#WW1 Tanks - A British Invention

Just watching Guy Martin on Channel 4, that man is so enthusiastic about anything, in this programme he is busy making a replica tank. The tank as we know it today is a British invention.

British MkIV tank found at:https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3223/2327945386_3ee6200089_b.jpg

Tanks were first used by the British & Canadian army in September 1916 at the Battle of Flers Courcelette where most of them broke down, but later versions proved more successful. http://www.canadianmilitaryhistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/2-McEwen-Tanks-at-Courcelette.pdf

Britain's National Anthem - Or is it the English National Anthem?

I read in one of the papers last week that Britain's national anthem had a line about crushing rebellious Scots. I thought it would not be included nowadays but it appears it still is. There is no wonder the Scottish sing 'Flower of Scotland' and not the national anthem at big events. A national anthem should not be insulting to a country's inhabitants.

first publicly performed in London, 1745

1. God save our gracious Queen, Long live our noble Queen, God save the Queen! Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us; God save the Queen! 2. O Lord our God arise, Scatter her enemies And make them fall; Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, God save us all! 3. Thy choicest gifts in store On her be pleased to pour; Long may she reign; May she defend our laws, And ever give us cause To sing with heart and voice, God save the Queen!

4. Not in this land alone, But be God's mercies known, From shore to shore! Lord make the nations see, That men should brothers be, And form one family, The wide world over. 5. From every latent foe, From the assassins blow, God save the Queen! O'er her thine arm extend, For Britain's sake defend, Our mother, prince, and friend, God save the Queen! 6. Lord grant that Marshal Wade May by thy mighty aid Victory bring. May he sedition hush, And like a torrent rush, Rebellious Scots to crush. God save the King! Found at http://ingeb.org/songs/godsaveo.html

Personally I think we should have Rule Britannia as a national anthem. It is grander, very patriotic and actually contains the words Great Britain. It is about our country, not a person. 

Rule, Britannia!
Lyrics

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.

When Britain first, at heaven's command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,
And Guardian Angels sang this strain:

(Chorus)

The nations not so blest as thee
Must, in their turn, to tyrants fall,
While thou shalt flourish great and free:
The dread and envy of them all.

(Chorus)

Still more majestic shalt thou rise,
More dreadful from each foreign stroke,
As the loud blast that tears the skies
Serves but to root thy native oak.

(Chorus)

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame;
All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse thy generous flame,
But work their woe and thy renown.

(Chorus)

To thee belongs the rural reign;
Thy cities shall with commerce shine;
All thine shall be the subject main,
And every shore it circles, thine.

(Chorus)

The Muses, still with freedom found,
Shall to thy happy coasts repair.
Blest isle! with matchless beauty crowned,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.

(Chorus)
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.

Found at:https://www.songandpraise.org/rule-brittania-lyrics.htm

Lest We Forget - Remembrance Sunday 2017

99 Years ago on 11th November at 1100hrs the guns stopped. Four long years of bloodshed had ceased. The poppy remains a symbol of hope, respect and a reminder of those who gave their lives that we might live in freedom today. The poppies grew in the churned up soil of No-man's land, reminding soldiers in the trenches that amidst death and destruction, new life could still begin. #Lestweforget

Flanders Poppies, found at: http://www.flandersfieldsmiracle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/poppy2.jpg

Britain's Great Ships #Britainisgreat

Launch of the cargo ship 'Empire Clough' from South Shields found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/23085004346

Great Britain has always had a proud maritime history, Shipbuilding on the Clyde, the Wear and the Tyne produced many ships that were essential to the economy and security of the country. Captain Cook and John  Hudson relied on good ships for exploration just as the Royal Navy need them today for our country's defence.

Wear shipyards at Sunderland, please see link below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/articles/2008/01/16/shipbuilding_has_been_20_years_feature.shtml

HMS Hood, found at: https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/images/news/heritage/150810-hms-hood-bell-recovered/150810-hood-bell-1.jpg?mh=447&mw=980&thn=0&hash=F8FECEE5226E273FB069AB104F9588670DDC0FF9

Unfortunately most of the shipyards are now gone, along with thousands of jobs.

Some Famous British Explorers Who Made Britain Great #BritainisGreat

Captain Robert Falcon Scott found at:
 http://www.scottslastexpedition.org/content/images/447/1890x800crop/header.jpg

Britain has a long history of explorers, some more successful than others. The first one that springs to mind is Captain Scott who perished so tragically in the race to the South Pole. Without these brave people, the British Empire would not have existed.

