Good Lord, what a hero
QUESTION What were the achievements of Regimental Sergeant Major Lord that saw him become a subject of This Is Your Life in 1959?
REGIMENTAL Sergeant major John Clifford lord MBE was featured on this is Your life in edition 118, broadcast on november 30, 1959. it was hosted as usual by eamonn andrews, but broadcast not from london, but from the academy theatre in the Royal military academy at Sandhurst.
the guest list included His majesty King Hussein of Jordan and a filmed tribute from major general Sir gerald lathbury.
King Hussein’s appearance was the first time any reigning monarch had appeared live on British TV, other than for state occasions. the King had met RSM lord while he was a cadet at Sandhurst.
John lord was born in Southport on april 26, 1908, and joined the grenadier guards in march 1933 for a four-year enlistment. Following his discharge, he joined the police in Brighton. His army discharge included a term as a reservist and he was recalled when war broke out in 1939.
Posted to the Officer Cadet training Unit at Sandhurst as a Sergeant instructor, he was then promoted to Company Sergeant major. in October 1941, he was posted to the newly formed 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, as its first Regimental Sergeant major.
During 1942 and early 1943, RSM lord saw action in tunisia and italy, before his battalion was recalled to Britain to train in readiness for the invasion of France.
On September 17, 1944, he took part in Operation market garden, the plan to capture bridges across the meuse and Rhine rivers to permit the advance of ground forces to invade germany from Holland.
He parachuted into arnhem with the rest of the British 1st airborne Division, an operation whose disastrous story was told in the book and film a Bridge too Far.
On September 21, having been wounded, lord was captured by the germans and taken to Stalag Xi-B, near Fallingbostel in lower Saxony.
Finding conditions in the camp poor, with low morale among the British prisoners, he took charge and improved matters. a thorn in the side of his captors, he was offered a place at a camp for NCOS, but refused it.
in spring 1945, when the germans started to move men from the camp ahead of allied advances, he hid beneath the floor of a hut until the germans had left, being fed through a hole in the floorboards. When major Ralph Cobbold of the Coldstream guards arrived to relieve the camp on april 27, 1945, he was surprised to find a smartly dressed British guard force. He assumed that the British 6th airborne Division had arrived at the camp ahead of him. When he asked to meet the guard Commander, he was greeted by an immaculate RSM lord
For his leadership at Stalag Xi-B, lord was awarded the MBE and later appeared on this is Your life, the only serving British soldier ever to do so.
lord remained in the army after the war, training paratroops and then as RSM at Sandhurst. On retirement in august 1963, lord had held the rank of Warrant Officer First Class for 22 years, the longest term ever recorded.
RSM lord died in august 1968 at his home in Camberley, Surrey. His medals are at the airborne assault museum, part of the imperial War museum at Duxford in Cambridgeshire. Bob Dillon, edinburgh.
QUESTION Who would be our monarch if the 1701 Act of Settlement hadn’t removed Roman Catholics from the UK line of succession?
HAD the act of Settlement not happened, the Crown would have passed to the eldest surviving son of James ii as James iii or James Viii of Scotland, known as the Old Pretender.
His eldest son was Charles (Bonnie Prince Charlie) who died without legitimate heirs, at which time the Crown would have passed to his brother Henry, an ordained Roman Catholic priest who also had no children.
Charles ii having had no legitimate children, next in line were the daughters of Charles i. the Crown would have passed first to Henriette anne (known as minette). But her family too had no heirs and the title would have passed on to her sister, anne marie, who was married to Victor amadeus, Prince of Savoy and King of Sardinia.
From anne marie, the current heir is Prince max, Duke in Bavaria. His eldest daughter and child is Sophie, Hereditary Princess of liechtenstein (married to alois, heir to the throne of liechtenstein). their eldest child is Prince Wenzel.
alois and Sophie were working in london when Wenzel was born so he’s the first Catholic would-be heir to the British throne since the Old Pretender to have been born in the UK. Prince max and his family make no claim to the British Crown.
Bob Carr, Gosport, Hants.
QUESTION Which were the first cars ever reviewed on Top Gear?
THE first programme was broadcast on april 22, 1977, as a regional TV show on BBC1 midlands at 10.15pm. the half-hour slot was presented by angela Rippon and tom Coyne, frontman of the evening news programme, midlands today.
the first series of top gear was concerned with general motoring rather than with reviews. in the first episode, Rippon drove from Shepherd’s Bush in london to the Pebble mill studios in Birmingham, reporting on driving conditions.
Other items covered in the first programme were speed traps, fuel economy, strange new road signs and an interview with the transport minister.
Bill Richards, Birmingham. QUESTION I recently heard Alexei Sayle reminiscing about Henderson’s department store in Liverpool. My mum used to do the same. What became of it? FURTHER to the earlier answers: i took a particular interest in the tragic Hendersons fire because i was working nearby at the time and later joined the fire brigade, partly because of it.
at the inquest into the 11 deaths, it was reported that the staff were oblivious to the danger because there was no fire alarm, so they carried on serving customers. When the fire was spotted, they delayed calling the brigade for five minutes while staff tried to fight it with extinguishers.
the blaze spread rapidly due to the unenclosed escalators and the fire doors having been wedged open, so the wooden staircase became engulfed, trapping people on the upper floors.
the lessons learned from this calamity formed the basis of the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises act of 1962.
Brian Rushton, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcs.