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The Herald Scotland
17-05-2025
- General
- The Herald Scotland
Heroic Scottish pilot who brought stricken jet back to base dies
Died: March 26, 2025 Captain Geoffrey Harold Rosenbloom, who has died aged 88, was a legendary aircraft pilot who was born in Shimla, India, to Major Leah Violet Rosenbloom, and Colonel Alfred Rosenbloom, both Royal Army Medical Corps. Both parents were Scottish Surgeon Officers attached to the Indian Army. The Indian divisions would go on to acquire a truly heroic reputation in the Second World War, with 87,000 killed in action, including 3,000 killed in the taking of Monte Cassino, during the Italian Campaign. Young Geoffrey lived in India until he was nine years old. Later in life he would hold his children and grandchildren spellbound with stories of growing up with a pet elephant and several pet monkeys. Geoff was sent off to boarding school in Scotland while his parents remained serving in the Army in all its theatres of war. His parents fully expected him to gain excellent grades and enter university to become a doctor like them. The world then was not what it is today. The war had just ended, and displaced and lost souls were trying to find their families in a world as yet unencumbered with the internet and social media. His trip to Scotland, with his mum and younger sister, Jane, took several weeks on trains and steamers. At boarding school, Geoff joined the Air Cadets. Dutifully gaining good grades, he started medicine at Edinburgh University. By this time, he was also enlisted in the University Air Squadron. At just 18 years old he obtained his wings. Read more Obituaries He had now caught the 'flying bug' however, and after just two years of medicine, Geoff was awarded a commission in the RAF. He abandoned his medical studies. Today the RAF would pay for such a cadet to finish their studies but, perhaps back then, the RAF needed pilots as much as they needed doctors. Geoff then found his future wife, Liz on a blind date. This was the start of a life-long 'honeymoon'. When Geoff was promoted as a fast jet pilot, he was posted abroad, where the victorious powers were still trying to restore post-war order. He was posted to Cyprus with 43 squadron, to help the restoration effort in the Middle East. He few a Hawker Hunter single seat fast jet fighter. At first Liz remained in Scotland studying at the Domestic Science School, fondly remembered as the 'Dough School' in Edinburgh. Liz, who died in October 2020, was renowned for her cooking and needlework skills. Liz and Geoff wrote to each other almost every day. On the occasion of one of his rapid promotions in the squadron, Geoff ended one of his letters to Liz with the remark 'I'm thinking of getting married.' Liz immediately replied with a two-word letter 'Who to?' Soon after that the couple were married in Scotland, and they were allocated officer's family accommodation in Cyprus. Geoff received an official Commendation and a medal from the Queen, while stationed in Cyprus. One day he was performing a tight left dive at 21,000ft in his Hunter jet fighter, when he realised that he no longer had full control of his jet; it would no longer respond to aileron input, which rolls and turns the jet. Being over the sea, the standard drill if one lost control, called for the pilot to depart the stricken jet by ejection seat, and bask in the Mediterranean sunshine until fished out of the water by helicopter. However not our Geoff, to whom losing aileron control meant little more than an inconvenience. Geoff wrestled the jet to something close to straight and level and nursed his jet back to a very passable landing. When asked by his Station Commander why he had not ejected, Geoff replied that trying to bring the stricken jet back would allow engineers to examine why the jet lost aileron control. True enough it was readily determined that the near catastrophe was due to the failure, through metal fatigue, of an aileron pulley wheel bracket. Geoff's Commendation recorded that in heroically and selfishly nursing his uncontrollable jet back to base, the problem was corrected across the fleet, potentially saving loss of life in the future. Geoff also saw service in Aden and the Suez Crisis, after which his Commission on fast jets came to an end. Returning to Scotland in 1962, Geoff was hired by Willie Logan's fledgling Loganair becoming their third pilot after Captain Duncan 'Mac' MacIntosh DFC and Captain Ken Foster DFC, both sadly no longer with us. Geoff was invited as a guest of honour to Loganair's recent 60-year anniversary celebration, which he attended with his customary grin. After some years flying for Loganair, which included piloting the renowned 24/7 air ambulance service to the outer and northern isles of Scotland, Geoff started his own air charter company. Later, with a fleet of 12 aircraft and many pilots, Geoff took on a new director, Sir Hugh Fraser, at that time owner of House of Fraser including Harrods. Geoff flew many well-known characters and celebrities, including Elton John, the Rolling Stones, The Average White Band, Diana Ross and Scotland's own Billy Connolly. Elton invited Geoff to a VIP seat at his Glasgow concert including a visit back-stage. As well as being a legendary pilot on the Scottish scene, Geoff was equally well known for being an international broker in the purchase and sale of all types of aircraft, from the smallest primary trainer to Boeing Jumbo jets. Only a couple of years ago he arranged the sale of two very large passenger jets from the French Government fleet to a customer in Indonesia. Geoff personally delivered a lot of the aircraft he bought, sold or brokered. He performed over 1,000 long-distance ferry flights, over the Atlantic, the Arctic and Indian oceans. Read more Obituaries However such was Geoff's humility, that not a lot of people were aware that he was also for 25 years, one of the unpaid volunteer pilots of the St John Ambulance Air Wing, transferring donor organs, such as kidneys, hearts, lungs and all manner of 'human spare parts' as well as patients and surgical teams all over Britain and the Continent. The co-ordination of human transplants never sleeps and Geoff saw it as a special achievement in humanitarian service to have delivered a combined heart and lungs one Christmas day, followed a week later, on New Year's Day, by transporting a surgical team complete with a child donor heart and lungs in the 'white cold-box with the large green cross'. Geoff was decorated by the Queen at Buckingham Palace as an Officer of the Order of St John 'for services, above and beyond duty, to mankind'. Perhaps Geoff's loss to the medical profession was somewhat redeemed after all. Geoff passed all his regular flying medical examinations, with associated X-rays, ECGs, etc, every year right up until he was 82 years of age. In 2022 his heart, as he described it himself, 'sprang a leak'. Not only did Geoff have heart surgery at the Jubilee Hospital, Clydebank, but he allowed the operation to be filmed or the Heart Hospital TV series. Geoff was operated on by the extraordinary heart surgeon, Angie Ghattas. She had been hoping to review Geoff's health this year. Geoff Rosenbloom employed, nurtured and inspired hundreds of pilots, many of whom are now flying 'heavies' for airlines all around the world, and he will be sorely missed. He is survived by his two daughters, Lizanne and Lucy, Lizanne's husband Gerry, and grand-daughters Leah and Lily, as well as his sister Jane and her husband Rod. FRANK CANNON
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Maj Gen James Crook, RAMC scientist who studied the biological impact of nuclear tests
Major General James Crook, who has died aged 101, took part in a major British nuclear test programme in the course of a distinguished career in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). In 1956, Crook went to South Australia as one of a group of scientists working on the biological problems of atomic explosions. Maralinga – the name means 'Place of Thunder' – is on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert about 700 miles north-west of Adelaide. It was covered with grass, flowering shrubs and trees, and there was plenty of animal life, including lizards and snakes, rabbits, kangaroos, emus and parrots. Scientific and recreational facilities had been established, a large runway and aerodrome built and a 100 ft tower constructed at the end of a long road leading from Maralinga village. In this series of weapons tests, four rounds were planned – two from the tower, one from the ground and an air-drop from a Valiant bomber. Crook's task was to put out items of medical equipment at varying distances from the tower. Some were placed on the surface, while others, including foodstuffs, were buried to assess the effect of ionising radiation. A further task was to place articulated dummies in battle-dress to calculate the dynamic effects of the blast wave on human beings. Also exposed to the bomb were trucks, light vehicles, aircraft, tanks, guns, radar and other military equipment. Blast detectors, heat detectors and gamma neutron detectors were among a large assortment of scientific instruments laid out to measure the effects of the bomb. The area was a scene of great activity. Bulldozers, drillers, graders and mobile cranes raised clouds of dust. Several times, Crook found himself looking over his shoulder at the tower and wondering whether atomic bombs ever exploded prematurely. The first round was to be exploded from the tower. The fireball was expected to come into contact with the ground and the radioactive fall-out, affecting the first 100 miles downwind, was expected to be high. Firing, therefore, could only be permitted when the wind was in exactly the right direction and of the right strength. Crook and other service officers watched the explosion on a hill within a few miles of the tower. He wrote afterwards: 'A tremendously bright, white-blueish flash illuminated the area. It was like a magnesium flare and outshone the sun. An orange fireball rose extraordinarily quickly, attached to the ground by the mushroom-stalk cloud. The roar and the intensely hot pressure wave came several seconds later.' James Cooper Crook was born at Prestatyn, north Wales, on March 19 1923. He won an open scholarship to Worksop College before going to Guy's Hospital on a junior science scholarship. His father, Francis, had served in the First World War before going to Guy's, and his grandfather, Sir Edwin Cooper Perry, was Superintendent of Guy's from 1897 to 1920 