Wednesday, 21 January 2009

The Few

Still on the melancholy subject of time, Bill Stone died last month. He was 108, and one of the last four men to have fought for Britain in World War I.

Three remain of the five million who went. One of them is Henry Allingham, who is 112, and who fought at Ypres. He's Europe's oldest man. In 1903, at the Oval, he watched WG Grace bat. He is the last human on earth who can make that claim. 

He didn't visit the Oval again for 103 years. He's the only man who can say that, too. 

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2 comments:

  1. Unknown21 January 2009 at 14:58

    I guess he wasn't a fan of WG Grace's batting then... perhaps he was there to watch the umpires

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  2. The Old Batsman21 January 2009 at 15:05

    He went to Lord's in 2006, too. It was rained off. It could be the greatest cricket-watching career of all time. Three visits in 106 years.

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