Inspector Cutforth's Cases [antikvár]

An Introduction to "Inspector Cutforth's Cases" The schools radio series, Inspector Cutforth's Cases, has been running without a break since April, 1964, in Radio Bremen's English language programme for the Intermediate Grade (from the 9th year of schooling onwards). Inspector Cutforth, the chief of police in the fictitious market town of Twaddlington, has by now investigated something like 70 cases, ail of which have sprung from the fertile imagination of the author, Derek Sinclair. Although Twaddlington could be any market town in the south-west of England, perhaps in the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire or Gloucestershire, the author deliberately invented the County of Bradlingshire for the purpose of this series. Had he chosen a real county, its inhabitants might well have been a little incensed because the people of Twaddlington all seem to be rather, well, to put it mildly, eccentric. This is what drives Inspector Cutforth and his faithful Constable Wiggins to distraction. And to make matters worse, they never seem to commit any real crimes. The cases all seem to be real at first, involving crimes like theft, robbery, kidnapping, obtaining money by false pretences, misrepresentation, even manslaughter and murder, but when the policemen get down to investigating them, they all turn out to have a simple and harmless explanation. No wonder the Twaddlington Bobbies feel frustrated! And then there are the hundreds of trivial mishaps which go to make up a locai policeman's working day: lost dogs, lost property, lost children, complaints from neighbours about other neighbours, traffic offences, and, as Twaddlington is a market town on the edge of farming country, sudi upsets as burning hayricks, escaped cattle, and trespassing day-trippers.