# WW2 Ice based Aircraft Carrier **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ww2-ice-based-aircraft-carrier/427051 "2007-11-19T17:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ww2-ice-based-aircraft-carrier/427051/1 "2007-11-19T17:12:04Z")
For the next week or so (and possibly longer) BBC Radio 7 will have a play about the life of Geoffrey Pyke, the inventor of Pykerite and the Habakkuk ice-based aircraft carrier, on their ‘listen again’ service. The play’s an hour long and called _Habakkuk Of Ice_ and more details are [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/programmes/#h) I just listened to it and it’s good fun, with a lot of detail! ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ww2-ice-based-aircraft-carrier/427051/2 "2007-11-19T17:39:52Z")
I’ve always have been fascinated by pykrete. Plus Pyke was an oddball. I’ll see if I can catch this. I wonder how much it would cost to make a nice sized yacht out of the stuff, sort of like a floating version of the [ICEHOTEL](http://www.icehotel.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ww2-ice-based-aircraft-carrier/427051/3 "2007-11-19T19:23:51Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] I’ve always have been fascinated by pykrete. Plus Pyke was an oddball. I’ll see if I can catch this. I wonder how much it would cost to make a nice sized yacht out of the stuff, sort of like a floating version of the [ICEHOTEL](http://www.icehotel.com/). [/QUOTE] “Oddball”? What? Just because he only wore pajamas, ate only raw herring and broken biscuits? No, man, that’s what makes him a _genius!_ ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ww2-ice-based-aircraft-carrier/427051/4 "2007-11-19T20:55:47Z")
It delighted me no end to learn that the _“Science!”_ guy in Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science” was Geoffrey’s cousin Magnus Pyke-- a classic British eccentric himself, by all accounts. Don’t ever stop making 'em, Britain. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ww2-ice-based-aircraft-carrier/427051/5 "2007-11-19T21:06:54Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] It delighted me no end to learn that the _“Science!”_ guy in Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science” was Geoffrey’s cousin Magnus Pyke-- a classic British eccentric himself, by all accounts. Don’t ever stop making 'em, Britain. [/QUOTE] Speaking of eccentrics, Stephen Frye is apparently a big one. When the iPhones came out in the US, he promptly bought one, and until they were released in the UK, used his with an _international roaming plan!_ (For those of you who don’t know what this means, it meant that Frye was shelling out _huge_ amounts of cash just to use his phone, when he could have hacked it and used a UK SIM card in it, and paid normal UK rates. :eek: ) He’s since bought himself a UK iPhone, since he still can’t drop a UK SIM card in his US sold model. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ww2-ice-based-aircraft-carrier/427051/6 "2007-11-20T10:41:02Z")
Oh yeah, Pyke’s book about his WWI experiences is available [as a free download from Google.](http://books.google.com/books?id=YKcMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Geoffrey+inauthor:Pyke) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ww2-ice-based-aircraft-carrier/427051/7 "2007-11-20T11:21:11Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Speaking of eccentrics, Stephen Frye is apparently a big one. When the iPhones came out in the US, he promptly bought one, and until they were released in the UK, used his with an _international roaming plan!_ (For those of you who don’t know what this means, it meant that Frye was shelling out _huge_ amounts of cash just to use his phone, when he could have hacked it and used a UK SIM card in it, and paid normal UK rates. :eek: ) He’s since bought himself a UK iPhone, since he still can’t drop a UK SIM card in his US sold model. [/QUOTE] Stephen Fry is a genius (IMO) - not so much in terms of his achievements (which are many, and significant), but the man has a razor-sharp mind and appears to have retained and mentally indexed every little scrap of information that has ever passed before him. I don’t think there’s any subject you could discuss with him and not come away having learned something new.