Rodney Dale
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Rodney A.M. Dale (28 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was an English author, editor, publisher, and a co-founder and former member of Cambridge Consultants Ltd. He wrote principally on non-fiction topics (biography, technology, computing, jazz, illustration, and folklore), as well as three novels, a number of poems, and pantomimes.


Early life

Dale was born in
Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Fi ...
(North London) to Donald and Celia Dale in 1933. In 1939, with the approach of war, the family left London for
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
, where Dale was to develop lifelong interests in writing, engineering, printing, publishing, and music. He attended
The Perse School (He who does things for others does them for himself) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = Nondenominational Christian , president = , head_label = Head , h ...
from 1940 to 1952. In 1953 Dale began a two-year term of
National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...
, first joining the Suffolk Regiment and later transferring to the
Royal Army Education Corps The Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC) was a corps of the British Army tasked with educating and instructing personnel in a diverse range of skills. On 6 April 1992 it became the Educational and Training Services Branch (ETS) of the Adjutant Gene ...
, where he served as a sergeant instructor both in Shorncliffe, Kent, and Münster, Westphalia (
BAOR There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Both formations had areas of responsibility located ...
12), Germany. Having earlier (1950) been awarded a scholarship to the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
, he matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge in 1955 and studied natural sciences. In 1959 he established Polyhedron Services, a design and print company, which he developed for four years.Dale, Rodney. ''From Ram Yard to Milton Hilton: Cambridge Consultants — The Early Years'' (Haddenham, Cambridgeshire: Fern House Publishing, 2010; ).


Cambridge Consultants

It was at the University of Cambridge that Dale had met Tim Eiloart and David Southward, then fellow students and with whom he would later establish Cambridge Consultants Ltd., the first independent research and development organisation in the United Kingdom. In 1963 he joined Cambridge Consultants full-time, heading several design projects before ultimately assuming the role of the organisation's personnel and training manager. His 1979 book ''From Ram Yard to Milton Hilton'' (updated in 1981 to mark the move of the company from
Bar Hill Bar Hill is a purpose-built village with a population of 4,000 about 4 miles (7 km) northwest of Cambridge, England on the A14 road, just east of the Prime Meridian. History Prior to the building of the Bar Hill settlement the area was ...
to the
Cambridge Science Park The Cambridge Science Park, founded by Trinity College in 1970, is the oldest science park in the United Kingdom. It is a concentration of science and technology related businesses, and has strong links with the nearby University of Cambridge. ...
) chronicles the organisation's background, founding, and first two decades; his 2010 revision, ''From Ram Yard to Milton Hilton: Cambridge Consultants – The Early Years'', was published upon the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Cambridge Consultants.


Writing and publishing

In parallel with his work at Cambridge Consultants, Dale developed his career as an author, writing a series of articles on new technology for ''The Engineer'' as well as the first biography of artist–illustrator
Louis Wain Louis William Wain (5 August 1860 – 4 July 1939) was an English artist best known for his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphized large-eyed cats and kittens. Later in life, he was confined to mental institutions and struggl ...
. ''Louis Wain: The Man Who Drew Cats'' (1968; republished in 1991 and 2000) renewed national interest in Wain and led to an exhibition of his works, which Dale helped to organise, at the
Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
(London) in December 1972. In 1976 Dale left Cambridge Consultants to become a full-time writer, both of books and commercial literature. Among books written during this period were ''The Manna Machine'' (1978) and ''The Kaballah Decoded'' (1978), both co-authored with the multitalented linguist
George Sassoon George Thornycroft Sassoon (30 October 1936 – 8 March 2006) was a British scientist, electronic engineer, linguist, translator and author. Early life Sassoon was the only child of the poet Siegfried Sassoon and Hester Sassoon (née Gatty), and ...
. He also wrote ''The World of Jazz'' (1980) and ''The Sinclair Story'' (1985), a biography of the entrepreneur Sir Clive Sinclair. In the mid-1970s Dale began collecting apocryphal anecdotes, which at the time were sometimes termed "whale-tumour stories," now more commonly known as contemporary or urban legends. This resulted in publication of ''The Tumour in the Whale: A Collection of Modern Myths'' (1978), the first popular compilation of and commentary on contemporary or urban legends and which American folklorist Jan Brunvand has described as "a landmark work." In 1976 Dale coined the word "
foaf FOAF (an acronym of friend of a friend) is a machine-readable ontology describing persons, their activities and their relations to other people and objects. Anyone can use FOAF to describe themselves. FOAF allows groups of people to describe soc ...
" (for "friend of a friend") to describe apocryphal narratives involving someone at some distance from the teller. He used this word in ''The Tumour in the Whale'' to signify that an anecdote in question "has been reported from several quarters, that its provenance is shady, ndthat it is almost certainly a whale-tumour story." As the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research (ISCLR) has since noted, "Dale pointed out that contemporary legends always seemed to be about someone just two or three steps from the teller – a boyfriend's cousin, a co-worker's aunt, or a neighbor of the teller's mechanic"; in recognition of this concept, the ISCLR in 1985 named its quarterly newsletter ''FoafTale News''. Brunvand holds that "international students of urban legends have accepted FOAF with enthusiasm as a shorthand reference to the claimed source of stories." "Foaf" was added to the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...
'' in 2009. Dale continued his work on contemporary legends with the publications of ''It's True ... It Happened to a Friend: A Collection of Urban Legends'' (1984) and ''The Wordsworth Book of Urban Legend: Tall Tales for Our Times'' (2005). With colleagues, Dale in 1984 created Business Literature Services Ltd. (now known as Flag Communication Ltd.), a publishing house devoted to business-related writing, and singlehandedly established Fern House Publishing in 1990. In addition, between 1992 and 1994 Dale served as series editor and writer for eight Discoveries & Inventions books for the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
. He also wrote three novels: ''About Time'' (1995), ''The Secret World of Zoë Golding'' (2010), and ''The New Life of Hannah Brooks'' (2013). He also from time to time performed a one-man show called "Hello, Mrs Fish."


