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The Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators – 1885 Life & Death

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The Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators

 

Execution of the Lincoln conspirators, 1865

A century and a half ago on the  July 7th , 1865 — one of the last grim scenes in the tragedy of the Civil War was played out — and caught on camera — at what is now Fort McNair, in Southwest Washington.

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The Lincoln Conspirators
Mary E. Surratt — the first woman to be executed by the federal government — Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt and David Herold had been convicted by a military tribunal of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the murder of Lincoln.
John Wilkes Booth-portrait.jpg
John Wilkes Booth, assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

Booth had been killed 10 weeks earlier while trying to escape, after shooting Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre on April 14.

All the condemned were local Southern sympathizers implicated in the plans, first to kidnap Lincoln and later to kill him, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward.

 

Image result for Secretary of State William Seward.

Secretary of State William Seward.

Seward survived a brutal knife attack by Powell the night Lincoln was shot. Johnson escaped harm when Atzerodt lost his nerve and failed to execute his part of the operation.

Herold had helped Booth escape and was “the getaway guy,” as one expert put it.

And by most accounts, Surratt knew of the plot and abetted the plotters from her boarding house on H Street NW.

 

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The four were lined up — their arms handcuffed, their feet shackled — as an officer read the execution order and the photographer, Alexander Gardner, aimed two cameras from about 100 feet away.

Mary E. Surratt

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“to be hanged by the neck until he [or she] be dead”

 

Mary Surratt — Surratt owned a boarding house in Washington where the conspirators met. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government.

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Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt (1820 or May 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged and became the first woman executed by the US federal government. She maintained her innocence until her death, and the case against her was and is controversial. Surratt was the mother of John H. Surratt, Jr., who was later tried but was not convicted of involvement in the assassination.

Born in the 1820s, Surratt converted to Catholicism at a young age and remained a practicing Catholic for the rest of her life. She wed John Harrison Surratt in 1840 and had three children by him. An entrepreneur, John became the owner of a tavern, an inn, and a hotel. The Surratts were sympathetic to the Confederate States of America and often hosted fellow Confederate sympathizers at their tavern

See Here for more details:  Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt

 

The condemned Lincoln conspirators on the scaffold, 1865

Adjusting the ropes for hanging the conspirators. 

 

David Herold 

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David Herold — An impressionable and dull-witted pharmacy clerk, Herold accompanied Booth to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set Booth’s injured leg. The two men then continued their escape through Maryland and into Virginia, and Herold remained with Booth until the authorities cornered them in a barn. Herold surrendered but Booth was shot and died a few hours later.

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David Edgar Herold (June 16, 1842 – July 7, 1865) was an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincolnon April 14, 1865. After the shooting, Herold accompanied Booth to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set Booth’s injured leg. The two men then continued their escape through Maryland and into Virginia, and Herold remained with Booth until the authorities cornered them in a barn. Herold surrendered, but Booth was shot and died a few hours later. Herold was sentenced to death and hanged with three other conspirators at the Washington Arsenal, now known as Fort Lesley J. McNair

See here for more details: David Herold

Adjusting the ropes for hanging the conspirators. White cloth was used to bind their arms to their sides, and their ankles and thighs together.

White cloth was used to bind their arms to their sides, and their ankles and thighs together.

 

Lewis Powell

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Lewis Powell — Powell was a former Confederate prisoner of war. Tall and strong, he was recruited to provide the muscle for the kidnapping plot. When that plan failed, Booth assigned Powell to kill Secretary of State William Seward. He entered the Seward home and severely injured Seward, Seward’s son, and a bodyguard.

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Lewis Thornton Powell (April 22, 1844 – July 7, 1865), also known as Lewis Payne and Lewis Paine, was an American citizen who attempted to assassinate United States Secretary of State William H. Seward on April 14, 1865. He was a conspirator with John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln the same night.

Powell was a Confederate soldier wounded at Gettysburg. He later served in Mosby’s Rangers before working with the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland. He met Booth and was recruited into an unsuccessful plot to kidnap Lincoln. On April 14, 1865, Booth resolved to assassinate Lincoln, Seward, and Vice President Andrew Johnson.

Powell was given the task of killing Seward. He was assisted by David Herold, who guided Powell to Seward’s home and kept horses ready for the escape. Powell severely injured Seward, and Herold fled before Powell could exit the Seward home. Powell lost his way in the city, and three days later arrived at a boarding house run by Mary Surratt, mother of co-conspirator John Surratt. By chance, the police were searching the house at that moment, and arrested Powell. Powell and three others, including Mary Surratt, were sentenced to death by a military tribunal and were executed at the Washington Arsenal.

See here for more details : Lewis Powell 

Close-up: the death warrant for the four is being read aloud by General John F. Hartranft.

Close-up: The death warrant for the four is being read aloud by General John F. Hartranft.

 

George Azterodt

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George Azterodt — German-born Azterodt was a carriage painter and boatman who had secretly ferried Confederate spies across Southern Maryland waterways during the war. Recruited by Booth into the conspiracy, he was assigned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson, but lost his nerve and stayed in a hotel bar, drinking, instead.

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George Andrew Atzerodt (June 12, 1835 – July 7, 1865) was a conspirator, with John Wilkes Booth, in the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Assigned to assassinate U.S. Vice President Andrew Johnson, he lost his nerve and did not make an attempt. He was executed along with three other conspirators by hanging.

See here for more details:  George Azterodt

Close-up: A white bag was placed over the head of each prisoner after the noose was put in place.

Close-up: A white bag was placed over the head of each prisoner after the noose was put in place.

The conspirators stood on the drop for about 10 seconds, and then Captain Rath clapped his hands. Four soldiers knocked out the supports holding the drops in place, and the condemned fell.

The conspirators stood on the drop for about 10 seconds, and then Captain Rath clapped his hands. Four soldiers knocked out the supports holding the drops in place, and the condemned fell.

Close-up: The bodies continued to hang and swing for another 25 minutes before they were cut down.

Close-up: The bodies continued to hang and swing for another 25 minutes before they were cut down.

After last rites and shortly after 1:30 PM, the trap door was opened and all four fell. It was reported that Atzerodt yelled at this very last moment: “May we meet in another world”. Within minutes, they were all dead. The bodies continued to hang and swing for another 25 minutes before they were cut down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Necklacing – South African Justice?

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Winnie Madikizela-Mandela 

dies at 81 

Image result for bbc news Winnie Mandela

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Anti-apartheid campaigner dies at 81

Winnie Mandela raises her fist in a black power salute after announcing that a massive pop concert will be held to mark the 70th birthday of her husband in 1988

Mrs Madikizela-Mandela (pictured in 1988) became a symbol for the anti-apartheid movement in her own right

South African anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has died aged 81, her personal assistant says.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was the former wife of South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela.

