Tuesday February 12th was a glorious glorious day from dawn to dusk. My intention on going out was to walk the promenade and in order to take a different route from yesterday I crossed over the grass and down the steps to the coast roadway. In part because of their steepness and number, in addition to a black metal handrails there are barriers at regular intervals as part of the overall structure which includes encase lamp holders, alas with the glass and internal workings smashed by hooligans, The steps themselves are made of selected bricks and he boarder to the steps has been carefully planted with trees and shrubs and is an impressive feature. The barriers are points to rest and enjoy the spectacle of the river mouth with the tow converging piers. The atmosphere was bright with considerable glare from the un. Out to sea it appeared that there was a bank of mist 50 t0 100 feet high about a mile or more offshore, It was at this point that a I exchanged my mind and decided to walk the South Shields pier which I now know take twenty minutes at a brisk pace from end to end.
There as only one other person walking on the outward journey we passed each other at the gated junction which is closed in bad weather. There were only half a dozen anglers whereas at weekends there can be as many as a hundred. I decided to concentrate on reaching the small lighthouse at the end before turning to enjoy the spectacular panorama of the sweeping bay from the rocks off the Whitburn coastal park after the Souter Point light house to past Tynemouth with the ruins of the former priory and the castle at its headland, with some of the properties on the grand parade above the long sands to be seen before Cullercoats and Whitley Bay . The shorter northern pier obscures most of the view and which extends further than the its twice as long southern counterpart.
The tides was low and a ship departed before the turn so that the full depth of the sands were revealed. What attracted me most was a church in the distance in the area of Cullercoats and it was added to the list for further field exploration. The plan is to take the ferry to North Shields and from there taking the Metro to Tynemouth, the Cullercoats and then Whitley Bay as on this side of river the service is circular from and to Newcastle with some twenty five stations. There were more people following in my path as I made a leisurely return with many smiley faces and warn greetings, summoned up by one lady a few years ahead of her husband who said, "it's a grand day to be alive." She had a north of the border accent which reminded that having suggested there ought to be a move to transfer ourselves into Scotland, the people pf Berwick are holding a referendum that they would rather be part of Scotland than become part of a new local authority district in Northumberland with the offices at Morphett some 50 miles away. Ideal the town wishes to remain as they are although it has moved between the two countries 3 times in its history and on the last occasion when the population was consulted he voting was almost 50 : 50. There is the suggestion that the final count will show more than seventy five percent voting in favour of another change. The football team already plays in a Scottish division
I returned home after another outing of between an hour and a quarter and a half in time for lunch and one the best films, along with the Cruel Sea and Morning Departure about the reality of life at sea during World War 2.I was also celebrating the apparent success of the attempt to repair one of the castors on my desk chair, choosing to fit the repaired castor to the upturned chair and leaving for twenty four hours. It also will help if I do not plonk. l myself down with the force of my full weight. I watch the Grammy's for the first time in the entirety of the two hour highlights show, as usually some of the performers are so excruciatingly uncouth, in their own dimension and obnoxious in their self presentation that I switch off. What interested about the show , supplanted from the official website is that there are 31 categories of award covering every aspect of music and voice which is put on record, hence the award of mini gramophone speakers. There were 109 given out on the night and the full list of nominees and awards covers 54 pages. Amy Winehouse received awards for Record of the Year, Song of the year and Female vocal Performance all in relation to Rehab.. She was also best new Artist and had the best vocal Album Back to Back. Another nominee Rihanna has come across as having more talent than her one silly record which dominated the charts Umbrella, and which collected the award for best collaboration. For the first time in over forty of its fifty years a jazz album achieved success, Herbie Hancock for his album celebrating Joni Mitchell, which also won the Contemporary Jazz. including over Amy Winehouse Back to Back and the insufferable self opinionated Kanya West who nevertheless won several awards on his self proclaimed role of being the world's best artist. Justin Timberlake won over Paul McCartney and Michael Buble for best male vocal Performance. He also triumphed over Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler and James Taylor for best Traditional vocal Album. The surprising thrill was for the Boss to be still doing it as Bruce Springsteen received an award for best male Rock Performance and best song Radio