Mary Kingsley

Mary Kingsley, niece of the famous author Charles Kingsley, travelled extensively in Africa. She explored Angola and Sierra Leone. Kingsley also had views about Africa and its inhabitants which upset the Church of England, she said Polygamy was a necessity, and also stated that African colonies should be be indirectly ruled by White men, insisting that there was some work that could only be completed by White Men. Mary Kingsley died in 1900 after contracting malaria whilst working as a nurse in the Boer War. What makes her stand out from the rest of the exploring elite is that she is a woman, who dd not toe the line, overcame discrimination and proved she was as good an explorer as anyone else. Kingsley discovered previously unknown species of fish and at least three types were named after her.

Henry Hudson (1565-1611), had the Hudson River and Hudson Bay named after him. His exploration in North America provided more detailed knowledge of the east coast of America.

Henry Hudson

There are many more explorers, Captain Cook, Francis Drake, Stanley Livingston and Ralph Fiennes, just to name a few. Have a look here:http://britainexplorer.com/british-explorers-the-top-ten/




Also there are some good videos on Youtube.

WW2 Fallen 100: WW2 Fallen - MIA B-24 navigator Irwin "Zipper" Zae...

Another tragic story of sacrifice and bravery...

WW2 Fallen 100: WW2 Fallen - MIA B-24 navigator Irwin "Zipper" Zae...: Lt. Irwin Zaetz volunteered to fill in for a sick navigator on the B-24 Hot As Hell for his final, fatal mission. https://www.findagrave...

Carrying Fire: September 3, 1917-2017This date, September 3, 201...

Carrying Fire: September 3, 1917-2017
This date, September 3, 201...: September 3, 1917-2017 This date, September 3, 2017,  marks the 100th birthday of my father, B-17 pilot Lt. Donald R. Christensen.  ...

Great British Cars #BritainisGreat

British cars. Britain was a leader in car manufacture, a shame it is no longer. There are plenty of car factories still in  Britain, but mostly making foreign cars.

Bentley, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Sunbeam, Austin, Rover, MG are just a few that spring to mind, the only car manufacturer still owned by the original family are Morgan.

New Morgan Car leaving factory

Everything goes round in cycles, or so they say. Maybe one day we will see a resurgence in British cars, lets hope so, I'm sick of seeing big fat Chelsea tractors being driven round our small British roads.

Great Britain's Stately Homes #BritainisGreat

Buckingham Palace & Statue of Eros

Britain is full of lovely stately homes, many of which are open to the public. Even the Queen's main residence, Buckingham Palace is open to visitors https://www.royal.uk/royal-residences-buckingham-palace



Not only London, but there's Blenheim Palace, home to Winston Churchill, http://www.blenheimpalace.com/

Blenheim palace

Most stately homes are full of antiques and have beautiful gardens to walk around, a great way to spend a day.


  

Kiplin Hall, North Yorkshire

My personal has to be Kiplin Hall in North Yorkshire, usually only open 2 days a week is well worth a visit, link here http://www.kiplinhall.co.uk/
 A great family day out, gardens including a renovated Victorian walled garden, a play area for children and a nice tearoom usually equals a good visitor experience.

Kiplin Hall library

It was originally built by George Calvert who went on to be Governor of Maryland, USA. Full of art and period furniture Kiplin Hall certainly has an atmosphere and it really feels like you go back to another time when you step through the doors.
 I can't think of anywhere else in that world that has as many stately homes as Great Britain, can you?

Great British Inventions New BBC Series Starts This Week #BritainisGreat

Britain has borne many inventors over the years, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, John Logi Baird invented television, Frank Whittle invented the jet engine, Thomas Newcomen invented the first true steam engine with a piston that was used to pump water out of mines. I could go on for ages, but the BBC is starting a new series, Britain's Great Inventions, starts this Thursday on BBC2 at 2030 hrs. It features personalities including Angela Rippon & Len Goodman fighting their respective corners for their favourite inventions.

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone.

Britain's Greatest Inventions, broadcast live from the Science Museum.

