Originally Posted by
Prangster
Hi Genghis you might like to look up the story of Jack Howard 20th Earl of Suffolk who had a short but interesting war. Amongst other things he ran a wholly civilian UXB group paying particular attention to new fuse types. His last words were 'bugger there's a third f,,,,,,,,,,'
Prior to his sad demise he smuggled 27 French nuclear scientists and their research archive along with 86kg of heavy
Real thread drift, but for people wanting to look him up in Wikipedia (worth it) his baptismal name was Charles Howard. Upper class men of his era tended to have nicknames of a confusing kind, but he actually seems to have been called "Mad Jack" for reasons that became increasingly obvious. 20th Earl of Suffolk. Went off to sail on a windjammer. Was asked to resign his commission in the Scots Guards because of his "wild behaviour," so went to the University of Edinburgh and got a first in Chemistry and Pharmacology, and was offered an Oxford research position in explosives and poisons. His private bomb disposal squad consisted of him, his chauffeur, and his (female) private secretary who took notes for him as he worked, and died with him in the explosion. Sometimes reality outdoes Dorothy Sayers (he was definitely a Sayers hero, not a Fleming one).