Long Ben Every

“ Here’s to gentlemen at sea tonight, and a toast to all free men

And when the devil comes to take us home, he’ll drink With old Long Ben!

”

Dubai Marina UAE 2013

Clearly not my real name - obviously. I was too immersed in researching pirates' at the time I joined Wikipedia (July 2011). So there it is.
I am a writer, researcher and amateur historian, having spent a life time in marketing, within the international travel business visiting many countries. I have an interest in genealogy, military, maritime, and social history. I enjoyed playing and now watching Rugby Football (the best team game in the world), not to mention the good company and beer. I also enjoy travelling, exploring new places and sitting in street cafes watching the world go by.

Poetic thoughts on why it is a privilege to be born under an English heaven

There was a War
Have you news of my boy Jack? Not this tide. When d’you think that he’ll come back? Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. Has any one else had word of him? Not this tide. For what is sunk will hardly swim, Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. Oh, dear, what comfort can I find? None this tide, Nor any tide, Except he did not shame his kind— Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

After that War
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam; A body of England’s, breathing English air,... The joy of the changing seasons, watching the crashing waves on the Sussex or Cornish coast, the scent of sea air and sound of mewing seagulls, swooping and circling, ...Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark - Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk. Laces for a lady; letters for a spy, Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!

The appearance of snowdrops and crocuses, -the promise of spring, the countryside alive with expectation, and the endless fascination with English place names, Yes, I remember Adlestrop -The name, because one afternoon, Of heat the express-train drew up there, Unwontedly. It was late June. ...And for that minute a blackbird sang, Close by, and round him, mistier, Farther and farther, all the birds Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
The dreamy sound of click on willow from a distant summer village cricket match, ...'Stands the Church clock at ten to three? And is there honey still for tea'?. as day drifts into evening There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night, Ten to make and the match to win, A bumping pitch and a blinding light, An hour to play and the last man in..

The mellow autumn colours drifting towards the misty distance, the delightful lingering scent of wood smoke, ensconced in a country pub, with roaring log fire and a pint of Harveys 'Sussex Best' or Sharp's 'Doom Bar' in hand. On leaving, looking up and glimpsing an infinite number of stars on a frosty winter's night. 'And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees, When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, A highwayman comes riding—Riding—riding— A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door'.

Apart from travelling, sailing when I can, ...They sailed away, for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-tree grows... and exploring, Do you remember an Inn, Miranda, Do you remember an Inn?...And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees, And the wine that tasted of tar? I spend time researching and writing about things of interest. But not forgetting to pause and ponder, What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare as the Welsh poet and super-tramp W. H. Davies wrote, whilst walking my Labrador on the Cornish beaches.

Thoughts on love
On Waterloo Bridge where we said our goodbyes, the weather conditions bring tears to my eyes. I wipe them away with a black woolly glove And try not to notice I've fallen in love.., And best of all with experiences is to share them. As the fictional character Lottie Wilkins surmised in Elizabeth von Arnim's 1922 book The Enchanted April, It did seem that people could only be really happy in pairs...

On farewell's
...Better by far you should forget and smile, Than that you should remember and be sad.

Daisy - on a Sussex beach,
one of my 'best girls' 2006-2018

Views on Wikipedia

As a researcher and writer, I'm easily distracted and often find myself wandering into many other Wikipedia pages, exploring completely different subjects, usually learning something new that would be the envy of an ardent 'pub quiz' affectionado.
That's why I'm originating some pages and making a contribution or adding to a link where I can. Putting something back into the 'world reference library' for other researchers and readers. So three cheers for Jimmy Wales, not forgetting Tim Berners-Lee who made it all possible in the first place

I do have a grip about some Wikipedia Bureaucrats and Administrators. These elevated guardians who seem to outrank mere 'authors' who become sole arbiters of whether a contribution is permissible or not. Deleting copy as if on a pruning spree in a garden. Probably most are frustrated retired (left-wing) teachers with an exaggerated sense of self-worth, and that lingering whiff of wokeism.

NEW pages created (date)

Companies:
Buckmaster & Moore (London Stockbrokers) (2013); Lendrum & Hartman Limited (Automobile Distributors, Importers) (2020); Suter Hartmann & Co work in progress

People:
Dorothy Crisp (Political figure, writer, publisher) (2011); Riccardo Fedel (Italian anti-fascist, WW2 partisan leader) (2011); Idloes Owen (Welsh composer, conductor, founder of WNO) (2011); Reginald Miles (New Zealander soldier WW2) (2011); Guy E Ruggles-Brise (British soldier WW2) (2011); Edward Joseph Todhunter (British soldier WW2) (2011); John Camkin, (sports commentator, businessman) (2013); Jack Reiter (US Air Force Colonel WW2, lawyer, businessman) (2011); Charles Armytage-Moore (Irish aristocrat, partner in stockbrokers Buckmaster & Moore) (2013); E H D Sewell (Cricketer, rugby sports writer), Gordon Beckles, (journalist and author) (2020); Fred Roe, R.I.

