QF 1 - Horatio Nelson v Sir Winston Churchill

[Napster]

canveyshrimper - Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB

v

Steveo - Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can)

 

[steveo]

Great pick Canvey, this promises to be tough. In keeping with previous rounds, I will initially let Sir Winston do the talking:

 

[steveo]

And if you need to know how he won the war:

 

[osymandus]

Winston for me im afraid Nelson , gets the kiss off ... anyway

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Trafalgar Square. Nelson's Column. The Fountains. Protests & Celebrations. It's what we're all about.

 

[steveo]

Trafalgar Square. Nelson's Column. The Fountains. Protests & Celebrations. It's what we're all about.

But they would all still be here if Adolf had got his own way?

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Would we be the same if any of the battles we won or lost over the years had turned out different? Is the most most recent the most important just because it's the most recent? All our history is as important as the rest.

 

[SARF]

Im going for Nelson.. Churchhills life was a rollercoaster of an adventure, but too many mistakes at the admiltary will cost him when he is up against the master .. Nelson paved the way for our naval dominance and thus empire.. Maximum aggression at all times and leading from the front... I would have been amused to have seen how a young Nelson would have handled that gulf fiasco where the Iranians kidnapped our marines and sailors.. Im thinking a slightly different outcome, and a damn good floogging for our boys for giving up without a fight.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Great pick Canvey, this promises to be tough. In keeping with previous rounds, I will initially let Sir Winston do the talking:

Agreed, perhaps worthy of a final, possibly our greatest naval hero against possibly our greatest Prime Minister (war time at least).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson

 

[steveo]

For those undecided, its definitely a tricky one, but lets remember this man led the nation through our darkest hour. The Hun was knocking on the door, but thanks to his leadership and inspiration, we sent them packing. Such was his world wide recognition, an American warship as named after him.

Get voting, it would be a tremendous shame if this great man didn’t make the Final.

 

[steveo]

17-13 down – not looking good.

Can I remind you of one of Winstons more famous speeches, in case you have not already voted:

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'

 

[Manchester Shrimper]

Bessie Braddock: "Sir, you are drunk."
Winston Churchill: "And you, madam, are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober."

Brilliant!

 

[steveo]

Bessie Braddock: "Sir, you are drunk."
Winston Churchill: "And you, madam, are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober."

Brilliant!

Yes, excellent, and this one:

Nancy Astor: “Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison.”
Churchill: “If I were your husband I would take it.”

 

[canveyshrimper]

Yes, excellent, and this one:

Nancy Astor: “Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison.”
Churchill: “If I were your husband I would take it.”

:D
Good point about Churchill leading us through our darkest hour, certainly in the 20th Century, but Nelson can be seen to have done the same.

The Battle of the Nile caused Napoleon to slink back to France with his tale between his legs.

Nelson also won a decisive battle against the Danes at Copenhagen. Before his final triumph at Trafalgar where his fleet destroyed the might of both French & the Spanish fleets. He also paid the supreme price in this action.

Trafalgar will live on as one of the greatest naval victories in the long history of the Royal Navy. IMO we should celebrate Trafalgar Day as a National Holiday if for no other reason than to **** of the French & Spanish.

I've got to say that steveo has made his case very well and it's a huge pity that two giants of English history should go out at this stage.

Vote Nelson.

 

[canveyshrimper]

 

[canveyshrimper]

Horatio Nelson (1758 - 1805)

Viscount Horatio Nelson
Viscount Horatio Nelson ©
'England expects that every man will do his duty.'

With these words Nelson successfully inspired his squadron before the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805, during which he died. At his death, Britain lost a complex leader who balanced a personal longing for honour and glory with a compassion and respect for his men.

Born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, the sixth of 11 children, he joined the Navy at age 12. He became a captain at age 20, and saw service in the West Indies, Baltic and Canada. He married Frances Nisbet in 1787 in Nevis, and returned to England with his bride to spend the next five years on half-pay, frustrated at not being at sea.

When Britain entered the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, Nelson was given command of the Agamemnon. He served in the Mediterranean, helped capture Corsica and saw battle at Calvi (where he lost the sight in his right eye). He would later lose his right arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797).

As a commander he was known for bold action, and the occasional disregard of orders from his seniors. This defiance brought him victories against the Spanish off Cape Vincent in 1797, and at the Battle of Copenhagen four years later, where he ignored orders to cease action by putting his telescope to his blind eye and claiming he couldn't see the signal.

At the Battle of the Nile (1798), he successfully destroyed Napoleon's fleet and bid for an overland trade route to India. His next posting took him to Naples, where he fell in love with Emma, Lady Hamilton. Although they remained married to others, they considered each other soul-mates and together had a child, Horatia, in 1801. Earlier that same year, Nelson was promoted to Vice-Admiral.

Over the period 1794 to 1805, under Nelson's leadership, the British Navy proved its supremacy over the French. His most famous engagement, at Cape Trafalgar, saved Britain from threat of invasion by Napoleon, but it would be his last. Struck by a French sniper's bullet he died on the first day of battle, October 21, 1805.

 

[steveo]

the might of the german army invades most of Europe. Can Britain stand firm?under the guidance of a heroic leader we not only repel the invader but force him back all the way to Berlin.
Vote Churchill.

 

[canveyshrimper]

For over 10 years under his leadership Nelson proved the supremacy of the British Navy over the French, culminating at Trafalgar in 1805 where the invasion threat was finally ended, the engagement that eventually cost Nelson his life.

Vote Nelson.

 

[canveyshrimper]

 

[steveo]

Last roll of the dice and in the words of the great man "all I can offer is blood, toil, tears and sweat"
Don't let Winston down, get him to the final.