The couple – famously pictured hand-in-hand as Mr Mandela walked free from prison after 27 years – were a symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle for nearly three decades.

However, in later years her reputation became tainted legally and politically.

Family spokesman Victor Dlamini said Mrs Mandela “succumbed peacefully in the early hours of Monday afternoon surrounded by her family and loved ones” following a long illness, which had seen her go in and out of hospital since the start of the year.

Retired archbishop and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu praised her as a “defining symbol of the struggle against apartheid”.

“Her courageous defiance was deeply inspirational to me, and to generations of activists,” he added.

See BBC News for full story

 

 

Necklacing

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South Africa

Necklacing is the practice of summary execution and torture carried out by forcing a rubber tire, filled with petrol, around a victim’s chest and arms, and setting it on fire. The victim may take up to 20 minutes to die, suffering severe burns in the process.

 

In South Africa

The practice appears to have begun in the Eastern Cape area of South Africa in the mid-1980s. One incident sometimes cited as the first recorded instance of necklacing took place in Uitenhage on 23 March 1985 when a group of people killed Benjamin Kinikini, a local councillor who was accused of having links to a vigilante group.

Kinikini and members of his family were dragged out of their house, stabbed to death, and their bodies set on fire.

Two of those judged to be the perpetrators, Wellington Mielies, 26, and Moses Jantjies, 23, were hanged on 1 September 1987.

But in this case the victims were killed by stabbing, and not by burning tires.

Something similar seems to have happened in the killing of Matthew Goniwe and his fellow anti-apartheid activists by the police in July 1985.

Necklacing was used by the black community to punish its members who were perceived as collaborators with the apartheid government.

These included black policemen, town councilors and others, as well as their relatives and associates. The practice was often carried out in the name of the African National Congress, although the ANC executive body condemned it.

In 1986 Winnie Mandela, then-wife of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela, stated

“With our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country”

 

which was widely seen as an explicit endorsement of necklacing, which at the time caused the ANC to distance itself from her,although she later took on a number of official positions within the party. The number of deaths per month in South Africa related to political unrest as a whole from 1992 through 1995 ranged from 54 to 605 and averaged 244.

These figures are inclusive of massacres as well as deaths not attributed to necklacing.

The first victim of necklacing, according to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was a young woman, Maki Skosana, on 20 July 1985.

Moloko said her sister was burned to death with a tire around her neck while attending the funeral of one of the youths. Her body had been scorched by fire and some broken pieces of glass had been inserted into her vagina, Moloko told the committee. Moloko added that a big rock had been thrown on her face after she had been killed.

 

Photojournalist Kevin Carter was the first to photograph a public execution by necklacing in South Africa in the mid-1980s. He later spoke of the images:

I was appalled at what they were doing. I was appalled at what I was doing. But then people started talking about those pictures… then I felt that maybe my actions hadn’t been at all bad. Being a witness to something this horrible wasn’t necessarily such a bad thing to do.

He went on to say:

After having seen so many necklacings on the news, it occurs to me that either many others were being performed (off camera as it were) and this was just the tip of the iceberg, or that the presence of the camera completed the last requirement, and acted as a catalyst in this terrible reaction.

The strong message that was being sent, was only meaningful if it were carried by the media. It was not more about the warning (others) than about causing one person pain. The question that haunts me is ‘would those people have been necklaced, if there was no media coverage?’

See Kevin Carter

Author Lynda Schuster writes,

‘Necklacing’ represented the worst of the excesses committed in the name of the uprising. This was a particularly gruesome form of mob justice, reserved for those thought to be government collaborators, informers and black policemen. The executioners would force a car tire over the head and around the arms of the suspect, drench it in petrol, and set it alight. Immobilized, the victim burned to death.

 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu once famously saved a near victim of necklacing when he rushed into a large gathered crowd and threw his arms around a man accused of being a police informant, who was about to be killed. Tutu’s actions, which were caught on film, caused the crowd to release the man.

Some commentators have noted that the practice of necklacing served to escalate the levels of violence during the township wars of the 1980s and early 1990s as security force members became brutalized and afraid that they might fall victim to the practice.

In other countries

This practice of lynching is found in Haiti. It was prominently used against supporters of Jean-Claude Duvalier‘s dictatorship at the beginning of the democratic transition, from 1986 to 1990.

In the early 1990s, university students in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire were plagued by burglars stealing from their dormitories. The students took matters into their own hands by capturing the alleged thieves, and then executed them by placing tires around their necks and setting the tires on fire. Ivorian police, powerless to stop these necklacings, could do nothing but stand by and watch

In 2006, at least one person died in Nigeria by necklacing in the deadly Muslim protests over satirical cartoon drawings of Muhammad.

The practice is widely used by drug dealers in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Southeast Region), where it’s called micro-ondas  (allusion to the microwave oven). Journalist Tim Lopes was a notable victim.

Necklacing was also widely used in the armed insurrection led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in Sri Lanka. A graphic description of one such necklacing appears in the book The Island of Blood by journalist Anita Pratap.

See Kevin Carter

 

 

Eugen Weidmann – The last public execution by Guillotine, 1939

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The Execution

of

Eugen Weidmann

Eugen Weidmann BirthFactxDeathCalendar Weidmann Eugen

by Guillotine

 

Eugen Weidmann
Eugène Weidmann IJ.jpg

 
Born February 5, 1908
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Died June 17, 1939 (aged 31)
Versailles, France
Occupation Career criminal
Criminal charge Conspiracy, kidnapping, fraud, robbery, murder, resisting arrest
Criminal penalty Death
Criminal status Executed by guillotine on June 17, 1939
Motive Personal gain

Eugen Weidmann (February 5, 1908 – June 17, 1939) was a German criminal and serial murderer who was executed by guillotine in France in June 1939, the last public execution in that country. (Executions by guillotine continued in private until Hamida Djandoubi‘s execution on September 10, 1977).

 

Early life

Weidmann was born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany to the family of an export businessman, and went to school there. He was sent to live with his grandparents at the outbreak of World War I; during this time he started stealing. Later in his twenties he served five years in Saarbrücken jail for robbery.

During his time in jail Weidmann met two men who would later become his partners in crime: Roger Million and Jean Blanc. After their release from jail, they decided to work together to kidnap rich tourists visiting France and steal their money. They rented a villa in Saint-Cloud, near Paris, for this purpose.

Kidnapping

Their first kidnap attempt ended in failure because their victim struggled too hard, forcing them to let him go. In July 1937, they made a second attempt, Weidmann having made the acquaintance of Jean De Koven, a 22-year-old New York City dancer visiting her aunt Ida Sackheim in Paris.

Impressed by the tall, handsome German, De Koven wrote to a friend:

“I have just met a charming German of keen intelligence who calls himself Siegfried. Perhaps I am going to another Wagnerian role – who knows? I am going to visit him tomorrow at his villa in a beautiful place near a famous mansion that Napoleon gave Josephine.”

 

During their meeting they smoked and “Siegfried” gave her a glass of milk. She took photos of him with her new camera (later found beside her body, the developed snapshots showing her killer).

Weidmann then strangled and buried her in the villa’s garden. She had 300 francs in cash and $430 in traveller’s cheques, which the group sent Million’s mistress, Colette Tricot, to cash. Sackheim received a letter demanding $500 for the return of her niece. De Koven’s brother Henry later came to France offering a 10,000 franc reward from his father Abraham for information about the young woman.

On September 1 of the same year, Weidmann hired a chauffeur named Joseph Couffy to drive him to the French Riviera where, in a forest outside Tours he shot him in the nape of the neck and stole his car and 2500 francs.

The next murder came on September 3, after Weidmann and Million lured Janine Keller, a private nurse, into a cave in the forest of Fontainebleau with a job offer.

There he killed her, again with a bullet to the nape of the neck, before robbing her of 1400 francs and her diamond ring. On October 16, Million and Weidmann arranged a meeting with a young theatrical producer named Roger LeBlond, promising to invest money in one of his shows. Instead, Weidmann shot him in the back of his head and took his wallet containing 5000 francs.

On November 22, Weidmann murdered and robbed Fritz Frommer, a young German he had met in jail. Frommer, a Jew, had been held there for his anti-Nazi views. Once again the victim was shot in the nape of the neck. His body was buried in the basement of the Saint-Cloud house where De Koven was interred. Five days later Weidmann committed his final murder. Raymond Lesobre, a real estate agent, was shot in the killer’s preferred fashion while showing him around a house in Saint-Cloud. Five thousand francs were taken from him.

Arrest

Officers from the Sûreté, led by a young inspector named Primborgne, eventually tracked Weidmann to the villa from a business card left at Lesobre’s office. Arriving at his home, Weidmann found two officers waiting for him. Inviting them in, he then turned and fired three times at them with a pistol. Although they were unarmed, the wounded Sûreté men managed to wrestle Weidmann down, knocking him unconscious with a hammer that happened to be nearby.

Weidmann was a highly co-operative prisoner, confessing to all his murders, including that of de Koven, the only one for which he expressed regret. He is reported to have said tearfully:

“She was gentle and unsuspecting … When I reached for her throat, she went down like a doll.”

 

The murder trial of Weidmann, Million, Blanc and Tricot in Versailles in March 1939 was the biggest since that of Henri Désiré Landru, the modern-day “Bluebeard“, 18 years earlier. One of Weidmann’s lawyers, Vincent de Moro-Giafferi, had indeed defended Landru. Also present was the French novelist Colette, who was engaged by Paris-Soir to write an essay on Weidmann.

Weidmann and Million received the death sentence while Blanc received a jail sentence of twenty months and Tricot was acquitted. Million’s sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

 

 

Execution

Eugen Weidmann Eugen Weidmann Photos 2 Murderpedia the encyclopedia

On June 17, 1939, Weidmann was beheaded outside the prison Saint-Pierre in Versailles. The “hysterical behaviour” by spectators was so scandalous that French president Albert Lebrun immediately banned all future public executions.

Unknown to authorities, film of the execution was shot from a private apartment adjacent to the prison. British actor Christopher Lee – who was 17 at the time – witnessed the event. He would later go on to play headsman Charles-Henri Sanson in a French TV drama about the French Revolution, in which his character made prolific use of the device.

Books about Eugen Weidmann

 

 

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The Guillotine

A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame in which a weighted and angled blade is raised to the top and suspended.

The condemned person is secured with stocks at the bottom of the frame, positioning the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, to quickly fall and forcefully decapitate the victim with a single, clean pass so that the head falls into a basket below.

 

Marie Antoinette‘s execution on 16 October 1793

 

Controversy

 

Retouched photo of the execution of Languille in 1905. Foreground figures were painted in over a real photo.

From its first use, there has been debate as to whether the guillotine always provided a swift death as Guillotin had hoped. With previous methods of execution intended to be painful, there was little concern about the level of suffering that they inflicted. Because the guillotine was invented specifically to be humane, the issue of pain and suffering was seriously considered.

Living Heads

 

languille-headless

Henri Languille

The question of consciousness following decapitation remained a topic of discussion during the guillotine’s use.

The following report was written by Dr. Beaurieux, who experimented with the head of a condemned prisoner by the name of Henri Languille, on 28 June 1905:

Here, then, is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds. This phenomenon has been remarked by all those finding themselves in the same conditions as myself for observing what happens after the severing of the neck …

 

I waited for several seconds. The spasmodic movements ceased. […] It was then that I called in a strong, sharp voice: “Languille!” I saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contractions – I insist advisedly on this peculiarity – but with an even movement, quite distinct and normal, such as happens in everyday life, with people awakened or torn from their thoughts.

 

Next Languille’s eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine and the pupils focused themselves. I was not, then, dealing with the sort of vague dull look without any expression, that can be observed any day in dying people to whom one speaks: I was dealing with undeniably living eyes which were looking at me. After several seconds, the eyelids closed again […].

 

It was at that point that I called out again and, once more, without any spasm, slowly, the eyelids lifted and undeniably living eyes fixed themselves on mine with perhaps even more penetration than the first time. Then there was a further closing of the eyelids, but now less complete. I attempted the effect of a third call; there was no further movement – and the eyes took on the glazed look which they have in the dead

 

See: here for more information

 

Lest We Forget! Keith Palmer – A brave Police Officer who died protecting us from an Islamic Madman!

Blog, Islamic Extremists,

Keith Palmer

Image result for Keith Palmer

Keith Palmer with wife Michelle

Keith Palmer, GM (1969 – 22 March 2017)

Keith Palmer, GM (1969 – 22 March 2017) was a British police officer who was posthumously awarded the George Medal, the second highest award for gallantry “not in the face of the enemy“.

Though unarmed, he stopped a knife wielding terrorist from entering the Palace of Westminster during the 2017 Westminster attack; he died from wounds he received in this attack.

He had worked for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) for 16 years, and had joined the MPS’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Group in April 2016

 

 

Keith Palmer
GM

 
Keith Palmer's funeral (003).jpg

 

The hearse carrying PC Keith Palmer’s coffin to his funeral
Born 1969
Died 22 March 2017 (aged 47–48)
New Palace Yard, Palace of Westminster, London, England
Awards George Medal (posthumously)
Police career
Department Metropolitan Police Service
Badge number 4157U
Country United Kingdom
Years of service 2001–2017
Rank Police Constable

Police Career

In November 2001, Palmer joined the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) as a police constable. From 2002 to 2009, he served in the London Borough of Bromley.

He then joined the Territorial Support Group, a grouping that specialises in public order and operates across Greater London. In 2015, he was nominated as “best thief taker” at the Commissioner’s Excellence Awards in recognition of making 150 arrests in twelve months.

In April 2016, he joined the MPS’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Group.

Westminster Attack

 

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See article: 2017 Westminster attack

On 22 March 2017, Palmer was in New Palace Yard guarding the Palace of Westminster.

 

Image result for Khalid Masood

At approximately 14:40, he was approached by Khalid Masood who was armed with two knives. Though unarmed, Palmer confronted Masood in an attempt to stop him. Masood fatally injured Palmer during this encounter.

 

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By confronting Masood, Palmer delayed him long enough for an armed policeman to arrive and shoot Masood dead.

Funeral

 

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Before the  funeral procession

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Palmer was granted the rare honour of lying in rest in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, Palace of Westminster; other recipients of this honour include Margaret Thatcher and Tony Benn. On 9 April 2017, his coffin was received into the chapel with a guard of honour of police officers.

A private service was then held for his family.

 Officers kept vigil next to the coffin overnight.

 

The following day, on 10 April, Palmer’s coffin travelled in procession to Southwark Cathedral. The route was 2.6-miles long and avoided Westminster Bridge where the terrorist attack had begun.

Instead, the procession crossed the Thames over Lambeth Bridge, during which a ten-second horn salute was given by boats on the river.

 Tens of thousands of people lined the streets, including 5,000 police officers.

 

The procession was fronted by a colour party carrying the Metropolitan Police Service Standard, who were followed by five mounted police officers. Then came the funeral conductor and chaplains (including Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Chaplain to the House of Commons) who were walking in front of the hearse.

The hearse carried Palmer’s coffin which was draped in the police flag, and there were “red and white floral tributes atop the hearse”;

these “spelled out ‘No 1 Daddy’, ‘husband’, ‘son’, ‘brother’, ‘uncle’ and ‘Keith'”.

Making up the rear were cars carrying his family, and four more mounted officers.

Palmer was given a full police funeral at Southwark Cathedral. It was attended by his family and friends, and a number of dignitaries including Cressida Dick, the newly appointed Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

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The hearse carrying Palmer’s coffin with ‘No 1 Daddy’ floral decoration. 

Dick read the poem Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden at the service which was her first public engagement since taking up the post. The address was given by Andrew Nunn, the Dean of Southwark.

Personal life

Palmer was married to his wife, Michelle. They have a daughter, who was aged five at the time of Palmer’s death.

Palmer was a supporter of Charlton Athletic F.C. and held a season ticket. The club honoured him by replacing his regular seat at The Valley stadium with “a white chair bearing his warrant number ‘P204752′”.

Honours

In the 2017 Birthday Honours, Palmer was awarded the George Medal (GM)

“for confronting an armed terrorist to protect others and Parliament”.

 

In recognition of his sacrifice, the Metropolitan Police Service retired his shoulder number (4157U) and stated that it would :

 

“not be reissued to any other officer”.

His name has been added to the National Police Officers Roll of Honour and Remembrance by the Police Roll of Honour Trust.

He was awarded the outstanding bravery of the year award at the 2018 Met Excellence Awards

 

George Medal

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Criteria

 

The medal is granted in recognition of “acts of great bravery”. The original warrant for the George Medal did not permit it to be awarded posthumously. This was changed in December 1977 to allow posthumous awards, several of which have been subsequently made.

The medal is primarily a civilian award, but it may be awarded to military personnel for gallant conduct that is not in the face of the enemy.

As the Warrant states:

The Medal is intended primarily for civilians and award in Our military services is to be confined to actions for which purely military Honours are not normally granted.

 

Bars are awarded to the GM in recognition of the performance of further acts of bravery meriting the award. In undress uniform or on occasions when the medal ribbon alone is worn, a silver rosette is worn on the ribbon to indicate each bar.

Recipients are entitled to the post-nominal letters GM.

The details of all awards to British and Commonwealth recipients are published in the London Gazette. Approximately 2,122 medals have been awarded since its inception in 1940.

See here for more details on:   The George Medal

 

 

 

My Strange Coincidences & Stephen Hawking’s Death

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My Strange Coincidences & Stephen Hawking’s Death

Science and Technology - Stephen Hawking
archive-640687

 

Do you believe in ESP or a sixth sense?

Throughout my life I have had many strange coincidences and they always amuse me and leave me feeling a little bit….well spooked.

  • Last week I  bought Stephen Hawking’s autobiography which I have been reading and on Tuesday night I started working on a blog post about the book and his life and he died on Wednesday morning.

 

The title caption has the similar "FRASIER" logo, black background, and line drawing of Downtown Seattle. Each episode has a different animated gag. The above gag from the pilot episode, "The Good Son", has a lit antenna spire at the observation tower, Space Needle, one of Seattle's landmarks.

  • A few weeks ago I started watching the TV show Frasier from the beginning of the series and chatting to my wife I mentioned  that I wondered  if they would ever get together for another show , as they were all still alive and a few days later John Mahoney , who played the dad Martin died.

 

  • A few months ago I was chatting to a friend about another friend we had known whilst living in London and had  lost contact with and how much we would like to reconnect with him. We had tried to find him via the usual channels on social media etc without any luck and as we didn’t know his address or contact details we hit a dead end. The very next day he sent me a message from Facebook , he’d be looking for me also.

 

  •   About ten years ago I was on holiday in Lanzarote with my family and the wife and I  met a couple from Preston whom we got talking to and hanged out with during the evenings in the bar. The husband was an electrician .When we return home to London I never give them another thought.  A few years later we moved up  north to Leyland , which is near Preston and we needed an electrician to do some work for us. So I called the first one I came across in the local directory and guess what? Yep , it was the guy who we’d met years before on holiday.

 

  • When I first moved to London I was looking for part time work and went to sign up to an agency that covered advertising and marketing which was what I was doing at the time. I was called into a room for an interview and the guy who interview me was called John Chambers , exactly the name as me.

I have loads of these and will  do a post about them at a later date.

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Well I never!

