swansonj
Guru
"Who needs a hobby like tennis or philately?
I've got a hobby: rereading Lady Chatterley"
Ton Lehrer
Another shock horror ancestry secret unveiled
- Thread starter Dave7
- Start date
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I've got a hobby: rereading Lady Chatterley"
Ton Lehrer
Hadn't come across him or that song.
swansonj
Guru
Your life just became a whole level richer, then
. That isn't even one of his best....Your life just became a whole level richer, then
Yeah, had a quick listen of a couple. The smut one is of its time, but the Peter Pan bit is almost prophetic
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
So did half the Royal family.
biggs682
Touch it up and ride it
- Location
- Northamptonshire
A relative of mine robbed a train
My great great.... grandad was discharged from the Army in 1803 due to blindness. Couldn't find exactly what happened. He'd served 10 years loyal service and was given a pension. Age on discharge 23. A few years later he married a hose seamer called Elisabeth. He died age 57. Elisabeth was still working when she died at 86.
KnittyNorah
Über Member
- Location
- The Frozen North (of England)
So he'd joined up at age 13? Bless. Some sort of drummer boy perhaps?
Profpointy
Legendary Member
Lady Chatterley was a very eminent entomologist. Her speciality was about the developmental stages of the insect life cycle, as covered in her famous text book
"Lady Chatterley's Larvae"
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I think if you were big enough to hold up a musket you were deemed big enough to serve. He may have been "sold" to the Army by his parents, this was quite common at the time. They got the kings shilling and had one less mouth to feed, the Army got one more recruit. Such was the level of poverty at the time.
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
My ex had a Ukrainiian father and an Austrian Mother
rather strange watching old war film over Christmas at her Mum's house
she would sometimes comment how her Brother (some years older) was in the army
then you realised she was talking about him being in the German Army
and she would also talk about how they would suddenly be told GO
and have to run up into the woods and hills to a pre-prepared cave and stay there until told to come back
They knew to hope that the men that were left came along later -- the women and children basically legged it
This was in response to the remaining men (so - very young and old) patrolling the local area and spotting generic soldiers
any soldier - German, Russian - who the hell cares - all rape girls and women and kill potentially
over the next few days the 'men' would sneak back to the farm and, if it looked safe, come back with whatever food was left and they could carry
any sign of danger - no food
when it was clear they would all move back
This happened several time - she was fairly young so details were scant except for feeling and generalisation
Her Father - basically he had been in FIVE concentration camps
some German - Some Russian
He was Ukrainian - and anti Russian hence a traitor
Apparently he swam the Danube at midnight to get into the German side to get away from the Soviet Union
He bounced back and forth between the lines as the Soviets advanced and the Danube swim got him far enough and he managed to head West into British and US lines
By the time I met him he was heading for dementure and his accent was so bad I couldn't understand 3/4 of the words he said
some of it was probably a foreign language - Ukrainian, German or Polish - who knew??
But he seemed to like talking at me - scared the hell out of me!!!
so - 2 of her parents with 'interesting' lives
Mine were rather more boring
probably
rather strange watching old war film over Christmas at her Mum's house
she would sometimes comment how her Brother (some years older) was in the army
then you realised she was talking about him being in the German Army
and she would also talk about how they would suddenly be told GO
and have to run up into the woods and hills to a pre-prepared cave and stay there until told to come back
They knew to hope that the men that were left came along later -- the women and children basically legged it
This was in response to the remaining men (so - very young and old) patrolling the local area and spotting generic soldiers
any soldier - German, Russian - who the hell cares - all rape girls and women and kill potentially
over the next few days the 'men' would sneak back to the farm and, if it looked safe, come back with whatever food was left and they could carry
any sign of danger - no food
when it was clear they would all move back
This happened several time - she was fairly young so details were scant except for feeling and generalisation
Her Father - basically he had been in FIVE concentration camps
some German - Some Russian
He was Ukrainian - and anti Russian hence a traitor
Apparently he swam the Danube at midnight to get into the German side to get away from the Soviet Union
He bounced back and forth between the lines as the Soviets advanced and the Danube swim got him far enough and he managed to head West into British and US lines
By the time I met him he was heading for dementure and his accent was so bad I couldn't understand 3/4 of the words he said
some of it was probably a foreign language - Ukrainian, German or Polish - who knew??
