Shoot Straight, You Bastards!
Without Prejudice
I love the line "Shoot Straight You Bastards," uttered by Edward Woodward in the movie, Breaker Morant. It speaks to me of rebellion and freedom and defiance. All the things that mean the most to me. My parents thrilled us with stories as kids of heroes and the War. How Winston Churchill would say, "We will fight them on the beaches" and "We will never,surrender."They told us of a populus that was prepared to fight the enemy even with broomsticks and in their own backyards.
I was proud of my British and Scottish heritage and I still am. I am allowed by the fact I was born in Edinburgh to carry both British and Australian Passports. My Dad was also thrilled when I went back to my maiden name, Bruckshaw, when I was divorced. I found out then,legally, you are your maiden name all of your life, and tradition only, changes it when you are married.
You can always tell when there has been a bitter divorce if the woman changes her name back to her maiden name and I was more than happy to do so. And the process starts, I was told, by changing your licence. I have an original copy of my Birth Certificate from Australia House in London. The original has my baptisimn recorded on it as well as that I was born in Eastern General Hospital Leith. At 7.15 pm. Apparently there was supposed to be an E in Janette and should be Jeanette but no matter.
Mum wanted Jeanette and by the time Dad made his way to the Registry I was suddenly Janette. He did send me a birthday card once with Jeanette written on it and I laughed aloud. He had so many kids and often would be heard to say,
"Ian, Jackie, George, Shit! I mean Janette or David" or whatever, he had a great sense of humour My Dad, he was gentle and kind and over run with kids and Mum, who was "Highly Strung". We were all excitable and a lot of work and cost a lot of money and he never complained. Brought us a big bag of lollies home every Friday night in a white paper bag to be didvided up between us. Always a big bag of Cadbury's chocolate too.
When we were kids we would climb into Mum and Dads bed and they would tell us tall tales and true of the War and Britain. My Dad was in the Black Watch and my Mum in the RAF. We used to tease her about what we called her RAF voice when she answered the phone. My Aunty Betty always answers a mobile phone the same way. She holds it away from her ear, as if it is a hand grenade about to go off and says a very Yorkshire "Hallooooo"
Mum and Dad taught us to be brave, to take no quarter when bullies were around as that is how they tended to see "The Germans", bullies and enemies. My Mum was strafed by a German Plane at Brown Out one evening, riding back to her barracks. She crashed off her bike on to her knee and it was cut to the bone and she was in hospital for a while. She lost her memory and they found her in London 3 months later, not knowing who she was. They sent her home to Yorkshire and she saw a Psychiatrist there for a while. She was 19 at the time.
Dad didn't speak about his specific role in the War, people just didn't then. He spoke instead of other peoples bravery, of all the boats that crossed the Englsih Channel to rescue the soldiers there at Dunkirk. Ordinary men and womne who were united against evil and we were ever so proud of them. We were to listen to the speeches of Winston Churchill and it was ironic that the day we arrived back in the UK when I was 12, the great man had died.
We grew up with "Never Surrender" as our credo and we wouldn't. We were bullied a lot as kids as we were "Uppity Poms" with intelligent parents that demanded we do our best. They gave us Encyclopedias, Atlases even dictionaries to read. We were expected to be knowledgeable and brave, not to whine and suck it up. True little "Stiff Upper Lip" kids, born British and living in a whole new country.
To others we were "Upstarts" and "Know it Alls" and we had to pretend we didn't care. We were taught to be the best, swim the best, run the best, succeed at school and be ourselves. We were taught manners and to care about others in a meaningful way. we were also taught to if the odds were against us to run like hell as it was "Better to be a live coward than a dead hero" My parents were children worshippers and none were better than their own.
Mum would often say,
"You look after thee and yourn and I'll look after me and mine" or
"Do you pay my rent ? If you aren't paying my rent you can't tell me what to do !"
