Nelson’s Link To Hawke
Edward Hawke was an admiral in the Royal Navy and is best known for his defeating of the French at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759, which probably ended any chance of a French invasion of Great Britain. Quiberon Bay was one of those naval battles like the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Trafalgar and Taranto, that have defined our history.
I had lunch with a friend yesterday and the subject of a artist called Edward Hawke Locker came up. He was called Edward Hawke, as his father, William Locker, was a protege of Admiral Hawke, who served with him in the Seven Years War. The Wikipedia entry for William says this.
Locker then moved to command the frigate HMS Thames, on the home station. He was her captain from 1770 until 1773. In 1777 he took command of HMS Lowestoffe, sailing her to the West Indies. During this period, one of his lieutenants was the newly promoted Horatio Nelson. Nelson, then barely nineteen, served with Locker for fifteen months. His experiences with Locker, and Locker’s teachings had a lasting effect on Nelson.
Twenty years later, on 9 February 1799, Nelson wrote to his old captain: “I have been your scholar; it is you who taught me to board a Frenchman by your conduct when in the Experiment; it is you who always told me ‘Lay a Frenchman close and you will beat him;’ and my only merit in my profession is being a good scholar. Our friendship will never end but with my life, but you have always been too partial to me.”
Note that Lowestoft is spelt how the locals tend to pronounce it. The article also goes on to elaborate on the connection between Locker and Nelson.
If there is a moral in this, it is that you should make sure you learn the lessons of history.
They’ve Got Blue Honey In France
This sounds a rather weird story and it’s all here on the BBC web site.
Perhaps the French bees have got the blues over Francois Hollande!
St. Pancras: Gem – Gare du Nord: Dump
The title is not my words, but those of the BBC’s respected correspondent, Hugh Schofield, in this piece, about the differences between Britain and France. This is a typical paragraph.
Now, I am not going to draw any too-facile comparison between France and Britain on the basis of a pair of 19th Century railway termini.
But I will say this – never in 16 years of living in France, and making pretty regular trips back and forth across the Channel, have I ever felt a greater disparity in national moods.
There’s a lot more in the same vein.
As ever with what Hugh Schofield writes, it is a good and thoughtful read.
French Tragedy
The French seem to be making a wonderful mess of the murders at Annecy. In The Times yesterday, they showed that the murder site was now covered in cows.
But it would appear that every theory and all the evidence has been freely distributed to the media, by the so-called police.
Yet again, the French police are living up to their reputation as some of the worst investigators in the world.
It does seem that this case is following all of the pattern of previous cases of British people murdered in France.
It would also seem that if you wanted to murder someone, France is the best place to do it, as you’ll never be found out.
Let’s hope that Scotland Yard can sort this one out and give the French the evidence.
The French Say Things Differently
The row about the bikes ridden by the British cyclists at the Olympics continues according to this in the Guardian.
The sprinter François Pervis, who had tweeted “la sodomie continue” (rough translation, “we got shafted again”) after Jason Kenny’s victory over Grégory Baugé in the match sprint final, said on Monday that he was certain the British were not using drugs, but that they had the edge on the equipment front. “I am sure they are clean but their kit …
So you now know how to say you’ve been shafted again in French.
Promenade des Anglais
This is the headline on the front page of The Times complete with a picture of Bradley Wiggins in yellow.
The Times for July 23rd, 2012
Not quite in the same vein as The Sun’s infamous “Hop Off You Frogs”, but it has a similar impact, especially as it is balanced by an article inside entitled “France hails its favourite Englishman” Even the French President, Francois Hollande is quoted in this article in the Telegraph.
French President François Hollande: “He is a complete rider. He is a good climber and a super time trialist. His team-mate (Chris Froome) is also very good, so if Wiggins had not won the Tour he would have been there. It was the British year.”
Even L’Equipe the French sporting newspaper, declares Wiggins’s victory to be like Miguel Indurain and used the heading of God Save the King as the link to their report of the last stage.
When was that phrase last used in a French newspaper?
So it is a victory to savour and I don’t think it will be unique within a few years. But now we’ve got the Olympics!
Will we see the Wiggins effect ripple through Team GB?
Where’s the Tour de France
On a day, when we’re going to win France’s most prestigious sporting trophy, where is the action?
Radio 5 has some golf and you can only get fleeting bits between the adverts on ITV4.
The Black Prince, Henry V, Hawke, Cochrane, Nelson, Wellington and John Churchill will all be spinning in their graves. I suspect too,that even the French won’t be very pleased, as I think they’d prefer to see France shown at its best to Les Anglais and also as they’ve rather taken to our Bradley. Perhaps we can all take a leaf out of his book and learn to speak better French.
Wiggins Plays The Gentleman
It’s not often that the Corinthian spirit shines through in modern sport, but when someone decided to throw tacks on the route of the Tour de France yesterday, Bradley Wiggins slowed the peloton to allow one of his rivals, Cadel Evans, to catch up. Read about it all here. Here’s an extract.
Race official Jean-Francois Pescheux confirmed: “The nails were mainly thrown on the ground around 200m from the summit.
“It was obviously done on purpose. We have the tacks but we don’t know who spread them. They are imbeciles.”
However, he was quick to praise the actions of Wiggins. “Sky showed they are for fair play,” he added. “They saw that something had happened and they slowed the peloton so that things could come together for the ride to the finish.”
Tour etiquette dictates that rivals do not take advantage of another rider’s misfortune and, as soon as he realised what was happening, Team Sky’s lead rider called for a truce.
“I thought it was the honourable thing to do,” said 32-year-old Wiggins who is aiming to become the first British rider to win the race. “Nobody wants to benefit from someone else’s misfortune.”
So in fact Wiggins was just following the etiquette. It’s a pity other sports don’t do the same.
There’s more on Wiggins here, who has now been hailed as Le Genteman by the Press.
The Queen Meets President Hollande Today
according to The Times, the Queen will meet President Hollande today for thirty minutes. They will meet without interpreters and it is expected that they will talk in French. Has there ever been a French queen, who spoke fluent English?
Later President Hollande will have a working lunch with David Cameron.
Note that Hollande’s name is always flagged up by the default spell check.
The Anonymous Widower 