But he seemed to like talking at me - scared the hell out of me!!!
so - 2 of her parents with 'interesting' lives
Mine were rather more boring
probably
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
Are you certain? Debtors’ prisons were scrapped well over a century ago and there are very few debts for which imprisonment is available (such as council tax in England, or wilful refusal to pay child support).
Usually imprisonment is for disobeying the court’s orders, not for the inability to pay. Going to prison wouldn’t extinguish the debt anyway.
Craig the cyclist
Über Member
It's uncles for me, what a bunch I had.
My dads younger brother got put away for armed robbery and robbing a warehouse. We watched the news report of the trial on the local news on our first colour tv in 1973, which had been previously been stored in a Granada tv rentals warehouse
My dad and his older brother started a riot in Port Said following an altercation in a bar when they were there at the same time on National Service in the 50s.
My mums brother was a para in the 70s, he ended up in Colchester for nearly wiping out two people who took the pi55 out of his vegetarianism!
Oh and a very distant relative was one of the British knights with Henry V at Agincourt. Although I find it very dubious when family historians go back much further than about the reign of Queen Victoria. Honestly, how can they possibly know that a distant relative was the Sir Henry with King Henry just because they have the same surname?
My dads younger brother got put away for armed robbery and robbing a warehouse. We watched the news report of the trial on the local news on our first colour tv in 1973, which had been previously been stored in a Granada tv rentals warehouse
My dad and his older brother started a riot in Port Said following an altercation in a bar when they were there at the same time on National Service in the 50s.
My mums brother was a para in the 70s, he ended up in Colchester for nearly wiping out two people who took the pi55 out of his vegetarianism!
Oh and a very distant relative was one of the British knights with Henry V at Agincourt. Although I find it very dubious when family historians go back much further than about the reign of Queen Victoria. Honestly, how can they possibly know that a distant relative was the Sir Henry with King Henry just because they have the same surname?
My Grandfather always used to love telling his war stories, and he knew his audience, one (of many) went roughly as follows.
At the start of WW2, like many other young men of his age, he was conscripted, given a uniform and a few months training and then he was deployed.
He was sent to the English Channel, to sit on a windy cliff with a pair of Bino's to watch for the potential invasion fleet.
Whilst this was fine, if boring, in the summer, in the winter it was unpleasant.
So after a couple of years he applied for a transfer.
At the time it was all kicking off in North Africa with Monty vs Rommel, with big advances and retreats by both sides, and he quite fancied a spell in the desert, and with a bit of luck time off in Cairo.
However instead of being sent to North Africa, he was posted to the East.
To be exact, Stalingrad, where the retreat started the day he arrived.
He always told the story to British people in such a way that they assumed he was with the Allied Army, it often took some people a while to realise who was fighting who at Stalingrad.
He ended up spending 6 months walking back to Germany, with the Soviets at his heels the entire way, and he kept heading west until he was eventually captured by British troops as they crossed the Rhein.
At the start of WW2, like many other young men of his age, he was conscripted, given a uniform and a few months training and then he was deployed.
He was sent to the English Channel, to sit on a windy cliff with a pair of Bino's to watch for the potential invasion fleet.
Whilst this was fine, if boring, in the summer, in the winter it was unpleasant.
So after a couple of years he applied for a transfer.
At the time it was all kicking off in North Africa with Monty vs Rommel, with big advances and retreats by both sides, and he quite fancied a spell in the desert, and with a bit of luck time off in Cairo.
However instead of being sent to North Africa, he was posted to the East.
To be exact, Stalingrad, where the retreat started the day he arrived.
He always told the story to British people in such a way that they assumed he was with the Allied Army, it often took some people a while to realise who was fighting who at Stalingrad.
He ended up spending 6 months walking back to Germany, with the Soviets at his heels the entire way, and he kept heading west until he was eventually captured by British troops as they crossed the Rhein.
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