A Breed Of Heroes
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A Breed Of Heroes
''A Breed of Heroes'' is a 1981 novel by Alan Judd. It narrates in third person the experiences of a young British Army officer as he is deployed on his first tour of duty, a four-month operation in Armagh and Belfast at the height of The Troubles. Plot introduction Set in the 1970s, ‘’A Breed of Heroes’’ follows the deployment of young British Army officer Charles Thoroughgood on a four-month emergency tour of Northern Ireland. Charles is new to the army and the difficulty he has with adjusting to army life adds to the complications faced in Northern Ireland. Being an Oxford graduate at a time when over 90% of army officers were school leavers makes him a conspicuous target for his eccentric Commanding Officer’s attention, as well as three to four years older than his fellow Second Lieutenants. Plot summary The first month of the tour is spent in the countryside of Armagh, where Charles’ battalion make their presence felt by ending all British Army contact wit ...
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Alan Judd
Alan Judd (born 1946) is a pseudonym used by Alan Edwin Petty. Born in 1946, he is a former soldier and diplomat who now works as a security analyst and writer in the United Kingdom. He writes both books and articles, regularly contributing to a number of publications, including ''The Daily Telegraph'', the ''Spectator'' and ''The Oldie''. His books include both fiction and non-fiction titles, with his novels often drawing on his military background. Fiction Titles Charles Thoroughgood novels: *''A Breed of Heroes'' (1981 - adapted by Charles Wood as a BBC television film in 1996) *''Legacy'' (2001) *''Uncommon Enemy'' (2012) *''Inside Enemy'' (2014) *''Deep Blue'' (2017) *''Accidental Agent'' (2019) *''Queen and Country'' (2022) Other novels: *''Short of Glory'' (1984) *''The Noonday Devil'' (1987) *''Tango'' (1989) *''The Devil's Own Work'' (1991) *''The Kaiser's Last Kiss'' (2003) *''Dancing with Eva'' (2006) *''Slipstream'' (2015) *''Shakespeare's Sword'' (2018) *''A Fin ...
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Urban Guerrilla Warfare
An urban guerrilla is someone who fights a government using unconventional warfare or domestic terrorism in an urban environment. Theory and history The urban guerrilla phenomenon is essentially one of industrialised society, resting both on the presence of large urban agglomerations where hideouts are easy to find and on a theory of alienation proper to the modern society of mass consumption. Michael Collins, a commander of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) is often considered to be the father of modern urban guerrilla warfare. In April 1919 an elite assassination unit, known as The Squad or ''Twelve Apostles'', was created in Dublin. The unit was tasked with hunting down and executing British Intelligence operatives in the city; they can be considered one of the first true urban guerrilla units. Historically guerrilla warfare was a rural phenomenon, it was not until the 1960s that the limitations of this form were clearly demonstrated. The technique was almost entirely ...
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Samuel West
Samuel Alexander Joseph West (born 19 June 1966) is an English actor, narrator and theatre director. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor across theatre, film, television and radio. He often appears as reciter with orchestras and performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2002. He has narrated several documentary series, including five for the BBC about the Second World War. He plays Siegfried Farnon in the Channel 5 remake of the veterinary drama series '' All Creatures Great and Small''. Early life and education West was born on 19 June 1966 in Hammersmith, London, the elder son of the actress Prunella Scales and the actor Timothy West, and the grandson of the actor Lockwood West. He has one brother, Joe. He was educated at Alleyn's School and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where he studied English literature and was president of the Experimental Theatre Club. West originally intended to attend Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, but decided to f ...
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Charles Wood (playwright)
Charles Gerald Wood (6 August 1932 – 1 February 2020) was a playwright and scriptwriter for radio, television, and film. He lived in England. His work has been staged at the Royal National Theatre as well as at the Royal Court Theatre and in the theatres of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984. Wood served in the 17th/21st Lancers and military themes are found in many of his works. Biography Though he was born in the British Crown dependency of Guernsey—his parents were actors in a repertory company playing in Guernsey at the time—he left the island with his parents when he was still only an infant. His parents worked as actors in repertory and fit-ups (travelling theatrical groups) mainly in the north of England and Wales and had no fixed place of abode. His education was, until the outbreak of the Second World War, sporadic. The family settled in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in 1939. The first house ...
