Who is This ? ? ?

[Margaretnolan]

George Zucco by any chance?

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Margaretnolan said:

George Zucco by any chance?

 

       Spot on- Someone was bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning susnshire!    But ,for the benefit, of the rest of the sloths, stay-abeds and assorted misfits, could you explain the Paul Bettany connection??????

Edited 21 June , 2018 by Guest

[Margaretnolan]

As we speak no, not yet anyhow! Flying out the door so will check in later.

[Knotty]

George Zucco played a Nazi spy when he starred  in “Sherlock Holmes in Washington” with Basil R., and post# 10241 I believe is a painting of Queen Victoria’s Funeral cortège. That’s my starting contribution........

 

I need to find out who Paul Bettany is before I can comment

ps I will label myself one of the assorted misfits.

 

Edited 21 June , 2018 by Knotty

[Guest]

On 21/06/2018 at 17:38, Ron Clifton said:

 

 

Colonel Sir Edward Ridley Colborne Bradford, 1st Baronet, GCB, GCVO, KCSI, ADC (27 July 1836 – 13 May 1911) was a British Indian Army officer who later served as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, head of the London Metropolitan Police, from 1890 to 1903. Sir Edward Henry followed him, and we had Henry recently. The Queen's funeral was in February 1901.

 

Ron

 

     What you says is correct Ron- Alas, the WIT is nowhere near as simple as who was Commissioner when Queen Vic  popped her clogs?   A tiny bit more devious than than  that.  Sir Edward Radford would have to have been a devious man indeed with a double life to be Commissioner during those years-as our man  held the Queens South Africa Medal with 5 clasps and was mentioned in despatches by Lord Kitchener

 

    Should be easy enough to work out now    Probably the most morally straight Commissioner of the Twentieth Century

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

On 21/06/2018 at 18:11, Margaretnolan said:

I Can’t make the connection to Paul Bethany

 

      Well, this is GWF- so the proposition runs thus:

 

   Paul Bettany's only effective connection with the Great War is that he played Lieutenant Osborne (as a Captain) in the recent film version of "Journeys End".  An excellent film- very well-staged as far as the kit and the trenches are concerned-and very, very well acted by the cast. The edginess, tension and sheer exhaustion of the trenches comes across very well indeed. It was a pleasant  surprise to find that the -for  all the trenches props- was still faithful to the play led me to look up  who acted in the original stage version of 1929.  The lead character-Stanhope- was played by the young Larry Olivier.   George Zucco played Osborne.  Although seen mainly as a character actor in  some distinctly bad horror movies, he took the part in the stage play, which ran for 2 years in London.   And-indeed-he was a veteran himself.-served in the West Yorkshire Regiment

[Ron Clifton]

Re post 10250: "Our fire-eating Adjutant-General", Nevil Macready?

 

Ron

Edited 21 June , 2018 by Ron Clifton

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Ron Clifton said:

Re post 10250: "Our fire-eating Adjutant-General", Nevil Macready?

 

Ron

 

      Alas, No-  Yes, the pics.  show that Macready held the QSA with 5 bars-and he was MID in South Africa  Well done on that- but in 1901 Macready was based in Joahnnesburg on staff work -so the clue about QVs funeral is not there.  I think there is only one possible candidate left- a man of great personal integrity. One final small clue-our man lost a son in Italy in 1943.

[Guest]

On 21/06/2018 at 09:11, Knotty said:

George Zucco played a Nazi spy when he starred  in “Sherlock Holmes in Washington” with Basil R., and post# 10241 I believe is a painting of Queen Victoria’s Funeral cortège. That’s my starting contribution........

 

I need to find out who Paul Bettany is before I can comment

ps I will label myself one of the assorted misfits.

 

 

     I think it is "Assorted Misfit".  As with "Old Contemptible", it is a title of honour

[Guest]

Just now, Ron Clifton said:

Having pursued the red herring of Byng (who also had five clasps to the QSA Medal, but had no children) I eventually ended up with Sir Philip Game, who commanded part of the escort at the Queen's funeral, and did indeed lose his younger son in Italy in 1943.

 

Ron

 

     Full marks for doggedness,Ron.  I think Game a much under-rated figure, considered too often to be just the bag-man and camp follower for "Boom". But his military career before the RFC/RAF came along was every bit as distinguished as Trenchard and he had the makings of a higher echelon General's career in him. We tend to forget that many of the successful RFC/RAF commanders were  career army officers-and had already pulled ahead on that before they transferred= Dowding, Trenchard, Game- all "coming men" as army officers. But nowadays their army careers are a mere footnote.

