Whipped Cream Difficulties

The other day, ASM826 posted an appreciation of “Zulu”. The Saturday Night Movie Group watched it not too long ago, and I believe we are all in agreement that it is a swell movie. (I recommend the 50th Anniversary bluray, which is available from Amazon at an eminently reasonable price. Yes, that is an affiliate link.)

I thought it might be fun to post some “Zulu” related history.

The British Museum has a YouTube channel.

“Rorke’s Drift to the British Museum: The story of Henry Hook”. Henry Hook was one of the men who received the Victoria Cross for valor in the face of the enemy as a result of his actions at Rorke’s Drift. You may remember Hook:

In the film Zulu, Hook is depicted as an insubordinate malingerer placed under arrest in the hospital, only to come good during the battle. However, Saul David writes in his book, Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879, that he was there as the hospital cook, subsequently as part of a small guard detail assigned to protect the patients. Saul David continues that far from the miscreant portrayed, Hook was actually a teetotaler, Methodist preacher and model soldier.

Bonus: “A tour of Rorke’s Drift”.

Bonus #2: this is a reading of a transcript of an interview with Frank Bourne. The man reading it is his grandson. There’s really no video to this, so you can put it on in the background while you work.

Bourne, who was now an NCO in B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot, helped organise the defence at the mission station and field hospital.

He received the Distinguished Conduct Medal (which, according to Wikipedia, was second only to the Victoria Cross at the time).

After Rorke’s Drift, Frank Bourne served in British India and Burma, being promoted to Quartermaster-Sergeant in 1884. He was commissioned in 1890. In 1893 he was appointed adjutant of the School of Musketry at Hythe, Kent, retiring from the army in 1907. During World War I, he rejoined and served as adjutant of the School of Musketry in Dublin. During this time he was responsible for training over 10,000 British and Irish sharpshooters. Some of these highly trained Irish infantry troops and snipers are thought to have utilised their specialised fighting skills to train local republican sympathisers after the war ended. These paramilitary and splinter groups would then form part of what is known today as the Irish Republican Army. At the end of the war, he was given the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel and appointed OBE.

Frank Bourne passed away on May 9, 1945 at the age of 90. He was the last survivor of Rorke’s Drift.

Bonus #3: “The Making of Zulu”.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020 at 2:00 pm and is filed under History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.