The most mind-boggling real-life coincidences revealed

 

As Dorothy Fletcher of Liverpool knows only too well, there are few worse places to have a heart attack than on a transatlantic flight – unless 15 of your fellow passengers are cardiologists on their way to a conference.Mrs Fletcher was flying from Manchester to Florida for her daughter’s wedding in November 2003 when disaster struck. The stewards put out an urgent appeal for any doctors on board to make themselves known.

“I couldn’t believe what happened,” Mrs Fletcher recalled.

“All these people came rushing down the aircraft towards me.”

The cardiologists were able to keep her stable while the plane was diverted to North Carolina and she even made it to the wedding.

Mould Magic

Alexander Fleming locked up his London lab one evening in September 1928 without bothering to do the dishes. When he returned a few days later and reluctantly began to tackle the toxic detritus of his failed experiments he noticed that one Petri dish containing a staphylococcus culture had begun to grow blue mould and that the mould had apparently killed any staphylococcus bacteria it had come into contact with.

Fleming conducted a series of experiments on this miraculous mould – presumably leaving his washing up to its own scientific endeavours – and determined that it was penicillium notatum, now commonly known as penicillin.

 

brad pitt

Brad Pitt damaged his Achilles tendon while playing Achilles in the film Troy

HOW UNFORTUNATE

Ticket to Hell

Choosing a holiday destination became the stuff of nightmares for Birmingham couple Jason and Jenny Cairns-Lawrence after they inexplicably witnessed three international terrorist atrocities over seven years.

In 2001 the couple were visiting New York when the Twin Towers were struck; they were in London for a few days in July 2005 when three Tube trains and a bus were bombed and they were in Mumbai in November 2008 when a coordinated shooting and bombing spree brought tragedy to the city.

In something of an understatement Mrs Cairns-Lawrence told reporters: “It’s a strange coincidence. The terror attacks just happened when we were in the cities.”

Mamma Mia!

Police in Bari, Italy, were able to apprehend a thief who had grabbed a woman’s handbag as he sped past on his motorbike after she gave them an exceptionally detailed description of him. It turned out she was his mother.

Catch a falling Star

In all of human history only one person is unlucky enough to have been struck by a meteorite. And while the laws of probability dictate that meteorites will generally fall into uninhabited areas such as deserts or oceans, this one landed on a woman who was snoozing on her sofa.

In November 1954 Ann Hodges was asleep in her lounge in Sylacauga, Alabama, when a chunk of space rock crashed through her ceiling and hit her, causing an enormous bruise on her thigh but leaving her otherwise unharmed.

“You have a better chance of getting hit by a tornado and a bolt of lightning and a hurricane all at the same time,” astronomer Michael Reynolds told National Geographic.

Method Acting

Brad Pitt went all out to get into character on the set of Troy (2004) but it was probably a performance he’d rather forget than win an Oscar for. During a particularly tricky fight scene against his enemy Hector, Pitt leapt and landed badly, tearing his Achilles tendon in the process and ruling out the filming of other fight scenes for weeks.

Apt, considering Pitt was portraying Achilles, the mythical Greek hero.

Impossible Title

Proving that no amount of international fame can counter the weight of public emotion, pop star Kylie Minogue felt compelled to make an expensive and time-consuming last-minute change to the title of her 1997 album following the death of Princess Diana in August of that year.

The rather unimaginative new title was Kylie Minogue – the original had been Impossible Princess.

 

jfk  

President John F Kennedy spookily ‘predicted’ his own death on the morning of his assassination

 

HISTORY REPEATING

Uneasy Rider

In July 1974, 17-year-old Neville Ebbin was riding his moped in Hamilton, Bermuda, when he was hit by a taxi and killed. One year later, his younger brother Erskine, now 17 himself, was killed in an identical accident.

That is, entirely identical: same moped, same road, same taxi, same taxi driver – and even the same taxi passenger.

See: The Expressed for more amazing coincidences 

If you have any stories regarding strange coincidences I’l love to hear about them

 

 

 

 

Grrr… Guess where I’ll be during the Royal Wedding in May ?

Blog, My Life, ,

Guess where I’ll be during the Royal Wedding?

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I’m fecking raging & I HATE WWE

The things we do for our children.

As a proud Protestant, Loyalist  die hard Royalist I love our Queen ( long may she reign) and senior members of the Royal family and I wear my British citizenship like a badge of honour for all the world to see.

Amen.

Growing up in Loyalist Belfast the Queen was the mother of our nation and as a child  I greeted the Queen every single morning whilst eating breakfast as she watched over me from pride of place above my grannies fireplace , alongside King Billy of course.

In fact we were such royalists that when the BBC use to end the night with the  National Anthem  we would all stand and salute our majesty and most clubs and pubs in loyalist Northern Ireland  ended the night with The Queen and god help you if you didn’t show proper respect. They still do.

Anyways I digress ,my 10 year old son  like millions of other kids around the globe  , is obsessed with WWE and spends ever spare moment watching it, reenacting it and boring me senseless with facts and figures about  his favorite WWE Superstars .

Snzzzzzzzzzz……………………………………………

But being a good father and trying to make sure he has the best childhood possible (mine was a living nightmare) I indulge him and  am often waylaid into four or five hour marathon viewings of the greatest WWE fights ever….snzzzzzz….

Anyways we got him tickets for Xmas and the wife and I will be travelling with him to Sheffield on the 18th of May for a two day stay and I’m going to miss the Royal Wedding. Grrr……

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Its the wife’s fault , I give her my card to book the tickets and told her to check and make sure it didn’t clash with anything , its the day after his SATs end and she got that part right , but she didn’t even consider the Royal Wedding & my Royalist Heart!.

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When I was a kid these guys dominated the sport & I loved to cuddle up with my dad on a Saturday afternoon and watch them do  battle.

The good old days.

British wrestling Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks

Anyone got any suggestion for a good place to eat out in Sheffield

Listening to Classic FM & working on my Book

Blog, My Life, , , , , , ,

Listening to Classic FM & working on my Book

(Which I need to get moving on)

classical fm

I know music is very subjective but I personally love Classical Music and often have it on in the background when I’m working on something that requires my total concentration.

This is not a normal or easy state of mind for me and to be frank it sometimes takes me a while to get into the flow – as I love to procrastinate. But Classical Music seems to have a magical switch that when turned on focus’s  my mind completely.

For a little while at least………..

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Me when I was young & cool. And yes I am the one with shades on!!

I have a very diverse taste in ,music and can listen to almost anything , apart from heavy metal ( sorry guys)  and as a teenage Mod I worshiped the Mod bands of the 60’s & The Jam provided the  soundtrack to my teenage odyssey , which  was full of angst and exploration of the body and the mind. The drugs give me glimpses of a fleeting utopia and the music fed my soul.