Nowhere and for best Rock Instrumental Once upon a time in the west, while the Foo Fighters who I have heard before edged Ozzy Osbourne and won several other awards. Alicia Keys won over American Idol Fantasia in the R and B Vocal Category, Another pleasing award was for Willie Nelson in the country section. An album featuring Eric Clapton Best Contemporary Blues; There were awards for Gospel, Native American, and the World award went to the Soweto Gospel Choir with one of the runner's up an album of music from Iraq. Jim Dale reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows received the award for an Album for children of all ages! A Beatles Album for a best soundtrack compilation and the historical Album to a Woodie Guthrie in Performance 1949, Under Classical an orchestral Album Tower: Made in America received two awards as well Beethoven Sonatas which has an important place in my life
Now to the film which changed my day. The Gift Horse was, seen in theatre in 1952 when first released, about a couple of times since, although in 1958 I acquired the official published account of what is known throughout the naval military world as The Greatest Raid of All by C E Lucas Phillips. The book has a Forward by Earl Mountbatten of Burma who persuaded his colleagues to approve the venture on the grounds that its very impossibility would make it possible. There is a list of the 168 men Navy and Commando men who perished, and a full list of the five Victoria Crosses, two posthumously, 4 Distinguished Services orders, 17 DSO crosses 11 military crosses, 4 Conspicuous Gallantry Medals, 5 Distinguished Conduct Medals, 24 Distinguished service medals and 15 Military Medals, together with over 50 individuals mentioned in dispatches. Some 400 Germans were killed and they suffered 127 reported wounded
The cause of this heroism and sacrifice was the use of the obsolete destroyer HMS Campbetown, in March 1942, accompanied by 18 shallow draft boats to ram the St Nazaire Lock Gates and was then blown up ending the use of the dock. The dock was to become the Atlantic base for the Battleship Tirpitz which then hid in a fiord until destroyed without sinking a fishing boat. The estuary leading to the docks which also housed 14 submarine pens was, long and heavily defended. A land operation was ruled out as an airborne attempt to knock out the docks given that bombs then only had a one in five chance of landing within five miles of their target. In the twelve days before setting off an attempt was made to disguise the vessel as German and everyone on board knew they were sitting on a bomb which when the ship did exploded remains of souvenir hunting Germans were found a quarter of a mile away. A feature of the raid was the use of Commando's who had only been created at the instigation of Churchill and which had met with significant opposition because the best men were being recruited with an emphasis on initiative and creativity without any of the usual discipline and parade ground working.
Most of the commandos travelled in small motor launches and suffered horrific casualties before arriving. However they were successful in destroying several important installations and 120 attempted to fight their way out of the docks and across the city defended by 5000 German troops to make the 350 mile journey to Spain. Five were successful and another 22 of the 250 returned home immediately. The other survivors were taken to various prisons camps for the duration of the war.
The Campbeltown was amazingly lucky when twice shore batteries opened fire but were persuaded to stop because intelligence had provide the signalling codes and the ship successfully convinced they were a damage German craft seeking shelter. However they were given away by allied aircraft who had been instructed not to drop bomb for fear of French civilian casualties in the town if the sky was not clear but to fly around in a circle in case the sky cleared. The extent of the air activity aroused German suspicion so they opened fire on the on coming destroyer and flotilla. The mission was then nearly failure as only at the last moment did the captain realise they were heading for the wrong dock entrance and then after lodging on the gate the explosives failed to detonate on time. The device used was primitive and involved the slow release of acid which corroded a wire which then released the detonation trigger. The reaction of the Germans to the captured navel and military men was complex. On the ground men were congratulated for their daring, and the ship's captain for their stupidity as their vessel could not penetrate the gates and would be removed causing such a loss of life, injuries and being taken prisoner. After the explosion one officer threatened to have all the prisoners killed and Hitler was so angry that he decreed that in any future instance the Commando's would be treated as spies and executed. The gunner on one of the small craft took on a destroyer and kept firing despite being subsequently found to have been shot sixteen times. The commander of the destroyer made a point fo seeking out a captured British officer and telling him of the situation and that he did not know who the man was but he ought to be given the Victoria Cross. He died from his wounds but the account was recorded and the honour given. Usually a British Officer has to independently attest an individual action for any award to be given.