#Great British Food - Fish & Chips, Roast Beef & Yorkshire Puddings, Spotted Dick & Custard Britain Is Great

We British love our food. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for your Sunday dinner followed by a lovely Spotted Dick Pudding. Or if you're going out, Friday night fish & chips with mushy peas is unbeatable. #GreatBritishFood

Fish & Chips

Ingredients

• vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 15g/½oz fresh yeast
• pinch sugar
• 300ml/10fl oz beer
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 200g/7oz plain flour
• pinch salt
• 1 large plaice or lemon sole, skinned, pin-boned and cut into strips
• 300g/10½oz floury potatoes (such as Maris Piper), peeled, cut into 1cm/½in thick chips and rinsed in cold water
• ½ lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

For the crushed garden peas

• 50g/1¾oz frozen peas, defrosted
• 50g/1¾oz natural yoghurt
• pinch chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. For the fish and chips, heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to 190C, or half fill a deep heavy pan with oil and heat until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns brown when dropped in. (Caution: Hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)
2. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into a mixing bowl. Pour over the beer and vinegar and whisk in the flour and salt. Leave to ferment. It is ready to use when the mixture starts to bubble.
3. Dip the fish in the batter and deep-fry until golden-brown and cooked through (about 3-4 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
4. Add the potatoes to the deep-fat fryer and fry for 3-4 minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp. Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on kitchen paper.
5. For the peas, place the peas, yoghurt, chilli flakes, salt and pepper into a blender and blend until almost smooth.
6. Mix in the mint just before serving and serve immediately with the fish and chips. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fish_and_chips_with_26404

Roast Beef & Yorkshire Puddings

Ingredients

Fore rib beef (about 4 kgs/9 lbs), French trimmed, on the bone, chinned or any good topside from your local butcher.

• olive oil
• salt
• freshly cracked black pepper

For the Yorkshire pudding

• 3 eggs
• 115g/4oz flour
• 275ml/½ pint milk
• beef dripping
• salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to its highest setting.
2. Rub the beef with the olive oil, salt and pepper all over.
3. Put a heavy-based roasting tray on the hob and when hot, add the beef.
4. Sear the beef quickly on all sides to colour and crisp the outside.
5. Transfer the beef immediately to the oven and leave the oven on its highest setting (about 240C/460F/Gas 8) for 20 minutes.
6. Reduce the heat to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and roast for half an hour per kilo for rare, adding another ten minutes per kilo for medium rare, 20 minutes per kilo for medium, and 30 minutes per kilo for well done.
7. Remove the beef from the oven, transfer it to a carving board and cover with foil. Allow it to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
8. For the Yorkshire pudding, mix together the eggs, flour and a pinch of salt.
9. Add the milk, stirring constantly, until you have a runny batter.
10. Leave this to rest, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.
11. Place 1cm/½in of beef dripping in the bottom of each pudding mould, or if you are using a rectangular roasting tray, place 1cm/½in of beef dripping across the bottom.
12. Heat the dripping in the oven (at 240C/460F/Gas 8) for about ten minutes, until it is piping hot.
13. Remove the roasting tray from the oven, pour in the batter, and immediately return to the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown and crispy, making sure not to open the oven door for the first 20 minutes.
14. Serve immediately with the carved roast beef. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roastbeefandyorkshir_72053

N.B I am not sure about the Yorkshire Pudding recipe above, I have had very little success making them, there is a good Youtube video here, looks promising? https://youtu.be/qGGP2jmR-fc

Spotted Dick Pudding

Ingredients

• 250g self-raising flour
• pinch of salt
• 125g shredded suet
• 180g currant
• 80g caster sugar
• finely grated zest 1 lemon
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
• finely grated zest 1 small orange
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
• 150ml whole milk, plus 2-3 tbsp
• custard, to serve

Method

1. Put the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the suet, currants, sugar, lemon and orange zest.
2. Pour in 150ml milk and mix to a firm but moist dough, adding the extra milk if necessary.
3. Shape into a fat roll about 20cm long. Place on a large rectangle of baking parchment. Wrap loosely to allow for the pudding to rise and tie the ends with string like a Christmas cracker.
4. Place a steamer over a large pan of boiling water, add the pudding to the steamer, cover and steam for 1 1/2 hours. Top up the pan with water from time to time.
5. Remove from the steamer and allow to cool slightly before unwrapping. Serve sliced with custard.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2686661/spotted-dick

Britain In WW2 -D-Day James Holland States British Not Given Enough Credit on D-Day

Author, James Holland, found at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/10855305/James-Holland-British-troops-not-given-enough-credit-for-role-in-D-Day-landings.html

British troops have not been given enough credit for their role in the D-Day landings, the historian James Holland has argued, as he claims American films portray them as "mincing around with bad teeth, stopping for tea".

