Britain is no longer a country for and said "Goodbye" to its oldest man, Ralph Tarrant, after he had given it over 110 years or 40,000 days of his life

.

Ralph, who reached the age of 110 in July and still did some shopping, cooked for himself and enjoyed the occasional glass of whisky, died at the end of last month. 

Back in July he said : " I don’t feel my age, certainly not in my head. I sometimes get a few aches and pains and I’ve been ill recently but I’m getting my strength back now. I’ll be happy as long as I can get about under my own steam and I can do that quite well now.’

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

* was born in Nottingham in 1903 and moved with his family to Sheffield at the age of 7, was 11 at the outbreak of the First World War and 13 when he left school and started work as an office boy a a steelworks.


* might have seen this elephant, used for haulage in a Sheffield munitions yard during the War,

* met his future wife, Phyllis when he was 19 years old in 1922 and married at the age of thirty in 1933, six years before the outbreak of the Second World War and remained so until she died on New Year's Day 2012, aged 102.

* during the Second World War, served as a corporal in the Royal Air Force with 201 Coastal Command, based in  Scotland.

* became an estimator and steel inspector before eventually selling insurance for Refuge Assurance until his retirement 45 years ago in 1968.

* on his last birthday, the youngest of his two daughters, 67 year old Chris, flew in from the USA to organise the family gathering which, by that time, consisted of  four generations with : 7 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren.

* said : "There’s no need to live too carefully, I smoked until I was 70 and I still enjoy a drink. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’ll keep going as long as I can."

Ralph was in :

1906, 3 when the first dreadnought, a new and powerful battleship is launched

1908, 5 when Kenneth Grahame published The Wind In The Willows

1909, 6 when the first old age pensions were paid

1910, 7 when Edward VII died and George V became King

1911, 8 when the National Insurance Act is passed allowing workers unemployment  and sickness benefit for the first time.

1914, 11 in August, when the First World War began

1916, 13 when at the Battle of the Somme was fought and tanks are used in battle for the first time.

1918, 15 when the War ended in November and women over 30 are allowed to vote

1922, 19 when the BBC was founded

1926, 23 when workers held the General Strike

1928, 25 when universal suffrage was introduced and everyone over the age of 21

1930, 27 when Frank Whittle invented the jet engine

1936, 33 when television began in Britain

1939, 36 when the Second World War began

1940, 37 during the Battle of Britain

1942, 39 when the Beveridge Report was published proposing  a new welfare state.

1944, 41 when the Allies invaded France

1945, 42 when the Second World War ended

1947, 44 when the school leaving age was raised to 15

1948, 45 when the National Health Service was founded

1952, 49 when George VI died and Elizabeth became Queen.

1954, 51 when post-War food rationing ended

1955, 52 when ITV began broadcasting

1956, 53 when during the Suez Crisis in Egypt which proved that Britain was no longer an imperial power.

1960, 57 when Britain is became increasingly affluent with 44% of households owning a washing machine.

1962, 59 when The Beatles released their first single, 'Love Me Do'

1963, 60 when 'Doctor Who' was broadcast for the first time

1964, 61 when the last executions in Britain were carried out

1967, 64 when colour TV began

1970, 67 when the minimum age for voting was lowered from 21 to 18

1971, 68 when Britain switched to decimal currency

1972, 69 when the school leaving age was raised to 16

1973, 70 when Britain joined the EEC, forerunner of the European Union

1975, 73 when the Sex Discrimination Act was passed

1978, 75 when the first test tube baby was born

1979, 76 when Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first woman prime minister

1981, 78 when Prince Charles married Diana

1982, 79 when the Falklands War was fought against Argentina

1984, 81 when the miners strike began

1987, 84 when corporal punishment ended in state schools

1990, 87 when Margaret Thatcher fell from power and was replaced by John Major.

1994, 91 when the Channel Tunnel opened

1997, 94 when Princess Diana died

Britain is no country for and says "Farewell" to an old classical, religiously inspired composer called John Taverner

John, who was born during the Second World War, has died at the age of 69 and will be remembered for his 'Song for Athene', at Diana, Princess of Wales's funeral in 1997 and provided a lightning conductor for the grief of the watching millions.

Alleluia. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Alleluia. Remember me, O Lord, when you come into your kingdom.

Alleluia. Give rest, O Lord, to your handmaid, who has fallen asleep.

