henticate and disguise their messages. Some were extremely creative, but they all needed a key otherwise they could not be interpreted.
I’m liking that scenario more than a straight out cognitive test right now.
I suppose you could say that a bit of progress has been made with the Code page, at least we’ve recognised that the letter ‘A’ is the Seventh letter on Four lines. Something that the Australian military never recognised back in 1949!
Not to mention every code-breaker in the game.
I dare not walk outside the front door, Clive, bloody paparazzi are everywhere. My life will never be the same again.
Could ‘AIAQC’ mean: Adelaide is a quiet city? Just a thought
Adelaide in 1948, Clive, as we all know was a city overburdened with spies of all nationalities, suburban homes equipped with radio equipment and used as listening posts, Americans with too much money, refugees with not enough, near-sighted policeman, paranoid politicians, Atom bomb technicians, war deserters, men and women of generally unsavoury habits, SP bookmakers, sly grog shops, baccarat dens and a red under every bed.
Not to mention, a ‘Sister’ living in Glenelg with a married man who had a police record.
maybe Quaint rather than Quiet (or Questionable, Quick, Quirky, Quality etc)……1948 I think Adelaide might have been 3rd largest city in Aus.
Not sure about Adelaide being 3rd largest city in Australia in 1948, I wasn’t around at that time! It has a rather unsavoury reputation, just a feeling, that certain individuals, in high places want to maintain their positions. Perhaps the SM case has remained unsolved, because solving it would open a can of worms in the city of churches.
There was another Persian poem translated by Edward Fitzgerald that would probably have attracted the attention of some of those who read the Rubaiyat.
Salāmān and Absāl by the Persian Sufi poet Jāmī (1441-1492). This poem has a carnal theme so I expect it would have attracted some audience in buttoned down Adelaide of the 1940s. From vague memory Salāmān and Absāl was often offered by book sellers along with the Rubaiyat. I haven’t checked to see if the “code” occurs in this poem.
On the first line, the first letter either a ‘W’, ‘M’ or ‘H’ overlays what looks like the letter ‘P’?
Well, there’s no doubting whoever overlaid the image was confused.
MLIABO AIAQC = My Love I am bowled over, and I am quite C…
I looked at the original police reports on the Internet around 2010, and my pet theory revolved around SM being married to Jessica, and that he was bumped off to avoid bigamy. I thought the code was more like a lover’s note, not intended to be decoded, but rather read by two lover’s together, as a kind of teasing game.
And now you don’t?
No, your collected notes on the characters of Jessica, Carl and Prosper suggest
people who were shady. Back in 2010, my impression was more like Agatha Christie – that Carl was an intruder into Adelaide high society, and he had to be dealt with (I misread somewhere that Prosper was a doctor, or part of old Adelaide money).
Interesting choice of suburbs they lived in – without exception, not working class.
If you are scraping by in Adelaide in the 1940s, you could save money living in Prospect rather than Medindie, or in Norwood rather than Hazelwood Park.
Thanks also for replying. I must read more, having only stumbled on your site today. You might like to know that the Somerton Man case was featured this weekend by the UK podcast The Rest Is History. They played it light-hearted, as entertainment. In reality, the case is quite the rabbit-hole to go down – and dark, too.
Did you pick up on another disappearance/death in the Largs Bay sand dunes around the same time as this case? There was some discussion that the two cases were related. But this may have been media stirring up paranoia (or sales).
As for the cracking of the code, all the best and TTFN!