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Penguin Heath Robinson
If W. Heath Robinson
Had planned this Age of Space,
There'd still be hope for me and you
And all the human race.
His rockets, made from barrel slaves
And patched with baked-bean line ...
We'd build them in our own backyards
To launch from garbage bins.
Yes! Given glue, and string, and knots,
We'd all be in the race ...
If W. Heath Robinson
Had planned this Age of Space.
Had planned this Age of Space,
There'd still be hope for me and you
And all the human race.
His rockets, made from barrel slaves
And patched with baked-bean line ...
We'd build them in our own backyards
To launch from garbage bins.
Yes! Given glue, and string, and knots,
We'd all be in the race ...
If W. Heath Robinson
Had planned this Age of Space.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
About the author
W. Heath Robinson
161 books18 followersWilliam Heath Robinson (31 May 1872 - 13 September 1944) was an English cartoonist and illustrator best known for drawings of ridiculously complicated machines for achieving simple objectives.
His brothers, Thomas Heath Robinson and Charles Robinson were also artists.
In the U.K., the term "Heath Robinson" entered the language during the 1914–1918 First World War as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contrivance, much as "Rube Goldberg machines" came to be used in the U.S. from the 1930s onwards as a term for similar efforts. "Heath Robinson contraption" is perhaps more often used in relation to temporary fixes using ingenuity and whatever is to hand, often string and tape, or unlikely cannibalisations. Its continuing popularity was undoubtedly linked to Second World War Britain's shortages and the need to "make do and mend".
His brothers, Thomas Heath Robinson and Charles Robinson were also artists.
In the U.K., the term "Heath Robinson" entered the language during the 1914–1918 First World War as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contrivance, much as "Rube Goldberg machines" came to be used in the U.S. from the 1930s onwards as a term for similar efforts. "Heath Robinson contraption" is perhaps more often used in relation to temporary fixes using ingenuity and whatever is to hand, often string and tape, or unlikely cannibalisations. Its continuing popularity was undoubtedly linked to Second World War Britain's shortages and the need to "make do and mend".
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 20, 2022
I have been aware of W Heath Robinson from an early age as my Dad would make a comment on something with 'That's a Heath Robinson contraption.' I did often wonder when young who this Heath Robinson was!
When I began bookselling I quickly discovered who he was although I got to know his brothers, Charles and Thomas as well because they, too were book illustrators. All three had interests in fairies in the early books I came across and then Heath suddenly came into my life with his weird and wonderful contraptions. This superb selection of his work focuses on both aspects of his career, beginning with the early fairies, young children and flower type work and then morphing into Uncle Lubin, his own creation as a writer, and the machinery-type designs that he became even more famous for. The amazing thing about those machines and gadgets is that, bizarre though they were, they all seemed as though they would work!
For instance his 'How to get a good night's sleep in spite of interruptions' is an ingenious piece of equipment that has the baby in a cot on a pole with pulleys that balances out of the window and can be pulled in or out by use of a lever by the bed. Similarly his 'Training restaurant car attendant to carry on during uncertain motion of train' and 'How they teach young engine drivers the meaning of the signals' are quite ingenious.
Very amusing is 'Interesting experiments in camouflage during manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain' as the soldiers are disguised as parts of Stonehenge'! There are illustrations of 'Clock cricket' and a variety of different and amusing golf ideas while if anyone fancied 'Mountaineering as a hobby in the London suburbs' there is an inventive idea of how to do just that!
He died in September 1944 and at the Memorial Exhibition the following year he was described as 'one of the greatest black and white illustrators in the annals of art' and Nicolas Bentley summed him up with 'How seldom do we find united in one intellect an equal mastery of both scientific and aesthetic principles?' Bentley even compared him to Leonardo da Vinci when he said that Robinson 'had the advantage of Leonardo, in that some of his inventions did at least look as if they might have worked' - perhaps not worth mentioning Leonardo's ideas on the flying then!
Heath Robinson certainly was an artist well worth remembering for as Sir Kenneth Clark commented, 'Heath Robinson lived in the age of science triumphant, when machinery had become a tyrant, and, as we all know, the man who ridicules tyrants, is a champion of humanity.' In that case, with Heath Robinson's take on all the machinery he mimicked, he is undoubtedly a champion!
When I began bookselling I quickly discovered who he was although I got to know his brothers, Charles and Thomas as well because they, too were book illustrators. All three had interests in fairies in the early books I came across and then Heath suddenly came into my life with his weird and wonderful contraptions. This superb selection of his work focuses on both aspects of his career, beginning with the early fairies, young children and flower type work and then morphing into Uncle Lubin, his own creation as a writer, and the machinery-type designs that he became even more famous for. The amazing thing about those machines and gadgets is that, bizarre though they were, they all seemed as though they would work!
For instance his 'How to get a good night's sleep in spite of interruptions' is an ingenious piece of equipment that has the baby in a cot on a pole with pulleys that balances out of the window and can be pulled in or out by use of a lever by the bed. Similarly his 'Training restaurant car attendant to carry on during uncertain motion of train' and 'How they teach young engine drivers the meaning of the signals' are quite ingenious.
Very amusing is 'Interesting experiments in camouflage during manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain' as the soldiers are disguised as parts of Stonehenge'! There are illustrations of 'Clock cricket' and a variety of different and amusing golf ideas while if anyone fancied 'Mountaineering as a hobby in the London suburbs' there is an inventive idea of how to do just that!
He died in September 1944 and at the Memorial Exhibition the following year he was described as 'one of the greatest black and white illustrators in the annals of art' and Nicolas Bentley summed him up with 'How seldom do we find united in one intellect an equal mastery of both scientific and aesthetic principles?' Bentley even compared him to Leonardo da Vinci when he said that Robinson 'had the advantage of Leonardo, in that some of his inventions did at least look as if they might have worked' - perhaps not worth mentioning Leonardo's ideas on the flying then!
Heath Robinson certainly was an artist well worth remembering for as Sir Kenneth Clark commented, 'Heath Robinson lived in the age of science triumphant, when machinery had become a tyrant, and, as we all know, the man who ridicules tyrants, is a champion of humanity.' In that case, with Heath Robinson's take on all the machinery he mimicked, he is undoubtedly a champion!
March 28, 2020
Very amusing - Heath Robinson and Rube Goldberg being the two creators of absurd contraptions across the Atlantic. Some charming drawings from Shakespeare and Andersen too. And Clock Cricket is straight up brilliant!
Penguin edition from the innovative 60s.
Penguin edition from the innovative 60s.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews