Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to and old Second World War Welsh codebreaker called David Rees.

The English poet, John Donne, wrote. 'For Who the Bell Tolls', 389 years ago at the age of 52 and 7 years before his death in 1624. It appears in 'Devotions upon emergent occasions and seuerall steps in my sicknes - Meditation XVII.'

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee. 

So when an old Brit dies, a little bit of all of us dies and David Lees, who most people have never heard of, was such an old Brit.

 
David, who was one of these old Brits, has died aged 95, after a distinguished academic career as a mathematician,

What you almost certainly didn't know about David, that he :

* was born  the fourth of five children in Abergavenny, Monmouthsire in Wales and went to King Henry VIII Grammar School and, despite the fact that he was absent for some months during his early teenage years, left to study mathematics at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge where he was supervised by Gordon Welchman and gained a very good first-class degree.

.* was 21 and a few months into his postgraduate work, when the Second World War broke out in September 1939 and was recruited by Welchman to work at Bletchley Park, the British codebreaking centre in Buckinghamshire.

 * worked in 'Hut 6' in a team with other young mathematicians from Cambridge and at the same time after inspiration from "wonderful lectures" at Cambridge by Philip Hall on the algebraic structures known as semigroups, published his first paper in 1940, containing what is now known as 'the Rees theorem'.

* used a tip by John Herivel, another of Welchman's recruits from Sidney Sussex College, that when working the Enigma ciphers some German operators might use short cuts that could be exploited to break the Germen Enigma ciphers for some critical months in the War, from May 1940 revealing details of the enemy war plans.

* was working on his own on the night shift in the Machine Room and noticed that among the many Enigma messages there were several that were very close together, tried out various possibilities and, as the day shift came in, finally managed to break into the code.

* after the War, became an assistant lecturer in mathematics at Manchester University, under MH Newman. who during the War had been in charge of the department, the 'Newmanry' at Bletchley Park, for which the the world’s first working electronic computer, 'Colossus' (left), was constructed, to help with codebreaking.

. * at Manchester, continued to work on semigroups and in 1948, at the age of 30, was appointed to a lectureship at Cambridge and a fellowship at Downing College and saw his life change dramatically following a working seminar, on
Andre Weil's book, 'The Foundations of Algebraic Geometry', which inspired him to become a commutative algebraist and where he met his future wife, Joan Cushon, who he married in 1952.

* worked as an expert in commutative algebra, loosely described as 'the algebra underlying the equations used to define curves, surfaces and higher-dimensional geometric objects' and introduced the important concept of 'reduction of an ideal'.

* left Cambridge in 1958 to take up a chair at Exeter University, where he remained until his retirement in 1983, then had another burst of research and was awarded the Pólya Prize of the London Mathematical Society in 1993.

* remarked in 2000 that "the Herivel tip was one of the seminal discoveries of the Second World War" and thought that Herivel should have received more credit, reflecting on the codebreaking breakthrough which had generated roars of excitement in Hut 6 back in 1940 and had to be kept secret for at least 40 years.

* had several mathematical concepts named after him and left a lasting legacy to commutative algebra.

It didn't surprise me to find that the buildings at Bletchley Park had been allowed to fall into disrepair as the importance of what the men and women who worked there was forgotten :
BBC article on the neglect of Bletchley Park : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7517874.stm

BBC : Code Breakers : Bletchley Park's Lost Heroes :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF48sl15OCg



                                                     David at Bletchley and number '14'

Britain is no country for old men with HIV and stigmatised for 'age-inappropriate promiscuity'

Peter, 69, has lived the HIV story from its very beginnings. One of the first to be tested in Britain, he was given a positive diagnosis 29 years ago, back in 1984. In those early days, he recalls visiting a hospital where health staff in spacesuit-style protective clothing were passing a patient's food under the door and "we were treated like lepers."
Three decades on and the stigma hasn't entirely gone away and Peter, a gay man, talking to the 'Guardian', did not want to be identified for fear of negative reactions and homophobia in the town in the home counties where he lives.

Peter has the support of his partner, family and close neighbours, but worries that others may be more isolated as they age, particularly now that the HIV community is very different from the one he campaigned in for many years and said :
"Up until the antiretroviral drugs came in, there was a huge family and we supported each other to get through this. What happens today is everyone goes to the clinic as if they are going to the petrol station, fills up with their medication and goes out. They don't talk to people."

