I said, 'Wait a minute, an' I'll explain the whole posit...' I said, 'as a matter of fact, ' I said, 'Charlie Evans, Harry Bates an' m'self have got one each.' The various Divisions under which it has served will become apparent as the account proceeds, to list them initially would merely served to tax the powers of concentration of the reader unnecessarily. Musical Pastiche: All of Dudley Moore's piano solos are this, the targets being Schubert, Benjamin Britten, Beethoven and (in the 1964 update) Kurt Weill.

Spoonerism: As delivered by Miller's vicar: "The apostles of old were rough, toothless... er, tough, ruthless..."Robert Wilton Smith (28 August 1881 – 1 May 1957), better known as Robb Wilton, was an English comedian and actor. He was best known for his filmed monologues during the 1930s and 1940s, in which he played incompetent authority figures. His trademark was to put his hand over part of his face at the punchline. Our town didn't experience the bombing that London did, but as I indicated earlier, if enemy planes were hit, they made a run for it, sometimes jettisoning their bombs whilst fleeing. Such a scenario brought about our little town’s only bombing. One or two roads were destroyed, killing if I remember correctly, eight or nine people. Not many compared with London, but certainly enough to raise our anxieties. There was a rush to survey the damage. Dad returned with five or six fins from incendiary bombs and one, yes one whole unexploded specimen, about fourteen inches long and two inches wide. He kept it for years under the counter in his shop, displaying it occasionally to demonstrate how he had won the war. Many years later I scraped some material from the casing and threw the dust onto the fire. The resultant flare up almost set the chimney alight. Thankfully he got rid of it after that, as the entire casing was pure magnesium. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith writes to his confidante Venetia Stanley; even after Sir Edward Grey has warned that Europe is within imaginable distance of Armageddon - that happily there seems to be no reason why we should be anything more than spectators. Barrage balloons featured largely as a very important factor being employed on ships to help protect against dive bombers. It was quite a common sight, from our coasts, to see convoys of twenty or thirty ships moving down the Channel with the sun glinting on the balloons , or at night in the moonlight, as a fleet moved silently and ghost-like along the horizon

I had to do the shopping; everyone was working all sorts of hours. My father worked on the railways and we never knew when my dad was coming home, he would go away on a Monday and we would see him for ten days. As I was living with my auntie I had to do the shopping because she worked on Saturday mornings. We had been queuing for half an hour outside Saxby’s in Cambridge Street for sausage and haslett that was not on the ration, then a message appeared in the window saying ‘no sausage — registered customers only’ - moans and groans, most of the people went away, but one or two stayed — I stayed. I went in, the shopkeeper said “Yes — and what do you want?” — I said “if these registered customers like sausages that taste like sausages, I’ll have half a pound”. Needless to say I got no sausages. I was eight years old. I don't think that I had ever heard of Adolf Hitler at this time, but I did know of our Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and I had heard the grown-us talking about another war; but I didn't know what it was all about.The Government issued posters galore — “Dig for Victory” (using the garden or allotment to augment the food supply), “Holidays at Home” (exhorting people not to travel — to make the most of the immediate environment), “Be like Dad — Keep Mum” (discouraging careless conversation on transport — spies might be listening, “Is your Journey really necessary” (because of the petrol shortage.) Of course it was too good to last and we know why ! War was declared and the Japanese troops had no bother in brushing the British aside as they marched the whole way down the Malayan Peninsular. As the Japanese advanced there was panic in Singapore and all the women and children were evacuated by plane and ship. Finally a small but speedy Squadron of ships and fast boats left Singapore for Australia with as many high ranking Officers and their bodyguards as could be mustered. We lived very close to Hornchurch Aerodrome, an RAF Fighter station, to Roneo corner where, it was rumoured Spitfires were being built, to Romford Railway Station where a railway bridge carried all rail traffic to and from London and East Anglia where many aerodromes had been built. We were also close to the RAF Aerodrome at North Weald. So far as I recall none of those places were hit by enemy action. These were the days of daylight raids and when the air-raid siren sounded we would all be gathered in the school hall where we remained until either our parents collected us or the all-clear was sounded.

No, the first day I got me 'ome guard uniform... I'm getting the trousers next year... but the first day I got... I went 'ome an' I slipped upstairs an' I put it on an' I came down into the kitchen an' the missus looked at me an' she said, 'What are you supposed to be?' A few weeks later Captain Penny arrived at Durban. He walked down the street and bumped into his wife.! Smith was in the peace-time Air force serving in Malaya. He had a friend, also in the RAF, who had a job as bodyguard to a high ranking officer and he encouraged Mr. Smith to apply for the job having been assured it was only a decoration and it was unnecessary to be a good shot or know unarmed combat. Smithy duly applied and got the post which he enjoyed simply accompanying his Officer on duties around Malaya. Continent Latest news, analysis and comment from POLITICO’s editors and guest writers on the continent. Broadcasting from his phone, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians he would declare martial law, and he urged them to stay home, saying: “Don’t panic. We are strong. We are ready for everything. We will defeat everyone. Because we are Ukraine.”

At 0900 hrs 12 June all personnel were recalled into the town. The only hope had gone — the Germans coming up from CALAIS, were on the beach behind them, and the town was encircled. Further resistance was pointless. By mid-morning the streets of downtown Kyiv were eerily deserted. The only people to be seen were dog-walkers and a handful of scurrying tourists, dragging their luggage and breathlessly asking for directions to the train station. Yet the Regiment’s offensive spirit never wavered. Proof of it may still be seen in a partly demolished hut at Okehampton, enthusiastically engaged by a No. 1 whose ideas on safety were sketchy. But perhaps further instances may well sink into oblivion lest we offend the still tender susceptibilities of the people concerned. Another memory was the funeral cortege of a German bomber crew, who died when their plane came down. A similar type of recollection was when the covered body of a local man was brought ashore, having exploded a German sea mine further up the river. Slowly war became a reality with food rationing, clothing coupons and identity cards. (Strange that now, in 2003, that they may be introduced albeit for different reasons.)