0:00:02 > 0:00:04RHYTHMIC DRUMBEAT
0:00:06 > 0:00:08BRASS BAND PLAYS
0:00:10 > 0:00:13230 years ago, on their way to war,
0:00:13 > 0:00:18foot soldiers of the Lancashire Fusiliers plucked wild roses from the wayside
0:00:18 > 0:00:20and wore them into action.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23They won an historic victory.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26The Lancashire Fusiliers in name are no more.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31They were one of four disbanded regiments reborn as the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36But their traditions and rich heritage of bravery live on.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40This is the Minden Rose, floating for the moment in champagne,
0:00:40 > 0:00:45but soon to disappear in a manner not approved of in fashionable restaurants,
0:00:45 > 0:00:49but then tradition is precisely what fashion isn't.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54At Minden in 1759,
0:00:54 > 0:01:00the Lancashire Fusiliers engaged in one of the most remarkable actions in all warfare.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05On foot they charged a force of 10,000 French cavalry and broke and beat them.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Gentlemen, to your good health.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25APPLAUSE
0:01:27 > 0:01:30BANGS GAVEL THREE TIMES
0:01:34 > 0:01:40We will now rise and drink in solemn silence to those who fell at Minden.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01BUZZ OF CONVERSATION
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Oh, well done.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24'It's just like eating a mouthful of cream crackers.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30'You can't swallow. You go through the actions of swallowing and it just will not go down.
0:02:31 > 0:02:37'I actually cheated slightly. I still had half a rose left in my mouth at the end of it.'
0:02:39 > 0:02:41- Well done.- Well done. APPLAUSE
0:02:43 > 0:02:47'You're not a member of the club until you've eaten a rose,
0:02:47 > 0:02:53'so it joins you together into a brotherhood of officers inside that one battalion.
0:02:55 > 0:03:01'Just very much on the surface to the outsider it looks simply a ceremony,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04'a bit of pomp, a bit of style and nothing else,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08'but to be part, a fully-fledged member of the battalion,
0:03:08 > 0:03:13'to eat the rose which commemorates a great battle honour that the battalion won,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17'is extremely important, especially to a young subaltern.'
0:03:20 > 0:03:22LAUGHTER
0:03:22 > 0:03:28'The tradition is an absolute foundation of the British Army and it's upon that which we build.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32'And we will maintain the tradition and it will be maintained.'
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Well done.
0:03:37 > 0:03:43For the next 209 years, the Lancashire Fusiliers, garrisoned here in Bury, were to fight on,
0:03:43 > 0:03:50accumulating battle honours like the vivid primrose hackle for conspicuous bravery in the Boer War.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Ironically, it was peace, not war, that did for them -
0:03:54 > 0:04:00amalgamation in 1968 beneath the red and white hackle of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
0:04:00 > 0:04:05Officially, the primrose hackle is now redundant, though not to a defiant few,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07especially on Gallipoli Day.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12Well, it's always made me very proud to be a solider to start off with
0:04:12 > 0:04:17and to be a member...which, in my opinion and a lot of other opinions,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20is the finest regiment in the British Army.
0:04:20 > 0:04:27And the greatest disaster was when the government with their fancy ideas started the amalgamation.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Stand at ease! Stand easy...
0:04:32 > 0:04:37Amalgamation, an economic fact of life, but there are those who still see it as betrayal.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40I won't wear the red and white one.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45There's one day of the year when they expect us to wear the red and white one.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48That's on Association Day in September.
0:04:48 > 0:04:55But what we do, or some of us do, is we don't bother. We just go out without a hackle or without a hat.
0:04:55 > 0:05:02The Lancashire Fusiliers, now two fading colours in a parish church, laid up on a St George's Day.
0:05:02 > 0:05:08That was a rather sad day because that yellow hackle had been in so many great conflicts and battles.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12It meant so much to the men of the Lancashire Fusiliers.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17Perhaps as much as home means to them in one sense,
0:05:17 > 0:05:22so their membership of the regiment was just like being part of a family.
0:05:22 > 0:05:28I felt they were worried that they were going out as second-class citizens into another regiment,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31but they got told from the pulpit that they were going out
0:05:31 > 0:05:34with all the glory and honour of the primrose hackle.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38The other people should be grateful that they can join you.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42And on the day these colours were laid up in this church,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44our regimental church for many years,
0:05:44 > 0:05:50I've never seen so many grown men crying in this church as I've ever seen anywhere.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53MOURNFUL ORGAN MUSIC
0:05:58 > 0:06:01There is more to it than sheer nostalgia or pride.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05It is as though the dead have been posthumously deprived.
0:06:10 > 0:06:1574 years beyond Gallipoli where they won six VCs before breakfast,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19three Lancashire Fusiliers still survive to recall its horror.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22These old warriors are two of them.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30When I've seen the bodies going up in the air,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33it appalled me to see so many dead bodies, you know.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Unburied, lying on their tummies.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40I think if you can get the true facts of the war...
