What is the connection between Pikey and the Spirit of Ecstasy on the radiator of a Rolls Royce?
Pikey’s great great uncle’s daughter, Brenda Helen Archer married Arthur Russell Smijth-Windham who was drowned when the P&O liner Persia was sunk off Crete on 30 December 1915 by U-boat ace Max Valentiner of U38 in contravention of naval international law which stated that merchant shipping carrying passengers should be given the opportunity for the passengers to disembark before combat could commence. A warning shot across the bow should have been given first.
Instead, the U-Boat fired a torpedo with no warning while the passengers were having lunch. She sank in five to ten minutes, killing 343 of the 519 aboard. the rules of war. Also drowned was Eleanor Thornton the model who posed for the Spirit of Ecstasy statuette on the radiator of Rolls Royces when cars were cars; Eleanor was the secretary to as well as the mistress of John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu who survived – dirty (but lucky) devil.
……and yes, before you ask it was Smijth-Wingham with a "J".
At the time of sinking, the SS Persia was carrying a large quantity of gold and jewels belonging to the Maharaja Jagatjit Singh. In 2003, the wreck was found at a depth of 10,000 feet and an attempt made to salvage the treasure located in the bullion room. The salvage attempt met with limited success, retrieving artefacts and portions of the ship, and some jewels from the bullion room.
The Mararajah’s full name was Major-General His Highness Farzand-i-Dilband Rasikh-al-Iqtidad-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Raja-i-Rajagan, Maharaja Sir Jagatjit Singh Bahadur, Maharaja of Kapurthala, GCSI, GCIE, GBE. And this is what he looked like!!
It's amazing what information of monumental un-importance you can find on the Internet
Quite enough of this family rubbish…........
We went to see the haematologist on Wednesday and all was satisfactory. He has taken Pikey off the chemo for this week and put her on a reduced dosage for the next three weeks – hopefully that will cure the Thursday/Friday nausea problem.
Her carer is OK and coping with the cooking, washing up, laundry etc etc - "Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward" (Job Chapter 5, verse 7)
The garden is under control and look at these lilies which were a free gift last year!!!Loads of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Robert and Pikey.
2 comments:
Clearly 'the carer' doesn't have enough to do if we are to be bombarded with all this inconsequential information - heaven knows what the story of his life will be like is he goes off at so many tangents!
The free lilies are magnificent. Luv. A x
Hi from Nice. We arrived here this morning - very hot and tired. It is 35 degrees! We have searched out this internet cafe in the old part of Nice. We now have 4 days to recover - sitting around in cafes etc. We have been shopping to buy some ordinary clothes as we were getting a few funny looks walking around in our walking gear. Not so easy when all the French women are a size 8!!
So we have walked 380 miles over 35 days or so crossing the Alps and climbing about 40,000m. Phil has changed shape - very skinny. He says he is undernourished. I unfortuantely do not seem to have the slithe like figure PHil has developed - obviously too many crepes along the way!
We are planning to celebrate in style tonight - posh dinner and nice bottle of wine. And then of course a night in a hotel!
Only failures were the dropping of the camera at Refuge Roc de la Peche in order to save a cricket - it was trapped in the stairwell so I encouraged Phil to save its life and put it out the window. In my hurry to get it out the window I dropped the camera on the floor and hey presto - broken. Luckily we were going into Modane the following day and there was a camera shop. Very lucky.
Glad to hear things are ok at Summerhill. And glad to hear the logs are sorted - I thought about that about 3 weeks and worried how there were going to be stacked!
See you on Wednesday 3rd on our final walk home from Bentham station to home via you. Should be around 4pm or so.
Lots of love
Very tired Phil and Eli
p.s. I had the biggest blister you can imagine!!
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