So with our PL/CL double firmly on schedule

[Luis Anaconda]

More dead Hun than any other war. {30% of the population?}

Love the way that our contemporaneous civil war combines the wars of religion aspect of the 30YW with the politics of the Fr Rev 140 years later.

We both ended the wars of religion and were already in the Enlightenment while we did it.

Though Swedes - I haven't said Gustavus Adolphus since the Louis XIV half of history A-level in the late '80s.

Great name, too. {Not as good as Limpar or Freddie but better than Stefan Schwarz.}

Gustavus Adolphus. Fück. I'd forgotten how good that sounded. Gustavus Adolphus. Cheers, LA. Gustavus Adolphus.

Very much the Swede I was thinking of - one of my favourites as well

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Very much the Swede I was thinking of - one of my favourites as well

I place him behind Freddie and Anders but just ahead of Borg.

[Luis Anaconda]

I place him behind Freddie and Anders but just ahead of Borg.

Never liked Borg - always more of a McEnroe man, right down to the fact that the part of my tennis game I practised most was throwing my racket down in anger

[PSRB]

Never liked Borg - always more of a McEnroe man, right down to the fact that the part of my tennis game I practised most was throwing my racket down in anger

Same here! My tennis coach used to lose his **** at me for making more of an effort at throwing a tantrum than actually listening to him. Probably why I didn't make it to the top level.

[Peter]

Great point about the substitutions. {Though our Yank no.12 spent most of the time on the pitch in those quiet sectors far from the ball, and the one time it came to him near the end, in front of the Meuse-Aragonne stand, he almost put it through his own net.}

You don't know if your great grand-dad was treated on a ship at Basra, do you?

One of my best mates in Delhi was my chemist. Late middle aged Brahmin gent {who also got us Ket.} His family had had the chemist since British times. His granddad was a doctor on a RN ship at Basra '16.

Matey said that his granddad agreed to join thinking all Brits were like the white Delhi elite. He was horrified to find all these squaddies he patched up were the most vulgar chavs and other assorted plebs. Lost his faith in the empire there and then, apparently.

Strange that we both have this personal connection but I guess the war was so big it would be stranger if we didn't for somewhere.

I don't really know anything other than the fact that he got shot, and my mum only found that out fairly recently through his military records. Apparently he never said a word about the war. Nor did my grandad. My family's military history is not terribly impressive

I do know my grandad came back from the war despising the British empire. He spent a lot of time stationed in Trinidad and he couldn't believe the poverty he saw. Began to dawn on him that everything you were told about the glorious empire was bull****.

Funny the lessons people seem to take from their time at war. Both him and your Indian friend ended up hating the British

[Luis Anaconda]

Same here! My tennis coach used to lose his **** at me for making more of an effort at throwing a tantrum than actually listening to him. Probably why I didn't make it to the top level.

I was never really any good but I did tell people that Peter McNamara was my cousin (probably is somewhere down the line) to make them think I was good

[PSRB]

I was never really any good but I did tell people that Peter McNamara was my cousin (probably is somewhere down the line) to make them think I was good

I was county level but spending hours on end with just a coach did my head in. Wanted to be playing cricket and football with my mates. Sacked off swimming for similar reasons.

[Luis Anaconda]

I don't really know anything other than the fact that he got shot, and my mum only found that out fairly recently through his military records. Apparently he never said a word about the war. Nor did my grandad. My family's military history is not terribly impressive

I do know my grandad came back from the war despising the British empire. He spent a lot of time stationed in Trinidad and he couldn't believe the poverty he saw. Began to dawn on him that everything you were told about the glorious empire was bull****.

Funny the lessons people seem to take from their time at war. Both him and your Indian friend ended up hating the British

Ireland being neutral in the war meant I had no relatives who fought in the wars. Though it was rumoured that my paternal grandfather volunteered for the army - no one says on which side though

[Peter]

I was county level but spending hours on end with just a coach did my head in. Wanted to be playing cricket and football with my mates. Sacked off swimming for similar reasons.

That's the thing about other sports-tennis, golf, etc. As good as they are, nothing beats playing cricket and football with your mates.

Apart from sex, maybe. Not with your mates

[Peter]

Ireland being neutral in the war meant I had no relatives who fought in the wars. Though it was rumoured that my paternal grandfather volunteered for the army - no one says on which side though

My great, great, great grandfather was from Limerick. He fought in the Crimean War and was part of the Charge of the Light Brigade. And survived

He was court martialled for striking an officer on 01st January. Rumour is he was fond of a drink.

He moved to England and ended up creating four generations of Arsenal fans