Alleluia. The Choir of Saints have found the well-spring of life and door of Paradise.

Alleluia. Life: a shadow and a dream.

Alleluia. Weeping at the grave creates the song: Alleluia. Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you.

Alleluia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezuIDtL6ydg

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

* was born in Wembley Park, London, to Presbyterian parents, who ran a family building firm, gave him a religious upbringing and nurtured his musical talents with him composing and studying the piano and gaining a music scholarship to Highgate School, North London.

* was profoundly affected by a performance of Mozart's, 'The Magic Flute', the only opera he thought transcended western tradition and studied for a time with the pianist Solomon (right), before entering the Royal Academy of Music.

* while still a student at the age of 22 in 1966, saw his dramatic cantata, 'Cain and Abel' win him the 'Prince Rainier Award' and was 24 when 'The Whale',
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTlnmZnXbUk  with its mix of electronics, football rattles and even a whip and based on the biblical story of Jonah, bring him public attention when premiered in the London Sinfonietta's 'Inaugural Concert' and released on the Beatles Apple record label in 1970.

* of his relationship with the Beatles said : "I was less surprised at John Lennon's enthusiasm, but I was surprised at Ringo's," and became the only classical composer of his generation with his luminously thin figure, flowing hair and otherworldly stare, to approach pop-star fame.

* in 1971, saw Apple release 'Celtic Requiem', http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-uwNLylDuQ with its Irish folk tunes, electric guitars and children's songs and the themes of preoccupation with death, fall from grace and loss of childhood innocence and the transition from darkness to light and had the good fortune, when Benjamin Britten heard it, recommend him to the Royal Opera and bring him an opera commission at the age of 27.

* converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, which he said, filled him with a sense of "homecoming" and in his works from this period, 'Kyklike Kinesis', 'The Immurement of Antigone' and 'Palintropos', sought a voice which could combine Orthodox beliefs with creativity which culminated in the 'Akhmatova Requiem' in 1981.

 * in 1980, at the age of 36, suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed for a time and not expecting to compose again and when he did, produce a rare secular work, 'To a Child Dancing in the Wind' in 1983, set to a poem by W.B.Yeats, dealing with the loss of childhood innocence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMwod1jTGyY and in '84 unified his faith with his music in 'Ikon of Light'..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhKeEt0o0B8

* created 'The Lamb' in 1982, in a choral setting of William Blake. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYpVGBSS65o

* suffered a devastating blow at the age of 41, with the death of his mother in 1985, but was given hope at the shrine of St Nektarios on the island of Aegina, south of Athens and began work on 'Eis Thanaton', set to 'Ode to Death' by Greek poet Andreas Kalvos. http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/8508#

* in 1989 his preoccupation with Man's exclusion from the state of paradise informed his colossal, two-and-a-half-hour work, 'Resurrection' and its pendant work, the string quartet, 'The Hidden Treasure'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pumkQ40ez0
* had adopted Mother Thekla, Abbess of an Orthodox monastery on the Yorkshire Moors, as his spiritual mentor, collaborator and adviser until, in 2003, when his increasing interest in a more universalist philosophy, led to a breakdown in their friendship.

* in 1990 at the age of 56, was diagnosed with a hereditary condition, 'Marfan syndrome' and remained in a critical condition for some time after an operation, but nonetheless, continued work on 'The Apocalypse', a massive work for soloists, chorus and orchestra, which at one time he thought might be his last. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce1bvAu8s60

* at the age of 57, in 1991, married Maryanna Schaefer and moved from the house where he had been born to Sussex. and used Greece as an increasingly important refuge and a haven for composing, returning to opera the following year with 'Mary of Egypt'.

* produced one of his longest works, a seven-hour dusk-to-dawn vigil, 'The Veil of the Temple' at the age of 59 in 2003.

* in the 'Requiem' in 2008 for cello, soloists, chorus and orchestra, drew on texts from Sufi poetry, the Catholic Mass, the Koran and Hindu words from the Upanishad and explained that "the essence of the Requiem is contained in the words 'Our glory lies where we cease to exist' " and it was a story about a "journey" and becoming "one with God".

* at rehearsals, before the premiere of 'Sollemnitas', suffered a heart attack and spent months in intensive care and living in a new world of constant pain and shortness of breath said that it was "a kind of ecstasy, in a way. Having pain all the time makes me terribly, terribly grateful for every moment I've got."

