G'day,

Helen:

"In Oz, back in the distant past, out in the never-never there used to be pedal radio transmitter/receivers, i.e. you had to pedal them when you wanted to contact the rest of civilisation."

It's a pity there's no simple way of sharing an image on a text-based site like Mudcat. I have an old copy of Singabout - Journal of Australian Folk Lore (from vol. 2 ... when we were using cartoons from The Bulletin on the covers) with a lovely one of a flashy "cowboy"-type stockman twanging away on an electric guitar ... driven by energetic pedalling of the "Flying Doctor" pedal radio set generator.

Hrothgar: Hmm! That story gets around ... I've seen it attributed to several historically prominent Americans. I think it is an all-purose, Euro-centric "Urban Myth", drawing on perceptions of Americans as eccentric /inventive / rurally-based ... and mean.

Regard(les)s,

Bob Bolton