Saturday 18 February 2012

Thoughts While Idle

Having just undergone very minor surgery - not remotely tobacco, alcohol, salt, fatty food, sugar, processed meat or cholesterol-related, disappointingly for doomsayers - I've been watching a lot of TV. And of all the things I've watched, the most gruesomely interesting scene was during Saul David's last episode of Bullets, Boots and Bandages where he gives an account of the amputation of Lord Uxbridge's leg at the Battle of Waterloo. It's not for the squeamish as he re-enacts it with a cow's leg from 18:50 on at this link.

For those don't want to (or can't) watch, it was shot to pieces by a cannon ball necessitating amputation without any anaesthetic. Uxbridge was reported to have "borne the operation well", with barely a word said.

It just struck me as incredible that British resolve has descended from such immense bravery into a nation where we're now scared of even something which might be 'potentially offensive'.

That's all.

But I suppose this is a good excuse as any to give Steve Hughes's ridicule of the easily-offended another airing.




8 comments:

Lysistrata Eleftheria said...

" Steve Hughes on Michael McI..."

This video is no longer available because the YouTube account
associated with this video has been terminated due to multiple
third-party notifications of copyright infringement from claimants,
including:
Wingspan Productions Limited


Sorry about that.":(

David C said...

try this
http://www.kewego.com/video/iLyROoaf2FPn.html 

Dick_Puddlecote said...

Oops, sorry, I'd picked the code up from one of my posts from 2009. Hope the edit works better. ;)

Dick_Puddlecote said...

Ta, David. :)

JuliaM said...

Hope your recovery goes well...

I am not a number ... said...

Bucking frilliant!!!

Jeff Wood said...

Be deeply suspicious of "minor surgery", and watch out for lingering complications, especially if  antibiotics are involved.

Thanks for the Steve Hughes clip. D'ye mind, Dick, we corresponded briefly on Italy? We had a foot or three of snow with polar bear temperatures for a while. The bars and cafes more or less ignored the indoor smoking ban for the duration. Och, the polis couldn't get through for the snow...

Lysistrata Eleftheria said...

 Thanks. It does. Good find. Now cleaning spat-out ouzo from my keyboard.