 

 

For all the effects music is thought to have on the brain, classical music seems to fall in a gray area. … The results showed listening to classical music enhanced activity of genes involved in dopamine secretion (the feel good hormone), and “transport synaptic function, learning and memory.”

 

The Jam – Thick as Thieves :

One of my favorite tunes of all time. The  words speak to my soul.

 

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I’m the one in the shades in case you wondering

See:  Mod days & getting stoned with Paul Weller

Classic FM. radio

I have progressive lung disease & I need to stop smoking. NOW!!!!

Blog, My Life,

NO SMOKING

 

If you see me smoking please give me a slap!!!

I’ve been to the hospital for a check up & the news ain’t good .Unless I stop smoking soon I know I am hurtling towards an early, painful death & I can’t do that to my wife , children , cats and goldfish.

I consider myself an intelligent person and am normally very good at tackling problems like addiction and/or bad and unhealthy habits , but for some reason , no matter how hard I try I can’t quit smoking and its driving me up the wall and unless I get on top of it I know it won’t end well.

Dad & Me 

The  thing is my dad died at the very young age of thirty nine  from lung cancer & as a ten year old child this hit me like a sledge hammer and I have never fully recovered from his death and never will. A part of me died with him that day and although I’m now relatively happy and married with a wonderful wife and children I can never be 100% happy because of the absence of the man whom my childhood world revolved around  and I still miss him every single day.

And I don’t want my own children and family to go through the soul destroying agony of me dying young and the never ending emptiness of  not having me to share their future lives.

At the time I hated everything to do with smoking and made a promise to myself that I would never smoke  and I didn’t actually start smoking until I was  in my late teens and this was because some of my friends use to smoke a wee bit of weed now and then and I found it relaxed me and saw no harm in it.

Gradually I stopped smoking weed and this was replaced with fags.

I have always had an addictive personality and  slowly , almost without noticing , I became a smoker  and before I knew it I was smoking 20/30 a day and hating myself for my lack of will power and the unseen long term damage I knew I was doing to my already fragile health.

I now have a multitude of complex medical conditions , many of these smoking related and its time I took control and kicked the habit for good and started looking after myself and thinking about how my smoking  effects those closes to me & my family as a whole.

 

So , if you see me smoking please slap me!!!

Thank you Sir Walter Raleigh

 

Dad’s Death

Extracts from Belfast Child

Chapter Six

Dad’s Death

 

 It was around 1976 that it first came to my attention that dad was ill and he was getting sicker and weaker by the day. He had always been a heavy drinker and smoker, but this was normal where we lived and we never really thought anything about it or the health implications these habits would have on him. One day when dad was supposed to be working I got home from school and found Margaret, Jean and some of their friend’s standing outside the front door. When I asked them what they were doing they said that had arrived home from school and on entering the house had heard a strange noise coming from upstairs and they had fled the house.

Trying to act all brave in from of my sisters I causally moved into the house, making sure I left the front door open, in case I had to make a quick getaway. After a nervous look downstairs and not finding anything, I began to make my way slowly up the stairs. As I got to the top I became aware of a deep rasping sound growing louder and louder that stopped me in my tracks. I’d seen enough of Dr. Who to know the sound I heard wasn’t coming from a human and I flew down the stairs and out of the house as fast as my legs could carry me. When the girls finally caught up with me I confirmed that I had indeed heard the sounds and I thought it might be one of those monsters from Dr.Who. The others looked rightly shocked at my analysis of the situation and it was decided that we would call the police. Christine Russell’s mum was the only neighbour we knew who had a phone and while Margaret and the other’s went to make the call, David and I made our way back to the house, making sure we kept a safe distance between us and the front door.

Word quickly spread around the estate that we had one of those monsters from Dr. Who hiding upstairs and before long large crowds began to gather, in the hope of seeing some action. When the police arrived they asked a few questions before entering the house and slowly making their way up the stairs. Whilst we were all waiting about outside to see what happened, Granny arrived and after a quick chat with a neighbour she made her way into the house with the police up stairs. After a while Granny came out with one of the policemen and explained to us that it was dad in the house, that he was sick and would have to go to hospital. In the distance we could hear the sound of an ambulance rushing towards us and suddenly it wasn’t funny or exciting anymore. I watched with the others as dad was stretchered out and placed in the ambulance and taken to the hospital. By the time everyone had cleared, Aunty Anne, dads younger sister arrived and explained to us that dad was going to be ok, but he would have to stay in hospital for a few days and she would be staying with us whilst he was away.

Being so young I don’t think I fully understood the magnitude of the situation and as usual I just ignored the situation that was going on around me and got on with my life. After that first time, dad was in and out of hospital all the time and gradually he became more and more ill. I remember many evenings at home, dad would take these horrible, agonising fits and one of us would have to run to Christine Russell’s house to call an ambulance. This became almost natural to us, but it was always distressing to see dad suffering so much and be unable to do anything to help.

Gradually we all began to realize that dad was very ill, although none of us wanted to accept or believe that he might die. I had already “lost” my mother and surely God wouldn’t take my dad away also? Once when he was in hospital Margaret decided that we would all do up the garden for dad and plant some rose bushes. We all went to work and by the time dad got out of hospital, the garden was looking great and dad was really impressed with our efforts and monitored the progress of the rose bushes with us. I remember the last time Granny took me up to the hospital to visit dad, I was really shocked and upset at how bad he looked. He was thin as a rake and I remember the watch he had worn all the time on his wrist had slide all the way up his arm to his elbow.

I’ve still got that watch, but I’ve never been able to wear it and every time I look at it I see dad in hospital, all skin and bones and at deaths door.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, I was too young to understand the seriousness of how ill dad was, this was the last time that I would see my dad alive.

I wish I had told him how much I loved him and told him how much the others and I would miss him, how much we needed him and didn’t want him to die.

When I got home I went straight to my room and begged God to save my dad and not take him away from us. But as usual God wasn’t listening and fate was once again messing with my destiny and making my young life a misery.

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One day when we got home from school, Aunty Anne was waiting for us and told us that dad had been taken to hospital again, but he should be home in a few days. The day he was suppose to come home arrived and we all busied ourselves tidying up and making the place as nice as possible for him. Someone had told us that dad would be home around three o’clock and when the time came we all went down and stood on the main road watching for the car that would bring him home. Three o’clock came and went, then four and by 5 o’clock we were all getting bored waiting around. Eventually a car did approach us and pulled up, but our relief turned to panic when we realised that only Granny and Granddad were in the back. As they got out it was obvious that Granny was very upset and had been crying. Granddad told us he was taking her home and for us to wait indoors and they would come to see us in a while.

