Tory Historian agrees that the passing of Henry Allingham, the oldest man in the world and the oldest British veteran of the Great War, at the age of 113 is, indeed, a solemn occasion; a time for us all to meditate on that war, its horrors and, perhaps even more, the horrors that followed it. The short twentieth century was not a happy one for most of the world.
On the other hand, Tory Historian is a little puzzled by comments seen on various outlets about what a lovely fella Mr Allingham was or how marvellous he was or others of that ilk, made by people who patently have no idea and have never heard of Mr Allingham until his death.
Clearly, he was an admirable man, whose life was very private and who deserves better than patronizing comments such as the one made by Prime Minister Brown:
I had the privilege of meeting Henry many times. He was a tremendous character, one of the last representatives of a generation of tremendous characters.Mr Allingham's MP, who clearly had not the slightest idea about the man (somehow it is hard to imagine Mr Allingham frequenting his MP's office but anything is possible) also burbled in an equally condescending fashion:
He lived in Eastbourne for much of his life and was a much-loved local figure.Tory Historian finds all this very distasteful.
He always had a roguish sense of humour and we're all going to miss him hugely.
He always had a joke and loved all the attention.
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