Bart Cavanaugh | Benedict Allbright | Camille de Millemont | Elias Green | Ellie Anne Swan | Esteban Cortez | Herman Zizendorf | Joaquin Arroyo | Joshua Brown | Lindsey Wofford | Mark Johnson | Marshall Thurwell | Nathan Kirk | Otis Skinner | Ramón Cortez | Robbie Laidlaw | Shane Finley | Wilson J. McDaniels Slim’s revitalisation of the Army had proved him to be a general of administrative genius’ argues the historian Duncan Anderson: ‘his conduct of the Burma retreat, the first and second Arakan, and Imphal-Kohima, had shown him to be a brilliant defensive general; and now, the Mandalay-Meiktila operation had placed him in the same class as Guderian, Manstein and Patton as an offensive commander.’ Mountbatten claimed that despite the reputation of others, such as the renowned self-publicist, Montgomery of Alamein, it was Slim who should rightly be regarded as the greatest British general of the Second World War. Slim’s failing was to deprecate any form of self-publicity believing, perhaps naively, that the sound of victory had a music all of its own. The ‘spin doctors’ of our own political generation have sadly taught us something Monty knew instinctively and exploited to his own advantage, namely that if you don’t blow your own trumpet no one else will. A number of the 'Big Wood stories' have since been uploaded onto the BFBS Radio Show Archive [7] by Juergen Boernig, who was BFBS's archivist in Germany, with the help of Bill Mitchell's former colleague and fellow radio presenter Richard 'Asters' Astbury, MBE.

Remembering a Giant: Uncle Bill - Aspects of History

Uncle is a reformed petty thief with a notable love for alcohol. He is notoriously lazy, both in the Van der Linde gang and while working on the Marston ranch, and often says that his supposed medical condition of "terminal lumbago" stops him from being able to work. Despite contributing occasionally to everyday tasks, Uncle is frequently belittled for being useless and inept, much to his chagrin. In his own way, Uncle can be viewed as seeking redemption from his life of petty crime by working at Beecher's Hope, and later losing his life to keep the Marston family safe. The stories were popular with children and adults alike. When interviewed by Dan van der Vat in 1975 for The Times, Bill Mitchell revealed that he had left England 26 years previously and felt that it had become "an alien land" to which he had no wish to return. However his stories paint a nostalgic picture of an England from bygone days and helped give listeners stationed abroad during the Cold War era a "morale-boosting link with home". [5] Urban myths and legends [ edit ]In " The Aftermath of Genesis," Uncle is seen drinking whiskey in the kitchen with Pearson after Charles Smith and Arthur Morgan return from a hunting trip. After a brief exchange of banter, Arthur shoos Uncle away. My second wife always used to describe me as "ageless", though... she did leave me for a younger man. Bill is well versed in various medical and pharmaceutical fields, as seen where he successfully created various performance-enhancing drugs to enhance the physical and mental abilities of his assassins. It's also been implied that Bill himself was also capable of creating various other drugs, such as a truth serum. John, after riding through the intense downpour from the storm, comes home at night to find Uncle has not returned from town, with the family assuming he has taken shelter from the storm. Later that night, while John and Abigail are in bed, Uncle bursts in, zombified, snarling and growling. As John tells Uncle "he don't look so good", Abigail sees Uncle's bloodied, torn-up appearance and yelps in horror, putting as much distance between her and Uncle as she can. Uncle slowly approaches John. John then grabs him by the throat and asks what's wrong with him, ending the situation by beating the now-undead Uncle over the head with the base of a nearby lamp.

Uncle Bill: The Authorised Biography of Field Marshal

Later on, Uncle is present for John and Abigail's wedding playing banjo. Despite Charles and Sadie subsequently departing Beecher's Hope for good, Uncle instead opts to stay at the ranch with the Marston family. Alan Grace This is the British Forces Network: The Story of Forces Broadcasting in Germany (1996) ISBN 0-7509-1105-0 p.107 Occasionally, Arthur may joke with Uncle about his age, to which Uncle laughs and replies with "I'll outlive you all"; this turns out to be true, due to him being the last member of the gang to die, just before the Marstons. Note: When Sebastian Cabot was written off the show for a few episodes, John Williams stepped in and did an equally credible job of playing Mr. French's brother. He is also present in the DLC Companion Activity "High and Low Finance," during which he assists Arthur and Charles in robbing the Bank of Rhodes.Clare Gibson Army Childhood: British Army Children's Lives and Times (2012) ISBN 978-0-74781-099-5 p.50