* last year produced 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich' and said he felt particularly proud of the piece, based on Tolstoy's novel and as an epiphany of pain transfigured into music.

Once said :
"I wanted to produce music that was the sound of God. That's what I have always tried to do."

Britain is no country and Burnley no city for the ashes of an old War veteran called John Clarkson

Royal Navy Second World War veteran, John Clarkson, was a retired labourer who died two days after his 91st birthday in January this year. Despite being unable to swim, John signed up to serve at the age of 18 in 1940 and saw active service on board an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. After his cremation his Granddaughter, Claire Wynn, kept John's ashes in a specially-made casket with a plaque inscribed with his name, age and date of death and contained a family photograph.
 Enter forty-three year old James Greenwood, one of the burglars who broke into Claire's house in Burnley through a kitchen window when she was on holiday and made off with John's ashes as well as an iPhone,  Xbox, stereo system, DVD player and a tablet computer.

When he realised what he had stolen he dumped the mahogany casket in a wheelie bin in a panic and as a result it ended up buried in a landfill site and despite a two-day search by council staff, remains unrecovered.

In a seeming act of contrition, Greenwood acknowledged the anguish he had caused John's family and said that the 20-month jail sentence the court gave him was 'not enough' and wrote to them saying he would let them give him ‘a good beating’ when he got out of prison.
Claire, however, said :
"No court in the country would send him to prison for as long as he deserves, because what he did to my family was unforgivable. It was a disgusting crime. For him to offer amends by taking a beating was the final insult. We don’t want to hear from him at all. It has been an awful time for us. The sentencing was on Remembrance Day, which is also my mother’s birthday. It was so upsetting."
As a result of the letter, Greenwood was handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting the family for five years.

Claire said :
"The other things which were stolen can be replaced but not my Granddad’s ashes. When my Grandfather was in my house we knew he was there and there was part of him left and still with us. This is worse because we don’t know where he is."

Britain, a country where even an old man's ashes are not sacrosanct.

Britain says"Goodbye" to an old Northern Irish BBC political correspondent called John Cole

John Cole, once the BBC's political editor, has died at the age of 85 and along with millions of other old Brits, I remember him covering and guiding us though the major stories during the Margaret Thatcher era in the 1980s.

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

* was born in Belfast in 1927 where his father was an electrical engineer into where a Protestant unionist family and started his newspaper career when he joined the 'Belfast Telegraph' after leaving school, the Belfast Royal Academy, at the age of 17.

*worked as a reporter and industrial correspondent, then as a political reporter for his paper and gained a scoop when he interviewed then Prime Minister, Clement Attlee who was holidaying in Ireland.

* moved to England and the 'The Guardian', then based in Manchester, at the age of 29 in 1956, reporting on industrial issues and transferred to the London office in 1957 as 'Labour Correspondent' and appointed 'News Editor' at the age of 35 in 1963, took on the task of reorganising the paper's amateurish system for gathering news.

* headed opposition to a proposed merger of The Guardian' with 'The Times' in the mid-1960s, served as Deputy Editor and in 1975, failed to secure the editorship for reasons which may have included his commitment to the cause of unionism in Northern Ireland and what was seen by some as 'inflexibility' and a 'lack of flair'.

* joined 'The Observer' as Deputy Editor and remained for six years until, in 1981 he got a call from the BBC offering him the job of Political Editor and said : "The invitation to have a ringside seat for what must be the most fascinating period in modern politics was irresistible." and "us modern Presbyterians don't believe in predestination, but on this occasion I thought I'd give it a whizz."

* had little previous television experience, but proved to be a natural broadcaster and became a familiar figure on tv and radio but was put under strain by the workload and he suffered a heart attack in 1984.

* returned to work and covered the IRA bombing of the Brighton Hotel and got the memorable interview with Prime Minister Thatcher on the pavement in its immediate aftermath, in which she declared that the Tory conference would take place as normal and some years later was one of the first to forecast her resignation in 1990.

* was held with affection by tv viewers, trusted by politicians and known for speaking in the language used by ordinary people rather than 'Westminster experts', articulating the viewpoint of the ordinary man or woman in the street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqCskMPUOaM

* with his distinctive Northern Irish accent found himself lampooned by the magazine 'Private Eye' and as a puppet in tv's 'Spitting Image', but also led the way for BBC broadcasters with regional accents.

