Amazing life of the soldier who ripped off his own fingers
On a recent trip on the London underground, I spotted a station with a very strange name – Theydon Bois.
Where did that come from? – E.
Theydon Bois is a village to the north east of London, in Essex.
The origins of the village date back to Anglo-Saxon times.
The name comes from the family of Bois (de Bosco), which owned the area in the 12th Century.
They were descended from the Normans who invaded England in 1066. A pal who supports Montrose FC tells me that one of their former players is in the Guinness Book Of Records. Really? – P. Yes, really!
Ian Dickson is the youngest player to score a hat-trick, on his debut, in an away match in British senior football.
He achieved the feat against Third Lanark on October 22, 1966. Sadly, the Gable Endies lost 7-4 that day. survived two plane crashes and had tunnelled out of a prisoner-ofwar camp.
Describing his experiences in the First World War, he wrote: “Frankly I enjoyed the war.”
Having previously lost an eye and a hand in battle, Carton de Wiart, as commanding officer, was seen by his men pulling the pins of grenades out with his teeth and hurling them with his one good arm during the Battle of the Somme, winning the Victoria Cross in 1916.
“For most conspicuous bravery, coolness and determination during severe operations of a prolonged nature,” according to his citation.
He had lost his hand the previous year, when hit by shrapnel.
Doctors refused to amputate his badly-damaged fingers, so he simply tore them off himself. I have just seen a horror film that was so bad, I won’t even tell you its name. However, it was directed by Robert Urich – wasn’t he the star of a ’70s TV detective series? – A.
They are two different Robert Urichs. One is the director of movies such as First Kill.
The other was an actor who starred as Dan Tanna in Vega$, which ran from ’78-81.
He also starred in The Love Boat.