinese Loke Wan Tho 陸運濤 was one of the richest people in the world - the founder of the now-massive Cathay Organisation Holdings Limited. Loke (then just 49) and his wife were killed in a June 20, 1964 airplane crash along with his chief executives. Civil Air Transport Flight B-908 left Taichung after attending the 11th Asian Film Festival in Taipei.
READ: Loke Wan Tho: The Man Who Built Cathay
Below: Movie mogul Run Run Shaw, Shao Renleng (邵仁楞), the guy who chose NOT to go on the Taiwan sightseeing tour plane that crashed, died in 2014 at the age of 106! Image via Eastern Kicks.com
---------------
A movie NOT based on the book, but very much based on Chinese legends:
A Maid from Heaven, Ho Meng-hua, Chen Yi-hsin (Hong Kong, 1963): "A fairy from heaven descends to Earth and finds love with a mill owner’s servant in this blend of fantasy film and Chinese huangmei diao musical opera."
---------------
Below: Harold Edward Holt (5 August 1908 – 17 December 1967) was an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his disappearance and presumed death by drowning after he (a keen swimmer ) in 1967. Story: "Holt convinced the group to stop at remote Cheviot Beach for a swim before lunch – he had spearfished there on many previous occasions, and claimed to 'know this beach like the back of my hand.' Because of the rough conditions, only one other person, Alan Stewart, joined Holt in the water. Stewart kept close to shore, but Holt swam out into deeper water and was seemingly caught up in a rip, eventually disappearing from view."
READ: from TAIWAN TODAY: "The Republic of China has recently greeted ... prime minister Harold E. Holt of Australia." May 01, 1967
Below: Via National Archives of Australia.
Below: Harold Holt is commemorated at the Harold Holt Swim Centre Melbourne - the irony of this is not lost on Australians.
Do us a favor and rate/review the show! It really helps. Do it on Apple Podcasts or here on our website.
Write us with questions or ideas at formosafiles@gmail.com
AND THE BIGGEST REQUEST: tell others about this free, not-for-profit resource about Taiwan.
Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
