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

[Salvage Sailor]

 

Tony Rolt, the British WWII hero who won Le Mans

 

Major Anthony Peter Roylance Rolt, MC & Bar, (16 October 1918 – 6 February 2008) - British racing driver, soldier and engineer.  At his death, he was the longest surviving participant of the first ever World Championship Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1950. He was one of the last pre-war winners remaining too – he won the 1939 British Empire Trophy, aged just 20 in 1939 – this was after he started his career in 1935, as a 16-year-old, in a 3-wheeler Morgan in speed trials.

 

 

He won the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans and participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix.

 

 

Sandhurst, to France with a Reconnaissance Platoon

He entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and in 1939 received a commission in the Rifle Brigade. During the Second World War, Rolt was a lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade and in 1940 was sent to France, where he was in charge of a reconnaissance platoon. He was soon in the thick of the fighting and helped defend Calais.

 

Delay & Defend at Calais, Captured

The men defending Calais held for three days trying to stop the 10th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) from advancing, and in doing so delaying their attack on Dunkirk. He was captured and taken prisoner of war at the end of the battle for Calais, just before the Dunkirk evacuation. For his actions, he was awarded the Military Cross: his exploits included helping a wounded comrade while firing his Bren gun at the advancing German troops.

 

 

Unruly Prisoner & Escaper - Sent to Colditz Castle

Rolt escaped seven times from German prisoner-of-war camps including Laufen (Oflag VII-C), Biberach (Oflag V-B), Posen (Stalag XXI-D), Warburg (Oflag VI-B) and Eichstätt (Oflag VII-B), before eventually being sent to the maximum security prison, Oflag IV-C in Colditz Castle on 14 July 1943. In one attempt to escape, he got within yards of the Swiss border before being recaptured – which accounted for his transfer to the East German fortress. For his determined escape attempts, Rolt was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross. In early 1944, he was one of the masterminds behind the audacious glider escape plan, but in spring 1945, the US army liberated the castle, obviating the need for it. 

 

After the war Rolt resigned his commission with the rank of Major to develop advanced automotive technologies.

 

 

[patches]

22 hours ago, Salvage Sailor said:

 

Tony Rolt, the British WWII hero who won Le Mans

 

Major Anthony Peter Roylance Rolt, MC & Bar, (16 October 1918 – 6 February 2008) - British racing driver, soldier and engineer.  At his death, he was the longest surviving participant of the first ever World Championship Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1950. He was one of the last pre-war winners remaining too – he won the 1939 British Empire Trophy, aged just 20 in 1939 – this was after he started his career in 1935, as a 16-year-old, in a 3-wheeler Morgan in speed trials.

 

 

He won the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans and participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix.

 

 

He entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and in 1939 received a commission in the Rifle Brigade. During the Second World War, Rolt was a lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade and in 1940 was sent to France, where he was in charge of a reconnaissance platoon. He was soon in the thick of the fighting and helped defend Calais. The men defending Calais held for three days trying to stop the 10th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) from advancing, and in doing so delaying their attack on Dunkirk. He was captured and taken prisoner of war at the end of the battle for Calais, just before the Dunkirk evacuation. For his actions, he was awarded the Military Cross: his exploits included helping a wounded comrade while firing his Bren gun at the advancing German troops.

 

 

Rolt escaped seven times from German prisoner-of-war camps including Laufen (Oflag VII-C), Biberach (Oflag V-B), Posen (Stalag XXI-D), Warburg (Oflag VI-B) and Eichstätt (Oflag VII-B), before eventually being sent to the maximum security prison, Oflag IV-C in Colditz Castle on 14 July 1943. In one attempt to escape, he got within yards of the Swiss border before being recaptured – which accounted for his transfer to the East German fortress. For his determined escape attempts, Rolt was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross. In early 1944, he was one of the masterminds behind the audacious glider escape plan, but in spring 1945, the US army liberated the castle, obviating the need for it.  After the war Rolt resigned his commission with the rank of Major to develop advanced automotive technologies.

 

 

Jolly Good Show!

[patches]

 

 

Peter Butterworth Comedic Actor, was in a whole lot of Carry On movies from 1965 on.  Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, Fairey Albacore, shot down off the coast of Holland in 1940, his two crewmen were both killed, POW, he was escaped once from a  transit camp but was captured, sent to the famous Luft Stalg III, he was involved in the Wooden Horse operation. More on him later.

 

Here he is in one of my favorites, as a Roman Soldier in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.

He passed in 1979.

[patches]

On 4/15/2022 at 9:45 PM, patches said:

 

 

Peter Butterworth Comedic Actor, was in a whole lot of Carry On movies from 1965 on.  Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, Fairey Albacore, shot down off the coast of Holland in 1940, his two crewmen were both killed, POW, he was escaped once from a  transit camp but was captured, sent to the famous Luft Stalg III, he was involved in the Wooden Horse operation. More on him later.

 

Here he is in one of my favorites, as a Roman Soldier in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.

He passed in 1979.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8634761/Peter-Butterworth-rejected-playing-Wooden-Horse-fat.html

[earlymb]

 

RAF Flying Officer Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, Rome 1944.