Because it was fifty years since reading the book I had no idea how far the film was fictionalised account of the actual event but it a memorable story because it encompasses much of the reality of being at war. One man returns home to find that his fiancée has run off with someone in the blackmarket. He marries one of her workmates and is about to become a father, so he sends his wife out of London to the west country when she is killed in a blitz attack. The commander of the ship has already lost his wife, two years before the war, and tries hard to persuade his son to continue at school rather than join the navy. Fortunately when his son turns up as a cadet he takes him off for his first drink and they part as proud day and proud son, and then on Christmas Day he receives the telegram saying the son was killed, and he continues in his role wishing the men still on board well and hiding his grief until in private. One happy go lucky officer finally persuades a Wren working in communications to marry him and two months later she becomes aware, as part of her duties of the true nature of the mission and the chances of survival and is unable to share what she knows with her husband or show her horror when she learns that he has been given his own ship but declined to be able to proceed with the task in hand. This latter story may have been untrue but not the point being made.
Last year Jeremy Clarkson presented a programme about the raid which included film of some of those who survived including their return to St Nazaire where they were greeted by the then French Prime Minister, and also their visited to the war graves of their fallen comrades. The programme is now available on You Tube in six parts and provided all the answers to questions about the film and the actual raid and what Jeremy communicates is that the enterprise was that much more spectacular than the film and even more far reaching in its significance and far more moving. There was one letter from a son to his father expressing the hope that he would be remembered and that his death would mean a better world and peace. In the film the captain tells the participants the they can withdraw without affecting their future deployment or explaining the hazardous nature of the enterprise. In reality the men were told this by Lord Mountbatten personally, including the hazardous nature of the venture for which hey had received specific training, No one backed out. They had previously been told not to disclose what they about to do to their loved ones. The man who designed the bomb and its placement in the ship was directly involved in steering the vessel on what proved to be the true course, after two men beforehand had been killed. He had a conversation with his young wife about the mission against orders because she had just given birth to their first child. She said afterwards he seemed to know he would not return, he did not. One survivor was able to recount that he was given two letters by comrades to give to their families. He had reacted, but I am coming with you. They told him you will get back, he did, they did not.
There as only one other person walking on the outward journey we passed each other at the gated junction which is closed in bad weather. There were only half a dozen anglers whereas at weekends there can be as many as a hundred. I decided to concentrate on reaching the small lighthouse at the end before turning to enjoy the spectacular panorama of the sweeping bay from the rocks off the Whitburn coastal park after the Souter Point light house to past Tynemouth with the ruins of the former priory and the castle at its headland, with some of the properties on the grand parade above the long sands to be seen before Cullercoats and Whitley Bay . The shorter northern pier obscures most of the view and which extends further than the its twice as long southern counterpart.
