Tag: Heroes

A Man’s Man

Guy Stuff, Heroism

I was truly saddened to read of the death of Ted Dexter at the age of 86.  Very few Americans would know who he is, but allow me to make the introduction.

Over ten years, “Lord Ted” Dexter played cricket for England for 62 international Test matches, of which he was captain of the team for 30.  He scored thousands of runs, took dozens of wickets as a bowler, and after retiring from cricket went on as a team selector and chairman of the Marylebone Cricket Club (Lord’s).  Throughout his life, he was unfailingly helpful to young cricketers, always polite and ready with some good advice.

For most men, that would be enough.

He was also a scratch golfer, a pilot (who flew from the UK to Australia, and back), rode a motorcycle and once ran for Parliament.

He failed at the last — one of his few failures — but that leads me to tell a personal story about the man.

By running for Parliament in 1964, Ted missed the start of the England tour of South Africa, but he was back in the side in time for the Test at at the Wanderers cricket ground in Johannesburg, where an excited young boy of eight (that would be me) happened to be sitting in the stands with his dad one row back from the field, right at the point where Ted was fielding.

Of course, “Lord Ted” didn’t just stand there in the field;  he turned and bantered with the crowd, who responded delightedly.  He had a bright red stain on his white cricket trousers where he’d been polishing the cricket ball, and one wag in the crowd yelled, “What happened to your pants?”  Ted laughed and said, “It’s hot out here.”

Whereupon the same guy said, “Would you like a cold one, Uncle Ted?” and Dexter laughed and said, “Next over.”

When he came back to field in his earlier position, he walked right over to the boundary fence and said, “Where’s that cold one?”  Of course, someone popped a can of Castle Lager and handed it to him — whereupon Ted put his head back and drained the thing in one giant swallow, to tumultuous applause.  Needless to say, every time he came back to the boundary he was offered a fresh beer, but after one more he said, “Thanks, but I still have to bat later,” to much good-natured ribbing.  (“Maybe tomorrow, Ted;  you’re not going to get us all out today!”)

Oh, and to finish Ted Dexter’s story:  he was married to the same woman for over sixty years.  Nowadays, that’s considered quite a feat;  to a man like him, it would be quite unremarkable.


He was one of my boyhood heroes, and still is today.

R.I.P. Ted Dexter, OBE.

Truth To Power

Marxists, Resistance

The Left is all about “telling truth to power”, until THEY are the ones in power, and somebody wants to tell them some truths.  Then it’s all about “hurtful speech”, “hate speech”, “fake news”, “racism” etc., all of which should be censored because, well, you all know why.

Here are a couple examples.  In Virginia:

The Loudoun County, Virginia, school board cut off a comment period and sicced police on residents Tuesday after they criticized leaders over transgender and race policies.
Loudoun Now reported Chairwoman Brenda Sheridan repeatedly demanded silence from the packed room as members of the public spoke in favor of or in opposition to Critical Race Theory lessons and special privileges for transgender students.
After attendees cheered the remarks of former state Sen. Dick Black (R), the board ordered the room cleared then fled.
A sheriff’s deputy then took the microphone to declare it an “unlawful assembly” and told everyone to get out or be subject to arrest for “trespassing.” When at least one man refused to leave, he was arrested, according to video posted by the news site.
…
Loudoun Now reported after the room was emptied, the board reconvened in closed session, unfettered by the opinions of taxpayers.
…
The crowd’s opinions did little to sway elected officials. “We will not back down from fighting for the rights of our students and continuing our focus on equity,” Sheridan told NBC 4. She demanded an end to “politically motivated antics.”

Of course, this so-called “Critical Race Theory” has nothing to do with politics, no sirree.

And elsewhere:

Critical race theory has drawn the ire of many, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as states look to ban teaching its concepts in schools. Similar bills have been pre-filed in Kentucky for consideration in next year’s legislative session.
Tuesday marked the first time that a school board meeting in Kentucky’s largest school district has been disrupted because of opposition to critical race theory.
About half of the board left the meeting room as members of the audience began to shout and security officers confronted them. Some protesters were asked to leave while others left voluntarily.

See, when the Left indulges in noisy, confrontational demonstrations, it’s “the voice of the people”;  but when the demonstrations are against them, they call for security.

Then someone comes along — in this case, a Brit expat (!!!) who tells a Pennsylvania school board exactly what the meaning of free speech is , and then takes them to task for their censorship (cloaked under the maskirovka  of “equity” or some such bullshit).

This is how you deal with these assholes.  And it’s hardly surprising that an immigrant should beat them up like this, because it’s often the case that we ex-furriners know what’s at stake because we left that crap behind us — for the promise of freedom.

Amazing Doesn’t Even Cover It

Heroism, House & Home

i know I said there would be no math, but you have to look at these.  Sue Radford:

  • is 46 years old
  • has been married for 28 years (to the same man)
  • has 22 (twenty-two) kids
  • looks like this:

Now to be honest, she hasn’t looked like this for (probably) 27 years — because she’s been pretty much pregnant most of that time (maybe with a couple months off for good behavior, here and there).  Here’s the family’s chronological listing:

Chris 32, Sophie 27, Chloe 25, Jack 24, Daniel 22, Luke 20, Millie 19, Katie 18, James 17, Ellie 16, Aimee 15, Josh 13, Max 12, Tillie 11, Oscar 9, Casper 8, Hallie 6, Phoebe 4, Archie 3, Bonnie 2, and Heidie, 1.

And apparently they have taken not one penny of government support, ever.  As the title of this post suggests…

Read all about it.

Afterthought:  I know what you’re thinking.  Don’t go there.  If her hubby is satisfied, then that’s all we need to know.

Point / Counterpoint

Resistance, Seen On Campus

Apparently some professor in Vermont has caused all sorts of issues by refusing to kowtow to the “racial equity” scam, asking:  “Would you please stop reducing my personhood to a racial category in your teachings?”

Predictably, calls have gone out for him to resign:

A petition calling for the resignation of Kindsvatter has earned over 3,400 signatures. The authors state that Kindsvatter’s statements are “harmful to our campus’ community of color.”

However:

A rival petition — which has garnered over 4,400 signatures — asks that Kindsvatter assume control of all diversity measures at the University of Vermont.

I think the will of the people should be obeyed.

And in an increasingly-rare show of testicular fortitude, our guy has refused to resign.