It was with sadness that death of Henry Allingham was announced to the press on Saturday. Henry died at the ripe old age of 113 and was described by staff at his care home as 'an amazing character'. Henry was born in 1896 and went on to become one of the founding members of the Royal Air Force and also one of the last surviving people to have fought in World War I.
Whilst I am sure; rightly or wrongly; that Henry was an outstanding member of the armed forces, a great hero, a man of spirit and determination and also great family man, I am also sure that most people will not care about his life and the great struggles he has obviously been through.
Mr Allingham once attributed his grand age to 'cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women'. And whilst I hope it was not all three of these vices that kept him going right till the end, I am sure the sentiment is true that 'everything in moderation is OK'. Especially the cigarettes.....
But in these days of the Internet, Twitter and Facebook, I wonder how many friends Henry had on his MySpace page or how up to date his Wikipedia page was. Did he even have an ipod or a blackberry?
Anyway, I hope that with the use of the internet people will be able to investigate his life a little more, understand what he had been through and see exactly what he had to say for himself.
In the foreword to Mr Allingham's autobiography, Kitchener's Last Volunteer, Prince Charles wrote in 2008: 'He has witnessed so much of our history - including the sinking of the Titanic, the Great War, the Depression, the Second World War and the building of the Welfare State - taking in six of my forebears, as well as 21 Prime Ministers. 'We should all be humbled by this quiet, genial man and his desire to extol peace and friendship to the world, despite all the horrors he witnessed at such a young and impressionable age.'
An article in the Daily Mail states that Henry managed to hold the crown of World's Oldest Man, Guinness World Records confirmed in min June this year that he had become the world's oldest man after the previous record holder, Tomoji Tanabe, died in Japan aged 113. The article then continues to inform the reader about Britain's oldest man. He is only 111 and called 'Patch'. Thanks Daily Mail.
I suppose Henry Allingham's death will probably not receive the focus that his life possibly deserved. With the current daily news of deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan and with the Swine Flu pandemic gripping us all, I suppose death is to much part of everyday life. Maybe it's becoming too common and people therefore don't feel it's significant enough anymore.
Without wishing to end this blog entry on an entirely morbid note, there are a couple of news headlines today that caught my attention:
Baby falls 20ft out of second-floor window... and survives without a scratch
Knife sales plummet as diners choose to eat with just a fork
Maybe it's the credit crunch.
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