A Bosman Companion. Craig Mackenzie
who founded the Salvation Army (CJ: 108 “Christmas Celebrations”).
Borcherd, Hendrik Late husband of Petronella (H: 153 “The Ugly Tale of a Pretty Widow”).
Borcherd, Petronella Widow of Hendrik Borcherd (H: 153 “The Ugly Tale of a Pretty Widow”).
“Border Badman” (H: 99) Oupa Bekker and Gysbert van Tonder relate stories of cattle smuggling and brushes with the law. A tale of age-old greed, bribery and corruption. “Patrolman Duvenhage said to Oupa Bekker, ‘I decided to give him a break. So I went up to him and kicked him twice, and told him to hand over the letter. Because I knew that was what he wanted. I mean, it’s an old stunt on the diamond fields.’”
Bosman, Elisa See Malan, Elisa.
Bosman, E(lise) See Linde, Marie.
Bosman, F. C. L. (1898–1981) Born in Kuils River, like his famous namesake, and until 1947 a lecturer in Afrikaans at the University of Cape Town; was then secretary of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns in Pretoria; used by HCB as a language consultant when the latter translated The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.
Bosman, Helena See Stegmann, Helena.
Bosman, Jacobus Abraham (Jakoos) (b?–1923) HCB’s father, a mine labourer. Married Elisa Malan, HCB’s mother, on 26 April 1904, in Kuils River, where he worked on a tin mine. Later found work in Krugersdorp and then in 1918 moved with his family to Johannesburg (to 14 Grace Street, Jeppestown), where he worked as a waste-packer on the mines. Killed in a mine accident.
Bosman, Pierre (1906–197?) HCB’s younger brother. Attended Jeppe Central and Jeppe Boys’ High School. Left school and worked as a clerk in the Customs Department and later at Medical Research. After his father’s death and mother’s marriage to William Russell he shared a room with his stepbrother David Russell, and was embroiled in a fist fight with him on that fateful night of 18 July 1926, which resulted in HCB discharging a round from his hunting rifle and killing David (see on trial). Published a novel, Children of the Desolate, in serial form (never completed) in The Touleier in 1931. Worked as a subeditor on The New Sjambok and The New L. S. D., and later as a proofreader for The Cape Times. Became permanently estranged from his brother because of his drinking habit and feckless ways. After HCB’s death, lodged an ultimately unsuccessful claim against his brother’s estate.
Helena’s portrait of Pierre Bosman (NELM)
Bosman, the rugby forward (mentioned in “My Life”; see “birthplace”) Probably Nicolaas (Nico) Johannes Smit Bosman, the only Bosman at that stage to have worn the Green and Gold. He played three tests at fullback (not as a forward) for the Springboks against the touring British Lions in 1924 (L&O: 32 “My Life”).
Bosman and Mynhardt: A Tribute A 70-minute multimedia pastiche by Tim Sandham and Angus Douglas, with Johann Mynhardt; first performed at the 2009 National Arts Festival. One section was filmed as Bosman and the Storyteller, directed by Johann Mynhardt and starring Angus Douglas as Bosman and Tim Sandham as The Storyteller.
Bosman at His Best (1965) Very popular and successful collection, edited by Lionel Abrahams; contains some OSL stories from Mafeking Road, extracts from Cold Stone Jug, some journalistic pieces from A Cask of Jerepigo, stories from Unto Dust and a few from the Voorkamer sequence. The most frequently reprinted collection of HCB’s stories (some 30 impressions have appeared since 1965) with the exception of Mafeking Road.
Bosman I Like, The (1981) Miscellany of HCB OSL stories, journalism and Voorkamer pieces, with extracts from Cold Stone Jug, selected by Patrick Mynhardt; probably based on Bosman at His Best, with which there are significant overlaps, it contains a lengthy and lively preface by Mynhardt, in which Mynhardt’s first encounter with the work of HCB and how he came to dramatise HCB’s works on stage are described.
