# May 9 1971 - We Shall Remember **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 8, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920 "2005-05-08T14:42:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/1 "2005-05-08T14:42:38Z")
On this day, I woke up at boarding school and ate my cold porridge while listening to the 8 o’clock news on the Home Service (later BBC Radio 4). (By the way, does anyone know what sort of channel Hilversum is, and why it was written on all the portable radios that were quite the thing back in the 60s and 70s?) I went to chapel with the rest of the snot-nosed brats that were my schoolmates, including the day-boys who were a load of puffs still living with mummy and daddy, the lot of them. During the morning break, I swapped 70/71 English First Division Football cards with Suarez Minor and Kaplan, who called me a Jew because I wouldn’t part with my spare Frank McLintock unless he gave me both Peter Storey and Pat Rice. Either that, or he’d seen me in the showers. Pretty ironic anyway, looking back - him being a Jew and all. During History with Cyril Greenwood, I was stabbed by Nicholas Senior, who was the brainiest boy in the school after Curtis and Pearce, because I was sitting next to him when he was asked “What is heavier - a ton of lead or a ton of feathers?” and he answered “A ton of lead” and everyone burst out laughing. He stabbed me with his green biro. I didn’t even think we were allowed biros. After lunch (dead man’s leg followed by tapioca - we called it frog’s spawn), we played British Bulldogs on Ascot Heath. I can’t remember who won. Then afternoon lessons, including French with Brigadier “Bogey” Greenwood (because he used to pick his nose and roll it up into a giant bogey). I remember he got out his enormous “magnetophone” and we had to watch as one big spool got transferred to a much smaller spool. Or was it the other way round? I never could tell, as someone was blathering in a funny language. Dinner I can’t remember, but it wasn’t very nice and there was no chips. Then prep followed by bed, lights out at 8.00pm, which was a bit stupid as it was still light and we all had torches anyway for reading under the bedclothes. Then Dormitory Monitor Tim “Suck” Hurn caught me talking to the boy in the next bed and sent me to the Headmaster Snatchballs-Huggesen for three of the best. I returned to the dormitory pausing only to inspect my welts in the bog. One on top of the other, bleeding slightly. Quite painful. Even if you lot don’t, **I** shall remember. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/2 "2005-05-08T14:49:20Z")
Were you at Papplewick? ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/3 "2005-05-08T14:58:08Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Were you at Papplewick? Guilty as charged. St Christopher’s 1966-72. Haven’t been back since 1979, when I bumped into Richard Curtis, who mentioned he had this TV show coming out later that year. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/4 "2005-05-08T15:20:39Z")
**roger** , bless your heart. A more harrowing tale I have not heard. And you made me spit hot chocolate at my monitor. Oh, the humanity! ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/5 "2005-05-08T15:38:21Z")
Roger, funny on the face of it (English boarding schools are . . . anyway), but. . . you know. . . I’m trying to understand this. Ok, so V.E. week is something ridiculous, in your opinion. Or the thread is. You find something offensive about it. But why the obsession about it? I’m not sure how to react. Get a hobby? ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/6 "2005-05-08T15:49:02Z")
Parody threads like this one are boarded in the **Pit**. - SkipMagic ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/7 "2005-05-08T15:59:35Z")
**capy** , haven’t you noticed that dear Roger always obsesses about something and has been in dire need of a hobby for quite some time? I’ve been telling him to get a hobby now for months… Sam ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/8 "2005-05-08T16:14:31Z")
😕 Is this a parody thread? Shouldn’t there be a link if it is? I’m not sure how to react… ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/9 "2005-05-08T16:22:37Z")
I’m a Yank. I think you were speaking English in the OP, but I’m lost. Care to translate please? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/10 "2005-05-08T16:25:58Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I’m a Yank. I think you were speaking English in the OP, but I’m lost. Care to translate please? 😃 Roger has a way of obfuscating the obvious, and making the most interesting things as tedious as possible. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/11 "2005-05-08T16:30:06Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > Roger has a way of obfuscating the obvious, and making the most interesting things as tedious as possible. Indubitably! (giggle) ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/12 "2005-05-08T16:32:33Z")
What’s the matter **roger** , is **Coldfire** ’s thread still a [thorn](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=315009) in your side? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/13 "2005-05-08T16:33:23Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > 😕 Is this a parody thread? Shouldn’t there be a link if it is? I’m not sure how to react… With **roger** , it’s a safe bet that he’s being an ass. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/14 "2005-05-08T16:41:42Z")
Oh, and to answer the question part, Hilversum is where the state radio of the Netherlands is based-- a little south of Amsterdam. And TV, too, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/15 "2005-05-08T17:10:31Z")
It seems to me that it’s rather petty to be slagging V-E Day ceremonies on the 60th anniversary. It’s the going to be last big, round-numbered V-E Day for a lot of veterans. They’d be 80-ish now, and a lot won’t be making it another 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/16 "2005-05-08T17:26:09Z")
**Roger** , why don’t you just let it go? All you’ve accomplished with this thread and your previous related one is to diminish your credibility in the eyes of many members here. For your own good, please just drop it. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/17 "2005-05-08T17:32:15Z")
> [@](#): > > It seems to me that it’s rather petty to be slagging V-E Day ceremonies on the 60th anniversary. It would be rather petty if this was his single shot at it. Since this is his third separate foray into attempting to display the appropriate scorn (one **Pit** thread, one attempt to defend **guinnog** in that worthy’s whiny **Pit** thread, and now this third attempt–erroneously stuck in **MPSIMS** ), I would say it has moved from petty to lugubriously obsessive. YMMV 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/18 "2005-05-08T18:02:13Z")
I thought that it was a parody of [this thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=315123) Either way, mocking a tribute and remembrance thread is a really shitty thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/19 "2005-05-08T18:41:09Z")
You! Yes, you behind the fence gate! _STAN’ **STILL, LADDIE!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920/20 "2005-05-08T19:01:46Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > It would be rather petty if this was his single shot at it. > Since this is his third separate foray into attempting to display the appropriate scorn (one **Pit** thread, one attempt to defend **guinnog** in that worthy’s whiny **Pit** thread, and now this third attempt–erroneously stuck in **MPSIMS** ), I would say it has moved from petty to **lugubriously** obsessive. > > YMMV 😉 Now I’m going to annoy everyone around me by using my new word 20 times today. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-9-1971-we-shall-remember/302920.md?page=2)