The tides was low and a ship departed before the turn so that the full depth of the sands were revealed. What attracted me most was a church in the distance in the area of Cullercoats and it was added to the list for further field exploration. The plan is to take the ferry to North Shields and from there taking the Metro to Tynemouth, the Cullercoats and then Whitley Bay as on this side of river the service is circular from and to Newcastle with some twenty five stations. There were more people following in my path as I made a leisurely return with many smiley faces and warn greetings, summoned up by one lady a few years ahead of her husband who said, "it's a grand day to be alive." She had a north of the border accent which reminded that having suggested there ought to be a move to transfer ourselves into Scotland, the people pf Berwick are holding a referendum that they would rather be part of Scotland than become part of a new local authority district in Northumberland with the offices at Morphett some 50 miles away. Ideal the town wishes to remain as they are although it has moved between the two countries 3 times in its history and on the last occasion when the population was consulted he voting was almost 50 : 50. There is the suggestion that the final count will show more than seventy five percent voting in favour of another change. The football team already plays in a Scottish division
I returned home after another outing of between an hour and a quarter and a half in time for lunch and one the best films, along with the Cruel Sea and Morning Departure about the reality of life at sea during World War 2.I was also celebrating the apparent success of the attempt to repair one of the castors on my desk chair, choosing to fit the repaired castor to the upturned chair and leaving for twenty four hours. It also will help if I do not plonk. l myself down with the force of my full weight. I watch the Grammy's for the first time in the entirety of the two hour highlights show, as usually some of the performers are so excruciatingly uncouth, in their own dimension and obnoxious in their self presentation that I switch off. What interested about the show , supplanted from the official website is that there are 31 categories of award covering every aspect of music and voice which is put on record, hence the award of mini gramophone speakers. There were 109 given out on the night and the full list of nominees and awards covers 54 pages. Amy Winehouse received awards for Record of the Year, Song of the year and Female vocal Performance all in relation to Rehab.. She was also best new Artist and had the best vocal Album Back to Back. Another nominee Rihanna has come across as having more talent than her one silly record which dominated the charts Umbrella, and which collected the award for best collaboration. For the first time in over forty of its fifty years a jazz album achieved success, Herbie Hancock for his album celebrating Joni Mitchell, which also won the Contemporary Jazz. including over Amy Winehouse Back to Back and the insufferable self opinionated Kanya West who nevertheless won several awards on his self proclaimed role of being the world's best artist. Justin Timberlake won over Paul McCartney and Michael Buble for best male vocal Performance. He also triumphed over Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler and James Taylor for best Traditional vocal Album. The surprising thrill was for the Boss to be still doing it as Bruce Springsteen received an award for best male Rock Performance and best song Radio Nowhere and for best Rock Instrumental Once upon a time in the west, while the Foo Fighters who I have heard before edged Ozzy Osbourne and won several other awards. Alicia Keys won over American Idol Fantasia in the R and B Vocal Category, Another pleasing award was for Willie Nelson in the country section. An album featuring Eric Clapton Best Contemporary Blues; There were awards for Gospel, Native American, and the World award went to the Soweto Gospel Choir with one of the runner's up an album of music from Iraq. Jim Dale reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows received the award for an Album for children of all ages! A Beatles Album for a best soundtrack compilation and the historical Album to a Woodie Guthrie in Performance 1949, Under Classical an orchestral Album Tower: Made in America received two awards as well Beethoven Sonatas which has an important place in my life
Now to the film which changed my day. The Gift Horse was, seen in theatre in 1952 when first released, about a couple of times since, although in 1958 I acquired the official published account of what is known throughout the naval military world as The Greatest Raid of All by C E Lucas Phillips. The book has a Forward by Earl Mountbatten of Burma who persuaded his colleagues to approve the venture on the grounds that its very impossibility would make it possible. There is a list of the 168 men Navy and Commando men who perished, and a full list of the five Victoria Crosses, two posthumously, 4 Distinguished Services orders, 17 DSO crosses 11 military crosses, 4 Conspicuous Gallantry Medals, 5 Distinguished Conduct Medals, 24 Distinguished service medals and 15 Military Medals, together with over 50 individuals mentioned in dispatches. Some 400 Germans were killed and they suffered 127 reported wounded
The cause of this heroism and sacrifice was the use of the obsolete destroyer HMS Campbetown, in March 1942, accompanied by 18 shallow draft boats to ram the St Nazaire Lock Gates and was then blown up ending the use of the dock. The dock was to become the Atlantic base for the Battleship Tirpitz which then hid in a fiord until destroyed without sinking a fishing boat. The estuary leading to the docks which also housed 14 submarine pens was, long and heavily defended. A land operation was ruled out as an airborne attempt to knock out the docks given that bombs then only had a one in five chance of landing within five miles of their target. In the twelve days before setting off an attempt was made to disguise the vessel as German and everyone on board knew they were sitting on a bomb which when the ship did exploded remains of souvenir hunting Germans were found a quarter of a mile away. A feature of the raid was the use of Commando's who had only been created at the instigation of Churchill and which had met with significant opposition because the best men were being recruited with an emphasis on initiative and creativity without any of the usual discipline and parade ground working.
