Cometh the hour

Some time ago Nike used David Beckham to promote a major football tournament – posters carried a dramatic profile with the slogan ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man’. The phrase has been a regular cliché in the sports writer’s canon, at least since 1948 when it was uttered by the England cricketer Cliff Gladwin after scrambling the winning single against South Africa – off his thigh! Beckham's tag line carried with it all the weight of expectation of the English, but launched with promotional dollars, bound up in marketing spin and ultimately without substance. Poor chap. But then he is just a footballer.

Beckham’s inability to carry that weight of expectation might be contrasted with the broad shoulders of General Sir Richard Dannatt, who was speaking recently at a Bible Society lecture. Sir Richard is the former head of the army, ex-chief of the general staff, who, in his calm and reasoning way reminded us of the military covenant between England and its army. It’s not something we civilians think about very often, but thankfully soldiers do.

This from the Ministry of Defence;

Soldiers will be called upon to make personal sacrifices - including the ultimate sacrifice - in the service of the Nation. In putting the needs of the nation and the Army before their own, they forgo some of the rights enjoyed by those outside the Armed Forces. In return, British soldiers must always be able to expect fair treatment, to be valued and respected as individuals, and that they (and their families) will be sustained and rewarded by commensurate terms and conditions of service. In the same way, the unique nature of military land operations means that the Army differs from all other institutions, and must be sustained and provided for accordingly by the nation. This mutual obligation forms the Military Covenant between the nation, the Army and each individual soldier; an unbreakable common bond of identity, loyalty and responsibility which has sustained the Army and its soldiers throughout its history.

Did the Labour politicians who sent our army to war in Iraq and Afghanistan understand this? Does the current administration, with its desire to downsize the army, understand this? I am not convinced.

General Dannatt's style appears to be cerebral but we must not forget that he is also a man of action. He was awarded the Military Cross as a platoon commander of just 22 years – he won the gallantry medal for "anti-terrorist operations", but is appropriately reticent about discussing it in public.

He is also, being a man of strong faith, concerned at the moral vacuum he sees at home that threatens our National life. The more I learn about him, the more I like him. Perhaps he makes a better role model than Beckham despite his years, his lack of hair and his quiet demeanour.

When so much is in flux in England, with its crises of faith, economics, and culture, is he the man - or, as seems more likely, one of the men - for this particular hour?

Lord of Thunder

“Duty is the great business of a sea officer; all private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be” wrote Nelson. You can’t help but feel the conviction of this statement. It speaks not to ones emotional being, or ones imagination, or even ones intellect. It speaks to ones very backbone!

I know it is terrifically popular to debunk anyone faintly heroic or famous, but the reassuring thing about Nelson is that his contemporaries knew his faults and still loved him. Whilst taking on board the fact that he was obsessed with glory and at times rather unpleasant to his wife, you have to feel the greatness of the man.

I was thinking about what to say to my children about Trafalgar and how to celebrate it. We are no longer at war with Spain or France so it’s not so much the victory that needs celebrating, but rather the spirit, intelligence and bravery of the Englishmen who delivered that victory.

On the 9th October, 1805, Nelson wrote his battle plan, aboard Victory, lying off Cadiz. He had a clear vision of his own abilities, and the abilities of his commanders, ships and men. He was keen to pursue his old strategy of going right at ‘em, but knew that chance played a significant part in any great endeavour.

The divisions of the British Fleet will be brought nearly within gun shot of the Enemy's Centre. The signal will most probably then be made for the Lee Line to bear up together, to set all their sails, even steering sails in order to get as quickly as possible to the Enemy's Line, and to cut through, beginning from the 12th Ship from the Enemy's Rear.

Something must be left to chance; nothing is sure in a Sea Fight beyond all others. Shot will carry away the masts and yards of friends as well as foes; but I look with confidence to a Victory before the Van of the Enemy could succour their Rear, and then that the British Fleet would most of them be ready to receive their twenty Sail of the Line, or to pursue them, should they endeavour to make off.

That tactical directness paid dividends for us as a nation, but… well we all know what happened on the 21st October.

Interestingly he signs his dispatches Nelson and Bronte. In 1799 Ferdinand, King of the Two Sicilies made Nelson Duke of Bronte in acknowledgement of his help in suppressing an uprising against Naples. I think there may yet be a fortress or ruin there called Castello Nelson.

Apparently he was rather proud of the title since it translates as Duke of Thunder – I am not sure if that is a sign of vanity? Perhaps it just made his mistress Emma Hamilton giggle with excitement - as it does my children.

Anyway. We talked about it in the end, my children and I, but did not celebrate. We will however go to church together on Sunday – 13th November. While we certainly remember the dead of two world wars, we might also think of all those men and women who have given their lives, down through the ages, to make this country free.

First time out

Well, you have to start somewhere - so here it is.

It occurs to me that it's worth laying before my fellow citizens a diary, by an Englishman, for English men and women.

I say Englishman because that is what I feel myself to be.

I do not feel very British (despite some Scottish ancestry), and certainly not European (despite my father’s profession of Huguenot roots), and my use of the name English does not deny that I share many things with my fellow men in countries near and far. In fact, far from it. Rather it expresses some of what binds me to my nearest neighbours and friends. It brings into sharp focus what we, my fellow Englishmen and I, share in terms of common personality and ancestry.

Incidentally our name is alleged to derive from a comment made by an early Pope at a slave market in Rome, who described a blonde, blue-eyed British slave as looking like an Angel – or Angle - from which England was arrived at via Alfred's Wessex-based Anglo-Saxons.

I am not entirely sure what we English are, other than a small beleaguered tribe surrounded by Celts and seawater, but in this diary I hope to remind myself, and others, of where we English have come from, what we have experienced, what we have achieved - and what we could yet accomplish with a little self-assurance and a following wind. We shall see how I fare - no doubt someone will tell me if I stray from this rather grand mission!