and vice-chancellor of London University. In 1946 he was commissioned into the RAMC as a National Serviceman and was serving in North Africa during Britain's severe winter of 1947-48. A soldier's life seemed preferable to that sort of experience and he decided to make a career in the regular Army. After three years in Cyrenaica Province, Libya, he returned to England to begin his training in pathology at the Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital at Millbank in London. It was during the period 1954 to 1957, when he was the Army medical liaison officer to the Medical Research Council in the radiobiology unit at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell in Oxfordshire that he attended the nuclear tests at Maralinga. Early in the morning, on the day following the explosion of the first round, he drove to the health control checkpoint, where a complete decontamination centre had been established. He changed into protective clothing, including rubber boots, overalls and a respirator. He was given a personal dose-rate meter and walked to the 'dirty' car park. There he collected a 'dirty' jeep and drove towards the bomb site through a scene of devastation – with blackened earth, charred and flattened trees, and fires burning in vehicles and other target items. As he retrieved the food targets, the needle on his dosimeter was recording several roentgens per hour. He wasted no time in completing the task and returned to the centre to undress and shower. This was followed by rigorous monitoring to confirm that he was completely free of contamination. There followed postings to Cyprus during the EOKA Emergency, and to the David Bruce Military Hospital in Malta. He was the RAMC specialist and pathologist at the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down in Wiltshire from 1960 to 1963. After a posting to Eastern Command Laboratory, he moved to the Ministry of Defence. He hated having to wear a city suit, a bowler hat and carry an umbrella, and he jumped on the hat when he finished the appointment. After five years in command of the British Military Hospital at Munster in West Germany, he returned to the MoD – this time without a bowler hat. It was his final appointment. He was promoted to major general and finished as director of Army Pathology. In 1981 he retired from the Army and worked as a civilian medical practitioner at the Army Blood Supply Depot in Aldershot , where he became known as 'the Bleeding General'. In retirement in Cornwall, he loved travelling and, having loaded his family into their veteran Morris Oxford, he would drive across France to Bavaria for camping holidays. He also enjoyed researching the family history. In 2023 he received the British Nuclear Tests Medal and wore it at the last Remembrance Service he attended. James Crook married, in 1950, Ruth Bellamy, who was serving with Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. She died in 2015 and he is survived by two daughters and a son. Major General James Crook, born March 19 1923, died March 16 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Military nurse attends VE Day celebrations
A senior nurse who has served in the military and treated soldiers was invited to VE (Victory in Europe) Day events in London this week. Robin McMahon, a healthcare worker from the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, has been deployed to countries including Afghanistan and Poland. In recognition of his military role, he was invited to a service at St Paul's Cathedral and a concert at Horse Guards Parade to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day on Thursday. Mr McMahon said it had been "a real privilege" to attend the events, especially as World War Two veterans and Blitz survivors had also been there. VE Day commemorates the end of fighting in Europe in World War Two on 8 May 1945, after Nazi German forces surrendered to the Allies after nearly six years of conflict. There were special anniversary events across the country this week, including street parties and flypasts in the West Midlands. Mr McMahon trained as a nurse in Staffordshire, before taking up paediatric roles in London, Birmingham and Wolverhampton. His first military role was in the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, providing medical care to soldiers in the UK and overseas. He attended the VE Day events as a member of the Worshipful Company of Nurses, a body that represents the profession. Mr McMahon currently serves in the 306 Hospital Support Regiment, which is part of the Royal Army Medical Corps based near York. The regiment provides specialist healthcare that is not usually available in field hospitals. As an Army reservist, he can be recalled in times of need to join operations alongside regular soldiers. "The beauty of the military is everyone is so motivated and wanting to do their best to help others," he said. Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. VE Day: What is it, when is it and why do we remember? WW2's oldest veteran attends VE Day memorial event Families' VE Day letters show delight and relief The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
The Herald Scotland
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Late Edwin Morgan urged MSPs to make Scotland great again. Oh well ...
