I read a biography of Powell some time ago. Until then, I'd gone with the ignorant majority and assumed him to be a racist. His intellect, compassion and fair-mindedness should be broadcast more widely - in a TV series perhaps... Though I think the chance of that happening is vanishingly small.
Hugely brave & patriotic too…. Wasn’t it shortly after his appointment as a professor in Australia that he resigned to return to the UK to fight in WW2?
I recall in the 1990s I used to visit one of my favourite pubs in Stockton - The Red Lion, which recently closed, and I would often sit and talk to an elderly gentlemen of Northern Irish decent who would tell me of his times in the British Colonial Police in his younger days when he was based in Kenya - I recall a story of where his group was under siege by Mau Mau fighters but was rescued in the nick of time by British Paratroopers. The remaining Mau Mau were then rounded up and hanged from trees. He also told me of the terrible atrocities the Mau Mau inflicted on white farmers and their families - so he appeared to have had no qualms about hanging them.
The Kariappa story appears in Heffer’s biography. The only source is Powell himself. Powell himself didn’t remember the incident only Kariappa’s retelling of it many years later.
I read a biography of Powell some time ago. Until then, I'd gone with the ignorant majority and assumed him to be a racist. His intellect, compassion and fair-mindedness should be broadcast more widely - in a TV series perhaps... Though I think the chance of that happening is vanishingly small.
A fantastic intellect; at one time the youngest professor in the British Empire!
Hugely brave & patriotic too…. Wasn’t it shortly after his appointment as a professor in Australia that he resigned to return to the UK to fight in WW2?
Yes indeed, a man of valour. he finished the war as a colonel.
Hate to split hairs Simon but I think it was a brigadier 😊 Just missed out on being a general.
I'm sure that you're right!
I recall in the 1990s I used to visit one of my favourite pubs in Stockton - The Red Lion, which recently closed, and I would often sit and talk to an elderly gentlemen of Northern Irish decent who would tell me of his times in the British Colonial Police in his younger days when he was based in Kenya - I recall a story of where his group was under siege by Mau Mau fighters but was rescued in the nick of time by British Paratroopers. The remaining Mau Mau were then rounded up and hanged from trees. He also told me of the terrible atrocities the Mau Mau inflicted on white farmers and their families - so he appeared to have had no qualms about hanging them.
The Kenyan business was terrible from all points of view.
Enoch Powell was clearly thoughtful and principled.
The Kariappa story appears in Heffer’s biography. The only source is Powell himself. Powell himself didn’t remember the incident only Kariappa’s retelling of it many years later.
His wife recalled it though.