Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Good idea Ciphers regarding civilian and military versions of QDJM. Just like the MBE, OBE CBE etc
Jimsigs

jimsigs1 wrote:

Good old Charlie is now I see a full Admiral. Even Princess Anne is a Rear Admiral. B Charlie is even wearing the Queen's Coronation Medal - he must have been all of 4 1/2 years old in 1953. !!!!
Jimsigs1

PC was also wearing parachute wings !

I could tell you a few tales about Princess Anne as I was at Hohne when she was and we shared guardrooms with the QDGs.

She will have won medals for first in the queue at the Kreisparkasse and at the QDG Officers mess.

pete26 wrote:

I could tell you a few tales about Princess Anne as I was at Hohne when she was and we shared guardrooms with the QDGs.
.

Do tell, no one's listening.

Quote :

PC was also wearing parachute wings !

He did the course..

pete26 wrote:

]!
I could tell you a few tales about Princess Anne as I was at Hohne when she was and we shared rooms..............

She will have won medals !

Npt sure you should be repeating all of this !
Don't open your door to big men in trenchcoats
if you don't know them!

jimsigs1 wrote:

Anyone seen some of the military uniforms worn by the Royals. Prince Andrew - now a Rear-Admiral and his younger sibling Earl of Wessex, wearing what I believe is the uniform of either a Captain or Commodore. Couldn't see the rings on the sleeve but his hat had one row of scrambled egg on it. Good old Charlie is now I see a full Admiral. Even Princess Anne is a Rear Admiral. Be god, what is the world coming too. Also, seen the number of them all sporting the Diamond Jubilee Medal. I served the Queen from 1952 (King George VI 1949-52) to 1972, but no DJM. Makes me angry. Charlie is even wearing the Queen's Coronation Medal - he must have been all of 4 1/2 years old in 1953. !!!!
Jimsigs1

If we had all these medals that are floating about, plus all the dazzling awards you can buy from various firms, we'd all look like Mountbatten used to. (Call them medals ? THESE are medals !).
Trouble with medals is you have to polish the bloody things.
Which leads me to -
I watched the first part of "Full Metal Jacket" again last night. I love it !
When the Gunny threw Private Pyle's kit on the floor, lo and behold, there was a tin of Brasso in among the jelly donuts.
One, I always thought Brasso was a British thing and Two, what do the Yanks have that needs polishing ?

Brasso has been on the go since 1904.The USA version is not the same as the British.It was known to be drunk by some SUS in the past..

brum wrote:

If we had all these medals that are floating about, plus all the dazzling awards you can buy from various firms, we'd all look like Mountbatten................

............ what do the Yanks have that needs polishing ?

Don't suppose you really want one, but it's reported that you could get one on
E Bay where some of the S.Yorks police are disposing of theirs.

And is there much that the Brits have to polish now ? Makes one sick, no planned activity to fill spare time and the employment of civvy contractors to do all the menial stuff.......... Can't have a defaulter sweeping the square with his toothbrush any more, Unison would have their lot out on a demarcation dispute.

Gordon. wrote:

Brasso has been on the go since 1904.The USA version is not the same as the British.It was known to be drunk by some SUS in the past..

I was SUS, we were only given 2 fags (smoking type) a day. Brasso must have been a Scaley issue!!

What...Didn`t you have to scrape and polish the tin,apart from the logo..
At 7 Sigs a couple of SUS were found in the NAAFI .They didn`t need brasso..
Jimsigs was probabley ROS that night

We shared the Guardroom with 22 Sigs, they had the Brasso, we had the Kiwi!

Gordon. wrote:

What...Didn`t you have to scrape and polish the tin,apart from the logo..
At 7 Sigs a couple of SUS were found in the NAAFI .They didn`t need brasso..
Jimsigs was probabley ROS that night

Not sure if this was mentioned before but some genius way back discovered that "RA" was part of the word "BRASSO".
We had to scrape the paint from the tin until only "RA" was left, then polish the tin.

Who remembers having Brasso, or Blanco, in his windows ?
Oh God, what a crime !

[b] As it was in the Beginning [b]

Cartav with mates in a sumptuous log cabin sited on the wet & windy Welsh coast. 2-tier bunks for 16 were crammed into cosy accommodation about 40 ft long X 15 ft wide. They smile, rejoicing that they are thrice fortunate to have been chosen to forsake home comforts and serve Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth for just two years.

Idle hands are filled with Blanco brushes, Brasso & dusters in activities which will be cheerfully greeted with the scorn & derision of their betters in the morning.
[b]

cartav wrote:

[b] As it was in the Beginning [b]

Cartav with mates in a sumptuous log cabin sited on the wet & windy Welsh coast. 2-tier bunks for 16 were crammed into cosy accommodation about 40 ft long X 15 ft wide. They smile, rejoicing that they are thrice fortunate to have been chosen to forsake home comforts and serve Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth for just two years.

Idle hands are filled with Blanco brushes, Brasso & dusters in activities which will be cheerfully greeted with the scorn & derision of their betters in the morning.
[b]

Hey !
I bet that's my bed !
Everybody sat on my bloody bed !

Hey Cartav is that what they meant by a Tony Curtis hair cut !!!! WOW

[/quote]

Hey !
I bet that's my bed !
Everybody sat on my bloody bed ![/quote]


Tough ! I had the top bunk, chucked my BD blouse on it whilst I was ironing the bottom bits, a cunning smart arse replaced it with his own, hoping I'd not notice. I didn't, the burn I put in the pleats at the back caused me no grief. That's when Mike, (Ex Gloucesters, re-badged) came good & taught us how to bring it back to acceptability by rubbing a two bob piece or a half- crown over the scorch mark.
Problem was finding any suitable silver coinage.

"john boy" wrote:

Hey Cartav is that what they meant by a Tony Curtis hair cut !!!! WOW

Ha-Bloody-hah! No...... I seem to remember Mr Curtis had more hair than we did before the attentions of camp head butcher. In truth, for the 50's, in a trg regt.,
we got away fairly lightly. Anything under the beret was ours, we kept it. The rest was the drill pigs and some units made sure the top disappeared too, the full monty.

ciphers wrote:

Being this side of the pond, I've never heard of Robbie Williams ..still prefer Esther Williams myself ...

Len (Ciphers)

I've vaguely heard of him -- didn't he and Elton John have a spat over something a couple of years ago? -- All I know is his opening number was dreadful....too over the top with the Irish Guards, he was jumping around like Mick Jagger on steroids (speaking of which...why wasn't he invited?), and screaming and yelling into the mic NOT singing. His second set was a bit better. Good lord....the focus I would think would be to entertain HM and, then of course, the thousands who turned up for the concert, so pick something appropriate. She's in her 80s for cryin' ou loud, she wants to listen to rap/hip hop or see some bimbo strut around in a too-short skirt pretending to be a Pearlie? Meh

But to me the topper was that idiot Stevie Wonder... he had no idea what the occasion was!!! Stupid Yank. Were the performers A) not vetted first and maybe asked to submit an outline of what they were going to perform? Some of the tunes were inappropriate (I thought Elton's "I'm Still Standin'" was a good choice -- a bit cheeky of course) and B) given a crash course in protocol and what the occasion was about. Stevie Wonder singin' his "Happy Birthday" didn't appear to go over too well...looks of "WTF??" up in the Royal Box. Moron.

And, yeah,many of the performers were out of tune....dreadfully so. I suspect the technical side of things made it difficult for them to hear either their back-up or the instrumentation so a bit of that is allowable but if that was the issue, it should have either been anticipated (one of the downsides of open air concerts is exactly that issue) or corrected by the 3rd or 4th set.

What was the criteria for being chosen to perform anyway? To me, it would have been a golden (...er...diamond...) opportunity to feature BRITISH performers, or at least Commonwealth performers (that African girls' chorus not withstanding. Cute but they made my ears bleed they were so 'off'). What was with having American performers? And ones that had no idea what they were there for! Okay...Shirley Bassey (who I missed...dammit) okay. Stevie Wonder -- hmmmm -- maybe but he crashed and burned with that idiotic "Happy Birthday" shite.

Tom Jones....good although I know Philip can't stand him...but he wasn't there, was he? Paul McCartney -- yes. Elton John -- yes. I suppose Robbie Williams but he was a bit full of himself I thought. Suggie? Who??? Minoque or whatever her name is? Why?

This concert should have had 'stars' not 'celebrities'. And ones with some actual talent would have been nice. Like maybe what's-her-name that soared to stardom after her stint on American Idol with her "I Have a Dream" -- now she can sing!!! McCartney is an icon so yes,but he's pushing 70 and his voice is a bit shot....not bad but he ain't a Beatle any more! And wouldn't it have been grand to have Ringo show up an join him on stage? My guess is Ringo was probably invited and said "Sod it....I ain't goin'!!"

Now...on the upside, the whole light show thing over the facade of Buckingham Palace -- excellent!! Really really well done!! And the incredible fireworks at the end....made my heart swell with patriotic pride and I'm not even British!!! (close....my grandparents were!).

brum wrote:

Who remembers having Brasso, or Blanco, in his windows ?
Oh God, what a crime !

I do, if you were fortunate enough to have a mate in the REME with access to a hacksaw, you could slice through the part that fits on to the belt. God help you though if the Orderly Officer pulled the window down to check that you had cleaned it properly. The Army don't like idividuals!

ciphers wrote:

Being this side of the pond, I've never heard of Robbie Williams ..still prefer Esther Williams myself ...

Len (Ciphers)

I've vaguely heard of him -- didn't he and Elton John have a spat over something a couple of years ago? -- All I know is his opening number was dreadful....too over the top with the Irish Guards, he was jumping around like Mick Jagger on steroids (speaking of which...why wasn't he invited?), and screaming and yelling into the mic NOT singing. His second set was a bit better. Good lord....the focus I would think would be to entertain HM and, then of course, the thousands who turned up for the concert, so pick something appropriate. She's in her 80s for cryin' ou loud, she wants to listen to rap/hip hop or see some bimbo strut around in a too-short skirt pretending to be a Pearlie? Meh

But to me the topper was that idiot Stevie Wonder... he had no idea what the occasion was!!! Stupid Yank. Were the performers A) not vetted first and maybe asked to submit an outline of what they were going to perform? Some of the tunes were inappropriate (I thought Elton's "I'm Still Standin'" was a good choice -- a bit cheeky of course) and B) given a crash course in protocol and what the occasion was about. Stevie Wonder singin' his "Happy Birthday" didn't appear to go over too well...looks of "WTF??" up in the Royal Box. Moron.

And, yeah,many of the performers were out of tune....dreadfully so. I suspect the technical side of things made it difficult for them to hear either their back-up or the instrumentation so a bit of that is allowable but if that was the issue, it should have either been anticipated (one of the downsides of open air concerts is exactly that issue) or corrected by the 3rd or 4th set.

What was the criteria for being chosen to perform anyway? To me, it would have been a golden (...er...diamond...) opportunity to feature BRITISH performers, or at least Commonwealth performers (that African girls' chorus not withstanding. Cute but they made my ears bleed they were so 'off'). What was with having American performers? And ones that had no idea what they were there for! Okay...Shirley Bassey (who I missed...dammit) okay. Stevie Wonder -- hmmmm -- maybe but he crashed and burned with that idiotic "Happy Birthday" shite.

Tom Jones....good although I know Philip can't stand him...but he wasn't there, was he? Paul McCartney -- yes. Elton John -- yes. I suppose Robbie Williams but he was a bit full of himself I thought. Suggie? Who??? Minoque or whatever her name is? Why?

This concert should have had 'stars' not 'celebrities'. And ones with some actual talent would have been nice. Like maybe what's-her-name that soared to stardom after her stint on American Idol with her "I Have a Dream" -- now she can sing!!! McCartney is an icon so yes,but he's pushing 70 and his voice is a bit shot....not bad but he ain't a Beatle any more! And wouldn't it have been grand to have Ringo show up an join him on stage? My guess is Ringo was probably invited and said "Sod it....I ain't goin'!!"

Now...on the upside, the whole light show thing over the facade of Buckingham Palace -- excellent!! Really really well done!! And the incredible fireworks at the end....made my heart swell with patriotic pride and I'm not even British!!! (close....my grandparents were!).

Oh those windows Thought you meant the ones you looked out of..Couldn`t imagine why anyone would want top put blanco on them,tho. we did use brasso to clean them.

Gordon. wrote:

Oh those windows Thought you meant the ones you looked out of..Couldn`t imagine why anyone would want top put blanco on them,tho. we did use brasso to clean them.

When you weren't drinking it, presumably?

Gordon. wrote:

Oh those windows Thought you meant the ones you looked out of..Couldn`t imagine why anyone would want top put blanco on them,tho. we did use brasso to clean them.

Must admit to bafflement........... Brasso in windows ? Not like OMO obviously,
but bitte, bitte, what are "windows ? (apart from the flaming obvious, so no attempts at humour at my expense. Please !

The buckles on the back of the 57 Pattern belt were known colloquially as "Windows". A bigger crime was to cut them off completely - the Tower for that one!

Shelldrake wrote:

The buckles on the back of the 57 Pattern belt were known colloquially as "Windows". A bigger crime was to cut them off completely - the Tower for that one!

Ach so ! I had them all the time & never knew. Had a trick, though. I was a pipe smoker and pipe cleaners might have been made for getting in corners and, certainly, you couldn't whack 'em for going in the rivet hole on the ends of straps.