* retired as the BBC's Political Editor at the age of 65 in 1992 and saw 1995 memoir, 'As It Seemed To Me,' become a best-seller and at the age of 79 and in 2007, wrote an article for the 'British Journalism Review' in which he blamed politicians and the media for the fact that parliamentarians were held in such low esteem and was particularly scathing of Alastair Campbell's influence during Tony Blair's premiership.

Tributes :

The BBC : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24865251

Prime Minister, David Cameron : a "titan at the BBC" and an "extraordinary broadcaster."

Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband : "my generation grew up watching John Cole. He conveyed the drama and importance of politics."

Former Prime Minister, John Major : "John Cole was one of the finest political correspondents of my lifetime, and a real credit to his profession. When John spoke, everyone listened. He was always well-informed, balanced - and trustworthy - and set the bar very high for all who followed."

Nick Robinson, who followed as the current BBC political editor : he "shaped the way all in my trade do our jobs."

Veteran BBC broadcaster John Humphrys : "The thing about John was people really liked him. That sounds almost silly and trivial for someone doing his job, but he broke through and that's incredibly important. People related to him as a warm and decent human being. They could see he was a decent man. His humanity was there and it came across. In the end it doesn't matter how brilliant a hack you are, if people can't relate to you then you don't succeed."

"

Britain is no country on Remembrance Day for an old foreign correspondent called Robert Fisk

Robert was born 67 years ago in Maidstone, Kent less than 10 miles away from where I now live. He's been Middle East correspondent of 'The Independent' for more than twenty years, primarily based in Beirut and holds more British and International Journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent. Robert has, in fact, lived in Beirut for the last 37 years, so in a sense, Britain has been no country for him for some time, but it is particularly so at this time of year and his article in his paper today was entitled :

Poppycock – or why remembrance rituals make me see red
The poppy helps us avoid a search for the meaning of war

He referred to the remembrance poppy, used since 1920 to commemorate soldiers who have died in war and inspired by the First World War poem, 'In Flanders Field' and the fact that the wild flowers grew and the battlefields where so many young British soldiers died in Belgium fighting the Germans in the First World War. Today, small artificial poppies are sold by the Royal British Legion and the money raised used to support British military personnel past and present.

Robert :

* was, on a brief visit to London, appalled to notice that tv presenters, politicians and dignitaries have resorted to stereotype by wearing 'those bloody poppies again' and questioned how this 'fashion appendage – inspired by a pro-war poem, for God’s sake, which demands yet further human sacrifice – still adorns the jackets and blouses of the Great and the Good?'

* at school, used to wear a poppy as did his Dad, who was a soldier of that Great War, in the trenches of the Third Battle of the Somme, 1918 and at Cambrai.

* remembered that, as his father grew older, became sick and read the biographies of 'that most meretricious of officers, Earl Haig – butcher Haig of the Somme, whose wife gave her name to the original poppies', came to regard the wearing of these 'sickly and fake petals as hypocrisy' and stopped wearing the poppy, as did he.

* recalled that at Ypres four years ago, was honoured to give the 'Armistice Day Lecture' just before 11 November, but did not wear a poppy and 'politely declined to lay a wreath at the Menin Gate – that “sepulchre of crime” as Sassoon called it.'

* asked if there is 'some better way to remember this monstrous crime against humanity?' because, in the original poem of Toronto doctor, John McCrae's : 'the poppies were there to remind us of our duty to kill more human beings' with the words : ' In Flanders fields, the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row– but then his dead soldiers exhort the living to “Take up our quarrel with the foe…/ If ye break faith with us who die/ We shall not sleep, though poppies grow/ In Flanders Fields." '


* suggested that instead we read the last words of Nurse Edith Cavell, before she was shot in Brussels by the Germans for rescuing Allied soldiers behind enemy lines : “But this I would say, standing in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone” and cast poppies aside.

Robert's article in the Independent :
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/poppycock--or-why-remembrance-rituals-make-me-see-red-8927751.html

My earlier posts about the War :

Monday, 14 November 2011
Britain is still a country with a few old men who lost their fathers in the First World War

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/britain-is-still-country-with-few-old.html

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Britain, once a country enthusiastic for war, thought it had said "goodbye" to it at 11 o'clock in the morning on the 11th of November 1918
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/britain-was-once-country-enthusiastic.html

My post dealing with my mother's family in the War, photographed here in 1914 with her 16 year old brother, George, in uniform and my mother holding the studio flowers.

Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Britain is still a country which remembers its 'Old Soldiers' like 109 years old Claude Choules 

 http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/britain-is-still-country-which.html

Britain is a country with Scotland, no nation for old men with autism

The charity, 'National Autistic Society Scotland' has warned of an 'invisible generation' of old people with autism in Scotland whose condition is often misunderstood and misdiagnosed partly because there was still a tendency to only associate the condition with children.

It made the following points, that :

* Scotland has an estimated 58,000 people with autism and more than 11,600 of whom are thought to be over 60.

* its recent survey of adults with autism revealed that more than a third have waited three years or more to access a diagnosis.

* there is little research into how the condition develops in old age.

Robert MacBean, 'Policy and Campaigns Officer' said:

 "Huge strides have been taken in changing attitudes towards autism and increasing understanding of the lifelong, disabling condition ...but there is still a tendency to think of autism as a condition that just affects children, when there are older people with autism in all our communities who need our support and care. Too many older adults with autism are missing out on diagnosis entirely and too many are still waiting for their needs to be assessed. And all too often, it's unclear what support will be available for them as they get older. This must change."


Retired joiner David Silvester, 67, from Moray, was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, two years ago. His condition had been misdiagnosed as 'bipolar disorder' and 'schizophrenia' since he was in his late 20s.
He said:
"My diagnosis came as a huge relief. For most of my adult life I'd asked 'what's wrong with me?' The diagnosis finally explained my life, who I am and took away a lot of the negative feelings I'd projected onto myself. When I was very young, research into Asperger syndrome was also in its infancy. But I'd known from an early age that I was 'different'. If the adults around me had known what to look for, they would have seen classic Asperger's traits. On the outside I appeared articulate and functioning well. But inside I was struggling. After my diagnosis, I thought a world of support services in Moray would open up to me. It was a big disappointment to discover this wasn't the case."

More positively, however, Moray Council is now developing its 'Autism Strategy' and David is involved in educating people about the condition and encouraging decision-makers to put in place effective support.

David said : "It would be great if the public could see that older people with autism are not 'weird' or 'odd'. We just see the world in a different way. We need the right support at the right time, but we also have skills, talents and abilities."

Allan Tubb is a 65 year-old retired teacher, living near Inverness who sought medical help twenty six years ago and was finally, diagnosed with Asperger syndrome last year.
He said :
“I’d been told there were no facilities for diagnosing someone of my age. I was serially misdiagnosed and prescribed pills that just made me feel worse. Luckily, a sympathetic locum psychiatrist insisted I must be offered an assessment. If I’d had a diagnosis earlier, life could have been different. But I’m not angry for what I’ve missed. What I feel most is disappointment for the past, and fear for the future. My autism means I have problems seeing the consequences of what I do, and this can make planning and organising my life difficult. Health professionals told me that if people like me managed to cope with our disability for years, there’s no need to receive support. Getting older makes the difficulties more acute.”

Britain is no longer a country for an old Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, played by an old actor, David Suchet

As the last tv episode of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, 'Hercule Poirot', airs this month, David Suchet, who has played him for a quarter of a century, over 70  episodes to 700 million viewers worldwide, bids farewell to one of his "very dear best friends”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmx6dQJf_rk

Things you possibly didn't know about David aa Hecule, that he :

* first donned the iconic moustache in 1988 filming 'The Adventure of the Clapham Cook' and makes his last appearance on 13 November with : 'Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case' which he filmed after going on a nine-month diet and sheding two and a half stone to play the detective as a much older man, confined to a wheelchair and dying.

* is said, by Michele Buck, the Executive Producer, to know Hercule "inside out” and "has read all the books and written on a bit of paper every single detail and nuance that may affect the character” which he carried with him at all times during filming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo8b6wyV_2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZJpGq6W1bw

* is also said by Michele to be "the most charming, avuncular, witty, generous man. He’s really collaborative, he cares. He knows his lines. He researches. He does these huge 10-page denouements, and to deliver it with conviction and correctly takes an awful lot of work.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ficM-ibey7Q

* was picked to play Hercule by the Christie Estate and said he had made a promise to the writer’s daughter Rosalind Hicks, not to make Poirot a caricature and told  : “You can smile with Poirot but we must never laugh at him.”

* filmed the last episode as the first, so he did not become too emotional and waved 'goodbye' with a poignant last shot and then had a two-month break eating the weight back on.

