Kilt on Colin Firth in movie "The King's Speech"

**Downunder Kilt** · 19th February 11, 02:16 PM

Mike, in the time period of the movie, professional people strove to have a less Australian accent. News readers/broadcasters on the radio of the day tended to sound English and I believe it was a condition of employment with the government broadcaster that you did not have the strine of an Australian.

When old Australian newsreels are played on TV, if you close your eyes, you would swear that you are listening to a broadcast emanating from England.

**Mike_Oettle** · 19th February 11, 02:22 PM

Hi, Mike – much the same can be said of South Africa in the same period – and considerably later.
But to the (British) English ear we are still colonials.
Regards,
Mike

**Downunder Kilt** · 19th February 11, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by Mike_Oettle

Hi, Mike – much the same can be said of South Africa in the same period – and considerably later.
But to the (British) English ear we are still colonials.
Regards,
Mike

Totally agree Mike, we and others (and to some still are) " those colonial chaps"

**Mike_Oettle** · 20th February 11, 05:35 AM

Yep! Colonial and proud of it!

**Jock Scot** · 20th February 11, 05:58 AM

Originally Posted by Downunder Kilt

Totally agree Mike, we and others (and to some still are) " those colonial chaps"

Well alright yes, you are "those colonial chaps" but to many of us it is a tongue in cheek term of endearment and a mark of high regard and respect.

**Mike_Oettle** · 20th February 11, 07:23 AM

Jock, I am glad – indeed, honoured – to hear this from you.
Not all folk from Britain are as accommodating. But I would imagine that other X Marks folk would identify with your sentiments.
Regards,
Mike

**Jock Scot** · 20th February 11, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by Mike_Oettle

Jock, I am glad – indeed, honoured – to hear this from you.
Not all folk from Britain are as accommodating. But I would imagine that other X Marks folk would identify with your sentiments.
Regards,
Mike

I am of a generation that had parents and grand parents and close relatives that fought alongside many many colonials and I do include those from the USA and other countries not directly attached with the then British Empire, in two world wars. I can also well remember the men and women based in the UK far, far from home who came to lend us a hand in some dire times in WW2. It is not something that I will ever forget and I have no doubts nor will the UK in general.

**Mike_Oettle** · 20th February 11, 08:36 AM

Indeed, your generation would certainly remember that comradeship.
The 6th South African Division in Italy fought alongside a Guards brigade, and there were many other British units that fought side by side with South Africans (and with Australians, New Zealanders and Indians) there and in the Western Desert.
Sadly, the present regime in my country would prefer to forget those times, and dismiss the two world wars as being merely “colonial conflicts” (their definition of colonial being rather different from the way we have been using that word in this thread).
They prefer to recall the relatively few incidents in which black and brown (unarmed) troops were involved in those two wars, and ignore the military successes (and even the failures) of white soldiers.
It was wrong of the earlier governments (both the apartheid regime and its less extremely racist predecessors) to sideline black and brown men and use them solely in non-combatant roles, but all those who served in uniform did so with exceptional courage.
South African Coloured soldiers (re-attested in the British Army and issued with rifles) played a significant role in the conquest of Palestine in the latter stages of the First World War, but even these seem to be ignored by our current rulers. Perhaps their British Army status is seen as a negative, but it was in fact a highly appropriate stratagem on the part of General Jan Smuts to make the best use of manpower.
The Union of South Africa, in its early days, was uneasy about Britain’s possibly taking South African troops and using them in faraway conflicts. For this reason it forbade the South African Army from operating north of the Equator (this law was changed twice to allow operations during the Second World War).
Because of this restriction, members of South African regiments voluntarily joined British Army units (called South African Infantry) for service in France during the First World War.
These men served with particular distinction (the 4th SAI being decimated at Delville Wood), but have not always received the recognition they deserved in their own country, for political reasons.
Regards,
Mike

**Jock Scot** · 20th February 11, 08:53 AM

Without getting too wound up in all this, not that I don't want to, but we are a kilt forum after all! I do well remember one RAF pilot who was a South African who came to dinner with other pilots from other nations, it was something that we all tried to do to make the servicemen just that wee bit more at home, his name was "sailor" Milan. I remember him because his nickname reminded me of my father that I had not yet seen, who was a sailor.