Most of the commandos travelled in small motor launches and suffered horrific casualties before arriving. However they were successful in destroying several important installations and 120 attempted to fight their way out of the docks and across the city defended by 5000 German troops to make the 350 mile journey to Spain. Five were successful and another 22 of the 250 returned home immediately. The other survivors were taken to various prisons camps for the duration of the war.
The Campbeltown was amazingly lucky when twice shore batteries opened fire but were persuaded to stop because intelligence had provide the signalling codes and the ship successfully convinced they were a damage German craft seeking shelter. However they were given away by allied aircraft who had been instructed not to drop bomb for fear of French civilian casualties in the town if the sky was not clear but to fly around in a circle in case the sky cleared. The extent of the air activity aroused German suspicion so they opened fire on the on coming destroyer and flotilla. The mission was then nearly failure as only at the last moment did the captain realise they were heading for the wrong dock entrance and then after lodging on the gate the explosives failed to detonate on time. The device used was primitive and involved the slow release of acid which corroded a wire which then released the detonation trigger. The reaction of the Germans to the captured navel and military men was complex. On the ground men were congratulated for their daring, and the ship's captain for their stupidity as their vessel could not penetrate the gates and would be removed causing such a loss of life, injuries and being taken prisoner. After the explosion one officer threatened to have all the prisoners killed and Hitler was so angry that he decreed that in any future instance the Commando's would be treated as spies and executed. The gunner on one of the small craft took on a destroyer and kept firing despite being subsequently found to have been shot sixteen times. The commander of the destroyer made a point fo seeking out a captured British officer and telling him of the situation and that he did not know who the man was but he ought to be given the Victoria Cross. He died from his wounds but the account was recorded and the honour given. Usually a British Officer has to independently attest an individual action for any award to be given.
Because it was fifty years since reading the book I had no idea how far the film was fictionalised account of the actual event but it a memorable story because it encompasses much of the reality of being at war. One man returns home to find that his fiancée has run off with someone in the blackmarket. He marries one of her workmates and is about to become a father, so he sends his wife out of London to the west country when she is killed in a blitz attack. The commander of the ship has already lost his wife, two years before the war, and tries hard to persuade his son to continue at school rather than join the navy. Fortunately when his son turns up as a cadet he takes him off for his first drink and they part as proud day and proud son, and then on Christmas Day he receives the telegram saying the son was killed, and he continues in his role wishing the men still on board well and hiding his grief until in private. One happy go lucky officer finally persuades a Wren working in communications to marry him and two months later she becomes aware, as part of her duties of the true nature of the mission and the chances of survival and is unable to share what she knows with her husband or show her horror when she learns that he has been given his own ship but declined to be able to proceed with the task in hand. This latter story may have been untrue but not the point being made.
Last year Jeremy Clarkson presented a programme about the raid which included film of some of those who survived including their return to St Nazaire where they were greeted by the then French Prime Minister, and also their visited to the war graves of their fallen comrades. The programme is now available on You Tube in six parts and provided all the answers to questions about the film and the actual raid and what Jeremy communicates is that the enterprise was that much more spectacular than the film and even more far reaching in its significance and far more moving. There was one letter from a son to his father expressing the hope that he would be remembered and that his death would mean a better world and peace. In the film the captain tells the participants the they can withdraw without affecting their future deployment or explaining the hazardous nature of the enterprise. In reality the men were told this by Lord Mountbatten personally, including the hazardous nature of the venture for which hey had received specific training, No one backed out. They had previously been told not to disclose what they about to do to their loved ones. The man who designed the bomb and its placement in the ship was directly involved in steering the vessel on what proved to be the true course, after two men beforehand had been killed. He had a conversation with his young wife about the mission against orders because she had just given birth to their first child. She said afterwards he seemed to know he would not return, he did not. One survivor was able to recount that he was given two letters by comrades to give to their families. He had reacted, but I am coming with you. They told him you will get back, he did, they did not.
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