Military ID cards

[DavyR]

Thanks for posting that, Emma - Kipling has had a bad press for years because the political left has seen him as an "evil imperialist". He was far more than that, as a lot of his verse proves.

 

Ironically, he seems to be more popular in the States these days than over here. Peter Bellamy, an English singer who died in 1991, set a lot of Kipling's verse to music. More recently, Leslie Fish (an American singer) has released two albums of her own settings of Kipling. The 12 string guitar style doesn't really suit the material, IMO.

 

I'm currently trying to redress the balance by setting some of his verse to traditional tunes.

 

Example here ("Brown Bess") if you're interested: http://www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=30947

[Emma two]

Very good Davy, thanks, I had no idea that anyone was doing this. I will try and find something by that other artist too.

 

I learned was encouraged to read Kipling, and to recite by heart at home, not at school. When I was serving it became my 'party piece' to recite the good rousing military ones after formal mess dinners, complete with theatricals.

 

My favourites,

 

Tommy (of course)

The young British soldier

Last of the light brigade

Gunga Din.

They're Hanging Danny Deever[ in the morning/i]

Edited February 6, 2009 by Emma two

[Alan Stubbs]

This is a non-issue. A pub manager is given a list of acceptable age ID by his bosses and when he does as he has been instructed, the press go on a wobbly. The whole thing could and should have been anticipated and dealt with by the military by simply liasing with the chains owners and asking them to accept military ID cards or by talking to the police (who issue proof of age ID's) and getting acceptable cards sorted out as soon as the lads returned home.

In the current economic crisis, would you have put your job on the line by accepting ID that was not on the list of acceptable proofs of age that your bosses had provided.

Had the guy accepted them and the two lads had turned out to be 17 years old and the passes fakes from Bangkok, he would have been for the high jump.

 

 

In our company, we are penalised if, as an excuse for declining to do something for a prospective customer, we hide behind the word 'policy'. Anyway, the word is too close to 'police' for comfort!

 

If Whetherspoon's decided to place more emphasis on competence than 'policy' I'd have more sym[pathy for them than I do right now. Let there be no doubt, I'd love to see them disappear from our High Streets.

[Sportsman]

I have always felt that if someone is old enough to die for their country they probably ought to be old enough to have a drink in it.

 

BTW, why would anyone want to go into a whetherspoons when the could go into a pub instead?

[Emma two]

BTW, why would anyone want to go into a whetherspoons when the could go into a pub instead?

 

I must admit to feeling much less 'street wise' than I imagined, I have never, so far as I can remember, been into a Wheatherspoons, is it the drinking establishment 'McDonaldised'?

[DavyR]

I must admit to feeling much less 'street wise' than I imagined, I have never, so far as I can remember, been into a Wheatherspoons, is it the drinking establishment 'McDonaldised'?

 

I've been into one or two, and they do vary. The main attraction I suppose is that the beer is usually cheaper than in most pubs. They generally go for the "parquet floor and leather sofa look", so not quite yer traditional pub decor. They also have a "no music" policy and don't have games like darts. One thing I do like is that you can usually ask for a small taster of the real ales on offer before committing yourself to a pint - which, having been on the receiving end of not a few iffy pints served by indifferent barstaff in the past, is a plus in my eyes.

 

BTW, Brian Mattinson at the Kipling Society is the expert on musical settings of his work and is compiling a database of all known recordings:

 

http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_music1.htm

[Steve Walker]

I must admit to feeling much less 'street wise' than I imagined, I have never, so far as I can remember, been into a Wheatherspoons, is it the drinking establishment 'McDonaldised'?

 

Yes, that's pretty much it. Plastic pubs.

 

You have plenty of proper pubs in Cumbria, you've no need to even spare it a thought.

[chesters1]

I've been into one or two, and they do vary. The main attraction I suppose is that the beer is usually cheaper than in most pubs. They generally go for the "parquet floor and leather sofa look", so not quite yer traditional pub decor. They also have a "no music" policy and don't have games like darts. One thing I do like is that you can usually ask for a small taster of the real ales on offer before committing yourself to a pint - which, having been on the receiving end of not a few iffy pints served by indifferent barstaff in the past, is a plus in my eyes.

 

BTW, Brian Mattinson at the Kipling Society is the expert on musical settings of his work and is compiling a database of all known recordings:

 

http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_music1.htm

his best IMHO was

"makes exceedingly good cakes"

[DavyR]

his best IMHO was

"makes exceedingly good cakes"

 

Funny you should say that:

 

Year: 1989

Title: Rudyard Kipling Made Exceedingly Good Songs

Artist: Peter Bellamy

Released by: DAMBUSTER in 1989 as 12-inch LP DAM 019.

Produced by: Nigel Schofield

Recorded at: Pennine Studios

Tracks were: Back To The Army Again, Big Steamers, Gethsemane, The Prodigal Son, The Roman Centurion's Song, We Have Fed Our Sea, The Dutch in The Medway, A Song To Mithras, En-Dor, Heriot's Ford, The Anvil, The Wet Litany, Thorkild's Song, Recessional.

[Alan Stubbs]

I must admit to feeling much less 'street wise' than I imagined, I have never, so far as I can remember, been into a Wheatherspoons, is it the drinking establishment 'McDonaldised'?

 

I think you're too kind.