The facts about HIV are, that :

* in the 30 years since the virus was first identified, tens of millions across the world have died from its effects, often at a young age.

*  the development of new drugs since the mid-90s has transformed long-term survival rates and we are seeing what many never thought possible – a growing number of old men and women living with HIV.

*  one in five adults (16,550) treated for HIV in Britain in 2011 was aged 50 or over, compared with just one in nine (3,640) in 2002, and although many have been living with the virus for years, there are also increasing numbers who are acquiring it in later life.

Dr David Asboe, Consultant in HIV Medicine at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and Chair of the British HIV Association has said :
"I am seeing 50-, 60-, 70- and 80-year-olds, some of whom recently acquired HIV. People may think older people are not as susceptible to infection, and that's certainly not true. They might think that as they get older people don't participate in sexual activities that are risky, and that's not true."

Despite the growing numbers, old people with HIV feel particularly marginalised. According to Dana Rosenfeld, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Keele University and principal investigator for a major study on HIV and later life :
"HIV is associated, to the extent that anyone thinks about it at all, with younger people. The older population living with HIV feel invisible. Many feel there is nothing out there about them and nothing for them."

The study found that ageing with HIV brings a range of anxieties and those afflicted often :

* felt there was a particular stigma attached to HIV because it somehow signalled 'age-inappropriate promiscuity'.

* had a notion that they will be looked at as lesser beings and that there's something either, particularly 'undignified', 'sullying' or 'inappropriate' in having HIV in later life.

* feel so ashamed of their HIV status, that they are unable to tell their families, friends and neighbours.

* if they don't have a partner, fear that they will end their lives alone and with the uncertainty about their health.

* suffer from the uncertainty of not knowing if a symptom is due to the normal ageing process or HIV and wind up being hyper-aware of their bodies and hyper-anxious.

* find that the range of uncertainties can be  debilitating, fuelling high levels of depression, often getting worse the longer someone has been diagnosed.

David Asboe has said :
"There is a danger in thinking now that we've got a pill and we can get the viral load down, the patient is going to be very well adjusted and happy.That can be true but it often isn't."

If Britain is no country for old men, what about the Czech Republic ?

I have been to the Czech Republic to attend a wedding in the beautiful town of Komeriz in the Moravia - my son's wedding. My initial feeling was that the position of old men in the Czech Republic was better than that of those in Britain. The older men at the celebration seemed seemed a jolly bunch, particularly when the slivovice spirit started to lubricate their vocal chords and they burst into traditional song.
I wondered what the position of old men in this country was like ? My initial google research in google did not augur well, with a paper entitled :
 

'The problem of the employment of older people : Czech Republic'

Hana Doleželová, Charles University, Prague

'In the context of the ageing of the population, society cannot afford to ignore the working potential of older people in order to sustain economic competitiveness. However, the employment rate of workers older than 50 years is low in the Czech Republic and is the result especially of the above-average unemployment rate of this age group and the frequent use of early retirement schemes.' 

I think I'll postpone research while I'm still enjoying the afterglow of the wedding. Don't want to depress myself too soon.

Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to an old tv scriptwriter, once a likely lad, called Dick Clement

Dick Clement, best known for his writing partnership with Ian La Frenais and the tv series 'The Likely Lads', 'Porridge', 'Lovejoy' an 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet', is 76 years old today.

What you possibly didn't know about Ian, that he :

* was born in Westcliff on Sea in Essex was educated at Bishop's  Stortford College and then spent a year in the USA on an exchange visit and upon his return, completed his National Service with the Royal Air Force.

*  joined the BBC as a studio manager and started writing scripts and comedy skethches

* had a breakthrough 'The Likely Lads' in 1964 when I was 17, Ian was 27 and of the two 'Lads', who were supposedly 20, but in reality James Bolam was 29 and Rodney Bewes 27.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_5M7NHKoJI


Me, James and Rodney in the 1960's.






* co-wrote the 20 episodes about the adventures of two working-class northern lads, Terry and Bob, in Newcasle upon Tyne, interested in birds, booze, fags and football.

* had the two characters growing up at school and in the scouts together and then working in the same factory, 'Ellison's Electrical', alongside the older, wiser duo of Cloughie ( right) and Jack.