Ships:
HMS Sabre (Destroyer) (2011); SS Volendam (Holland America Line) (2011);

Buildings:
Vincigliata Castello di Vincigliata, (as an Italian POW Camp PG12, during WW2) (2011); Winterfold House Surrey (2013); Crag Hotel Penang (2020);

Sports Clubs:
Thomas Cook's Rugby Club London (2013); See film clip of first overseas tour to Holland 1958

Rewrites and contributions

Organisations:
British Housewives' League, Welsh National Opera, Children's Overseas Reception Board (WW2 British government sponsored organisation -involved with evacuating children by sea from the UK), The Gourock Times (Scottish provincial newspaper),

People:
Thomas Brerewood (17th century Gentleman entrepreneur & fraudster), Horst Weber [[1]] (WW2, German E-boat commander), John F. Leeming (English entrepreneur, businessman, early aviator and author), Norman Denny, author, translator,

Places & buildings:
Tredegar House (Ancestral home of the Morgan family), Fitzalan High School (Cardiff), Luckington Wiltshire, Newhailes House Musselburgh, Edinburgh, Royal Albion Hotel Brighton, Sussex, Chedington Dorset village, Cardinal Newman Catholic School, Hove, St James' Hospital, Balham, Motspur Park

Contributions and links

Military events:
Operation Halberd (WW2), Aftermath of World War II, Normandy Landings, List of POW camps in Italy, Operation Ariel (WW2), British Battalion, (International Brigade, Spanish Civil War 1936-39), Spanish Civil War,

Ships:
HMS Lightning (G55), HMHS Newfoundland, SS Nerissa, SS Oronsay (1925), SS Orduna, RMS Scythia, MS Batory, RMS Rangitata, Holland America Line, ORP Błyskawica Polish destroyer, List of ships and sailors of the Royal Navy, HMS Seraph (P219), MV Princess Victoria, SS Stolwijk, HMS Soldado HMY Saudadoes,

People: Academics, Artists, Authors, Actors
Arthur Cecil Alport (SA physcian), Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt (Polish journalist,author), Lin Yutang (Chinese writer), Peter Abrahams (SA novelist), E R Dodds (Irish classical scholar), Diana Morgan (screenwriter), Derek Bond (actor), Iain Moncreiffe (British officer of arms and genealogist), Patrick Leigh Fermor (British author, scholar and soldier), Robert Tear (Welsh tenor), Geraint Evans (Welsh baritone), Mai Jones (Welsh songwriter, radio producer), Dudley Pope (writer), Arwel Hughes (Welsh conductor, composer), Michael Havers, Baron Havers (barrister, politician), Michael Horden (actor), Charles Wyville Thomson (historian, zoologist), Percy French (Irish songwriter), Godfrey Winn (journalist), Michael Redgrave (actor), Elsie Carlisle (singer), Stuart Cloete (SA novelist), James Robertson Justice (actor), Maurice Denham (actor), Peter Bull (actor), Johnnie Cradock (cook, writer, broadcaster), Lenny Bruce (American stand-up comedian), Frances Day, (American actress and singer), Oscar Parkes OBE.,(Naval surgeon, historian, marine artist, and editor of Jane's Fighting Ships), David Nixon (magician), Henry Beckles Willson (Canadian author), Isla Blair (actress) Christopher Strauli (actor) Richard Mason (explorer) David Divine (author, journalist)

People: Military
Walter Clopton Wingfield, ‎Adrian Carton de Wiart, Philip Neame, Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly, Michael Gambier-Parry, Thomas Gambier-Parry, John Frederick Boyce Combe, James Hargest, High Sheriff of Essex (Todhunter & Ruggles-Brise), Lionel Sadleir-Jackson, Walter Lentaigne, Agnes Keyser (Sister Agnes), Edward Fegen V.C. (Captain of Jervis Bay), Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (journey through Wales summer 1802)

People: Business & Sports
Walter Buckmaster (polo player, stockbroker), Sir John Elliot (railway manager), Peter May (cricketer), Bill Camkin, (Journalist & broadcaster) Judy Grinham (Olympic swimmer), Walter Clopton Wingfield, inventor of lawn tennis Jaroslav Drobný, Tennis,

People: Historical figures
Henry Every (English pirate), Harache family (Huguenots), Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore, Edward Brerewood, Francis Brerewood, Henry Morgan, Baron Tredegar, William Morgan (of Machen and Tredegar), Sir Edward Archdale, 3rd Baronet, William Webb Ellis,(rugby football) Pierre de Coubertin, Arthur Blomfield (English architect), Stalag VII-A Bavaria, Pieter van der Werff (Dutch Golden Age painter), Sarkies Brothers, (Far East hoteliers)

People: Naval Francis Laforey, Sir Edward Archdale, 3rd Baronet, David Broadfoot (Radio officer MV Princess Victoria)

People: Political
Ida Copeland (British politician), Hugh Lucas-Tooth (British politician), Robert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart (British diplomat), Stewart Menzies (Chief of MI6, WW2), Gideon Oliphant-Murray, 2nd Viscount Elibank