Bosman Papers Acquired by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRHRC) at the University of Texas at Austin in 1960 for 300 guineas (in today’s money, around R50 000) through the efforts of Professor Joseph Jones, the Papers were first sorted, systematised and researched by Vivienne Mawson Dickson in the 1970s, when she began her doctorate on the writer. Her bibliography (Research in African Literatures 12(3) 1981) lists not only all of the manuscripts held by the HRHRC, but also photocopies it acquired of his published writings. The most important mss are those pertaining to several Schalk Lourens stories, some miscellaneous stories (including “The Affair at Ysterspruit”), several previously unpublished stories and sketches (almost all of which have since been published in the Anniversary Edition), various versions of “Street-woman”, the unfinished novels “Johannesburg Christmas Eve” and “Louis Wassenaar” and two complete mss of Willemsdorp. The Papers also include some correspondence and notebooks. See Jones, Joseph.
Bosman Treasury, A (1991) A hard-back, coffee-table-style collection of 62 HCB stories (OSL, Voorkamer, miscellaneous), journalistic pieces, poems, and extracts from Cold Stone Jug (1949), selected by Lionel Abrahams, with illustrations by Ian Lusted.
Bosman’s Johannesburg (1986) Edited by Stephen Gray, this collection, as its title implies, gathers HCB stories and sketches that deal in various ways with the city of Johannesburg. It features seven Voorkamer stories, 11 essays on Johannesburg, and some previously unpublished writings, titled “‘Texas’ Fragments”: “Johannesburg Christmas Eve”, “Louis Wassenaar” and the play “Street-woman”. A five-page introduction by Gray places HCB in the Johannesburg of the first half of the twentieth century.
bosveld (Afr.) Lit. ‘bush plains/country’; ‘bushveld’ is the half-English rendering commonly used; applied loosely to the subtropical areas of SA (including the Groot Marico), where thornbush vegetation predominates; has the romantic connotation of wild, uncultivated, rugged country.
bot-fly Pestilential horsefly of the family Tabanidae; transmits diseases such as anthrax through biting animals and sucking their blood (S&H: 98 “The Ghost at the Drift”); can also be ingested by the horse and lead to painful death.
Botha Young convict who was tasked with sorting heaps of type that had been dropped between the floorboards of the print shop, a job he figured would take him seven years (CSJ: 130).
Botha, General Louis (1862–1919) Outstanding SA soldier and statesman; distinguished himself in battle during the Second Anglo–Boer War; appointed Commandant-General of the Boer forces in 1900; first prime minister of the Transvaal in 1907 and later premier of the Union of SA; successfully suppressed the Rebellion of 1914 (UD: 120 “The Question”).
Botha’s Government Forces Then SA prime minister Louis Botha’s national army, which suppressed the 1914 Rebellion (see Rebellion of 1914) (OTS: 47 “A Boer Rip van Winkel”). See Botha, General Louis.
Bothma Zealous new constable, appointed to prevent cattle smuggling in the Marico area (H: 176 “Man to Man”).
Bothma, Giel Johannesburger of dubious background who on the basis of a yellowed map convinces Marthinus Taljaard to dig up his farm in search of treasure (UD: 44 “The Ferreira Millions”).
Bradman, Donald, Sir (1908–2001) Australian cricketer who retired on an average of 99,94 runs per innings; regarded as the greatest batsman ever (CJ: 126 “Old Cape Slave Relics”).
brak (Afr.) Mongrel/cur (H: 103 “Border Badman”).
brak (Afr.) Brackish or poor (soil) (H: 46 “Day of Wrath”).
Brakpan (Afr.) Lit. ‘Brackish Pan’; large mining town on the East Rand (W: 168).
Brand, Adriaan Travelling companion of OSL and father of Minnie Brand, who falls in love with the outlaw Koos Fichardt (MR: 40 “Ox-wagons on Trek”).
Brand, Minnie Daughter of Adriaan Brand, travelling companion of OSL, who has a brief romance with the rogue Koos Fichardt (MR: 40 “Ox-wagons on Trek”).
brandsiek (Afr.) Mangy (S&H: 105 “Dopper and Papist”).
bredie