Peter Rhodes on fragments of Empire, views on Israel and fond memories of Major Holt
Thoughts on giving the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. If you don't know where to find somewhere on the map, then you probably don't need it. Residual fragments of the British Empire scattered around the world have the potential for trouble. As Keir Starmer knows, they might even become a sausage to fortune.
I was sad to read a few days ago of the death of Major Tonie Holt, 91, a legend among us Great War students and an inspiration to thousands who took part in his celebrated battlefield tours.
We first met in the early 1980s, a time when the roll-call of survivors of the 1914-18 war was shrinking fast. With Tonie's help we organised a couple of pilgrimages to France and Flanders for our readers, including a handful of veterans. In the company of these old gentlemen we “walked the course,” climbing out of the trenches of the Somme and standing solemnly for the nightly ceremony of remembrance in Ypres.