* in the first episode, had the lads return from holiday where Bob has lost his heart to a French girl named Louise, at least from afar as he never actually spoke to her and learns that Terry gave her his address and she is coming over to see him and bringing a friend with Bob persuaded to make up a foursome with a heavy heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5XRyOdxrRc

* produced gritty humour derived largely from the tensions between Terry's cynical, 'everyman', working class personality and Bob's ambition to better himself and move into the middle class.

* made the characters 'canny'  or 'street-wise', yet they stumbled into one scrape after another as they struggled to enjoy the Swinging Sixties' on their meagre incomes and 'likely' to be the cause of any trouble.

* chose the word 'likely' as an expression of the sentiment that they are likely to be the cause of any trouble.

Twenty episodes were broadcast , however, only eight of these shows have survived.
Ian has lived in the USA for many years.

Me, James and Rodney today clutching our pets  :

P.S. The Lads at Christmas :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9-I1pHcaOE&feature=related

Britain is no longer a country for and said "Farewell" today to that old, illustrious, tv interviewer of 'the great and the good', David Frost

David Paradine Frost, comedian, writer, tv game show host and interviewer died today at the age of 74.

What you possibly didn't know about David, that he :

*  was born in Tenterden, Kent in 1939, five months before the outbreak of the Second World War, the son of a Methodist minister and his wife, Mona and was brought up with two elder sisters.

* moved with the family to Gillingham, Kent, closer to his Father's Methodist chapel in Byron Road and went to Barnsole Road Junior School, which my two children would attend some thirty years later and then Gillingham Grammar School for Boys', where, I was later told by the then Deputy Head Master, David Parsons, that he was an "unremarkable boy".

* was taught in Bible class at his Father's chapel and subsequently started, but did not complete his training as a local methodist preacher.

* moved with the family again when his father took up a post at Raunds ( left), studied at Wellingborough Grammar School where he received a prize from Nobel Prize winner, Sir John Cockcroft.

* was a keen football player, offered a contract with Nottingham Football Club, but instead went to study for an English degree at Caius College Cambridge, where he was editor of both the student newspaper, 'Varsity' and the literary magazine, 'Granta' and secretary of the 'Footlights Drama Society', which included Peter Cook and John Bird.


* left university and working for Anglia Television, was chosen by writer and producer Ned Sherin to host the pioneering satirical programme, 'That Was The Week That Was'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uyl3eVIClc with brilliant sketches by the talented team which caught the anti-establishment mood of the baby boomers in the 1960's.

* developed his reputation for high profile tv interviews with 'The Frost Programme' guests, pre-War fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley, Rhodesian Prime Minister, Ian Smith and his dressing-down of insurance fraudster, Emil Savundra (left), regarded as the first example of 'trial by television' in Britain.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFNQSLIpYss

* in July 1969, during the tv Apollo 11 coverage, presented 'David Frost's Moon Party', a ten-hour discussion and entertainment marathon on the night Neil Armstrong walked on the moon with guests, historian AJP Taylor and American musician, Sammy Davis Junior.

* in his 1970 tv special, 'Frost on America', featured Jack Benny and Tennessee Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN3icAgw9LI
and in 1977, met former US President, Richard Nixon in a series of interviews for American television, culminating in Nixon's confession that : " I let the American people down."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkcZAB4_wd4

*  in 2006 started work for Al Jazeera English presenting a live weekly hour-long current affairs programme, 'Frost Over the World' and made headlines with interviewees, Tony Blair, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfVRGsckZP8
President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, Benazir Bhutto, President Ortega of Nicaragua and George Clooney in 2008 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJiFchGRvVA and Henry Kissinger in the same year : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ghRvuqKwEY

* is the only person to have interviewed eight British Prime Ministers serving between 1964 and 2010 and the seven US presidents in office between 1969 and 2008 and was also the last person to interview the last Shah of Iran.

* when asked in 2008 : why towards the end of his life he was still working at a frenetic pace ? He replied : " People might refer to my Methodist background - that feeling of doing something you enjoy and believe in. That's the ideal. Then you can be pretty much genuine all the time."


That Methodist religious background, outside the established Church of England, was a also a powerful influence on someone who took on and changed the political establishment as he took on and changed the face of British television. Her name was Margaret Thatcher.

