Murray was born at Leicester, England into an aristocratic family with some tradition of military service. [2] His father belonged to a wealthy family. Murray's grandfather on his father's side retained a permanent suite at the Connaught Hotel, while his grandmother retained a similar suite at Claridges Hotel. Murray's father abandoned the family early on and Murray claims to have had no recollection of him at that time. An uncle paid for Murray to attend Bedford School, an independent school in Bedford, Bedfordshire. In 1960, he joined the French Foreign Legion, and served for five years in the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP). During his service, he fought in the Algerian War against the Front de Libération National (FLN). After rising to the rank of Chief Corporal, he turned down an offer to attend Officers' School in France, and left the Legion in 1965 after completing his service. He wrote of his experiences in the Legion in the book Legionnaire, published in 1978. And later, based on his book he produced the autobiographical movie "Deserter" which released as a DVD. An easy to read book. It's based on the author's dairy from the Foreign Legion in early 60's, in Algeria. The book is focused on the stories and the experiences that happened to the author during his 5 years military contract. It's interesting to see how this tough military force prepares it's soldiers and how tough it is to resist due to morale and psychical challenges. But the experiences also seem to have resulted in a camaraderie with comrades-in-arms that lasted far beyond the five years the author signed up for. And they appeared to have well-prepared him for life as a businessman in Asia, an adventurer, and an explorer (after 5 years of hell in the Legion, everything else must seem like a piece of cake!). After working a number of years with investment houses, he several times started his own investment companies, in partnership with impressive folks like the Rothschilds and Deutsche Bank, which he then sold for enormous sums of money. He was also instrumental in helping start the British telecom Orange, something he found amusing considering that during his five years in the Legion, he never made or received a single phone call. Just finished Legionnaire by Simon Murray. This is a memoir from his five years in the French Foreign Legion. The writings are from a diary he kept during his time. I really enjoyed this. Two years later, Algeria wins its independence. As part of the agreement with France, the French are allowed a limited tenure in some areas of the country (inclusive of the former naval base at Mers-el-Kebir) and oil rights in the Sahara for 5 years. The Legion has to abandon its traditional headquarters at Sidi-bel-Abbes and relocate much of its staff, equipment, and assets to the South of France. But Murray's unit and a few other units of the Legion are allowed to remain in Algeria on a temporary basis. France was then in flux, having barely survived an attempted coup d'etat. Consequently, given that the Legion no longer had any wars to fight on behalf of la patrie, there was some uncertainty as to whether it would be allowed to remain in existence. (Some Legion officers had sided with the coup leaders who came out of the French Army.) But thankfully the Legion had some farsighted officers in its ranks who helped to secure for it a new raison d'etre and favor with Paris through developing a variety of special skills and roles for itself.

Simon Murray (Author of Legionnaire) - Goodreads Books by Simon Murray (Author of Legionnaire) - Goodreads

Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Openlibrary OL8228375M Openlibrary_edition Following a suggestion by his wife, Murray joined Pen Hadow for a trek to the Geographic South Pole. [1] The 1,200km trek started in early December 2004 at Hercules Inlet on the Zumberge Coast, Antarctica and was completed when they reached the South Pole about two months later. [6] They climbed up to 2,835 m above mean sea level on the way. [6] Murray became the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported. [1] Honours [ edit ] There have been riots during the last few days which have resulted in some two hundred people being killed. Because of this, we are not en alerte. At the beginning of January there is to be a referendum which will be held in France as well as Algeria. The referendum is understood to be deGaulle asking for a free hand to negotiate with the F.L.N. for the establishment of the Algeria of tomorrow, which will be the first real step to independence, but perhaps on his own terms." I first became aware of Simon Murray when I watched on TV one night a special program about the French Foreign Legion in which he acted as the narrator. I was rather impressed with him, so when I came across this book (after having read the Douglas Porch history of the Legion in the early 1990s), I was eager to read it. The seminal book by an Englishman who ran off to join the Legion, Murray served through a very difficult period on Legion history. De Gaulle, after having promised the pieds noir and the Legion that Algeria would always remain l'Algérie Française, reneged on his promise in 1959, and agreed to allow an Algerian referendum on freedom. Following the vote to separate from France, many pieds noir and some Legion regiments engaged in an attempted putsch, which failed. As a result of this, de Gaulle almost disestablished the Legion... but remembered how the 13e DBLE stood beside him through World War 2. Murray describes the daily life of a legionnaire in detail in a daily journal he kept. The moments of terror fighting the Fel in the Atlas Mountains, the beatings and brutality of the non-commissioned officers, the crushing boredom. Murray described it all... and made it sound like something that a young man should do.

