The Night Mail

[Compound2632]

7 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

He should have said "Britain...." rather than England. Large numbers of the crew were Welsh, Scottish and Irish.

 

I have heard it said that the battle of Waterloo was fought between Irish and Poles. Like all exaggerations, there's a grain of truth.

[TheQ]

4 hours ago, enz said:

 

Nelson may have got it right with "England" - how many at home in Ireland, for example, might  have quite liked it if the RN hadn't won?  OK, the crews probably would have preferred if their particular ship wasn't sunk, but to throw off the English overlords...

Except for a minority there wasn't the general anti Englishness in Ireland back then,  even up to Victoria's reign she was met by large cheering crowds even on her last visit in 1900... 

206,000 Irishmen volunteered for the British army in WW1. ( No conscription in Ireland in WW1 or 2

9 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I have heard it said that the battle of Waterloo was fought between Irish and Poles. Like all exaggerations, there's a grain of truth.

At Waterloo 30% of the British forces were irish (8500men) including The Duke of Wellington himself.

[bbishop]

These figures are very scruffy, but the Grand Army in 1812 comprised at least 40% Poles, Germans, Italians, Netherlanders, etc.  The exigencies of creating an army quickly in 1815 meant it was mostly French.

 

Wellington's Army, meanwhile, was about 50% Germans and Netherlanders, including many who fought for Napolean in 1812.  As the Q wrote, the British contingent was 30% Irish.

[jjb1970]

I still enjoy the old 1970's movie 'Waterloo', Christopher Plummer and Rod Steiger were tremendous in the two lead roles and the scale was truly epic. These days they'd probably represent the vast numbers involved using clever editing along with CGI but there's something more authentic feeling about borrowing the Soviet army.

[Oldddudders]

10 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

What did Nelson signal to the fleet?

"Napoleon ate my hamster"?

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

"Napoleon ate my hamster"?

 

Pedant alert: whilst it is undoubtedly true that Napoleon's troops, living off the land, would have eaten any domestic animal they could lay their hands on, hamsters were first kept as pets in the 1940s.

 

Moreover, it's unclear to me how any domestic animal of Nelson's would have come Napoleon's way.

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

hamsters were first kept as pets in the 1940s.

That is true of the Syrian hamster but European Hamsters have been in Europe for probably as long as humans. Not really pets though, 

[jjb1970]

I am quite I.pressed we have a discussion about use of flag signals in the RN and nobody has mentioned Ralph Seymour yet, the doyen of flag lieutenants🫣

Edited 2 hours ago by jjb1970

[Winslow Boy]

13 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

That is true of the Syrian hamster but European Hamsters have been in Europe for probably as long as humans. Not really pets though, 

I seem to recall that the Romans stuffed them and ate them off a stick - like a toffee apple. Baked hedgehog anyone?

[Tony_S]

1 minute ago, Winslow Boy said:

I seem to recall that the Romans stuffed them and ate them off a stick - like a toffee apple. Baked hedgehog anyone?

Wasn’t that’s the edible dormouse? A small colony live wild in Hertfordshire but aren’t left over from the Romans, these are a later introduction. Protected species, so you can’t just evict them from your loft. 
 

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

If you have to ask then....

Nah! It was a concept car (but enough enquiries and they might make it a production vehicle)

2 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I seem to recall that the Romans stuffed them and ate them off a stick - like a toffee apple. Baked hedgehog anyone?

That's Dormice WB, not hamsters. Stuffed Dormice were consider a luxurious treat (undoubtedly they ate hamsters as well).

 

FUN FACT: Humans, especially in the West, only eat a small fraction of what we can eat. This includes jellyfish, sea urchins, spiders (the big ones), snakes, cows, buffalo, ostrich, and kangaroo - amongst others. We can also eat humans - although most human cannibalism is ritual rather than for food. In some cultures it is a sign of love and respect for a departed loved one to eat part of them (granny burgers anyone?)

[Willie Whizz]

Supposedly the “England Expects …” bit was ordered as “Nelson confides …” (i.e. “is confident that …”), but it was changed. 
 

The signal was reported to have caused some offence in the Fleet; men saying to their officers:  “Duty?  Of course we’ll do our b****y duty, why doesn’t he trust us?”

 

‘England’ and ‘Britain’ were generally considered as synonymous both at home and abroad in those days, indeed as late as WWII the Germans were usually referring to their foe as ‘England’, and it is still quite common for foreigners to use that, even though the English themselves are politically correct enough nowadays for it to be less usual. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Willie Whizz

[jjb1970]

When I wax lyrical about Chinese and Vienamese tucker I must admit I tend to be thinking of the....ahem......less unusual dishes. 

[Dave Hunt]

This forum never ceases to amaze me. In one easy move it segues from naval flag messages to grilling small mammals on sticks - and that’s before lunchtime. And there are those who say that the entertainment industry is moribund.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

Oh, and now cannibalism is on the menu.

 

Dave

 

Sorry, that awful pun was unintentional, honest.

[Oldddudders]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The Nissan Hyper Punk all electric hybrid crossover.

I know I'm not the brightest, but I thought modern, whizzy cars were either hybrid, or all-electric, but not both?

[Tony_S]

8 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

This forum never ceases to amaze me.

I used to be on a forum in the early days of the interweb about keeping hamsters. 
Even further back in time I had a summer job that included counting rivets. These were special rivets for aeroplanes. I don’t think I have ever had anything to do with flags though

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I know I'm not the brightest, but I thought modern, whizzy cars were either hybrid, or all-electric, but not both?

It will be one or the other when they can’t find the space for the engine …

Edited 2 hours ago by Tony_S

[Hroth]

34 minutes ago, Willie Whizz said:

Supposedly the “England Expects …” bit was ordered as “Nelson confides …” (i.e. “is confident that …”), but it was changed. 
 

The signal was reported to have caused some offence in the Fleet; men saying to their officers:  “Duty?  Of course we’ll do our b****y duty, why doesn’t he trust us?”

 

‘England’ and ‘Britain’ were generally considered as synonymous both at home and abroad in those days, indeed as late as WWII the Germans were usually referring to their foe as ‘England’, and it is still quite common for foreigners to use that, even though the English themselves are politically correct enough nowadays for it to be less usual. 

 

Because "confides" had to be spelled out, flag by flag, while "expects" was a single flag word in the codebook.