Richard Meinertzhagen

[Lonnie D56]

cant remember his name and its doing my head in something like Meinetzhagen did good intell work for allenby i think... name please and any info greatly accepted

[fatbob]

I think the man you are after is Richard Meinertzhagen.

There is a book entitled:

'Warrior - The legeng of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen' by Peter Hathaway Capstick. Published by Thomas Dunne Books for St Martin's Minotaur.

This book is available from amazon.

Sounds like a very interesting chap, not only was he an Intelligence Officer but also found the time to indulge in ornotholgy.

Also, the Natural History Museum, in it's Botany curios collection, has an exhibit entitled 'Forgeries' produced by the good Colonel which comprises of plants made up from several specimens.

Maybe a little off the beaten track but you never know it may pop up in a pub quiz and then you'll thank me!

[Andrew P]

Meinertzhagen also featured in the Australian movie of the 1980's

'The Lighthorsemen'.

I think his character was played by actor Anthony Andrews.

Cheers

Andrew

[jim_davies]

Prior to his service in Palestine, he operated during the East African campaign including the failed landing at Tanga.

Jim

[Dolphin]

A fairly recent book on the man is Mark Cocker's 'Richard Meinertzhagen - Soldier, Scientist and Spy' Mandarin Press 1990 [iSBN 0 7493 0284 4].

Dolphin

[Mark Hone]

Is the Light Horsemen still available on video/DVD? Somebody lent me a copy years ago but it had a duff soundtrack, so I never finished watching it. Also was the Aussie series 'ANZACS' ever released on video? It had some very good set pieces, notably the attack on a pillbox during 3rd Ypres.

[Lonnie D56]

I have a pre recorded copy of the light horsemen on video that cost me about £10.00 some years ago but i havent seen a copy recentl. As for the series Anzacs it was brilliant. I have a copy from the television but it is so watched that its all but useless and though i have searched amazon etc i can not find a copy, with all the repeats they do you would think that the beeb would repeat the blinking thing.

Happy hunting

[Theo]

I picked up a copy of 'The Lighthorsemen' from W H Smith and it was very cheap. One of those bargain basement deals they do for about four or five quid but I have had it a while now.

Theo

[Andrew P]

The video of the mini series 'Anzacs' is available to buy from the Australian War Memorial Shop and can be ordered online.

Not to sure about the movie Lighthorsemen though.

http://www.awm.gov.au

Cheers

Andrew

[Staffsyeoman]

I picked up copies of both whilst in Australia in 2001; and they had BOTH just been reissued. "The Lighthorsemen" even then had to be ordered, but they got it in 48hrs; I bought ANZACS from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Shop in Sydney.

Of course, Australian videos will play on UK machines, so it may be worth trying Australian sites. I think neither are readily available in the UK.

I'd forgotten quite what tosh ANZACs was, in terms of historical accuracy!

[Staffsyeoman]

Oh, and Andrew P's right; it was Anthony Andrews who played Richard von Meinertzhagen in "The Lighthorsemen".

(But I can't remember who played him in the Beersheba episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles"... which used a lot of stock footage from the above, and had as the femme fatale a very young Catherine Zeta Jones..)