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Well done GB. I did watch those programmes last week. They were on for a few nights running. They are incredibly moving and invoke great sadness for those men but also great respect for what they sacrificed and tolerated. Also Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame) made an excellent programme with actual interviews with surviving soldiers and digitised film footage of the time which they managed to bring to full colour. That was on Sunday night last.
In our village on Armistice Day we had a lone piper on the church roof at 6am to play 'The Battles Over' and it was so moving. Then later the service by our war memorial with shire horses to represent the animals service during the war. The church was strewn with knitted poppies from the clock tower, cascading down to the memorial. What an effort and what a display. Unfortunately I was 'hors de combat' and could not assist but the results were spectacular. I am sure there are pictures on the village website run by Biddenden Parish Council for those interested.
One of my young nieces exclaimed that it all made her so proud to be British. here here.
Cheers Concrete
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Thanks for the heads-up GB.
I'm not sure why you have to have a "dig" at the Beeb though? If it wasn't for the BBC, we'd all be stuck with "I'mNotACelebrityBigBrotherXFactor............" rubbish 24/7.
I rarely watch TV, I find the BBC these days awful. Often too right on, and over produced expensive glitzy rubbish, lots of cheap to make panel games, reality shows etc. Maybe if they didn't spend so much trying to dominate the universe and focussed on TV and Radio programmes.
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Thanks for the heads-up GB.
I'm not sure why you have to have a "dig" at the Beeb though? If it wasn't for the BBC, we'd all be stuck with "I'mNotACelebrityBigBrotherXFactor............" rubbish 24/7.
and focussed on TV and Radio programmes.
Other than their websites what else do they do other than the odd magazine? Hardly dominating the universe
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Thanks for the heads-up GB.
I'm not sure why you have to have a "dig" at the Beeb though? If it wasn't for the BBC, we'd all be stuck with "I'mNotACelebrityBigBrotherXFactor............" rubbish 24/7.
and focussed on TV and Radio programmes.
Other than their websites what else do they do other than the odd magazine? Hardly dominating the universe
They use taxpayers money to push politically correct, left wing views, subtly suggest Remain should have won, assume the views and opinions of the Metropolitan South East are more morally correct and valid than those of the benighted working classes of the rest of the country.
Since they issue dire threats (demanding money with menaces) if anyone doesn't wish to fund their activities through the Licence fee, they ought to strive to be impartial and cater equally for all customers. I shan't hold my breath waiting for this change.
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They use taxpayers money to push politically correct, left wing views, subtly suggest Remain should have won, assume the views and opinions of the Metropolitan South East are more morally correct and valid than those of the benighted working classes of the rest of the country.
Since they issue dire threats (demanding money with menaces) if anyone doesn't wish to fund their activities through the Licence fee, they ought to strive to be impartial and cater equally for all customers. I shan't hold my breath waiting for this change.
So you spell BBC as TASS?
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Thanks for the heads-up GB.
I'm not sure why you have to have a "dig" at the Beeb though? If it wasn't for the BBC, we'd all be stuck with "I'mNotACelebrityBigBrotherXFactor............" rubbish 24/7.
and focussed on TV and Radio programmes.
Other than their websites what else do they do other than the odd magazine? Hardly dominating the universe
They use taxpayers money to push politically correct, left wing views, subtly suggest Remain should have won, assume the views and opinions of the Metropolitan South East are more morally correct and valid than those of the benighted working classes of the rest of the country.
Since they issue dire threats (demanding money with menaces) if anyone doesn't wish to fund their activities through the Licence fee, they ought to strive to be impartial and cater equally for all customers. I shan't hold my breath waiting for this change.
Thanks for the heads-up GB.
I'm not sure why you have to have a "dig" at the Beeb though? If it wasn't for the BBC, we'd all be stuck with "I'mNotACelebrityBigBrotherXFactor............" rubbish 24/7.
and focussed on TV and Radio programmes.
Other than their websites what else do they do other than the odd magazine? Hardly dominating the universe
They use taxpayers money to push politically correct, left wing views, subtly suggest Remain should have won, assume the views and opinions of the Metropolitan South East are more morally correct and valid than those of the benighted working classes of the rest of the country.
Since they issue dire threats (demanding money with menaces) if anyone doesn't wish to fund their activities through the Licence fee, they ought to strive to be impartial and cater equally for all customers. I shan't hold my breath waiting for this change.
I'm sure other people would say the opposite
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Since they issue dire threats (demanding money with menaces) if anyone doesn't wish to fund their activities through the Licence fee, they ought to strive to be impartial and cater equally for all customers. I shan't hold my breath waiting for this change.
I'm sure other people would say the opposite
So some are in favour of bias and catering for a special audience instead? I presume you are one of them?
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Paranoia is alive and well it would seem?
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Since they issue dire threats (demanding money with menaces) if anyone doesn't wish to fund their activities through the Licence fee, they ought to strive to be impartial and cater equally for all customers. I shan't hold my breath waiting for this change.
I'm sure other people would say the opposite
So some are in favour of bias and catering for a special audience instead? I presume you are one of them?
Saying other people will have an opposite view means I have that view? An odd way to look at things.