Dad never did come home.

Later that night Granny and Granddad gathered us all in the front room and through tears told us that dad wouldn’t be coming home. She explained to us that dad had died and was now in heaven watching over us. From the moment I heard the news I was distraught with grief and numb to everything going on around me. Dad had been the one stable thing in our lives since mum had left and now we were being told that he had died and we would never see him again.

The pain was almost too much to bear and I kept praying to myself that somehow there had been a terrible mistake and dad was going to walk through the door at any minute. But the brutal truth of the matter was that I wasn’t dreaming and once again fate and chance had entered my life and left a trail of misery and destruction in their wake.

The week of the funeral was the worst and longest of my live and to this day I am still trying to come to terms with dad’s death and the consequences it had on all our lives. After the autopsy dad’s body was brought home and laid to rest in Granny’s front room. Endless people came to pay their last respects and the sound of crying drifted constantly through the house, reminding me of my huge lose. Since the moments dad’s coffin was laid out in the front room, Shep curled up underneath and didn’t move the whole time it was in the house, apart from going for a pee. It was almost as if he was guarding dad’s body and at night when we were sleeping upstairs in Granny’s room, we could hear him whinging softly to himself, as he kept his 24 hour vigil. On the second night we were all brought in to see dad and as I stood over the coffin, looking into his lifeless face, I was praying and willing for him to move and for me to wake up from this horrible nightmare. I don’t know how long I stood looking down at him, but I was completely numb with pain and vaguely remember breaking down in tears and someone leading me away from the room.

When the day of the funeral finally arrived Granny got us all up early and dressed us in new clothes she had brought us for the funeral. I still remember the green and silver dogtooth blazer I wore that day as if it was yesterday and how I hated that jacket. After the coffin had been removed from the house we made our way to the church and I remember being surprised that there were so many people making their way to the church and the main road to see dad off. In the church we took our seats in front of the coffin and suddenly Granny absolutely lost it and threw herself over the coffin, screaming and crying for her baby son. It was really heartbreaking to see Granny suffer like that, but I was so numb with grief that it hardly registered at the time. It had been decided that dad’s band would all attend the funeral and when they stood up and played Amazing Grace it seemed as if everyone in the church was crying. When the service ended dad’s brothers and close family and friends lifted the coffin onto their shoulders and carried dad out of the church and unto the main road, for his final journey. Dads younger, Uncle Sam had been let out of jail for the funeral and his guards respectively give him the freedom to carry dad’s coffin. As the cortege made its way down the Glencairn Road, David and I fell in behind it and we followed the coffin down the Forthriver Road.

Dad had been such an integral part of the community that the whole of Glencairn came out that day to see him off and people lined the whole route all the way out of the estate. I don’t remember much about the graveyard, apart from the fact that it was a beautiful day and I could hear birds singing against the background of people crying. After the burial everyone headed back to Granny’s house for the wake and I remember wishing that I was at home in bed and alone with my broken heart, instead of being surrounded by people talking about dad and the happy memories he had left behind. It was the longest night of my life, with various people coming and going all the time and although they might have been trying to be kind to us, I just wished they would all go home and leave me alone, so I could go to bed and try to begin and comprehend dad’s death and life without him.

Eventually Aunty Anne gathered us all up and brought us home, to our own empty house and eventually got us into bed. I still remember lying there in the dark and thinking over and over again:

Why?

Why you dad?

Why, why, why?

Surely if there really was a God, what possible reason would he have to let this happen to us.

Why would he let this happen to us, after everything else we had been through? I lay awake for hours tortured by the reality of what had happened and what the future now held for us without dad to protect us and mum being a distant memory.

Eventually I feel asleep from exhaustion and had a dream about dad that I was to have for many years after his death .In the dream I’m asleep in my bed and am woken up by the sound of dad gently calling my name. I begin searching the whole house for him and finally I realise that the voice is coming from the attic. When I get half way up the ladder, dads arm reaches down and helps me the rest of the way up. In the loft I notice that dads got a camp bed, a gas oven, kettle and it looks as if he has been here for some time. I ask him what he’s doing and tell him that I thought he was dead and I feel really happy now I know that he’s alive and well and still with us. Dad sits and talks to me for ages and when I ask him to come down and see the others he says he’s hiding and I have to keep it a secret from the others. The dream always ends with me crying hysterically for dad to come down from the loft with me and him reassuring me that everything would be ok. I would always wake up crying and upset and glace through the darkness towards the loft in the hallway, wishing the dream had been real.

The day after the funeral the reality of the situation hit all and we all dealt with our grief privately. Now that dad was dead there was the immediate problem of what was going to happen to us and where we were going to live. Aunty Ann had moved into the house and we all waited apprehensively to see what would happen to us. I remember thinking about mum and wishing she was there to pick up the piece and sooth our agony over dads death. Due to the fact that we were now orphans the social services got involved with the case and there was talk of us all going into a home. When we heard this we all prayed that it would never happen and in our childish innocence we hoped that they would let Margaret look after us, so we could all stay together.

This was never a realistic options as Margaret was only thirteen at the time and legally too young to look after us. Although we were all grief stricken at dad’s death, we really wanted to remain together as a family and we let Granny know this. Granny and the family pulled together and fought tooth and nail for the social services not to take us away from them and finally our future was decided. We were to be split up among the family in Glencairn. At least this meant we would still be living close together. Because Margaret was the oldest and closer to Granny and Granddad, she and David would go to live with them. Jean would go to live with dad’s brother Uncle Jim, his wife Maureen and my cousin’s Denise, Karen and Stephen, otherwise known as Pickle, at the top of the estate. I was going to live with Uncle Sam, Aunt Gerry (who was Maureen’s younger sister) and their children Wee Sam, Linda, Mandy and Joanne, on the Forthriver road. It was not a perfect solution and although we were all really upset that we were to be split up, at least we would all be living with members of the family and would see each other on a daily basis.

I was only 11 years old at the time and like the others had suffered a terrible life at the hands of fate and destiny, but there was one more tragedy just around the corner for me to deal with. Because I was so close to Shep, it was decided that he would come and live with me in Uncle Sam’s house. Since dad’s death Shep had refused to eat or drink and two weeks after the funeral he died one night in his sleep. The vet said that he had died of a broken heart and no one doubted this. There was so much misery in my life that I was almost to numb to mourn Shep’s death at the time. Beside’s I felt like I was also dying from a broken heart and I didn’t care whether I lived or died. I was 11 years old and I had lost the will to live.

See home page for first eight chapters of my autobiography

 

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Please come back soon for additional chapters or visit my blog -you might find something of interest.

