Snapper

posted ages ago. It's somewhere in the Reviews section at the front end.

As told in the superb Tip And Run. One of the best books I've read this year. Amazing deeds, brilliant soldiers and incredible endurance. Well worth a punt on Amazon.

She nearly swooned at his Maccaroons.... who voted for Ernie? Whoever you are, I thank you. Now, about my Iltis.....

Gibson is the classic example of someone who had packed a lot into his tender years. Hard to believe he was dead at just 26. Obviously there was a huge machine behind the book and Gibson may have had help from Roald Dahl, who was with him on the Nth American tour, where it was written. Had he survived he would have carried on pushing and achieving and making enemies, He was that sort of man. The thought of him as an MP seems incredible - but he just had lots of get up and go. Being liked wasn't essential. I wish he had survived, because I imagine he would have eclipsed many of the publicity magnet heroes who came home to tell the tale and been a good story teller. It is also interesting to compare him to the likes of Leonard Cheshire, who used his fame for so much good but never lost faith in his wartime role, achievements or contemporaries. Beharry just strikes me as the embodiment of good old fashioned dignity. He is a 100% hero and should be a role model to the young. How he got his fame is not the point. How he lives with it, is.

I did say not to mention Paul Daniels.

Enigma, or can I call you Doomed? I have met Mrs Beckett, She is a charming women when she's sober; which is often (but don't mention Paul Daniels). I think you've more or less set yourself up as Dead Man Walking after your piece of advice. I'd suggest running to the hills, but you live in the Netherlands, so you might need that little motorcycle of yours to get across a suitable border....

How many lives have you got, TB???????? Are there enough hours in the day???? Not content with HMBF, are you now going to found HMHF?? There's hope for the yeomanry yet.

Before this topic gets closed down, I can add that when I was at school an afro-caribbean boy made a complaint of racism against our maths teacher Mr Pallister (who also taught us Rugby League.....in Hackney 1973) for calling his maths theories 'half baked' . The boy was my mate Cuthbert (who's dad tailored army officers uniforms) and my Dad explained it to him and the matter was dropped.

Vimy was wonderful. I've seen it in the rain and now in the most beautiful sunshine. I keep meaning to post some pictures - but I am never very fast at these things. keep smiling M

And to think you've only just hung up your Marigolds in the clubhouse kitchens. Nice job. What I like about this forum is the immediacy of it all. I was very saddened to read about the Titanic today.

Quality comments from all.

I saw a bloke hit a horse once. It was at Highbury in 1976. Arsenal had just drawn 3-3 at home to West Ham and there had been a lot of fighting in the crowd, which I will best describe as scary. The boys from the Chicken Run were like Orcs. Not good. We innocent mugs there to watch the game were all heading home when the police formed a line of horsemen across Avenall Rd. At this point a huge black bloke stepped forward and shouted some orders, which baffled the innocent. He then punched a police horse on the nose and down it went. There followed a kind of Rorkes Drift in London N5. The next time I was that scared was when a lance corporal, who would be described as a REMF in airport lounge military yarns decided to shoot at me and some chums. He fired several rounds with an SLR which all missed. The circumstances will have to remain closed. I went grey quite young. Jack: buy the bloody WLF.

A ripe old cheese.....

I can remember us all in the back of the GMC getting stuck on that road through a common with loads of horses on it. Your lot were dobbin mad it was like an episode of The White Horses. Buy the Ward if you must - but think hard and put your money in PW. Discover a whole new era...you know it makes sense. Giddy up.

Yes, I remember the rocket and vaguely remember the trains. It was a rotten place to get to, even with the northern line. My dad went everywhere by bus.