How time flies. It first took wing for Edwin on 27 April 1920 when he was born in the West End of Glasgow, the only child of middle-class, respectable Madge and Stanley, the latter being first clerk then director in a small firm of iron and steel merchants. Stanley and Madge financed their son's membership of several city book clubs, through which he discovered The Faber Book of Modern Verse, a 'revelation' to him. After attending the city's high school, Edwin went to Glasgow Yoonie in 1937, formally studying French and Russian, while self-educating in Italian and German. Called up in 1940, he dismayed his parents by declaring himself a conscientious objector, as distinct from a lackadaisical one, but reached a moral compromise by becoming a non-combatant in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After returning from service in Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine, he graduated with a first in English Literature in 1947 and became a lecturer at the university, where he worked until retirement as a professor in 1980. A first slim version of verse, The Vision of Cathkin Braes and Other Poems, was published in Glasgow by William MacLellan in 1952. That year, his Beowulf: A Verse Translation into Modern English was also published. LORD OF LINGO TEACHING at yoonie, Morgan quickly established a reputation as a translator (into Scots and English) of verse, with a special interest in Russian. He could also manage Latin, Spanish, Portugese, German, French, Italian and, er, Hungarian. His Collected Translations, published in 1996, runs to nearly 500 pages. In 1962, he moved out of the parental home to his own flat in Anniesland. That year, he wrote 'The Death of Marilyn Monroe', which later appeared in The Second Life collection, which came out to acclaim in 1968 and won the Cholmondeley Award for Poetry. Second Life also included 'King Billy', about violent sectarian nutter Fullerton of that ilk, 'The Computer's First Christmas Card' – prescient or what? – 'In the Snack Bar', about a helpless pensioner standing 'in his stained beltless gaberdine like a monstrous animal caught in a tent', the sci-fi themed 'In Sobieski's Shield', and the romantic 'Strawberries' ('There were never strawberries/like the ones we had/that sultry afternoon'). The years 1972 and 1973 saw publication of his Glasgow Sonnets, with a famous line about a 'shilpit dog' exemplifying Morgan's belief in the impacts of a single Scots word; Wi the Haill Voice contained his translations of 25 poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky into Scots; From Glasgow to Saturn featured 'The First Men on Mercury', in which a space-explorer encounters feisty Mercurians (possibly of Glaswegian origin; this is their tongue – 'Bawr stretter! Bawr. Bawr. Stetterhawl?'). Angus Calder described the poem as 'a profound statement about language, class and colonialism'. Morgan's range was wide. He was subtle, funny, serious, sci-fi, traditional, experimental, scholarly, playful. He loved the sound and rhythm of words, and showed himself to be a Glasgow hard man by experimenting with concrete poetry. Among so many notable poems, 'Glasgow 5 March 1971' concerned a couple pushed through a shop window on Sauchiehall Street, while 'A Good Year for Death' featured five famous folk from popular culture who died in 1977. EMPIRE STRIKES BACK EARLY retirement from Glasgow University in 1980 allowed him more time for readings, at which he was clear and witty. In 1982, he was promoted to the rank of officer in the British Empire, at that time still a force for good. He was also involved in theatre, translating Edmond Rostand's Cyrano into Scots for the Communicado company at the 1992 Edinburgh Festival. His version of Racine's Phèdre played at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum in 2000, and an original play, AD, on the life of yon Christ, followed in Glasgow the same year. Happily, it was denounced by various clergy. At the opening of the new Scottish Parliament building in 2004, Liz Lochhead – later Morgan's successor as Makar – read a poem written by him for the occasion, in which he advised: 'Don't let your work and hope be other than great.' MSPs: 'Oh dear, do we have to?' Edwin was private, sometimes a synonym for lonely, and was by some considered socially