0:06:41 > 0:06:44..there'll be no more wars at all.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49If you can get the really true facts, because there should be no wars at all.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56The sun used to sink down into the sea and I used to think,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00"Oh, my goodness, shall I ever get back to England?"
0:07:02 > 0:07:04BAND PLAYS MILITARY MUSIC
0:07:04 > 0:07:10On this day, they exercise their freedom of the city to march, bayonets fixed,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13beneath the bloodiest battle honour of them all.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18Honouring the dead is an act of reconciliation. It transcends the regimental rivalries.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21They march as one behind a common mascot -
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Bobby the buck antelope.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42The day has no message beyond remembering the dead.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Bury has a socialist mayor, Mrs Jacqui Adler,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49but there are to be no strident messages about the futility of war.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55The mayor, in fact, is visibly moved.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59It was magnificent. It really was fabulous.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02I feel really dead proud.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08I think the actual occasion itself has got to be above politics
0:08:08 > 0:08:12because in all honesty, these men gave their lives for us.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17And because I wasn't there in the war, what can I do to thank them?
0:08:17 > 0:08:21This is the only way I can show and I think this council can show
0:08:21 > 0:08:28that yes, we do appreciate that some people did die for us here in this town to enable me to be born.
0:08:37 > 0:08:43I've always thought tradition is important. It's part of what our foundations are built on.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47And without our foundations, if we didn't have traditions,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50I think our society would really crumble.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54I think when it gets bad, we fall back on our traditions,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58so yes, I think traditions are very important.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00I shed a few tears.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05I shed a few tears - one, for the actual Gallipoli men that walked past.
0:09:05 > 0:09:11They took part in the march past and they must be 90... in their 90s easily, these men,
0:09:11 > 0:09:16and to see three men in their 90s taking the march past, it just choked me up.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18APPLAUSE
0:09:30 > 0:09:36Aged almost seven, Bobby the buck mascot has yet to buckle down to military discipline.
0:09:36 > 0:09:42If I'm in the pen and I clean him out, if I don't hear him, he creeps up and he sticks the horns in you.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47Well, he rips clothes and jumpers quite regular.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52Normally, you get stuck in the leg and you get blood running down the leg.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56Oh, yeah, I wouldn't part with him. Not for anything.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59I'd never see owt happen to him.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05There's nothing that can't be done for him.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10Everybody will bend over backwards to help or make sure that Bobby's all right.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15Bending over backwards, or frontwards for that matter, can be unwise in Bobby's presence.
0:10:15 > 0:10:21His understandable aversion to intruding television crews is obvious.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Mind yourself.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Go on. This way!
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Come on!
0:10:37 > 0:10:38Hey!
0:10:39 > 0:10:43The Lancashire Fusiliers once had a mascot so celebrated
0:10:43 > 0:10:48that a generation later, her story was revived - Minnie the Mule.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52In March 1944, the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56were part of General Orde Wingate's 2nd Chindit Expedition.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01And one of the road blocks established across the Japanese lines of communication
0:11:01 > 0:11:03was called White City.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06During a Japanese attack on this road block,
0:11:06 > 0:11:11one of the animals that was carrying mortar ammunition for the 1st Battalion
0:11:11 > 0:11:14gave birth quite unexpectedly to a foal.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18Clearly not the most opportune time to be born.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21She had a great effect on the morale of the troops
0:11:21 > 0:11:25and during lulls in the fighting in the White City road block,
0:11:25 > 0:11:30troops would drift down to wherever Minnie was, near her mother in the mortar post,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33and feed her cups of tea and hardtack biscuits.
0:11:33 > 0:11:40It even got to the stage that Brigade Headquarters issued daily bulletins on the state of Minnie's health.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45Eventually, the time came, because of the great Japanese pressure on the road block,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48for us to evacuate it and Minnie was too weak to walk,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51at least any distance.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54And I suppose it's the British sentiment for animals.
0:11:54 > 0:12:00What happened next must have convinced the Japs they had no chance of winning.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04Rather than disposing of her as might have happened in many other armies,
0:12:04 > 0:12:09the whole of 77 Brigade mounted an attack to clear the Japanese off an airstrip,
0:12:09 > 0:12:14so that a plane could come in and take Minnie and, to be fair, some of our wounded out,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18but there were great sighs of relief amongst the battalion
0:12:18 > 0:12:22when Minnie was flown back to India for proper veterinary attention.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27She went round the world with the regiment and finally died in Egypt in 1951.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30MILITARY BAND PLAYS
0:12:33 > 0:12:39And so 74 years on, the fallen of one of war's most awful battles are still honoured.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Tradition defies amalgamation and will continue to do so.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47There are other traditions too which apparently still stir the blood.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55Right, here we go.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Average age - 74.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Repeat, 74.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02The forerunners of the White Helmets team
0:13:02 > 0:13:06of the Royal Corps of Signals have reassembled.
