A life well lived.

[Lianachan]

[Мастер]

:glp-rimshot:

I had to explain that joke to a non-native speaker of English a little while ago . . .

[Heid the Ba]

He gets his pizza, leaves and realises he hadn't been given his change so he goes back in to be told: "Change must come from within . . ."

[Heid the Ba]

:glp-rimshot:

I had to explain that joke to a non-native speaker of English a little while ago . . .

That in itself sounds like the punchline to a joke.

[Lianachan]

I was surprised to see the Dalai Lama in Ladbrokes today. Apparently he loves to bet.

[Heid the Ba]

Hubert Wilkins explorer, pilot, submariner, married an actress and had his ashes scattered at the North Pole by the US Navy. I commend him to the house.

[Heid the Ba]

I was surprised to see the Dalai Lama in Ladbrokes today. Apparently he loves to bet.

With apologies for letting this go unremarked: Boom boom!

[Lianachan]

Hubert Wilkins explorer, pilot, submariner, married an actress and had his ashes scattered at the North Pole by the US Navy. I commend him to the house.

A fine choice. Also, from the look of his photo on Wikipedia, he should be played by Tom Hanks should there be a biopic. Very strong resemblance.

[Heid the Ba]

While looking up Glubb Pasha for something, I came across his sister (oooer missus) Gwenda Hawkes who was a wartime ambulance driver, racing driver and married three times. Their parents must have been glad there wasn't a third child.

[Arneb]

Their parents must have been glad there wasn't a third child.

Well, we've been warned too late now.

Speaking of strong women, I'd like to commend to the house Beate Uhse, an East Prussian stunt and military pilot who steered a plane she had never flown before out of a heavily-shelled, surrounded Berlin in '45. After the war, she became a successful businesswoman, trading in contraception brochures, condoms and general "marital" advice and later opening the world's first sex shop. Her company, since gone public, has gone from despised seedy-area place-where-no-one-ever-goes to mainstream fun shop.

[Heid the Ba]

I would heartily second that nomination, I thought I had actually proposed her before, but obviously not.

[Lianachan]

Brian Blessed is pretty remarkable. As well as punching a polar bear in the face (from memory, on the nose to scare it away so somebody else wouldn't shoot it) he's also boxed with the Dalai Lama Llama. Presumably, the latter was in less danger of being shot at the time.

Turns out there's this as well.

[Heid the Ba]

William Coltman certainly had someone looking out for him. Whatever his beliefs and rationale you have to admire what he did for others.

I will be near where he is buried over Xmas and may take a trip down there as an excuse to avoid the in-laws and to doff my cap to him.

[Lianachan]

A remarkable fellow, and well deserving of induction to our Life Well Lived collection.

[Мастер]

Elsie Tu has been very much in the news the last two days.

[Arneb]

Very worthwhile additions, my friends

[Heid the Ba]

Very interesting lady, and two in a row from The Brethren, with very different views of them. Excellent nomination.

[Heid the Ba]

The Baker family deserve some sort of recognition for being stark raving Victorian. Samuel Baker, his wife Florence and the ne-er-do-well brother Valentine.

[Lianachan]

Good choices!

I submit for consideration Dr John Rae, from Orkney, best known as an explorer. Discoverer of the Northwest Passage and neglected by history due to his (entirely accurate) descriptions of the fate of the Franklin expedition. I particularly like his attitude. In a time of imperial arrogance and disdain for native inhabitants:

He regarded himself as a student of the native Cree Indians, learning skills from them such as making and maintaining snowshoes and how to hunt caribou and store the meat.

From the Inuit he learned how to ice the runners of a sled, how to combat snow-blindness and how to construct a shelter – all vital survival skills.

It was this association with "natives" that contributed to Rae’s eventual downfall. Many considered his “habit” of dressing like a native a disgrace and frowned upon his methods.

Despite this, Rae's time with the Native Americans saw him acquire a great deal of their knowledge, as well as a great respect for their culture, traditions and skills. Eventually, Rae became regarded as the foremost authority of Native American methods of Arctic survival and travel.

For example, Rae was said to be the best snowshoe walker of his time. Over two months in 1844/45, he covered 1,200 miles on foot, a feat that earned him the nickname “Aglooka” - "he who takes long strides" - from the Inuit.

By coincidence, earlier this year I was at the house he was born in (though I didn't know that at the time). I also saw his memorial and grave that day, although the former is hard to miss and I went looking for the latter.

[Heid the Ba]

Well known in some quarters but new to me Grace Hopper, a computer pioneer and officer of the USN.

[Heid the Ba]

A well lived life, with good works and scandal in equal measure. The Reverend Harold Davidson, the only thing missing is membership of the Drones Club.

Edit: typo

[Heid the Ba]

General J F R Jacob an Indian born Jew who made it to high command in the Indian Army of the 1970s. He joined up during WW2, against his families wishes, to fight the Germans because of the Holocaust. Which is a pretty ballsy move.

[Heid the Ba]

I can't find a link for this chap but if I may quote Nomonhan, 1939 by Stuart D. Goldman:
"Lieutenat Tomioka Zenzo, who commanded a squadron of light tanks . . . One bullet hit him in the forehead, blinding him. His machine gunner took command of the tank and Tomioka was evacuated to a first aid station and later a hospital in Harbin. He regained partial vision after two months, carrying bullet fragments in his head for the rest of his life. But he remained a lucky survivor. As a captain in 1945, he was evacuated from Iwo Jima with typhus on the last plane to leave before the US invasion. A few months later he survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, about eight miles from ground zero."

Lucky or unlucky, I can't make my mind up.

[Arneb]

Lucky or unlucky, I can't make my mind up.

Well, there is a thread somewhere here where we berate people who thank God for being healed or having surivived an accident as stupid because they don't take God to task why the fuck he got them into this mess in the first place. That said, particularly with respect to the second episode, German soldiers used the word "Heimatschuss" to say that they had had just the right mixture between good and bad luck. There are a few Heimatschuss stories about people who got out of Stalingrad with the last plane. Probably more people in the last plane than that plane could carry, but nonehtheless.

[Heid the Ba]

Sounds a lot like a British Army "Blighty wound", serious enough that you were out of it but not serious enough that you were crippled for life.

I think you are right that the last flight out of Stalingrad must have been a seriously overloaded Airbus 320 rather than a Ju 52.