His interview with her in 1985 and his questions over her order to sink the Argentinian battleship, the 'Belgrano' in the Falklands War : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aZdAyHVjzQ

The BBC tribute today :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23920336

Britain is no longer a country for an old soldier, politician and advocate of armed intervention in the war in Syria called Paddy Ashdown

Paddy Ashdown, the 72 year old former leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and now a member of the House of Lords is a deeply unhappy man. After Members of Parliament voted this week to reject Britain's military response in Syria in reaction to the chemical weapon attack on civilians in Damascus he tweeted that :

'We are a hugely diminished country this am. MPs cheered last night. Assad, Putin this morning. Farage too as we plunge towards isolationism. In 50 years trying to serve my country I have never felt so depressed/ashamed. Britain's answer to the Syrian horrors? none of our business.'
 

Speaking to the BBC's Radio 5 Live, he also expressed his unhappiness by saying that the outcome of the vote played into the hands of those who wanted to see Britain break away from the international community and “withdraw from the world”. He began by saying : " Call me an old warhorse if you wish, but I think our country is greatly diminished this morning."
He went on to say :

“ This country, which famously became Great Britain because it got engaged in the outside world, understood that dangers abroad were dangers for us - go back to Churchill - has decided that in the face of the breach of a war crime and a breach of international law it will not join with an international coalition led by a democrat American president. In more than 50 years of seeking to serve my country at home and abroad I wake up this morning more depressed, and I have to say, probably more ashamed than I have ever felt.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZoaeF21LZQ

What you possibly didn't know about this old warhorse, that he :
 

* was born Jeremy Ashdowne, the eldest of seven children, in New Delhi, India, during the Second World War in 1941 into a family of soldiers and colonial administrators with his father serving as an officer in the Indian Army.

* moved to Northern Ireland when he was a boy, where his father bought a farm in 1945, was educated first at a local primary school, then as a boarder at Garth House Preparatory School in Wales and then from the age of 11, Bedford School in England, where his Irish accent  earned him the nickname, 'Paddy'.

* left school and joined the Royal Marines at the age of 18 in 1959, served in Borneo during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation before training as a swimmer canoeist in 1965 and joined the elite 'Special Boat Section' and commanded a Section in the Far East, then went to Hong Kong in 1967 and undertook an interpreters  course in Chinese.

* returned to Britain in 1970 and was given command of a Commando Company in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the time of 'The Troubles' and retired at the age of 32 with the rank of captain in 1972 and joined the Secret Intelligence Service and, as a cover, worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as First Secretary to the UK mission to the UN.

* decided to give up a comfortable life in Switzerland, with his wife and two children on the shores of Lake Geneva with plenty of time for sailing, skiing and climbing, to enter politics and eventually became a Liberal Member of Parliament in 1983.

* in the early 1980s, was a prominent campaigner against the deployment in Europe of American nuclear-armed cruise missiles describing them at a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1983 as "the front end of the whole anti-nuclear struggle. It is the weapon we have to stop."

* when the Liberal Party merged in 1988 with the Social Democrats to form the Lib Dems, was elected as the new party's first leader (left) and resigned as leader in 1999 after 11 years, then  retired from the House of Commons in 2001 and then became a member of the House Lords.

* took up the post of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2002, reflecting his long-time advocacy of international intervention in that region and testified as a witness for the prosecution at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic at the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Paddy, an old soldier out of tune with the majority of people in his country and members of its House of Commons.
 

Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to an old rugby player, sports commentator and Welsh gentleman called Cliff Morgan

Cliff, who was one of the leading figures of British rugby in the post Second World period and played fly-half for Wales and the Lions with flair and inventiveness and then went on to become a radio and tv commentator, has died at the age of 83.

What you possibly didn't know about Cliff, that he : 

* was born in 1930 in Trebanog, in the Rhondda Valley where his father was a coal miner and educated at Tonyrefail Grammar School in an era when rugby was part of the informal curriculum of Welsh secondary education, left school and joined Cardiff Rugby Club in 1949.

* first played for Wales at the age of 21 in 1951, against Ireland, in direct confrontation with the great Jack Kyle and the following year, was a member of Wales's grand slam-winning side and in 1955 was selected for his first British Lions Tour, on which his try at Ellis Park, Johannesburg secured a famous 23-22 victory over South Africa in  front of a world-record crowd of almost 100,000.