I still stick by those little credo's to this day. My Mum was born into a working class family, her Dad was a humble coal miner. He hated Winston Churchill, however, as years before he had used the miltary in a Welsh Miners Strike to maintain Law and Order. Grandad George never forgave him. But to us little pseudo Brits, Winston Churchill was legend and inspired us to "Never, Ever Give UP
Love Janette
I love the line "Shoot Straight You Bastards," uttered by Edward Woodward in the movie, Breaker Morant. It speaks to me of rebellion and freedom and defiance. All the things that mean the most to me. My parents thrilled us with stories as kids of heroes and the War. How Winston Churchill would say, "We will fight them on the beaches" and "We will never,surrender."They told us of a populus that was prepared to fight the enemy even with broomsticks and in their own backyards.
I was proud of my British and Scottish heritage and I still am. I am allowed by the fact I was born in Edinburgh to carry both British and Australian Passports. My Dad was also thrilled when I went back to my maiden name, Bruckshaw, when I was divorced. I found out then,legally, you are your maiden name all of your life, and tradition only, changes it when you are married.
You can always tell when there has been a bitter divorce if the woman changes her name back to her maiden name and I was more than happy to do so. And the process starts, I was told, by changing your licence. I have an original copy of my Birth Certificate from Australia House in London. The original has my baptisimn recorded on it as well as that I was born in Eastern General Hospital Leith. At 7.15 pm. Apparently there was supposed to be an E in Janette and should be Jeanette but no matter.
Mum wanted Jeanette and by the time Dad made his way to the Registry I was suddenly Janette. He did send me a birthday card once with Jeanette written on it and I laughed aloud. He had so many kids and often would be heard to say,
"Ian, Jackie, George, Shit! I mean Janette or David" or whatever, he had a great sense of humour My Dad, he was gentle and kind and over run with kids and Mum, who was "Highly Strung". We were all excitable and a lot of work and cost a lot of money and he never complained. Brought us a big bag of lollies home every Friday night in a white paper bag to be didvided up between us. Always a big bag of Cadbury's chocolate too.
When we were kids we would climb into Mum and Dads bed and they would tell us tall tales and true of the War and Britain. My Dad was in the Black Watch and my Mum in the RAF. We used to tease her about what we called her RAF voice when she answered the phone. My Aunty Betty always answers a mobile phone the same way. She holds it away from her ear, as if it is a hand grenade about to go off and says a very Yorkshire "Hallooooo"
Mum and Dad taught us to be brave, to take no quarter when bullies were around as that is how they tended to see "The Germans", bullies and enemies. My Mum was strafed by a German Plane at Brown Out one evening, riding back to her barracks. She crashed off her bike on to her knee and it was cut to the bone and she was in hospital for a while. She lost her memory and they found her in London 3 months later, not knowing who she was. They sent her home to Yorkshire and she saw a Psychiatrist there for a while. She was 19 at the time.
Dad didn't speak about his specific role in the War, people just didn't then. He spoke instead of other peoples bravery, of all the boats that crossed the Englsih Channel to rescue the soldiers there at Dunkirk. Ordinary men and womne who were united against evil and we were ever so proud of them. We were to listen to the speeches of Winston Churchill and it was ironic that the day we arrived back in the UK when I was 12, the great man had died.
We grew up with "Never Surrender" as our credo and we wouldn't. We were bullied a lot as kids as we were "Uppity Poms" with intelligent parents that demanded we do our best. They gave us Encyclopedias, Atlases even dictionaries to read. We were expected to be knowledgeable and brave, not to whine and suck it up. True little "Stiff Upper Lip" kids, born British and living in a whole new country.
To others we were "Upstarts" and "Know it Alls" and we had to pretend we didn't care. We were taught to be the best, swim the best, run the best, succeed at school and be ourselves. We were taught manners and to care about others in a meaningful way. we were also taught to if the odds were against us to run like hell as it was "Better to be a live coward than a dead hero" My parents were children worshippers and none were better than their own.
Mum would often say,
"You look after thee and yourn and I'll look after me and mine" or
"Do you pay my rent ? If you aren't paying my rent you can't tell me what to do !"
I still stick by those little credo's to this day. My Mum was born into a working class family, her Dad was a humble coal miner. He hated Winston Churchill, however, as years before he had used the miltary in a Welsh Miners Strike to maintain Law and Order. Grandad George never forgave him. But to us little pseudo Brits, Winston Churchill was legend and inspired us to "Never, Ever Give UP
Love Janette
