"Mad Mitch".

I vividly remember the picture that appeared in the press at the time of him marching into Aden with the pipers just behind him.

Think he went in with 12 pipers and then locked the place down...in another era, could probably have been a Napoleon type figure.

The bank became the centre of command...had snipers on the roof...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orde_Wingate#mediaviewer/File:Orde_Wingate_Ethiopia.jpg

Orde Wingate...?? OR ?? OR AND

Wasn't he in Angola on the early 70s?

in, not on... ffs

Well, he worked as a "military advisor" after he left the army so it's very possible. Think he also helped train the Mujaheddin when the Soviet Union invaded...?

Quite funny that, when Carlos the Jackal gives interviews, he raves about the British army and British diplomats, saying how much he admires them...

the guy was a nutjob.

Mine clearance, Sofia...he eventually regretted the "mad" image, etc...he walked over 100 miles through Afghanistan and Pakistan, studying the landscape and how best to clear mines. He was a pioneer re. mine clearance.


What about Lawrence of Arabia - you could say he was a nutjob too...or Orde Wingate and plenty of others...General Gordon...US General Patton...in war, you need guys like that.

detached from reality/normality=nutter

plenty blood on his hands .

Ever read Men At Arms by Evelyn Waugh? One of the characters, Ben Richie-Hook, is one of those ferocious military mavericks.

It's well done, because there's an undertone of loneliness and sadness behind the image.

No, haven't read it - that is GOLD...sounds good. Ta, Screaming.

Sofia - how do you define reality / normality? For a start, you could say that soldiers at war is not a "normal" business - that sea of poppies at the Tower of London ; is that "normal" ?

speaking of Aden, as a youngster on a summer job I worked with an ex marine who'd fought in the Radfan. A real hard case geordie he would happily tell me stories about his days as a "cheese-wire man" in 45 Commando.
One of his tales concerned bringing back the head of an SAS man who'd been captured & decapitated by the tribesmen. Something he said, iirc that was mentioned in Parliament at the time.

Was that Michael, the porter at the Linton Travel Tavern?

haha no

If you read Men At Arms, Velasquez, you may find yourself wanting to complete the Sword Of Honour trilogy (Officers And Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender). Richie Hook turns up again, in Yugoslavia among the quarrelling partisans, in the last book.

Without giving away what happens, it's made clear that the motivation for these ferocious, fearless and unprincipled warriors is fighting as an end in itself rather than for any particular cause. Richie-Hook doesn't have really much else in his life on which to fall back.

Mad Mitch ~ born and raised in London

Both his parents were Scottish, a fact which gave him great pride in all things Scottish.
As an aside I always bet Ypres, no matter it's odds, because of the connection.