0:13:06 > 0:13:07Watch me.
0:13:16 > 0:13:22Well, we're old, we'll give you that, but it keeps us together, it keeps us friendly,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24as it always has done.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30It gives us an interest in life. It takes us back to when we were young and fit.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Not that we're not fit now. We're all fit. But we are old.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44We have taken a few tumbles, but we're resilient.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46As ever. It's an attitude of mind.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52If you want to go in a corner and creep up and be morbid
0:13:52 > 0:13:56and roll your...turn your toes up, fair enough,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59but we're not going to do that.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Well, that one was France '39.
0:14:12 > 0:14:18Undaunted by the dismal day, the winged messengers of Granddad's Army have come to discuss the latest
0:14:18 > 0:14:22in sprockets and balancing acts with their successors.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26- The camaraderie crosses generations. - You wouldn't let go of it.- No.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30They're also to witness a traditional inauguration.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33Each new officer in charge of the White Helmets,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37though without the vast experience of these riders he commands,
0:14:37 > 0:14:41must undergo an initiation that few Hell's Angels would fancy.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45Obviously, the fire jump is the big initiation ceremony.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50Everyone in the team, in order to obtain his white helmet and be able to wear it with pride,
0:14:50 > 0:14:53does have to jump through the fire.
0:14:53 > 0:14:59The thing going through my mind most of all is will I or will I not get a good jump?
0:14:59 > 0:15:02There's a lot of pride at stake here.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07All the soldiers enjoy getting the front wheel a couple of feet off the ground
0:15:07 > 0:15:09when the back wheel has landed.
0:15:09 > 0:15:15I've been over the ramp a couple of times today and unfortunately, haven't managed it quite yet.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Hopefully, when I attempt the fire jump for the first time,
0:15:19 > 0:15:23with the real fire there, I'll go through without any problem.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25It's quite hot in there.
0:15:25 > 0:15:31But I'm told that speed and keeping my head down will save me getting burnt.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35- Are you at all nervous about this? - Very. At the moment.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39I haven't done it yet. There's a first time for everything.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01CHEERING
0:16:01 > 0:16:05Conflagrations have long been the currency of the fighting man,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09whether it's the White Helmets' fire ritual or retribution from on high.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14The occupant of this finery was much given to the latter - Major General Sir Robert Ross,
0:16:14 > 0:16:20whose penchant for burning things down was to have a marked effect on American architecture.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24In late 1813, the Americans sacked what was then called York,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27the capital of Upper Canada, nowadays, of course, Toronto.
0:16:27 > 0:16:33And it was decided to send an expedition to punish the Americans, I suppose,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37for this intrusion into the British colonial empire.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41And Ross was the man selected by Wellington to command the expedition.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45So he took part of the Peninsular Army. They sailed from Bordeaux.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49More troops were sent from England. They all assembled in Bermuda.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53They sailed up the Chesapeake Bay and marched on Washington DC.
0:16:53 > 0:16:59They met and fought the American Army at a place called Bladensburg just north-east of Washington.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03They defeated the Americans and marched into Washington.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07President Madison had laid out a dinner in his house
0:17:07 > 0:17:12in anticipation of his own officers sitting down to enjoy a victory dinner.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16Ross and his officers sat down and ate the President's dinner
0:17:16 > 0:17:22and the following morning, on orders from the government, burned down the public buildings in Washington,
0:17:22 > 0:17:28one of which was the President's house, and when it was then painted white to cover up the scorch marks,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32that's when it became known as the White House.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36# Blest isle with matchless, with matchless beauty crowned... #
0:17:36 > 0:17:42So Britannia, a distaff link between Boadicea and Margaret Thatcher, had prevailed again.
0:17:42 > 0:17:48Who could sustain the absurd illusion that Britain has ever been a male chauvinist society?
0:17:48 > 0:17:54In this centrepiece of the King's Own Royal Border Regiment, kindly note the position of her right foot,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58firmly planted on the supine thorax of King Theodore of Ethiopia.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00He thoroughly deserved it.
0:18:00 > 0:18:06He'd invited many Britons to come and westernise his country, then held them hostage.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Sir Robert Napier was sent out to free them.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Theodore, correctly anticipating the inevitable, committed suicide.
0:18:13 > 0:18:20Sir Robert promptly relieved his estate of its most prized possession - the proclamation drum.
0:18:20 > 0:18:26Not only is this drum or third of the drum the oldest piece of regimental silver in the British Army,
0:18:26 > 0:18:31it is also the oldest drum in the world and has been successfully dated back to 1100,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34although it could be a lot older than that.
