WA2K Radio is now on the air, Part 3

NO ROSE "WITHOUT A THORN(-EYCROFT).

Thorneycroft's Spanish torpedo boat,
Is the very fastest vessel afloat.
If they run her aground, at speed, what's more,
She'll be the fastest vessel ashore.

So whether ashore or whether afloat,
She'll ne'er be a torpid torpedo boat.
But if ever she runs at our ships full speed-o,
We hope she'll run over her own torpedo,
And cut the record in going aloft,
To keep up the honour of Thorneycroft.

The colonial service Defender-class torpedo boats were designed by Thornycroft & Company for the defence of New Zealand, built at Chiswick in 1883 and shipped to New Zealand. They were quickly obsolete and were left to deteriorate in situ. The remains of Defender are preserved at the Lyttelton Torpedo Boat Museum.

Motto for the Channel Tunnel Fanatics.—"A little more
than Watkin and less than kind."

Sir Edward William Watkin, 1st Baronet (26 September 1819 – 13 April 1901) was a British Member of Parliament and railway entrepreneur. He was an ambitious visionary, and presided over large-scale railway engineering projects to fulfil his business aspirations, eventually rising to become chairman of nine different British railway companies.

Among his more notable projects were his expansion of the Metropolitan Railway (part of today's London Underground network); the construction of the Great Central Main Line, a purpose-built high-speed railway line; and a failed attempt to dig a channel tunnel under the English Channel to connect his railway empire to the French rail network.