All good points and a good call. Elles road as passenger in Hilda which broke down and he was back in Albert by lunchtime but was pleased with himself. The tank branch was riddled with ambitious officers looking for notoriety and glory from the very outset. The Germans did manage to bring to bear a new anti-tank screen using 77mm guns (rebored in the next war!) and these were successful. The cavalry failed to break through, which was the primary reason for the battle taking place, because they were unable to exploit the tank's advance for many reasons, including being a bit windy in face of machine guns. The main reason the plan did not succeed further in the centre was the interference of General Harper of the 51st Highland Division, who quite rightly sought to protect his men and had seen the huge failure of the tanks at 3rd Ypres (where they foundered in the mud just as predicted by the tank command against the opinion of Haig etc); he would not accept the benefit of tanks at all and ignored accepted doctrine on using them making costly alterations to a sound plan. The HD Divisional emblem is perennially linked to him as Harper's Duds, which seems unfair from this distance because it progressed from being indifferent in 1915 to magnificent. But Harper's abilities remain questionable...just like many red tabs of that period.

As the son of bus conductors with happy memories of the old LT (sports days, kids parties and the smokey snooker room in Tottenham garage) I liked the old museum, but am always disappointed about the reserve collection which is occasionally on view. Why they just don't do the whole thing and have done with it comes down to money and politics. I'm not into buses, and obviously there is more to LT than just routemasters - but it's a shame the museum won't have more than a few representative examples of motors. What I did like about the old place were the people 'in character' , the war time clippie was superb and not far removed from my mother in the 1960s when they still had light grey summer uniforms and stuff like that. I've still got my parents licence badges and stuff and other bits of tat - but like an idiot I threw out the huge coat my dad had which was from the days of open cabs. To get us back on to military lines, I've said to Tim Gosling that I'd like to see a WW1 omnibus fitted out as a troop carrier of the period. But we all know the bus mafia don't do cross-over and these vehicles are rare. I need a lottery win to do it. Does anyone remember the old Transport Museum in Clapham? I am showing my age.

In revenge they gave us....Budweiser. Nuff said.

Here endeth the lesson.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...I always equate Thanksgiving with good old John Candy.RIP.

The Manchester Evening News attempted to market a story yesterday about local trading standards officers impounding "hundreds of air weapons" - actually airsoft BB guns of the sort sold at Beltring and elsewhere for a while. So they are obviously enforcing the act in some places.

You are correct - we don't want a debate on the monarchy on this site and the Mods will terminate it; but I'll say this. As we grow older we learn stuff. My view on the monarchy, for the record, is ambivalent. I admire the Queen a great deal but have little love for her successors. So my point is when anyone takes an oath of alliegance by necessity rather than belief, they could and should substitute the physical person and the institution of monarchy (in this case) with that person or institution being a representation of our country and all that YOU hold dear about it in your heart. Your images of it will always be different to the next person. I think it is a tragedy that you passed up on a career opportunity over this issue, but respect your decision. Your principles are your own. Long may it be the case.

They went via the biggest ever peacetime military convoy to Donington depot, which is in Shropshire or somewhere like that. Some went elsewhere. The private stuff went back and some bits must have been sold. I was there on the last day. The army came with a phalanx of Oshkosh HETs and Atkinson METs and loaded the lot up. It was a freezing cold January day. I took hundreds of snaps and did a story of sorts for CMV. I missed the convoy bit, but had a good time sitting in an Oshkosh and getting bussed around in a Scammell Commander. The army were very hospitable, but I blotted my copybook by asking a bloke about a very tatty pith helmet which was in a pile of rubbish. He rebuked me about it being a valuable museum artefact. By far the most interesting place was the workshops, which looked ransacked, but were just in a terrible mess. I suspect the founders and volunteers of the museum would have been crying into their Bovril. It was funereal in atmosphere. I'm meeting Andy Robertshaw this evening at a WFA talk and I'm hoping to get him to do one of our interviews. So I'll ask him what is happening. He is curator of the RLC museum where all the MT records are. Small point - I'm not name dropping. He doesn't know me from Adam, I'll just cold call him during the raffle. MB

Sounds like you had a quality day out R+R3. Good.

The way this thread is going there'll be need for a different sort of forum altogether. Having worked for a few agony aunts in my time I can only offer you this sound advice: Buy a PW vehicle.