Five Times the British Had No Choice But to Admit Defeat nationalinterest.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalinterest.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
For centuries, the sun never set on the British Empire. But eclipses there were, and more than a few that stained British arms.
Like the Romans, the British fought a variety of enemies. They also had the distinction of being defeated by a variety of enemies, including Americans, Russians, French, Native Americans, Africans, Afghans, Japanese and Germans. Even in defeat, there is something glorious in losing to so many different foes.
As the saying goes, victory has many fathers, but defeat is an orphan. Yet in Britain s case, defeat has multiple sires, from overconfidence to racism. Those Americans who would sneer at the Limeys should be mindful that the same reasons have also resulted in U.S. defeats.
Last modified on Mon 22 Mar 2021 07.53 EDT
The artist Victor Ambrus, who has died aged 85, instilled admiration and envy in colleagues for both the quality and the quantity of his work. He drew relentlessly, for television programmes, museum displays, postage stamps and Christmas cards, and especially children’s books – he stopped counting these, he told me, at 300. He could have had a brilliant career as a humorous caricaturist.
From interpreting Homer and Shakespeare, and the first edition of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, to 20 years working with archaeologists on the Channel 4 TV series Time Team, Ambrus was one of Britain’s most outstanding illustrators, to be ranked with such of his childhood heroes as Arthur Rackham and EH Shepard. Yet Britain was his country of choice, not birth.
This article first appeared earlier and is being reposted due to reader interest.
Like the Romans, the British fought a variety of enemies. They also had the distinction of being defeated by a variety of enemies, including Americans, Russians, French, Native Americans, Africans, Afghans, Japanese and Germans. Even in defeat, there is something glorious in losing to so many different foes.
As the saying goes, victory has many fathers, but defeat is an orphan. Yet in Britain s case, defeat has multiple sires, from overconfidence to racism. Those Americans who would sneer at the Limeys should be mindful that the same reasons have also resulted in U.S. defeats.
On the day Britain s vaccine tsar announced the deal securing 40 million doses of the Pfizer jab, her Brussels opposite number was literally talking about the price of fish.
It was July 20, and while Kate Bingham was giving the UK a stunning head-start, Stella Kyriakides, the European commissioner in charge of the bloc s inoculation plan, was embroiled in an intractable meeting of the EU s Agriculture and Fisheries Council.
A further four months would elapse before the EU managed to place its own order with Pfizer.
Success has many fathers, and Ministers and scientists are jostling to receive the plaudits for the UK s nimble, world-beating strategy.