* the following year, was made 'Captain of Wales' and went on to win 29 caps making his last appearance in a first-class rugby match at the age of 28 wearing the Barbarians' colours in 1958, in a game against East Africa in Nhairobi.
  
* on his retirement from the game, was approached by BBC Wales to become organiser of their sports programmes, then  moved away from sport for two years from 1964 to '66,to become the editor of ITVs 'This Week', current affairs programme, then returned to the BBC to take charge of  'Grandstand' and the midweek 'Sportsnight' with David Coleman.

* in 1970, he and boxing champion, Henry Cooper, became the team captains in the first series of 'A Question of Sport', a year later, survived a stroke at the age of 41, recovered and in 1974, was appointed 'Head of Outside Broadcasting' for BBC Radio and two years later, moved back to BBC tv in a similar capacity, supervising the coverage of royal weddings as well as the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, the World Cup and other major sporting events.

* as a commentator, went down in  history describing Gareth Edwards's magnificent try for the Barbarians in the opening minutes of their match against the All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park in 1973, widely held to be the greatest of all time when he said :
"John Pullin, England's captain, the hooker … McBride trying to get … Wilkinson … Going … Williams again … everyone with him … Sid Going … good tackle by Slattery of Ireland … almost on the half-way line … Kirkpatrick, to Williams … this is great stuff … Phil Bennett covering, chased by Alistair Scown … brilliant … oh, that's brilliant … John Williams, Bryan Williams … Pullin … John Dawes, great dummy … David, Tom David, the halfway line … brilliant by Quinnell … this is Gareth Edwards … a dramatic start … What a score!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwCbG4I0QyA

* on retirement in 1987, continued to present 'Sport on Four', which he had started 10 years earlier, interviewing the stars of  sports with warmth, enthusiasm and generosity of spirit accompanied with smiles and laughter.

* in his later years, while living in retirement on the Isle of Wight, suffered from cancer of the vocal cords and found the removal of his larynx reduced his ability to speak, a cruel misfortune for a man of such conviviality and eloquence, who had loved to sing while playing the piano.

The Channel 4 tribute : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUapC3GlvaY

Dennis Gethin, President of the Welsh Rugby Union said; “"I have lost a friend and we have all lost one of rugby's greats who was also a true gentleman. His exploits as a player for Cardiff, Wales, the Barbarians and the British and Irish Lions  are legendary but he also achieved so much off the field of play. As a broadcaster he became one of the best known faces and voices of radio and television in the UK and as a producer and editorial executive he reached the top of his profession. Despite all that success he remained a true gentleman throughout his life and always remained a true son of the Rhondda."

Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to a once indefatiguable and now very old film actor, producer and director called Richard Attenborough

Richard, who is now frail after a stroke five years ago and lives in a care home with his wife of 72 years in the room next door, is 90 year old today.

What you possible didn't know about Richard, that he :

* was born in Cambridge, the eldest of three sons of Mary, a founding member of the 'Marriage Guidance Council' and Frederick, a don at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, who wrote a standard text on Anglo-Saxon law.

* was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys and then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

* became eligible to fight during the Second World War in 1941, served in the Royal Air Force and after initial pilot training, was seconded to the newly-formed RAF Film Unit at Pinewood Studios, under the command of Flight Lieutenant John Boulting.

* in 1943 appeared in propaganda film .'Journey Together' and then volunteered to fly with the Film Unit on missions over Europe, filming from the rear gunner's position to record the outcome of  Bomber Command sorties.

* started his film career at the age of 19 in 1942, in an uncredited role as a deserting sailor in 'In Which We Serve' in a role which would help to type-cast him for many years as 'spivs' and cowards until his breakthrough role as a psychopathic young gangster (left) in the film of Graham Green's novel, 'Brighton Rock' at the age of 24 in 1947.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOfRPeqBEQ8

* in the late 1950s, formed a production company, 'Beaver Films,' with Bryan Forbes and produced and appeared in 'The League of Gentlemen' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvHIlQ_XCg in 1959 and 'The Angry Silence' in 1960 and produced 'Whistle Down the Wind' in 1961.