* filmed the last scene of the final episode, 'Dead Man’s Folly' in front of Agatha Christie’s house and walking through the front door said: "Who am I now? Am I David Suchet walking into Agatha Christie’s house or Poirot walking into the location ?"

* is considered to be the definitive Poirot, who was first played on stage by Charles Laughton in 1928 in the ‘Alibi’, followed with Austin Trevor on screen followed over the years by seven more, including Peter Ustinov and Albert Finney.

Britain is no country for old servicemen seeking compensation for damage from Cold War nuclear tests

“We are like ghosts, they don’t see you, they don’t hear you,” said Jeff Liddiat of the British Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association and reflecting on the struggle, of more than a half-century, to get justice form the British Government for servicemen who were exposed to nuclear tests like those above on Malden Island in the Pacific in 1957. “I suppose they hope those remaining of us will die sooner rather than later, so there’ll be no one left to bother them.”

At the height of the 'Cold War' between the Soviet Union and the West in the 1950s, Britain carried out a series of nuclear weapons tests in mainland Australia, the Montebello islands off the west Australian coast and on Christmas Island in the South Pacific involving servicemen in the Army, Royal Navy and Air Force, as well as personnel from New Zealand and Fiji. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWdpZHmhnEY Now, like Jeff, they are a dwindling band of old men still seeking compensation for the ill health suffered by themselves and their families as a result of their exposure.

In 2009, on of them, Dougie Hern, then 72, told the BBC :
"We saw a bright, brilliant light. It was as if someone had switched a firebar on in your head. It grew brighter and you could see the bones in your hands, like pink X-rays, in front of your closed eyes." Dougie believed that the radiation exposure he experienced that day and four others, accounted for his diabetes, the spurs growing on his sternum at that point in time and the past, the death of his 13-year-old daughter from cancer.

To old men like Jeff and Dougie, their experience over the years has been one of Whitehall cynicism and neglect based on the fact that :

* they were given no warnings about the possible dangers they faced at the time and, since then, denial by the Ministry of Defence that the illnesses suffered by them and their offspring had anything to do with the radioactive fallout they faced.

* have seen successive governments spend around £5m to block legal action by them to get compensation.

* have, in view of the fact that Ministry of Defence's medical stance is based to a large extent on a Japanese study, carried out in the 1940s on the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, pointed out that advances in medicine has meant those test results need to be reviewed.

* see that other countries, including America and France, have accepted responsibility to their personnel and paid out compensation to those affected by the tests in the Pacific and Australia.

* cite the case of the widow of the late Derek Spackman, a navigator on a Canberra aircraft sent from its base in Darwin on a mission to sample radioactivity from tests carried out by American scientists in the Marshall Islands in 1954, who has been refused a war widow's pension by the British, but was awarded $ 75,000 by the US Government.

* seen many of the 25,000 men, who took part watching the mushroom cloud wearing just shorts and sandals, die in the interim and according to Jeff : “Three years ago our membership stood at 2,000, now it’s a thousand. I think there are similar falls in numbers among others who are not members."


Jeff himself, who was a leading aircraftsman stationed in Maralinga, in Australia, has experienced liver disease and skeletal degeneration, had a daughter with cancer, a son with a low sperm count and skeletal malformation has said :
“I know of few hundred cases where children have been affected. It’s not something uncommon” and "We are not focused purely on getting compensation any more, but we would like official recognition of what happened and help in starting a benevolent fund for those who fell ill as well as for their children and grandchildren. Some of these illnesses have gone through generations.”

Douglas Hern, from Lincolnshire, now 75 years old, but at the time a 23-year-old naval cook based in the Christmas Islands at the time of the tests and whose daughter died of cancer at the age of 13 said :
“What went on at the time was astonishing, but so few people know about it. I was doing a collection recently for the British Legion and out of 200 people I spoke to only five knew about these tests and how people were exposed. We need to tell the public what happened, we should not be simply forgotten.”

The tests carried out between 1952 and 1967 bought Britain its place at the world Superpower table at a cost which has neither been calculated nor appreciated and continues to cast a shadow over the lives of that dwindling band of old men.

2011 news item :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkVt399g6IM
 

Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to an old jazz saxophonist called Tommy Whittle

Three weeks ago on the 13th October I said "Happy Birthday" to Tommy who was 87, but unbeknown to me, Tommy died on that very day. So now, sadly, when I learn of his passing, it's "Goodbye Tommy".