Community service

Dale served as a trustee of the non-profit
Centre for Computing History The Centre for Computing History is a museum in Cambridge, England, established to create a permanent public exhibition telling the story of the Information Age. Overview The museum acts as a repository for vintage computers and related artefa ...
in Cambridge. He was also a long-serving trustee of the Cambridgeshire Farmland Museum, now to be found on the A10 at
Waterbeach Waterbeach is an expanding village north of Cambridge on the edge of The Fens, in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was designated a "new town" in 2018. History Early periods Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Ro ...
, which shares a site with the
ancient monument In British law, an ancient monument is an early historical structure or monument (e.g. an archaeological site) worthy of preservation and study due to archaeological or heritage interest. The ''Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 ...
,
Denny Abbey Denny Abbey is a former abbey near Waterbeach, about north of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. It is now the Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey. The monastery was inhabited by a succession of three different religious orders. The site is a ...
. Dale played a crucial part in organising the Museum's move from its original site in Haddenham, Cambridgeshire, to its present location. He was a Magistrate on the Cambridge City Bench from 1977 to 1984 and was a past member of both Bar Hill and Haddenham Parish Councils.''The Parish Councillors and Clerks of Haddenham Cambridgeshire, 1895–2005''. Ed. Rodney Dale (Haddenham, Cambridgeshire: Fern House Publishing, 2005).