Holland, the television historian, said the world has been doing a "massive disservice" to British veterans, who were overshadowed by the more glamorous US troops.

Saying myths about the Second World War had become "very, very entrenched", he added home-grown soldiers were often seen as "mincing around and constantly stopping for cups of tea".

In reality, he said, British forces were far more technologically advanced than usually imagined, providing the manpower and innovation to win the war.

Speaking at Hay Festival, Holland argued it was time to rehabilitate the role of the British in the world narrative of D-Day.

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"I feel particularly strongly about Normandy and the D-Day campaign because there are a lot of myths that are very, very entrenched," he told an audience.

"It's a largely American show still, and Omaha still defines it.

"There is this impression I think – because of Band of Brothers, because of Saving Private Ryan and so on, because Americans had considerably more cameramen and photographers on D-Day – that we still believe that D-Day is a predominantly an American show.

"Yes, the British had a part but somehow they had a junior part of the United States at that time."

"The Americans were tall, six foot two, with amazing teeth. There was a sort of shabbiness about them that's still quite cool; they looked good.

"Americans always, always show this in conjunction with their tall, square-jawed, good-teeth people: Brits mincing through the water like a Carry On film.

"This annoys me."

Holland, who has written books and presented a recent BBC documentary about the Second World War, added it was time for the role of the British to be redefined.

Not only were the bulk of the invasion force, they suffered heavier casualties, embraced new technology quicker and developed critical inventions including the Mulberry harbour, he said.

"There is still this incredible impression, 70 years on, that somehow the only reason the Germans lost was because they took on the scale of the United States," he said. "That they simply couldn't keep up with the economic might of the Americans.

"That it wasn't anything to do with the British necessarily, and actually tactically there was no one to touch them.

"What I realised is that we've been doing this massive disservice to our boys and to Britain; our effort was way more impressive than we think of it today.

"What's impressive is having the nerve to do think 'I could do that'.

"The idea we stood around in the mud singing God Save the King is just not right, it's a myth and we need to move away from it."

"They were not rubbish, mincing around and constantly stopping for cups of tea. They should have huge respect."

Found At: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/10855305/James-Holland-British-troops-not-given-enough-credit-for-role-in-D-Day-landings.html

Great Britain- Britain Is Great!

Britannia & people from the Empire, found at: https://polyglottrottercom.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/aaeaaqaaaaaaaajxaaaajdayztlkngi4ltq5yjutndhmmi1intbllwyynwq3mje3yzdmyw.jpg

I am guilty of not blogging enough. It is a big commitment of time and takes some dedication. Thanks to everyone who reads my posts, I hope you find them interesting.
I have decided to write about Great Britain, anything British that is Great. After recent events in London & Manchester, one gets the impression that there are people who originate from foreign climes who hate our country. So if there's anyone out there reading this, get this message: If you don't like Great Britain we are not forcing you to stay so PLEASE LEAVE.

That's the rant over. I think the first post of this new theme should be about Roy Larner, hero of Saturday night's terrorist attack in London. When three terrorists stormed into a Steakhouse Restaurant shouting 'Allah' etc, he replies 'F*** You I'm Millwall!' and took on three knife wielding maniacs with his bare fists allowing dozens to escape. There is a petition online recommending him for the George Cross for bravery. https://www.change.org/p/simon-hughes-mp-to-nominate-award-roy-larner-the-george-cross Please sign it, he is a brave man.

Roy Larner, Millwall fan & hero of Saturday night's London I.S attack.

Panzerfaust Bazooka & The PIAT

Hand held anti tank weapons were widely used in the Second World  War, cheaper to produce than an anti-tank gun they could be moved around a battlefield without the need for mechanised transport. It was a matter of hide, wait until your target was in range and fire. Then hope you've knocked out your tank and it can't fire back. This scene from Band of Brothers from about 4.56 shows how they 101st knocked out a Panzer with a nice shot to the soft underbelly.




The PIAT (Projectile Infantry Anti Tank)had an advantage over the bazooka in that it left no smoke trail. It was basically a tube with a steel spring inside and it was used widely by the British army until 1951. Not the best of weapons according to the video below.





The German panzerfaust was based on the U.S bazooka. I can't seem to find a reliable source online, but according to good old wikipedia, Nazi Germany made over 6 million of them, and they were used by all Axis powers.