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

* was born in 1926 in Grangemouth, Scotland and started playing clarinet at the age of 12 before taking up the tenor saxophone at 13 and moved to the town next door to mine, Chatham, during the Second World War, at the age of 16 and in 1943.

*  started playing in the dance-hall band of 'Claude Giddins' in the town where I live now, Gillingham and after the War, joined 'Ted Heath's Band', playing with him until 1952 before joining 'Tony Kinsey's Group' at the '51 Club'.

* in the 1950s, joined 'Cyril Stapleton's BBC Show Band' where he featured as a soloist in radio broadcasts and in 1954, formed his own quintet and released 'Waxing with Whittle' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvViy23HAyc
followed by : touring with a ten-piece band, leading various small groups and doing jazz club work.

* during the 1950s, took his sextet to France and the USA, briefly deputized in the 'Stan Kenton Band' which was touring Britain and in 1955 and at the age of 29, was voted Britain's top tenor-sax player in the 'New Musical Express' poll and topped the 'Melody Maker' poll the following year.

* in 1958, became band leader at the Dorchester Hotel in London, where he stayed until early 1961 followed by a long period with the 'Jack Parnell ATV Orchestra' and later with 'Laurie Johnson's London Big Band', while continuing to play regularly at jazz clubs and recording with Benny Goodman.

 * during the 1980s and 90s, was in demand as a session musician, appeared again in the 'Ted Heath Band' and into the 21st century, continued to lead his own quartet and accompanied the successful 'Ella Fitzgerald Songbook' and became a member and then leader of the 'Pizza Express Allstars Jazz Band'.

* in 1979 at the age of 53, featured playing 'Children's Games' in the tv 'Jazz Series' presented by Annie Ross :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pEGHnB_Edk

* in 2005, at the age of 79, was awarded a medal by the 'Worshipful Company of Musicians for 'Lifetime Achievement in British Jazz' and continued to perform in 2012 in Manchester and this year in Wolverhampton Grand Theatre where he wowed the audience and played 'Misty' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoRQ9-MmatE

       

Britain, no country for old men, is also no country for obese old women

An article in the 'Daily Mail' today was entitled :
Britain ranks just 21st in the women's expectancy table

It was based on a report for the World Health Organisation compiled by academics from University College London, which, for the first time, provided a detailed comparison between the overall health levels in more than 50 countries in Europe and shows that Britain ranks 21st out of 53 for female life expectancy rates – just behind Greece, Slovenia and Portugal. This means women in Britain enjoy less old age than their counterparts in Europe.

The statistics show that, British women :

* have an average life expectancy of 83 years which is two years shorter than women in France, Spain and Italy – as well as a year shorter than the average in Cyprus, Malta or Andorra.

* have, by way of explanation, obesity levels which are the worst in Europe, with 23% of them considered 'too fat', double the European average.


* compare badly to British men, who although they have an average life expectancy of 78, are placed 11th in the table.

Professor Michael Marmot, from University College London who chaired the study believes the country’s failure to tackle rising obesity levels is partly to blame for the disappointing figures and said :
"For obesity, particularly female obesity, we are absolutely dreadful. It’s dramatic and appalling that we have such high levels of obesity. We really are storing up big problems there. We are doing very badly. Why we eat so unhealthily is a much more broader and complex question. We think there are things we can do to change that but we’ve not done very much so far."



My earlier post on obesity in old men :

Saturday, 18 February 2012

Britain is a country with more and more fat, sick old men

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/britain-is-country-with-more-and-more.html

Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to two old actors, Robert Hardy and Michael Jayston and one old rock guitarist, Peter Green

Robert is 88, Michael 78 and Peter is 67 today.

A personal thanks from me to :

* Robert, who I saw on black and white tv in the BBC series, 'The Age of Kings'  as King Henry V in 1960, when I was 13 and he was 35 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r2bcfFzC88

* Peter, who I heard with Fleetwood Mac playing 'Man of the World' on a 45rpm vinyl record in 1969, when I was 22 and he was 23.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_dg6TRNxg4

* Michael, who I saw at the cinema in 'Nicholas and Alexandra' as Tsar Nicholas II in 1971, when he was 36 and I was 24 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW3dVvPgQ-c

* Robert once again, who I saw on tv in 'Winston Churchill : The Wilderness Years' as Churchill in 1981, when he was 56 and I was 34 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAphLIIJr4c