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Since they issue dire threats (demanding money with menaces) if anyone doesn't wish to fund their activities through the Licence fee, they ought to strive to be impartial and cater equally for all customers. I shan't hold my breath waiting for this change.
I'm sure other people would say the opposite
So some are in favour of bias and catering for a special audience instead? I presume you are one of them?
Saying other people will have an opposite view means I have that view? An odd way to look at things.
Angling on a river bank doesn't appeal to me, but I can usually get a bite from a post on here though :-)
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Now1 Now! Children. Play nicely.
Meanwhile back at the thread; did anyone catch up with the Peter Jackson programme from past Sunday night? Jus curious how it appealed or affected people.
Cheers Concrete
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Since they issue dire threats (demanding money with menaces) if anyone doesn't wish to fund their activities through the Licence fee, they ought to strive to be impartial and cater equally for all customers. I shan't hold my breath waiting for this change.
I'm sure other people would say the opposite
So some are in favour of bias and catering for a special audience instead? I presume you are one of them?
Saying other people will have an opposite view means I have that view? An odd way to look at things.
Angling on a river bank doesn't appeal to me, but I can usually get a bite from a post on here though :-)
Just as I thought - all ranting and no facts
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I can’t believe it’s a hundred years since the end of WW1. I was born in 1951 and while I was growing up my Dad spoke a lot about WW2. Not that he played a major part in it, but it was then still recent history and clearly people - my Dad particularly - seemed to see life as before the war and after the war. And everybody’s Dad had been in the war. Our next door neighbour was in RAF groundcrew, next door to him had been in the Royal Navy and further up the road one man had been a Japanese POW. Next door to the Japanese POW, the man had an Italian wife and I wouldn’t be surprised if that relationship resulted from the war. Along the road in the other direction was a Mr Schmidt and his family. I am now fairly certain that he was a POW who had settled here after the war ended.
As a boy growing up, I loved to hear about the war and what our Dads had got up to. Of course, I then had no appreciation of what war really means, but it made for some terriffic adventure stories. And then I gradually became aware of what my Dad always referred to as ‘Grandad’s war’. So there had been another world war then? Grandad would never talk about it and I can only remember fragmented things he did say; that he had been stationed at Chislet (wherever that is), that he had fought at “Wipers” and that he had learnt a few pidgin phrases of French. I discovered later that he was mentioned in dispatches and his WW1 service medal (which I now treasure) has an oak leaf, denoting some sort of commendation.
Grandad would never tell my Dad why he got the commendation, but he did tell me when I was about 13 or 14. Unfortunately I wasn’t sufficiently informed about or interested in WW1 to remember the details, but from what my Dad could divine and from what I do recall, it seems he went out and rescued a wounded comrade under fire. How I wish I could talk to Grandad today!
My boyhood love of the excitement and adventure of WW2 has matured into an interest in the politics behind it all and the context in which it all unfolded. History left me absolutely cold at school and I gave it up as soon as I could, but I am fascinated by the more recent history of the two wars. Since I retired I have taken an interest in ‘Grandad’s war’ and the commemorative events and TV programmes over the past 4 years have given me a much better understanding of it. Life was different then, but people accepted much more than they would now. I can’t imagine modern youth clamouring to volunteer for war service in the way the men stepped forward in response to Kitchener’s call. Different times indeed...
My Grandad died in 1968 but I remember him so clearly and that is why I find it difficult to believe that a hundred years have passed since the end of the war that he took part in.
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My Grandad died in 1968 but I remember him so clearly and that is why I find it difficult to believe that a hundred years have passed since the end of the war that he took part in.
One hundred years seems shorter for some families than others. My grandad died in August 1918 - from the flu pandemic, three months after his eldest son (my uncle) was shot down and killed.
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My family were indeed lucky in WW1, but not so lucky in WW2. But that’s another story.
I am sorry that you never got to meet your grandad. And aviation was so dangerous in those pioneering days, as I’ve been learning from the various documentaries shown over the past 4 years. No parachutes, so your poor uncle stood no chance of a safe return to terra firma. It was men like him who I remembered last Sunday.
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It can be terribly sad to think of what happened to so many. My Grandad survived WW1 but was really affected by the gas and general conditions. His lungs were never the same but he did live into his 60's. My own father, who would have been 103 a few weeks back was a regular in the RAF. from 1933 until the late 50's. He disliked talking too much about the war but occasionally, usually after a drink or two he would part with some information. His attitude was that is was all too awful to glorify it with storytelling. He did tell me once that the airfield he was at was bombed. A bomb landed close by and two of his mates were disintegrated beyond any recognition. My father was simply blown over and was relatively unharmed. When I say relatively I had no idea that a conclusive blast from an explosion yards away could be so devastating and he spent weeks in hospital. took him weeks just hear again. That finished his air crew duties, he lost an ear drum so could not fly again. He never complained, except about the parsimonious MOD and the measly addition to his mention for 'war injuries'. I still remember our GP, an ex military doctor, coming to the house to remove bits of shrapnel from various parts of my fathers body as they came to the surface. This went on into the early 1960's. He never complained, just did his duty, and cashed his chips at 87. I am afraid they broke a lot of moulds when they made some of that generation.
Watch the Peter Jackson documentary, it put things into perspective.
Cheers Concrete
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