 

 

Irish Adventurer Ian McKeever – Life & Death

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Ian McKeever

Adventurer 

 

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Ian McKeever

I’m reading Enda McNulty’s Commit!:  Make Your Mind and Body Stronger and Unlock Your Full Potential  ( review to follow & no I don’t like/follow Gaelic football ) and among the many gems of helpful and inspirational suggestions/stories  is how he helped  Ian McKeever prepare  mentally and physically for the Seven Summits Challenge and the program he put together helping Ian  get ready for this  mammoth undertaking. Ian’s commitment & determination struck  a cord with me & I was saddened to learn of his tragically young death and the almost unbelievable bad luck that ended his life.

 

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Enda McNulty

 

Ian McKeever

– Life & Death –

 

Ian McKeever (13 February 1970 – 2 January 2013) was an Irish mountaineer, broadcaster, and motivational speaker. He once held the world record for the fastest completion of the Seven Summits challenge, completing the Messner and Bass lists in a record 156 days. He was killed by a lightning strike on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Ian McKeever

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Born 13 February 1970
Ireland
Died 2 January 2013 (aged 42)
Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Cause of death lightning strike
Spouse(s) Anna O’Loughlin (fiancée)

 

Career

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McKeever studied social sciences at University College Dublin (UCD). He was a traffic announcer on AA Roadwatch in Ireland for many years before becoming a mountaineer. He also worked in public relations.

 In his later years McKeever founded the Kilimanjaro Achievers Organisation, and through this led many expeditions to Mount Kilimanjaro for Irish secondary school students. He led an average of around 10 climbs per year, and maintained a 100% success rate regarding his groups reaching the summit.

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Achievements

 

In 2004, McKeever set the Five Peaks Challenge world record, climbing and descending all five peaks in 16 hours 16 minutes. He climbed the 26 peaks of the island of Ireland in 98 hours in 2006.

McKeever broke the world record for the Seven Summits Challenge in 2007, climbing the highest summit on each of the seven continents in 155 days, 32 less than the previous record. In 2008, he helped his 10-year-old godson Sean McSharry become the youngest person in Europe to reach the top of Kilimanjaro.

McKeever was part of a team that attempted to row the South Atlantic Ocean in under 30 days in 2009. Members of this crew included Leven Brown, Livar Nysted, and Breffny Morgan. After 11 days at sea, and 1003 miles covered, the boat lost its rudder and they were forced to postpone the attempt.

When McKeever turned 40 in 2009, he set himself the challenge of beating Eamonn Coghlan‘s four-minute mile for a person over 40. His mile dropped from 7 minutes to 4 minutes 20 seconds in 22 months of training.

McKeever set a new record for the most climbs of Croagh Patrick in 2011, when he made 35 summits in 80 climbing hours.

Death

On 2 January 2013 McKeever was struck by lightning and died while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He was on the third day of the climb and had experienced torrential rain for the duration. The group was due to pass the mountain’s famous Lava Tower on that day. During the lightning strike his fiancée was injured, although not seriously.

McKeever’s family confirmed his death with a late night Facebook posting.Climbing experts described the nature of his death as extremely rare.

 McKeever updated his website regularly during his final expedition, with his last posting, stating:

Torrential rain all day. Spirits remain good even if drying clothes is proving impossible. We pray for dryer weather tomorrow – the big day.

 

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Proclamation of accession of Queen Elizabeth II – Long May She Reign

Blog, History,

1952:

New Queen proclaimed for UK

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The Royal Cypher of Queen Elizabeth II, surmounted by St Edward’s Crown

Princess Elizabeth has formally proclaimed herself Queen and Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith.

Lords of the Council – numbering 150 – representatives from the Commonwealth, officials from the City of London – including the Lord Mayor – and other dignitaries witnessed the accession of the deceased king’s eldest daughter this morning.

The new monarch read an official Proclamation – also ordered to be published – declaring her reign as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second.

I shall always work to advance the happiness and prosperity of my peoples

Queen Elizabeth II read:

“By the sudden death of my dear father I am called to assume the duties and responsibilities of sovereignty.”

“My heart is too full for me to say more to you today than I shall always work, as my father did throughout his reign, to advance the happiness and prosperity of my peoples, spread as they are all the world over.”

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Her husband, Prince Philip of Greece, the Duke of Edinburgh, was also present at the 20 minute meeting at St James’s Palace.

The couple returned to the UK yesterday after cutting short a tour of the Commonwealth – beginning in Kenya a week ago – because of King George VI’s sudden death on 6 February.

After the Accession Declaration, at 1000 GMT, the new Queen held her first Privy Council meeting and her Proclamation was signed by the Lord Chancellor, the prime minister, and many other privy counsellors along with representatives of the Commonwealth and the City and the Lord Mayor of London.

During the ceremonies the 25-year-old Queen also took an oath to assure the security of the Church of Scotland and approved several other Orders in Council.

Other dignitaries formally announced the new sovereign across the UK and Commonwealth.

In a statement this evening the Home Secretary, Sir David Fyfe, asked the nation for two minutes’ silence on 15 February when the late King will be buried at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

 

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Proclamation of accession of Queen Elizabeth II

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Queen Elizabeth II was proclaimed sovereign throughout her realms after her father, King George VI, died in the night between 5 and 6 February 1952, while Elizabeth was in Kenya. Proclamations were made in different realms on 6, 7, 8, and 11 February (depending on geographic location and time zone). The line of succession was identical in all the Commonwealth realms, but the royal title as proclaimed was not the same in all of them:

Australia

The proclamation of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the Australian throne being read at Queensland’s Government House by Governor Sir John Lavarack

The Governor-General of Australia, Sir William McKell, issued the proclamation of Elizabeth’s accession as Queen of Australia. On Friday, 8 February It was read from the steps of Parliament House as follows:

WHEREAS it hath pleased Almighty God to call to His Mercy Our Late Sovereign Lord, King George the Sixth, of blessed and glorious memory, by whose decease the Crown is solely and rightfully come to the High and Mighty Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary: We, therefore, Sir William John McKell, The Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Commonwealth of Australia and members of the Federal Executive Council do now hereby, with one voice and consent of tongue and heart, publish and proclaim that the High and Mighty Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary is now, by the death of our late Sovereign of happy memory, become Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of this realm and of all her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, Supreme Liege Lady in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, to whom her lieges do acknowledge all faith and constant obedience, with hearty and humble affection: Beseeching God, by whom Kings and Queens do reign, to bless the Royal Princess Elizabeth the Second with long and happy years to reign over us.

Given at Canberra this seventh day of February in the Year of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and fifty two, and in the first year of Her Majesty’ s reign. God Save the Queen

Canada…

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