TV Shows What's My Line? (British game show) (BBC TV Show 1951-63) Bergerac (TV series) (BBC 1981-91) The Glittering Prizes (BBC TV Series 1976) Shabby Tiger (TV series) (ITV Granada TV series 1973)

Places Houses Buildings:
Smarden, Kent, My Lady's Manor, Maryland, USA, Piacenza, Italy, Sulmona, Italy, Helvellyn (English Lake District), Merthyr Vale Wales, Llandaff Wales, Cardiff, Timeline of Cardiff history, Lippstadt Germany, Albemarle Street London W1, Apeldoorn Netherlands, Cranleigh Surrey, Rhymney Wales, Rodmell East Sussex, Church of St Peter and St Paul, Blockley Gloucestershire, East Hoathly Sussex, Chester Square,London SW1, Child & Co, Guilsborough House Northamptonshire, Hotel Sacher Vienna, Almuñécar Spain, Manor House Hotel Castle Combe, Leigh Court Abbots Leigh Bristol, Bebington Cheshire, Wirrall, Queen's Hotel, Gibraltar Black Hall Devon, The Albert Pub Victoria Street, London SW,

Organisations Firms:
Sunday Dispatch, East India Company, Lancashire Aero Club, Boston Evening Transcript, Credit Suisse, Thomas Cook & Son, King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes, Standard Bank, Chartered Bank of India, Bedford Lemere (architectural photographers), Lunn Poly (travel agency group), General Motors Europe, Lillywhites, List of Royal Warrant holders of the British Royal Family,

Rugby Clubs:
Barbarians FC, Bedford Blues, London Scottish FC

Schools:
List of Old Rugbeians, Cheltenham College, Wellington School, Somerset, Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, List of Old Etonians born in the 20th century, Repton School (Notable Old Reptonians), Mill Hill School, Warwick School, List of Old Uppinghamians

Books:
The Clayhanger Family 1910 Arnold Bennett,

Animals:
Unsinkable Sam cat rescued by HMS lightning

Products:
Zam-Buk universal ointment used by pre & post war rugger players for cuts & bruises

War:
Falklands War 1982, 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands

Books & Articles

Published Books

• The coalminer's last daughter, (2023) biographical story, Lena Gwen Morgan 1918-1994 ISBN 978 1 3999 5111 1
• Captain Herbert's Shooting Party, (2022) - First novel - a love story & fictional autobiography ISBN 9781915012289
• Places to Stay, (2020) - Travelogue, around the world in 50 years a travellers collection, 3 volumes 1965-2016 published privately no ISBN
  
• Beerfroth and the Ice Cream Bears, (2019) 'an entertainment for children' published UpFront Publishing, ISBN 9781784566692
  
• Mr Bridgeman’s Accomplice, (2019), Long Ben's Coxswain 1660-1722, published FastPrint Publishers, Peterborough ISBN 978-178456-636-4
  
• A Welsh Uncle, (2018) Miner, Soldier, Musician, WNO Chorister, Memories of Tom Morgan 1898 -1957, published FastPrint Publishers, Peterborough ISBN 978-178456-597-8
  
• Rugger Shorts, (2018) reflections on the amateur game ISBN 978-1-78456-531-2
  
• Maud Coleno's Daughter, (2017), the life of Mayfair heiress Dorothy Hartman 1898-1957, Troubador, Leicestershire ISBN 9781785899713
  
• Thomas Cook's Rugby Club, (2013), (paperback edition), its life and times 1910-1966, FastPrint Publishers, Peterborough, ISBN: 9781780356563 [[2]]
  Hardback (2019) revised edition ISBN 978-178456-596-1
  
• Struck by Lightning, (2012), A sailor's first-hand story about a World War Two fighting ship, HMS Lightning (G55) 1941-1943,(with Eric Gilroy), FastPrint Publishers, Peterborough, ISBN: 9781780354804 [[3]] Hardback (2019) revised edition ISBN 978 178456 649 4
  

Selected Articles

• Bulletin Magazine (2010-2014) A Thomas Cook quarterly publication, [1] '40 years on...a rugby reunion', [2] 'Family Fortunes', [3] 'Unsinkable Sam and other nautical tails', [4] 'Mediterranean Odyssey', [5] 'A Whiff of the Past', [6] 'Children Evacuees', [7] 'Thomas Cook's WW2 undercover mail service' [8] 'An Afternoon at Muriel's' (The Colony Room)
  
• Regent Times (2012) The magazine for the Regent Seven Seas Society Members [[4]], Vincigliata Castle, it's Florentine history
• Glossop Life (2011) A lifestyle magazine for Glossop and the High Peaks (Derbyshire)[[5]] 'A Tie with Glossop'
• Doncaster Gazette (2013) 'Doncaster's own warship' (HMS Lightning)[[6]]

Rugby blog: (2014) Rugbydata, a web-site featuring all things rugby, results, opinions, forums, 75,000 readers, 25 articles to date [[7]]