British Celebrities In The British Military, Post Them As You See Them.

[ManInJapan]

Sir Cedric Hardwicke served in the British Army in WWI. I've found no details as yet.

 

Ralph 'Pranger' Richardson.

 

Quoting from Wikipedia:

"At the outbreak of war Richardson joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a sub-lieutenant pilot. He had taken flying lessons during the 1930s and had logged 200 hours of flying time, but, though a notoriously reckless driver, he admitted to being a timid pilot.[67][68] He counted himself lucky to have been accepted, but the Fleet Air Arm was short of pilots.[68] He rose to the rank of lieutenant-commander. His work was mostly routine administration, probably because of "the large number of planes which seemed to fall to pieces under his control", through which he acquired the nickname "Pranger" Richardson.[1] He served at several bases in the south of England, and in April 1941, at the Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on-Solent, he was able to welcome Olivier, newly commissioned as a temporary sub-lieutenant. Olivier rapidly eclipsed Richardson's record for pranging."

 

The photo is of Richardson in the wonderful film 'Battle of Britain' where he plays the British diplomat Sir David Kelly, based in neutral Switzerland. Most memorable is his angry rebuffal of the German ambassador offering Hitler's 'peace terms':

""Don't threaten or dictate to us until you're marching up Whitehall ... and even then we won't listen".

Sorry, my two replies above were merged into one for some reason and also omitted Ralph Richardson's photo.

[Salvage Sailor]

English actor (and notorious drunkard) Oliver Reed

 

 

Compulsory army service in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).

 

Hannibal Brooks (1969)

 

Lion of the Desert (1981) with Rod Steiger

 

 

...and another actor who played a role with Michael Caine (covered earlier on this topic)

 

Nigel Davenport

 

From Wiki:  

Davenport was born in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, son of Arthur Henry Davenport and Katherine Lucy (née Meiklejohn). His father was an engineer, educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge before being employed as an engineer for the Midland Railway, and was later a lecturer in engineering, a Fellow, and the bursar at his alma mater, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge;

 

Arthur Davenport had served for four years in the Royal Engineers during World War I, and was awarded a Military Cross. Nigel's great-uncle, Major Matthew Fontaine Maury Meiklejohn, was awarded a Victoria Cross during the Second Boer War.

 

He grew up in an academic family and was educated at St Peter's School, Seaford, Cheltenham College and Trinity College, Oxford. Originally he chose to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics but switched to English on the advice of one of his tutors.

 

In the 1950s Davenport undertook National Service with the Royal Army Service Corps as a disc jockey on the British Forces Broadcasting Service in Hamburg

 

 

 

Michael Caine

 

[patches]

Reginald Denny, he was in the RFC in WWI, apparently sees no action.