Real Superhero's
Discussion
"Old men working" thread got me thinking.
Who have you met that you really look up to and aspire to being? Mine is my Grandad. He was a superb bloke, un-matched by anyone.
OK a bit about him. His mother was 4ft 7" when he was born he came out at over 14lb, a giant of a baby, unfortunately he did not grow up to be a giant (well fortunately for him really as he went through the war, thats another story).
He grew to be 5ft 9" at his greatest and his max weight was 9.5st. He only ever put on 8.5st in his lifetime.
He never ever trained, yet was one of the muscliest men i have ever seen (and i was born when he was in his late 60's) I used to want to play with the tennis balls on his arms (his biceps).
In his mid 50's he beat my dad in a 100m sprint, he gave my dad a 10m start and beat him by 10m, my dad was 15-16. My dad at 14 also had the record for the 100m at my school from the 60's until 1995 when he was beaten by 2 tenths of a second by an 18 year old - this gives you an idea of how fit and fast he was.
as said earlier, he went through the war. he was blown up at Tubruck whilst sitting on the wheel arch of a wagon. Have the shrapnel from his leg in a medal case as evidence lol.
he was stabbed through the arm by a german whilst fighting hand to hand (this scares me the most as my grandad survived)
He was shot 3 times, 2 leg, 1 torso whilst on a raid to destroy an ammo dump used by the Germans. 140 men went out 7 came back, 3 ok 4 injured (he was one of the injured ones obvioulsy)
After the war he worked in the pits, after being buried 7 times he decided enough was enough and quit.
and as per the thread that got me to thinking, when he was in his 70's he fell 10-15ft out of a tree, saw in hand and stopped himself from hitting the floor (he was about 40ft up) by grabbing a branch on the way down, he hurt himself but climbed back up to finish the job.
There is lots more to tell about him but don't have the time. I'm also writing abook about him so don't want to give too much away.
If there is one person i would like to be, its him, a true, real life superhero. Not only that but he was a true gentleman.
Grandad I love you
Edited for crap spelling and grammar - although its still bad
Who have you met that you really look up to and aspire to being? Mine is my Grandad. He was a superb bloke, un-matched by anyone.
OK a bit about him. His mother was 4ft 7" when he was born he came out at over 14lb, a giant of a baby, unfortunately he did not grow up to be a giant (well fortunately for him really as he went through the war, thats another story).
He grew to be 5ft 9" at his greatest and his max weight was 9.5st. He only ever put on 8.5st in his lifetime.
He never ever trained, yet was one of the muscliest men i have ever seen (and i was born when he was in his late 60's) I used to want to play with the tennis balls on his arms (his biceps).
In his mid 50's he beat my dad in a 100m sprint, he gave my dad a 10m start and beat him by 10m, my dad was 15-16. My dad at 14 also had the record for the 100m at my school from the 60's until 1995 when he was beaten by 2 tenths of a second by an 18 year old - this gives you an idea of how fit and fast he was.
as said earlier, he went through the war. he was blown up at Tubruck whilst sitting on the wheel arch of a wagon. Have the shrapnel from his leg in a medal case as evidence lol.
he was stabbed through the arm by a german whilst fighting hand to hand (this scares me the most as my grandad survived)
He was shot 3 times, 2 leg, 1 torso whilst on a raid to destroy an ammo dump used by the Germans. 140 men went out 7 came back, 3 ok 4 injured (he was one of the injured ones obvioulsy)
After the war he worked in the pits, after being buried 7 times he decided enough was enough and quit.
and as per the thread that got me to thinking, when he was in his 70's he fell 10-15ft out of a tree, saw in hand and stopped himself from hitting the floor (he was about 40ft up) by grabbing a branch on the way down, he hurt himself but climbed back up to finish the job.
There is lots more to tell about him but don't have the time. I'm also writing abook about him so don't want to give too much away.
If there is one person i would like to be, its him, a true, real life superhero. Not only that but he was a true gentleman.
Grandad I love you
Edited for crap spelling and grammar - although its still bad
Edited by WorAl on Monday 13th July 10:59
My grandad was fairly hardcore...
Was clearing mines in the 2nd world war, had half his leg semi-blown off when he stood on one.
He was then given a small bottle of whisky to drink whilst they saw'd the rest of the bone off in a field hospital.
He fathered 6 kids & then worked to 65 with half a leg missing & he was a construction foreman building loads of roads / bridges etc.
He also managed to smoke 40+ capston full strengths a day, survive a stroke & live with diabetes & heart condition for about 40 years!
He finally died at about 85 when he got gangreen (sp) in his half leg, he refused to have an op that only had a 50% suceess rate & chose to die @ home in his bed!
Was clearing mines in the 2nd world war, had half his leg semi-blown off when he stood on one.
He was then given a small bottle of whisky to drink whilst they saw'd the rest of the bone off in a field hospital.
He fathered 6 kids & then worked to 65 with half a leg missing & he was a construction foreman building loads of roads / bridges etc.
He also managed to smoke 40+ capston full strengths a day, survive a stroke & live with diabetes & heart condition for about 40 years!
He finally died at about 85 when he got gangreen (sp) in his half leg, he refused to have an op that only had a 50% suceess rate & chose to die @ home in his bed!
10 Pence Short said:
Superhero's what?
beat me to itedited to add:
but now I've read teh post I don't give a toss about the grocer's apostrophe.
Hats off to your grandad - sounds like a good bloke.
Is he still at the crease, so to speak?
Edited by Aussies5-Poms 0 on Monday 13th July 12:28
My Grandad claims to have invented Ram raiding and to have been a driver for the Krays. To look at him now I just see an old silly man, but in his day he was quite the villain and spent a lot of time in prisons for it.
I can say he is about as far removed as being a hero to me as is possible. I just see a man that let my mother down!
I can say he is about as far removed as being a hero to me as is possible. I just see a man that let my mother down!
Aussies5-Poms 0 said:
10 Pence Short said:
Superhero's what?
beat me to itedited to add:
but now I've read teh post I don't give a toss about the grocer's apostrophe.
Hats off to your grandad - sounds like a good bloke.
Is he still at the crease, so to speak?
Unfortunately he retired on 84 about 13 years ago, miss him dearly.
in addition to the OP, some 30 years after the war my grandad was arrested for allegedly stealing coal from a local yard, when he got to the police station they asked him to strip down and asked if he had any identifying scars, he got down to his waist and the policeman said thats enough. 
he was covered in them and not just small scars either.
after a night in the clink, the police officer opened his cell and said we've been told to release you, no idea why.
He asked what had been said, "we had a call about 30 mins ago from high up in the army, he explained who he was and said, "release Mr **** imediately" and hung up, we verified the call and the officer involved. you're now free to go, no questions"
We (the family) still don't know why he was released without being questioned or what he had done to get this special treatment.
he was covered in them and not just small scars either.after a night in the clink, the police officer opened his cell and said we've been told to release you, no idea why.
He asked what had been said, "we had a call about 30 mins ago from high up in the army, he explained who he was and said, "release Mr **** imediately" and hung up, we verified the call and the officer involved. you're now free to go, no questions"
We (the family) still don't know why he was released without being questioned or what he had done to get this special treatment.
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