Seeing as there are a couple of Favourite threads doing the rounds , gave me the idea of starting a thread that salutes British heroes , for whatever reason.
Id like to start with Sir Earnest Shackleton, awesome explorer , and the man in Charge of the doomed expedition to cross the Antarctic continent one of the most incredible feats of human endeavour ever told .....so incredible that you couldnt make it up...if you havent heard of him then just google his name , its just an unbelievable story
hero, legend, brave are words used so often now ( especially to describe sports people)
but only one person could top that list Winston Churchill followed by Oliver Cromwell
James Clerk Maxwell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell
Last and greatest of the classical geniuses, he is a hero for me, without the likes of him we would not have our modern world!
he died at 48Originally Posted by JimOttley
He died in Cambridge of abdominal cancer on 5 November 1879 at the age of 48.[26] His mother had died at the same age of the same cancer
I read his biography 20 odd years ago he was one of the giants of this world!
I agree with you about Churchill though!
I remember watching his funeral on the tele as a child, huge event in this country.
My friend recently found some stunning photographs of Churchill in his attic I have been meaning to copy them for posterity!
Alexander Fleming ... the Scottish biologist & pharmacologist who discovered the antibiotic mould, penicillin.
Some great men mentioned, although not sure the Irish would agree with Oliver Cromwell.
Sir Earnest Shackleton has an Antarctic Survey Ship named after him, which despite having relatively low salaries is almost impossible to get on as officer (i've applied many times when the positions have come up), but having sailed in the Antarctic many times, it is an amazing but unforgiving place.
I think an ordinary soldier who like thousands upon thousands of others gave their lives for our country deserves a mention :-
The Unknown Warrior
The Unknown Warrior: A hero's return
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...os-return.html
I've often visited the Air Forces Memorial at Runneymede and it is sobering to walk round the walls there where the names of 20000 + lost on operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe in 1939-45 are commemorated.They were lost without trace and have no known grave. Just to put these 20000 into perspective Bomber Command had 55573 killed out of a total of 125000 aircrew.
yes your right Ricky hero is probably not the right word, he could be cruel and tyrannical, but he took power away from the Crown which set the country on the way to a (more) democratic system.
Given your pseudonymn,my friend ... how about Stan Laurel!?
Nor would the 'Jocks'... in the light of the havoc he wreaked north of the border!
Aha NOW ya talkin..........pure genius , IMO timeless comedic skills , was understudy to Chaplin in a sketch called mummingbirds in the Fred Karno troupe circa 1910, they roomed together on a of tour of the States....Chaplin is rumoured to have always been jealous of Stan .maybe not a hero in the true sense of the word, but as a comic boyhood hero of mine he's tops!!Given your pseudonymn,
Spot on DedworthI think an ordinary soldier who like thousands upon thousands of others gave their lives for our country deserves a mention :-
The Unknown Warrior
The Unknown Warrior: A hero's return
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...os-return.html
I've often visited the Air Forces Memorial at Runneymede and it is sobering to walk round the walls there where the names of 20000 + lost on operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe in 1939-45 are commemorated.They were lost without trace and have no known grave. Just to put these 20000 into perspective Bomber Command had 55573 killed out of a total of 125000 aircrew.
We've all heard of the really famous ones like Cromwell, Sir Francis Drake, Churchill, Shackleton, Sir Edmund Hillary, Florence Nightingale and all the famous scientists. They're all heroes and an inspiration to many, but over the centuries there have been millions of ordinary men and women who have given their lives or their help seflessly to protect this country or assist their fellow citizens and help make this country the GREAT Britain that it used to be
I'll second that......in the light of the times we are living in thats a very appropriate postSpot on Dedworth
We've all heard of the really famous ones like Cromwell, Sir Francis Drake, Churchill, Shackleton, Sir Edmund Hillary, Florence Nightingale and all the famous scientists. They're all heroes and an inspiration to many, but over the centuries there have been millions of ordinary men and women who have given their lives or their help seflessly to protect this country or assist their fellow citizens and help make this country the GREAT Britain that it used to be
This place is also a poignant place to visit, the pacific was a hell of a place to fight inI think an ordinary soldier who like thousands upon thousands of others gave their lives for our country deserves a mention :-
The Unknown Warrior
The Unknown Warrior: A hero's return
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...os-return.html
I've often visited the Air Forces Memorial at Runneymede and it is sobering to walk round the walls there where the names of 20000 + lost on operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe in 1939-45 are commemorated.They were lost without trace and have no known grave. Just to put these 20000 into perspective Bomber Command had 55573 killed out of a total of 125000 aircrew.
The Pacific War Memorial in Corregidor
This place is also a poignant place to visit, the pacific was a hell of a place to fight in
The Pacific War Memorial in Corregidor
What lovely words in tribute , on that memorial
That's on the island in the middle of Manila Bay.
This one -
MacArthur left the Philippines in 1942 from Corregidor island with the vow "I shall return", he fulfilled his promise a couple of years later when his forces liberated the Philippines from the Japanese. The man truly loved the Philippines and the people.
Sorry just realised that I am causing thread drift, although I am sure some of our boys must have fought in the pacific as well.
my misses is treating a few older people at the moment and she told me a few weeks ago about a British patient who fought in the phils in WW2
My dad fought in the Pacific in WW2, well in every theatre of war at that time in fact. He was in the RN for 30 years.
Some talk of Alexander
And some of Hercules;
Of Hector and Lysander,
And such great names as these.
But of all the world's great he~roes -
There's none who can compare
With the tow, row, row~row~row~row
Of a British grenadier
- words taken from memory ... based on a ditty relating to the famous 'Grenadier Guards' - about which people of my generation were taught at school in the 1950s.
my dad
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