Matthew Baylis

"A figure surrounded by wealth, obscured by ceremony, yet revered in a place which embraced simplicity"
By sally tarbox on 24 February 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
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This review is from: Man Belong Mrs Queen: Adventures with the Philip Worshippers (Paperback)
I had envisaged an entertaining and interesting read, as writer Matthew Baylis visits the Vanuatu island of Tanna to discover the facts about the strange cult of venerating Prince Philip.
In actual fact it didn't quite work out. Somehow despite its exotic location the writing manages to leave the reader slightly bored; unlike other travelogues, I couldn't particularly like any of the locals. And the lengthy bits of island history that are interspersed with accounts on daily life fail to grab one's interest.
Certainly Mr Baylis manages to portray the complexity of the cult's origins, with the Prince embodying aspects of Bible teaching, local mythology, the South Seas 'cargo cults' and political expedience.
I've certainly learned something but not really an enjoyable read; maybe 2.5*… (mer)

bookshelves: published-2013, winter-20132014, nonfiction, biography, cults-societies-brotherhoods, travel
Read from January 02 to 03, 2014

Man Belong Mrs Queen: Adventures with the Philip Worshippers by Matthew Baylis

BOTW R4

BBC BLURB: As a bookish child with a posh accent, growing up on Merseyside in the 1980s, Matthew Baylis identified with the much-mocked Prince Philip as a fellow outsider. He even had a poster of him on his bedroom wall.

Years later, as an anthropology student , Baylis learned of the existence of a Philip cult on the South Sea island of Tanna. Why was it there? Nobody had a convincing answer. Nobody even seemed to want to find one.

His curiosity fatally piqued, he travelled over 10,000 miles to find a society both remote and slap-bang in the shipping-lanes of history. It's a place where US airmen, Lithuanian libertarians, and Graeco-Danish Princes have had as much impact as the missionaries and the slave-traders. On the rumbling slopes of this remarkable volcanic island, banjaxed by frequent doses of the local narcotic, suffering from a relentless diet of yams and regularly accused of being a divine emissary of the Duke, Baylis attempted to get to the bottom of this bizarre cult. In doing so he draws some ironic lessons about our own island 'myths' and comes to respect the pragmatic realpolitik of his South Seas hosts.

Abridged and produced by Jill Waters. A Waters Company Production for BBC Radio 4

1. Partly inspired by his childhood admiration of the Duke of Edinburgh, Matthew Baylis travels to Vanuatu to explore the cult whose members revere Prince Philip as an island god.

2. On the island of Tanna, Chief Jack makes vague promises but gives little away.

3. Partly inspired by his childhood admiration of the Duke of Edinburgh, Matthew Baylis travels to Vanuatu to explore the cult whose members revere Prince Philip as an island god.

4. More Vanuatu

5. Vanatu

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aNobii… (mer)