Horror of first guided missile
QUESTION
What is the story of HMS Egret, the first British ship to be sunk by a guided missile? HMS Egret was a sloop that in 1943 joined the 10th escort group being sent to the Bay of Biscay as part of the antiU- boat campaign, Operation Percussion. While on patrol in the Bay on August 27, she fell victim to a Henschel 293 glider bomb launched by a Dornier 217.
This weapon, essentially a 500kg bomb fitted with wings, had a range of seven miles and was radio-controlled by an operator aboard the parent aircraft.
The missile was also equipped with a small rocket motor that fired for 12 seconds. Three days earlier, a similar weapon had damaged another sloop, HMS Bideford.
Egret capsized quickly, and only five officers and 30 ratings were rescued by the destroyer HMCS Athabaskan, which had also been damaged in the attack.
A number of RAF technicians aboard the sloop, hoping to determine the radio frequency operating the guided missile, were among the 198 killed.
Ironically, Egret had been better equipped as an anti-aircraft vessel than most Royal Navy ships of the time, mounting four twin 4 in anti-aircraft guns, two quadruple 0.5 in machine guns and two 20mm Oerlikon guns. Geoff Hewitt, Preston, Lancs. My UNClE, Kenneth luff, was born in 1921. His mother died when he was a teenager, and he lived next door to my family home in a flat above my grandad’s bakery on Boundary Road in Hove. In 1942, Ken married Rhona (pictured). He was a lovely bright lad and very much part of the family.
He was one of those lads who shouldn’t have been in the Forces — he was deaf in one ear and had heart problems. yet in spite of his disabilities, he was accepted into the Navy as a ship’s chef and served on HMS Daedelus, HMS Victory, HMS Belfast and, finally, HMS Egret.
Despite the danger, Ken said they were the happiest days of his life as he finally felt accepted. The last thing I recall him saying was: ‘Don’t worry about me, because if we are ever hit I’ll be dead.’ That was because the ship’s galley was next to the ammunition magazine. Ken was just 22 when he died. Molly Steer, Driffield, E. Yorks.
QUESTION Is Ken Dodd’s Happiness an old country music song?
write a song, you have no idea where it might end up.’
In the middle of his performance, he stopped to tell the audience how he had played Happiness on his UK tour with Conway Twitty and loretta lynn in the Seventies.
An unimpressed journalist wrote: ‘Bill Anderson has a curious habit of pausing in the middle of his songs to recite little poems, some of which are
so sentimental they would make a greeting card blush.’ Anderson subsequently joked that ‘from that day on, Conway Twitty nicknamed me Hallmark’. Happiness became Ken Dodd’s signature song. In an interview with the Big Issue, he said: ‘I remember singing it the very first time at the Granada in Shrewsbury. The words suit me because I am a believer: “Happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that we possess. I thank the lord that I’ve been blessed with more than my share of happiness.” ‘If you believe there is a great creative force that guides us, you have to say thank you. I say thank you for happiness.’
Paul Dobson, Sheffield. HAPPINESS was written by Bill Anderson, a U.S. country music star known as Whispering Bill for his gentle vocals and habit of narrating the verses.
Born in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1937 and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Anderson got his big break when his song City lights was recorded by Ray Price in 1958 and topped the country charts.
He took full advantage of this success, moving to Nashville and landing a record contract with Decca.
Anderson recorded his biggest hit and signature song, the partly spoken ballad Still, in 1963. It not only topped the country charts, but was No 8 on the billboard pop chart.
He went on to have seven No 1 hits in the American country music charts and released more than 50 albums.
The song Happiness appeared on Still, his second album, in 1963, but it was not released as a single.
Anderson recently appeared on BBC 4’s Songwriters’ Circle and delighted the audience by playing the song made famous by Ken Dodd.
In his preamble, he said: ‘When you
QUESTION Was William PoleTylney-LongWellesley, nephew of the Duke of Wellington, the worst MP of all time?
FURTHER to the previous answer, there is a wonderful book The Angel And The Cad by Geraldine Roberts that tells the story of Wellesley and his wife Catherine.
He not only stole a huge amount of her money, but he also used his children’s trust fund for his own devices.
It’s worth noting that, in 1827, Wellesley became the first man not to be granted custody of his children, thereby paving the way for women’s rights in child custody cases.
Tony Mansfield, Ongar, Essex.