    I like Game because he comes across as a very fair man.  There is the story that he was so modest (not to be confused with "unassuming")  that he continued to travel by bus to work even when Commissioner. Having been not long back to a public meeting with a presentation by a later Commissioner, then it was a surprise by just how many staff officers and flunkeys accompanied him (More than the average Met. division has out on the streets during a night shift). 

 

      Ron- Full marks for endurance on this one- You are permitted to go off duty and have a tincture of  something worthwhile

[Guest]

Arthur  Tedder?  Keith Park?  Arthur Harris?  

 

(If not,then interesting to note another phenomenon-  all 3 of them "Empire" men at the beginning of the war. Park,of course, a New Zealander. Harris had migrated to Rhodesia and served first with the 1st Rhodesia Regiment. And Tedder was a Colonial Officer in Fiji before coming back to a commission in the Dorsets.)

Edited 22 June , 2018 by Guest

[Ron Clifton]

One out of three correct (Park).

 

Ron

[Stoppage Drill]

"Mary" Coningham must have been another ?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Stoppage Drill said:

"Mary" Coningham must have been another ?

 

     B*gger the answer.   Good to see you   

[Stoppage Drill]

The origin of Coningham's nickname (Mary) is obscure.

 

Anybody know ?

[IPT]

It is a corruption of his original nickname, 'Maori'.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Stoppage Drill said:

The origin of Coningham's nickname (Mary) is obscure.

 

Anybody know ?

  This from Oxford DNB, with Thanks

 

During April, however, Coningham sailed for England at his own expense and in August was admitted to the Royal Flying Corps, commissioned as a second lieutenant, and taught to fly. He graduated from the Central Flying School (CFS) at Upavon on 25 November 1916 and joined 32 squadron on the western front in December. He now became known as Mary, a nickname worn down from the original Maori (then thought suitable for any New Zealander) and made sure his friends used it; except officially, he never again answered to Arthur.

[michaeldr]

2 minutes ago, voltaire60 said:

he never again answered to Arthur

 

Henderson (Monty's ADC) referred  to him as The Snake in the Grass due to lack of cooperation around/over Caen in July '44

[Knotty]

It was during his service with 32 Squadron that Coningham found himself 
a new name. Leonard Rochford (a famous pilot in No. 3 (Naval) Squadron) 
recalled that Coningham was always known as 'Mary', a nickname worn 
down from the original 'Maori', given him because he was from New 
Zealand, but Rochford once heard Coningham tell someone that he was 
called Mary because his mother had wanted a girl. However, Christopher 
Musgrave, a New Zealand friend, later claimed that the name was given 
while Coningham was convalescing in a Cairo hospital in 1915. He was 
discovered by a fellow-patient sharing cocoa and kisses with a nurse, Mary Steele of Auckland, in an office at the end of the ward. On returning to his bed, he was met with a chorus of 'Connie loves Mary' and somehow he became 'Mary'. Whatever the truth may be, the fact remains that for reasons best known to himself he wanted to be called Mary and made sure that his friends knew this; except for official purposes, he never again answered to 'Arthur'.

Taken from https://archive.org/details/Coningham, a copy of his biography.

Sorry a bit late coming to this one

Edited 22 June , 2018 by Knotty

[Heid the Ba]

3 hours ago, Ron Clifton said:

When researching the Battle of Amiens I came across the fact that three of the RAF Squadron commanders supporting the attack on 8 August, all majors, went on to achieve high rank in WW2.

Question: who were they? (No pictures offered - that would be too easy!)

Ron

Leigh-Mallory?

[Ron Clifton]

Yes. Only one more to go!

 

Ron

[seaJane]

On 21/06/2018 at 18:51, voltaire60 said:

George Zucco played Osborne

I thought that connection had to be it, but couldn't find a cast list! 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, seaJane said:

I thought that connection had to be it, but couldn't find a cast list! 

 

      Mr.W.I.Kiepdeidia has the cast list. He seems quite useful, though it was surprise to find that Field Marshal Earl Haig  converted to Tibetan Buddhism and became the Dalai Lama. That was new to me

[seaJane]

[Guest]

Just now, seaJane said:

 

  

• Captain Hardy – David Horne
• Lieutenant Osborne – George Zucco
• Private Mason – Alexander Field
• 2nd Lieutenant Raleigh – Maurice Evans
• Captain Stanhope – Laurence Olivier
• 2nd Lieutenant Trotter – Melville Cooper
• 2nd Lieutenant Hibbert – Robert Speaight
• The Colonel – H. G. Stoker
• The Company Sergeant Major – Reginald Smith
• A German Soldier – Geoffrey Wincott
• Lance-Corporal Broughton – Richard Caldicot^[10]