* appeared in several successful comedies by the Boulting Brothers, 'Private's Progress' in 1956 and 'I'm All Right Jack' in '59 and then in 1963, at the age of 30, appeared in his first Holywood blockbuster, in the ensemble cast of 'The Great Escape', https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WCR4dZt7Uw as RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett, 'Big X', head of the escape committee, based on the real life exploits of Roger Bushell.

* expanded his range of character roles in the '60's in 'Séance on a Wet Afternoon' (left) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6dbk6RXALI
and 'Guns at Batasi'  for which he won the BAFTA Award for 'Best Actor' for his portrayal of the Regimental Sergeant Major.

* in 1965, played Lew Moran opposite James Stewart in 'The Flight of the Phoenix' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYOXAMuRZms
and in 1967 won  a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in 'The Sand Pebbles'  co-starring Steve McQueen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJedk-Wwa_E

* directed the all-star screen version of the hit musical, 'Oh What a  Lovely War' in 1969, filmed in and around Brighton where I was a student at the time and where a friend, Willis Pitts, got a job as a soldier extra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqrc46ouZz8

*  portrayed of the serial killer Christie in '10 Rillington Place' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NQH7aFLux0
and in 1977 he played the ruthless General Outram in Satyajit Ray's period piece , 'The Chess Player'.

* took no acting roles following his appearance in Otto Preminger's version of 'The Human Factor' at the age of 56 in 1979 until his appearance as the eccentric developer John Hammond in Spielburg's 'Jurassic Park' in 1993.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJlmYh27MHg

* directed two epic period films: 'Young Winston' in 1972, based on the early life of Churchill and 'A Bridge Too Far' in 1977 and in 1982 won the Academy Award for 'Best Director' for 'Gandhi' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNmJqRV7LOA and five years later directed the anti-apartheid drama, 'Cry Freedom', based on the life and death of the acivist Steve Biko. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq4VjE0_AVQ

* directed and produced his last big films, 'Chaplin' in 1992 and 'Shadowlands' in '93 and between 2006 and 07 in his 80's, spent time in Belfast, Northern Ireland, working on his last film as director and producer, 'Closing the Ring', a love story set during the Second World War. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kjm4oXC6NA

Britain's old men pay tribute to Richard's lifetime of work and thanks to the hours and hours of his film work they have seen over the years.

Britain is no country for old men in 'care homes' which provide neither 'home' nor 'care'

Bad news for old men and women in care homes last year because a record number of them and hospitals were issued with 'official warnings' after the health watchdog uncovered ‘unacceptable’ standards of care for the most vulnerable and inspectors issued 910 ‘warning notices’ . Of these, 818 were in 'adult social care', meaning care homes as well as care in pensioners’ own homes.

Warning notices are issued when care is so bad that it is no complying with the law and institutions are ordered to improve on pain of closure or prosecution.

Attention was drawn to the following care homes and although the problems have been rectified, the scandal is that they were reported in the first place.

Oakhurst Nursing Home, Bradford, where :
* staff were described as 'cocky' and 'punitive'.
* rooms were left unheated for two winters.
* water running at 50 degrees C put residents at the risk of being scalded.

Whitstable Nursing Home, where :
* one resident was left 'black and blue' after five falls in two weeks.
* residents were ignored when they were in
visible pain.


Norton Hall Care Home, Worcester, where :
* residents had filthy commodes and solied matresses.
* there were no effective systems to either prevent or monitor infection.


Willow Green Care Home, Darlington, where :
* residents were given medication at the wrong times and doses were missed.




West Cliff  Care Home, Southampton, where :
* the call bell system was found to be not working.
* one resident could not be heard and eventually found, had to be taken to hospital.





Coxwell Hall Nursing Home, Faringdon, where :
* three cases of unexplained injuries were not investigated.





Ros Altmann, pensions expert and campaigner said :

Minister of State ‘Jeremy Hunt has come down hard on poor standards in hospitals and he needs to do the same for care homes.  In a way this is even more important, because residents in care homes are usually there forever, while patients are in hospitals for shorter times. It is so deeply worrying that we seem to have a system that seems to be sweeping poor care under the carpet rather than dealing with it properly. We have a crisis in the care home sector. We are trying to provide care on the cheap, and as these shocking examples show, that can’t go on.’


Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director General of 'Age UK', said:

‘Providing safe and dignified services must be the first priority of any organisation and there must be a zero-tolerance attitude to poor, neglectful care whether in a hospital or care home.’