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Screen One
''Screen One'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and distributed by BBC Worldwide, that was transmitted on BBC One from 1989 to 1998. A total of six series were broadcast, incorporating sixty individual films, several of which were broadcast as stand-alone specials. The series was born following the demise of the BBC's ''Play for Today'', which ran from 1970 to 1984. Producer Kenith Trodd was asked to formulate a new series of one-off television dramas, the result of which was ''Screen Two'', which began broadcasting on BBC2 in 1985. However, while ''Play for Today''s style had often been a largely studio-based form of theatre on television, ''Screen Two'' was shot entirely on film. In 1989, the series was adapted for more mainstream audiences on BBC1, and ''Screen One'' was born to follow the lead taken by Channel 4, whose many television films had later been released in cinemas. ''Screen One'' attracted many names familiar to television and ...
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Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner of the Booker Prize receives international publicity which usually leads to a sales boost. When the prize was created, only novels written by Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, Irish, and South African (and later Zimbabwean) citizens were eligible to receive the prize; in 2014 it was widened to any English-language novel—a change that proved controversial. A five-person panel constituted by authors, librarians, literary agents, publishers, and booksellers is appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation each year to choose the winning book. A high-profile literary award in British culture, the Booker Prize is greeted with anticipation and fanfare. Literary critics have noted that it is a mark of distinction fo ...
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Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize
The Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize was presented from 1967 until 2003 by the Royal Society of Literature for the best regional novel of the year. It is named after the novelist Winifred Holtby who was noted for her novels set in the rural scenes of her childhood. In 2003 it was superseded by the Ondaatje Prize The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize is an annual literary award given by the Royal Society of Literature. The £10,000 award is for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that evokes the "spirit of a place", and is written by someon .... References {{DEFAULTSORT:Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize Royal Society of Literature awards Awards established in 1967 1967 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards disestablished in 2003 2003 disestablishments in the United Kingdom British fiction awards ...
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The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (founded in 1821) are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, in turn wholly owned by News Corp. ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'', which do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1966. In general, the political position of ''The Times'' is considered to be centre-right. ''The Times'' is the first newspaper to have borne that name, lending it to numerous other papers around the world, such as ''The Times of India'', ''The New York Times'', and more recently, digital-first publications such as TheTimesBlog.com (Since 2017). In countries where these other titles are popular, the newspaper is often referred to as , or as , although the newspaper is of nationa ...
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Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent, socialist republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the army of the all-island Irish Republic and as the sole legitimate successor to the original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an unlawful organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, due to a split within the previous incarnation of the IRA and the broader Irish republican movement. It was initially the minority faction in the split compared to the Official IRA, but became the dominant faction by 1972. T ...
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Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC'', pp. 5, 17, 27, 93, 134, 271; Pen & Sword Books; following the partition of Ireland. At its peak the force had around 8,500 officers, with a further 4,500 who were members of the RUC Reserve. The RUC policed Northern Ireland from the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence until after the turn of the 21st century, and played a major role in the Troubles between the 1960s and the 1990s. Due to the threat from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who saw the RUC as enforcing British rule, the force was heavily armed and militarised. Officers routinely carried submachine guns and assault rifles, travelled in armoured vehicles, and were based in heavily-fortified police stations.Weitzer, Ronald. ''Policin ...
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Adjutant
Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commissioned officer rank similar to a staff sergeant or warrant officer but is not equivalent to the role or appointment of an adjutant. An adjutant general is commander of an army's administrative services. Etymology Adjutant comes from the Latin ''adiutāns'', present participle of the verb ''adiūtāre'', frequentative form of ''adiuvāre'' 'to help'; the Romans actually used ''adiūtor'' for the noun. Military and paramilitary appointment In various uniformed hierarchies, the term is used for number of functions, but generally as a principal aide to a commanding officer. A regimental adjutant, garrison adjutant etc. is a staff officer who assists the commanding officer of a regiment, battalion or garrison in the details of regimental, g ...
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Negligent Discharge
An unintentional discharge is the event of a firearm discharging (firing) at a time not intended by the user. An unintended discharge may be produced by an incompatibility between firearm design and usage, such as the phenomenon of cooking off a round in a closed bolt machine gun, a mechanical malfunction as in the case of slamfire in an automatic weapon, or be user induced due to training issues or negligence. The phenomenon has also been defined in scientific literature as ''an activation of the trigger mechanism that results in an unplanned discharge that is outside of the firearm’s prescribed use''. Where prescribed use refers to departmental policies and laws related to the operation of firearms (O'Neill, 2018). Types Accidental discharge An accidental discharge (AD) occurs when there is a mechanical failure of the firearm. This can include things like firearms that do not have mechanisms to render them drop safe falling a sufficient distance, a firing pin stuck forward, a ...
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