[patches]

 

Michael Goodliffe Actor, there's one. in a lot of movies,  like The Wooden Horse, Von Ryan's Express etc etc Goodliffe in 1940, The 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 2nd Lieutenant, was wounded and captured at Dunkirk, the government got the wrong info on him, listed him as Killed in Action, an Obit was even published on him back home. Dies tragically in 1976, depression mental illness and all that.

 

http://www.mgoodliffe.co.uk/killed.htm

 

A wartime painting of Goodliffe done by a Brother Officer in his POW Camp, Goodliffe playing Hamlet in a camp show.

[patches]

On 6/22/2022 at 11:04 PM, patches said:

 

Michael Goodliffe Actor, there's one. in a lot of movies,  like The Wooden Horse, Von Ryan's Express etc etc Goodliffe in 1940, The 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 2nd Lieutenant, was wounded and captured at Dunkirk, the government got the wrong info on him, listed him as Killed in Action, an Obit was even published on him back home. Dies tragically in 1976, depression mental illness and all that.

 

http://www.mgoodliffe.co.uk/killed.htm

 

A wartime painting of Goodliffe done by a Brother Officer in his POW Camp, Goodliffe playing Hamlet in a camp show.

 

As Thomas Andrews in A Night To Remember, the 1958 classic on the Titanic, Andrews was the builder of the ship, this scene with Goodliffe is the one where he is going over the ships blue prints and drawings  in a room on the ship to jot down improvements and changes he makes  note of as he takes the maiden voyage of the ship, he dozes off and doesn't hear or feel the ship when it scrapes the iceberg apparently, and this still is the exact moment he wakes up, and immediately realizes the ship is stopped.

[patches]

Here's one I just discovered, George Gaynes American actor, most will know him from the Police Academy comedy movies. 

 

WWII, Free Dutch Navy seconded to the British Royal Navy, born George Jongejans  in Russian Finland of mixed ethnicity, Iya Grigorievna de Gay, a Russian artist/model was his mother, de Gay being their professional name, real family name was Ge, just Ge, her father was Russian actor Grigory Ge, . His father, Gerrit Jongejans, a Dutch  business man living in Finland. they all got the hell out of dodge when the Russian Civil War started, went to France.

 

George Gaynes,, more here on his interesting story. (As per most cases. can not find service photo of him).

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gaynes#Early_life

 

 

[patches]

22 hours ago, patches said:

Here's one I just discovered, George Gaynes American actor, most will know him from the Police Academy comedy movies. 

 

WWII, Free Dutch Navy seconded to the British Royal Navy, born George Jongejans  in Russian Finland of mixed ethnicity, Iya Grigorievna de Gay, a Russian artist/model was his mother, de Gay being their professional name, real family name was Ge, just Ge, her father was Russian actor Grigory Ge, . His father, Gerrit Jongejans, a Dutch  business man living in Finland. they all got the hell out of dodge when the Russian Civil War started, went to France.

 

George Gaynes,, more here on his interesting story. (As per most cases. can not find service photo of him).

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gaynes#Early_life

 

 

Here he is in the 1982 movie Tootsie 

[patches]

On 7/10/2021 at 10:01 PM, patches said:

My first contribution.

 

Was watching Fawlty Towers tonight on DVD, and was watching one episode HOTEL INSPECTORS, the main guest star, is one Bernard Cribbins, a well know actor across the pond, I'm familiar with him as being in the 1967 Comedy CASINO ROYALE. Any way Cribbins it turned out was a Para in the Post War Army, volunteered for The Paras when he was drafted, served a tour in Palestine during The Troubles there.

 

He has a page on the British Site PARA DATA.

 

https://www.paradata.org.uk/people/bernard-cribbins

 

Cribbins in that  Fawlty Towers episode. Cribbins is still with us at 92, just says his back hurts sometimes is all

 

Bernard Joseph Cribbins OBE we see sadly passed last summer July 22 2022 at 93.

 

Here is in Casino Royale as  Carlton Towers FO, "that's Foreign Office Dear".

 

He even has his own Bio  on James Bond Wiki Fandom LOL

 

Carlton Towers who was apparently a former captain in the British Army, was later an intelligence operative employed by the Foreign Office. He posed as a London black cab driver and was responsible for assisting fellow agent Mata Bond in her infiltration of International Mother's Help in Berlin, a front organisation for a Smersh-run spy school. The pair successfully prevented Smersh agent Le Chiffre from generating funds via an "art" auction.

[patches]

Emily Blunt. her Grandfather was a Major General, Peter Blunt, seen we guess some action in italy, left the Army after WWII, but returned. In 1959, now a Major he happened on a Truck crash in West Germany a saved the driver at great risk, was awarded the George Medal, he retires in 1979 as a Major General. Her Great Grandfather, Peter's Father, Albert Blunt, was a Tanker in WWI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Blunt

 

His Granddaughter Emily, as of course Victoria Regina  

[patches]

Found one.