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a b c d "Desert Island Discs with Simon Murray". Desert Island Discs. 4 January 2009. BBC. Radio 4.

Legionnaire by Simon Murray - Pan Macmillan Legionnaire by Simon Murray - Pan Macmillan

But the Arabs are set on total independence, and the French colons are equally determined to retain all that they have here. The colons are extremists in every sense of the word; they do not understand compromise and they will go to extremes to keep what they believe to be theirs by birthright. Nobody Will Shoot You If You Make Them Laugh: One Man’s Journey through the Mountains and Valleys of Life Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2011-09-16 18:10:32 Boxid IA171001 Boxid_2 CH106101 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Donor There were many stories he did as the lowest rank that sound like fun adventures. Then when he has the determination, he goes to the leadership school and earns a promotion. This is definitely a book military members of all nationalities can understand and enjoy. He was in Algeria because it was a French colony that received its independence (I am not completely clear on the history here), but the ground Soldiers were good people. The military heads deserve any criticism for this, not the Soldiers. There was also a (very) brief coup over Algeria getting its independence, but that was a failed coup.Even readers who are not that much into military history might find this book a refreshing narrative of a boy's journey into adult life. For literature, just as the Legion Etrangere, may have the power to bring us all together - and expertly so under the pen of Mr. Murray. Adventurer and businessman Simon Murray. As a teenager, nursing a broken heart and determined to prove himself, he joined the French Foreign Legion. Fighting in the Algerian war, he risked his life many times over; combat was at close quarters and was very bloody.

Legionnaire by Simon Murray: 9780891418870 - Penguin Random House Legionnaire by Simon Murray: 9780891418870 - Penguin Random House

The French Foreign Legion presented by Simon Murray". YouTube. 6 May 2011. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 . Retrieved 13 July 2014. At 60 years of age, he completed the Marathon des Sables, a 242 km race across the Moroccan desert. At the age of 63, Murray became the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported. His wife, Jennifer, was the first woman to fly around the world in a helicopter.

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Apart from a really impressive first-hand account of a turning point in the Legion, coinciding with the very end and short afterwards of the Algerian War, it is a riveting text, an open-hearted account of a young gentleman's venture through a rough, tough environment, under a humble and positive attitude. Mit sehr viel Witz und Herz geschrieben. Eine irre Abenteuergeschichte auch wenn man sich nicht für das Militär interessiert.

Legionnaire [electronic resource] : five years in the French Foreign Legionnaire [electronic resource] : five years in the French

Murray was the chairman of Glencore from 2011 to 2013. [4] He later became chairman of Gulf Keystone Petroleum from 2013 to 2015. [5] He has served on boards and held advisory positions with a number of other large companies, including Vodafone, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, Vivendi Universal, Usinor SA, Hermes, General Electric (USA), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Macquarie Bank, N.M. Rothschild, and Bain (the consultancy company). [4] He continues to serve on the advisory board of Lightbridge Corporation (USA), and was on the Development Advisory Board of Imperial College, London. Murray is currently the Executive Chairman of GEMS, and a board director of Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd, Orient Overseas (International) Ltd, Wing Tai Properties Ltd, Arnhold Holdings Ltd, Richemont SA, Essar Energy plc, Omnicorp Ltd and IRC Ltd.From 1994 to 1998, Simon was the Executive Chairman of the Deutsche Bank Group in Asia. He then established his own company, General Enterprise Management Services Ltd (GEMS), a mid-sized investment group operating across Asia. [4] In addition to this Simon was a founder of Distacom which made a number of mobile telecoms investments including Madacom in Madagascar, Spice Telecom in India and Sunday Communications in Hong Kong. He has also invested in other mobile operations in New Zealand, San Marino, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere. A good book to read when you're feeling sorry for yourself, when you're feeling that your life is just too hard. When I read about the hardships, punishment, and outright sadism Simon Murray experienced in his five years in the French Foreign Legion, my life appears to be a mere picnic by comparison! Gulf Keystone ex-chairman says he was forced out, tried to lure Exxon". Reuters. 1 April 2015 . Retrieved 4 October 2018. urn:lcp:legionnaire00simo:epub:7d266736-95cc-4c7e-b170-90c4e722f920 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier legionnaire00simo Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t3zs3t32m Isbn 9780307415813