Who is This ? ? ?

[Uncle George]

11 hours ago, David Ridgus said:

Civilian or in the armed forces?

He was, inter alia, a Major General.

[Uncle George]

“ … A very tall, very fair man, a little bent, with a boxer’s flattened-out nose, an eye-glass as flat and not much rounder than his face, and a rather abrupt manner. A little distrait owing to great inner concentration … “

[David Ridgus]

Unfortunately the only Major General with a monocle I know of is Major General Stanley, and although he is the very model of a modern Major General, he is also fictional

David

[neverforget]

Wild guess: Sir John Stuart Mackenzie Shea?

[Uncle George]

20 minutes ago, neverforget said:

Wild guess: Sir John Stuart Mackenzie Shea?

No. “ … he simply demolished work, never forgot anything, knew everything, was quite impervious to the moods of his chief, [giving it away now] the accurate interpreter of his grunts and groans, and his most efficient if not outwardly brilliant second.”

[neverforget]

Frederick Maurice. 

[Uncle George]

8 minutes ago, neverforget said:

Frederick Maurice. 

Yes indeed. As described by Spears in his ‘Prelude to Victory’ (1939). Spears was a wonderful writer. Here he is on Maurice and Robertson: 

“This was the Director of Military Operations, General Maurice, Freddy Maurice to the army. He and his Chief invoked the idea of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza reversed, if it is possible to imagine a short and portly Knight of La Mancha followed by an elongated attendant.”

[Uncle George]

Sir Frederick Maurice. (Text from Spears. Image from here: https://www.prints-online.com/major-general-sir-frederick-barton-maurice-14155949.html

 

[Bob Davies]

On 19/04/2021 at 20:18, neverforget said:

Whom Am I Writing About.

Thanks for the explanation neverforget and UG, it took me a while. At first I thought is was Davids exclamation to the music by 'Albéric Magnard' from u tube. Cheers all!

[neverforget]

10 minutes ago, Bob Davies said:

Thanks for the explanation neverforget and UG, it took me a while. At first I thought is was Davids exclamation to the music by 'Albéric Magnard' from u tube. Cheers all!

Strictly speaking perhaps it should be "AWAIW" 

[David Ridgus]

But it was ‘Who Am I Writing About’ when we started it!

It only gets tricky if you make it ‘whom’.

David

[neverforget]

Here's one I found whilst searching for one of our recent candidates. That's your first clue.

[neverforget]

Just now, David Ridgus said:

But it was ‘Who Am I Writing About’ when we started it!

It only gets tricky if you make it ‘whom’.

David

That's true. In fact, I don't know where that quote of mine came from. Who am I writing about is grammatically correct in my book.

That said, so would AWAIW be, I think.

[neverforget]

2nd clue...Shakespeare. 

Edited 21 March , 2023 by neverforget

[Bob Davies]

Arnold Schoenburger?  he was a writer amongst other things....

[neverforget]

Just now, Bob Davies said:

Arnold Schoenburger?  he was a writer amongst other things....

No.

I'll be back....with another clue 

[Bob Davies]

Just now, neverforget said:

No.

I'll be back....with another clue 

Courtesy Wikipedia about Schoenburger I thought was quite amusing;

World War I brought a crisis in his development. Military service disrupted his life when at the age of 42 he was in the army. He was never able to work uninterrupted or over a period of time, and as a result he left many unfinished works and undeveloped "beginnings". On one occasion, a superior officer demanded to know if he was "this notorious Schoenberg, then"; Schoenberg replied: "Beg to report, sir, yes. Nobody wanted to be, someone had to be, so I let it be me"

[neverforget]

Pre war he was involved in an incident in Bedfordshire which led to a fatality. He was charged, but managed to "beat the rap".

He served in Gallipoli and the Western Front. Achieved the rank of Brigadier General, and post war went into intelligence. 

[Uncle George]

53 minutes ago, neverforget said:

Pre war he was involved in an incident in Bedfordshire which led to a fatality. He was charged, but managed to "beat the rap".

He served in Gallipoli and the Western Front. Achieved the rank of Brigadier General, and post war went into intelligence. 

Ormonde Winter. A fascinating man - I’d never heard of him before.

Edited 21 March , 2023 by Uncle George

[neverforget]

8 minutes ago, Uncle George said:

Ormonde Winter. A fascinating man - I’d never heard of him before.

That's him. The Shakespeare hint was in reference to his autobiography Winter's Tale, and yes, a very interesting character...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormonde_Winter

[David Ridgus]

2 hours ago, neverforget said:

That's him. The Shakespeare hint was in reference to his autobiography Winter's Tale, and yes, a very interesting character...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormonde_Winter

Well I have got out of practice at this. In fact I am further astern of station than Evans-Thomas at Jutland. And just like Evans-Thomas I was unable to read your signals.

I spent a very interesting, but utterly pointless half an hour looking for famous Shakespearean scholars who also fought in the war. I didn't find any but I did read an interesting article about how both America and Britain made a big play of the 300th Anniversary of his death in 1916 to counter the constant harping on of Germany about their 'Kultur'

As ever WIT leads you down byways you didn't know existed

David

[neverforget]

I've stumbled across countless interesting finds by going down the garden path so to speak, or the wrong road as it were. The last chap, Winter I found while looking into Generals with names connected to coolness or cold. He wasn't the one that solved the WIT, but it was another one I put in the bank for later. I've also learned so much I would never have dreamed of on "fruitless" searches. It's a marvellous thread.

[Fattyowls]

WiT?

[David Ridgus]

Well the eyes and the hair say Yeats, but the absence of specs and the mouth say not. Are we writing and fighting?

David

[Fattyowls]

1 minute ago, David Ridgus said:

Are we writing and fighting?

Just writing. Your exchange with NF put me in mind of a line of a poem, this being World Poetry Day and all. The line and the poem was inspired by a soldier poet.