Published works

* ''Louis Wain – The Man Who Drew Cats'', 1968 (William Kimber) * ''Bridges'', 1973 (Colourmaster Junior Series) * ''Inland Waterways'', 1974 (Colourmaster Junior Series) * ''Iron Roads'', 1974 (Colourmaster Junior Series) * ''Catland'', 1977 (Duckworth) * ''The Kabbalah Decoded'', 1978 (With George Sassoon; Duckworth) * ''The Manna Machine'', 1978 (With George Sassoon; Sidgwick & Jackson) * ''The Tumour in the Whale: A Collection of Modern Myths'', 1978 (Duckworth, W.H. Allen) * ''BASIC Programming'', 1979 (With Ian Williamson & Tim Eiloart; Cambridge Learning Enterprises) * ''Die Manna Maschine'', 1979 (With George Sassoon, a German translation of ''The Manna Machine''; Moewig Verlag) * ''Edwardian Inventions 1901–1905'', 1979 (With Joan Gray; W.H. Allen) * ''From Ram Yard to Milton Hilton'', 1979 (Cambridge Consultants Ltd.) * ''Hobsons Engineering Casebook'', 1979 (editor; Hobsons) * ''Hobsons Computing Casebook'', 1980 (editor; Hobsons) * ''The Manna Machine'', 1980 (With George Sassoon; Panther) * ''The Myth of the Micro'', 1980 (With Ian Williamson; Star) * ''The World of Jazz'', 1980 (Phaidon) * ''Understanding Microprocessors with the Science of Cambridge MK-14'', 1980 (With Ian Williamson; Macmillan) * ''From Ram Yard to Milton Hilton: A History of Cambridge Consultants'', 1982 (Cambridge Consultants Ltd.) * ''A Career in Architecture'', 1983 (With Julian Marsh; RIBA) * ''A History of Jazz'', 1983 (Jade Books) * ''It's True ... It Happened to a Friend'', 1984 (Duckworth) * ''Der är sant ... en god vän berättade'', 1985 (A Swedish translation of ''It's True ... It Happened to a Friend''; Mimer) * ''Hobsons 6th Form Casebook'', 1985 (editor; Hobsons) * ''The Sinclair Story'', 1985 (Duckworth) * ''Walter Wilson – Portrait of an Inventor'', 1986 (SCG, Duckworth) * ''Understanding AIDS'', 1988 (With John Starkie; Hodder & Stoughton) * ''Louis Wain – The Man Who Drew Cats'', 1991 (Chris Beetles & Michael O'Mara) * ''Machines in the Home'', 1992 (With Rebecca Weaver; The British Library) * ''The Industrial Revolution'', 1992 (With Henry Dale; The British Library) * ''Timekeeping'', 1992 (The British Library) * ''Early Cars'', 1994 (The British Library) * ''Early Railways'', 1994 (The British Library) * ''Home Entertainment'', 1994 (With Rebecca Weaver; The British Library) * ''Machines in the Office'', 1994 (With Rebecca Weaver; The British Library) * ''About Time'', 1995 (Fern House Publishing) * ''The Fern House Design & Technology Pack'', 1995 (With Cyndy Fiddy; Fern House Publishing) * ''Catland'', 1995 (The Promotional Reprint Company) * ''Maszyna do produkcji manny'', 1996 (With George Sassoon; Amber) * ''A Dictionary of Abbreviations & Acronyms'', 1997, 1999, 2001 (With Steve Puttick; Wordsworth Editions) * ''Cats in Books – A Celebration of Cat Illustrations through the Ages'', 1997 (The British Library, Abrams) * ''Teach Yourself Jazz'', 1997, 2004 (Hodder Educational) * ''Cats in Books'', 1998 (Nakano Museum Books Ltd, Japan) * ''Halcyon Days – Recollections of Post-War Vintage Motoring'', 1999 (Fern House Publishing) * ''The Wordsworth Dictionary of Culinary and Menu Terms'', 2000 (Wordsworth Editions) * ''Haddenham & Aldreth Past and Present'', 2000 (Fern House Publishing) * ''Puss in Boots'', 2001 (Fern House Publishing) * ''A Treasury of Essential Proverbs'', 2003 (BookBlocks – CRW Publishing) * ''A Treasury of Love Poems'', 2003 (BookBlocks – CRW Publishing) * ''The Book of WHAT?'', 2004 (CRW Publishing) * ''The Book of WHEN?'', 2004 (CRW Publishing) * ''The Book of WHERE?'', 2004 (CRW Publishing) * ''The Book of WHO?'', 2004 (CRW Publishing) * ''The Wordworth Book of Urban Legend'', 2005 (Wordsworth Editions) * ''Dickens Dictionary'', 2006 (Wordsworth Editions) * ''Sayings Usual & Unusual'', 2007 (Wordsworth Reference Series) * ''Cats in Books'', 2008 (British Library Publications) * ''From Ram Yard to Milton Hilton: Cambridge Consultants – The Early Years'', 2010 (Fern House Publishing) * ''The Secret World of Zoë Golding'', 2010 (Pen name, Jane MacGowan; Fern House Publishing) * ''The New Life of Hannah Brooks'', 2013 (Fern House Publishing) * ''Get Started in Jazz'', 2014 (Teach Yourself)


References


External links

*Rodney Dale talks abou
the earliest days of Cambridge Consultants
via the
Centre for Computing History The Centre for Computing History is a museum in Cambridge, England, established to create a permanent public exhibition telling the story of the Information Age. Overview The museum acts as a repository for vintage computers and related artefa ...
(2016). *Rodney Dale perform
a segment from "Hello, Mrs. Fish,"
his one-man show (2008). {{DEFAULTSORT:Dale, Rodney English science writers English non-fiction writers People educated at The Perse School Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Living people 1933 births English male non-fiction writers Military personnel from London Suffolk Regiment soldiers