Off Topic On this day

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On this day 50 years ago, the remarkable and inspirational Doddie Weir was born.

Lock Weir was capped 61 times by Scotland, and was part of the victorious British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in 1997.

Since confirming in 2017 that he had motor neurone disease, his My Name'5 Doddie Foundation has raised more than £5.8m for MND research.

The ex-Melrose and Newcastle Falcons second row said he is "truly honoured".

He added: "I owe so much to the game of rugby, and to our great rugby family in particular.

"The support I received from players and supporters throughout my career and now in my battle to find a cure for MND has been immense, and has given me the strength to keep fighting.

"Thank you so much for honouring me with this award - and on my 50th birthday too. What a great present."

MND claimed the life of my much loved brother in law recently , what an insidious disease robbing you of all hope for the future.
 
This week marks the 80th Anniversary since the start of the Battle of Britain, where the RAF defended the nation against the German airforce, the Luftwaffe. It was the first major battle fought entirely in the air
I read a book on the Battle of Britain two or three years ago on holiday. It was a day by day account.

Whilst not the most ‘riveting’ book I’ve read on WW2 - and I’ve lost count of how many - it was a fascinating account of what took place.
 
I read a book on the Battle of Britain two or three years ago on holiday. It was a day by day account.

Whilst not the most ‘riveting’ book I’ve read on WW2 - and I’ve lost count of how many - it was a fascinating account of what took place.
Like you I've read many , one of the better ones along with anything that James Holland produces is Joshua Levine's Forgotten voices of the Blitz and the Battle Of Britain . As a kid I was taken many a year to St Athan in my friends' Black Vanguard six to spend the day commemorating Battle Of Britain day . It always an aspect of the second world war that if I could go back in time it would be to that period.
 
MND claimed the life of my much loved brother in law recently , what an insidious disease robbing you of all hope for the future.
It’s a terrible disease. My mates mother died of it, it was tragic with the way she went from a bubbly person having a pint with you in the pub, to a shell of a person.
 
15 years since the London bombings, remember it so well. I was in Austria for a works conference, all the joys of summer with us getting the Olympics the day before, we break for coffee and news flash popped up with news of the bombings.
I was in a meeting in Germany - flying back that evening to Birmingham from Stuttgart....
 
On this day Richard Lewis (1807/8 – 13 August 1831), known as Dic Penderyn died. He was a Welsh labourer and coal miner who lived in Merthyr Tydfil who was involved with the Merthyr Rising of 3 June 1831. In the course of the riot he was arrested alongside Lewis Lewis, one of the primary figures in the uprising, and charged with stabbing a soldier with a bayonet. The people of Merthyr Tydfil doubted his guilt, and signed a petition for his release. However, he was found guilty and hanged on 13 August. After his death he was treated as a martyr in Merthyr and across Wales.