awkward, as all decent people are. Seamus Heaney described his 'unpretentiousness and shyness'. Reportedly, though friendly, he didn't mix much with his contemporaries. He didn't drink much either, which was a shame, and liked to be home in Anniesland in good time for bed. He reached a new audience after collaborating with Scottish band Idlewild and, in 2007, contributed two pieces to the compilation Ballads of the Book, where writers created poems to be made into songs. In later life, Morgan was cared for at a residential home. In April 2010, he published a collection called Dreams and Other Nightmares to mark his 90th birthday. On 19 August 2010, he died of pneumonia in Glasgow. The death was announced by The Scottish Poetry Library. Its director, Robyn Marsack, paid tribute to 'the brightest star in our sky'. READ MORE: Robert McNeil: I detest yon Romans but I dig excavating their wee fortlets RAB MCNEIL'S SCOTTISH ICONS: John Knox – the fiery preacher whose pal got burnt at the stake (Image: PA) ECK OF A GUY FIRST Minister Eck Salmond proclaimed Edwin Morgan a 'great man, an exceptional poet and an inspiration', while UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy called him a 'great, generous, gentle genius'. In his will he left almost £1 million to the Scottish National Party, another £1m for the creation of an annual award scheme for young poets, and £45,000 to friends, former colleagues and charity organisations. The bulk of his wealth had been held in stocks and shares with a Glasgow-based stockbroker. It was not money that bought him happiness, though. Glasgow did that. The city was his lover, friend and cultural inspiration. In his own words: 'I was born in Glasgow and have lived most of my life there, and whatever image the city has to the outside world, to me it underlies and pervades my feeling at a deep level of identification and sympathy.'
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sports event 'celebrates strong female veterans'
A veteran who has set up a series of sporting events dedicated to women who have served in the armed forces has said sport was a "lifeline" when she was medically discharged. Gemma Kemble-Stephenson signed up at the age of 17 and served as a medic in the Royal Army Medical Corps for 18 years. After suffering a spinal injury in 2018, she found taking part in adaptive sports through the Help the Heroes charity was a big part of her recovery and the difficult transition to civilian life. She now works for the charity and is leading its first female-only series of sports taster sessions in Liverpool this weekend to "celebrate strong women" who have served. The event, at Liverpool John Moores University, is part of the charity's drive to encourage more female veterans to get active. It will offer a number of adaptive sports taster sessions including netball, yoga, power-lifting, boccia, and rowing. The charity said Kemble-Stephenson, the current World's Strongest Disabled Woman and a para powerlifter and indoor rower, was an inspiration to other women looking to reignite their passion for sport. Kemble-Stephenson, from Neath, Wales, said: "We know the power of sport to your mental and physical wellbeing. "Many women join the armed forces because they enjoy being active... but when they leave that outlet can be taken away from them." She said it would be a "safe space" for women "to dip their toe back in the water and try out a range of different sports". "They will be able to connect with like-minded people, too," she added. The 43-year-old said women are set to travel from all over the country to take part, adding that when the weekend was over they would "go home feeling positive and energised". The charity has a programme of sports and social activities for former service personnel as part of its recovery programme. The community sports series was launched three years ago but the charity hopes this latest event is the first of many held exclusively for women. Kemble-Stephenson added: "The majority of people take part just for the fun, but we have had some people go on to complete our coaching academy course and represent their country at Invictus Games, Paralympics and Commonwealth competitions." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer. Liverpool John Moores University Help for Heroes