 

 

Much to my surprise we see Denholm  Elliot is a WWII Vet, Royal Air Force, flew with as a Bomber Crewman, No 76 Squadron. On the night of 23/24 September 1942 on a raid  on  Flensburg Schleswig-Holstein, never made it, his ship is shot down, ACK ACK, as  they making landfall, and goes down in the sea right off the coast, the whole crew survived the hits on the ship and the crash into the sea, and were eventually picked up, we guess by a German boat. Elliot then spends the rest of the war as a POW at Stalag Luft VIIIb. Amateur Theatrics LOL. Yes he was so good at he formed a theatre group that was so successful it was apparently allowed by the Germans interestingly to tour other POW camps.

 

Denholm Elliot either before he goes in to the Air Force or shorty after the war ended and back on Civvy Street

 

Elliot back in RAF Blue as the RAF Meteorology Officer In A Bridge Too Far.

[Salvage Sailor]

Esmond Knight: The British Actor Who Was Injured During a Battle with the German Battleship Bismarck

 

Gunnery officer on PRINCE OF WALES in the 1940 fight against BISMARCK, badly wounded and blinded by shrapnel. (details on the link above)

 

After an astounding recovery, he resumed his career and appeared in the 1960 film 'Sink the Bismarck'

 

[patches]

James Fox brother of Edward Fox, he served a spell in the Coldstream Guards as a officer, we guess in the early 60s, here he is in Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, wearing what could be a Coldstream Uniform, if so maybe his own.

[patches]

Finally found a service portrait of Anthony Quayle RA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Quayle

[patches]

Brian Blessed was in the RAF Regement in the 2 Squadron, RAF Regiment as a parachutist during his National Service in the late 50s, did a spot of duty in Malaya it seems too. No Service photo found.

 

But here he is in the 1980 Cult Classic Flash Gordon as Prince Vultan LOL

 

Shortly after discharge.

[patches]

Edward Fox himself served as a officer in The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) 1958–1960.

 

Edward Fox as Brigadier General Reginald Dyer in Gandhi.

[SteveB]

Dads Army cast, left to right

 

William Arnold Ridley – Private Godfrey

December 1915, he enlisted as a private with the Somerset Light Infantry, British Army. He saw active service in the war, sustaining several wounds in close-quarter battle. His left hand was left virtually useless by wounds sustained on the Somme; his legs were riddled with shrapnel; he received a bayonet wound in the groin; and the legacy of a blow to the head from a German soldier's rifle butt left him prone to blackouts after the war. He was medically discharged from the army with the rank of lance corporal in May 1917.

Ridley rejoined the army in 1939 following the outbreak of the Second World War. He was commissioned into the General List on 7 October 1939 as a second lieutenant He served with the British Expeditionary Force in France during the "Phoney War", employed as a "Conducting Officer" tasked with supervising journalists who were visiting the front line. In May 1940, Ridley returned to Britain on the overcrowded destroyer HMS Vimiera, which was the last British ship to escape from the harbour during the Battle of Boulogne. Shortly afterwards, he was discharged from the Armed Forces on health grounds. He relinquished his commission as a captain on 1 June 1940. He subsequently joined the Home Guard

 

Clive Dunn – Lance Corporal Jones

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Dunn joined the British Army in 1940. He served as a trooper in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars. The regiment was posted to the Middle East arriving on 31 December 1940 and as part of the 1st Armoured Brigade in the 6th Australian Infantry Division which fought in the Greek Campaign.  Dunn fought in the rearguard action at the Corinth canal in April 1941. The regiment was forced to surrender after it was overrun and Dunn was among 400 men (including all the regiment's senior officers) who were taken as prisoners of war.

Dunn was held as a POW in Austria for the next four years. He remained in the army after the war ended, until finally demobilised in 1947.

 

Arthur Lowe – Captain Mainwaring

In February 1939 Lowe joined the Territorial Army, which meant several months later he was among the first men called up to serve in the Second World War. He served with the Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry. Initially training with horses, the regiment soon became a mechanised unit of the Royal Artillery. Lowe was medically regraded due to his poor eyesight and after training in wireless and as a radar technician transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. After working on searchlights in Lincolnshire he was sent out to Egypt in 1942, where he soon transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.  After a period in the Suez Canal Zone he was stationed at the REME's 15th Radio Repair Workshops at Rafah.

 

Ian Lavender – Private Pike

Born in 1946 so missed National Service

 

John Laurie – Privat Frazer

During the Second World War, Laurie served in the Home Guard

 

John Le Mesurier – Sergeant Wilson

Basic training with the Royal Armoured Corps; in June 1941 he was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment. He served in Britain until 1943 when he was posted to British India where he spent the rest of the war

[earlymb]

Arnold Ridley is also the great-uncle of actress Daisy Ridley, best known from the recent Star Wars movies.

[patches]

Hey Anthony Hopkins, he was drafted, 1957 to 1959, served as a Artilleryman.

 

In Basic.

 

[patches]

And Hopkins around 1958 after all his training in a RA Unit, now a Lance Corporal  see the ROYAL ARTILLERY Arc, cant make out the Formation Sign for his Parent Organization though.