0:18:34 > 0:18:41Once it was captured at the Battle of Magdala in 1868 and divided between the three regiments in the battle,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45it was used by the King's Own Regiment, the 4th of Foot,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49as the final stage in a young subaltern's dining-in night.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53The process of using it was called "going through the drum",
0:18:53 > 0:18:59by which the subaltern would wear the drum as a collar and try to drink a pint of beer from a silver goblet,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01whilst wearing the collar.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05This I will attempt to demonstrate in a somewhat sober mood. Philip?
0:19:09 > 0:19:12The art of getting this actually on to you
0:19:12 > 0:19:17is your non-drinking hand is shoved through the neck first,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20followed subsequently by...
0:19:21 > 0:19:23..the head.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26As so. A lot more difficult than it looks.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30The drinking arm was then filled with a silver goblet
0:19:30 > 0:19:36and then, using something that's only seen every four years in Olympic gymnastics,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40the man would attempt to drink the pint of beer whilst in this position.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44With a somewhat tipped movement, he would then go back...
0:19:44 > 0:19:49This was very popular with the regimental tailors as it tends to rip everything
0:19:49 > 0:19:51and the man used to get very wet.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54The real art in this was getting the drum off
0:19:54 > 0:19:58which again Philip and I will attempt to demonstrate.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01One's ears always get in the way.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03As does one's head and arm.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Right... Here.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Right, yeah... Ah!
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Once this has been successfully negotiated,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21the young subaltern would then...
0:20:22 > 0:20:26..move to the end of the table where the Colonel was sitting
0:20:26 > 0:20:32and would then slam his feet into the Colonel, state that he had successfully been through the drum
0:20:32 > 0:20:38and have his leave to join the regiment, which the Colonel would then give.
0:20:38 > 0:20:44After years of searching, an Ethiopian scholar tracked down the drum to the regimental mess.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49They didn't give it back, but said they wouldn't pour beer through it any more.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00The King's Own Royal Border Regiment had a kind of kleptomania for drums.
0:21:00 > 0:21:06This little pyramid all in silver was liberated from a French regiment in the Peninsular War.
0:21:06 > 0:21:12When the French asked for their return, the King's Own affected an ignorance of foreign tongues
0:21:12 > 0:21:16and proceeded to parade them on the anniversary of their famous victory.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20They still do. For some reason, very few French attend this ceremony.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27By the drums,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30by the centre, quick march!
0:21:33 > 0:21:38Before this century and the EEC, Francophobia was rather fashionable.
0:21:38 > 0:21:43Next to compound the insult were the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47We stole the regimental march from the French in battle in 1793.
0:21:47 > 0:21:53It is unique in the army in that it is the only musical battle honour in existence.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00In the Battle of Famars, the regiment were fighting a rearguard action, basically.
0:22:00 > 0:22:06We were in that unaccustomed position of being held back and beaten off by the French.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08This lasted for most of the day
0:22:08 > 0:22:14and during the day, all the French could sing was a revolutionary song of that time called Ca Ira.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20The Colonel, by this stage at his wits' end, but known to be a resourceful chap,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23called his drum major forward.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26"Drummie, can we play Ca Ira?"
0:22:26 > 0:22:31The drum major, never being able to set down a challenge, said, "Of course, sir."
0:22:31 > 0:22:36That night, he practised quietly with the band and learnt the tune to Ca Ira.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41The next morning dawned,
0:22:41 > 0:22:46a fantastic morning for the CO's plans, the battlefield in thick fog.
0:22:46 > 0:22:52He called his battalion together, briefed them, set the band at the head, the battalion fell in behind
0:22:52 > 0:22:57and with the shout of "Come on, lads, we'll break these scoundrels to their own damn tune,"
0:22:57 > 0:23:02the band struck up Ca Ira and the battalion marched towards the enemy camp.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07And the French, expecting reinforcements, heard Ca Ira, didn't lift a finger,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11the regiment walked into the camp and won the Battle of Famars.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Unfortunately, though, once back in England, in Dartford in Kent,
0:23:20 > 0:23:26the regiment, justifiably proud of its march, was marching through the streets of Dartford
0:23:26 > 0:23:31to be stoned and hurled abuse by the locals who didn't understand the story at all
0:23:31 > 0:23:37and thought that it was a disloyal regiment playing French revolutionary marching songs.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46Yorkshire regiments naturally make tradition out of cricket practice
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and even those of us who wonder why they bother
0:23:49 > 0:23:53have to concede that their fielding shows marked improvement.
0:24:13 > 0:24:19Sport, sometimes hardly distinguishable from war, has long had a role in the British Army.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24Besieged at Ladysmith, the Gordon Highlanders played football, an act of levity
0:24:24 > 0:24:30that so infuriated the solemn Boers that they exploded a shell in the middle of their pitch.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35The Scots simply filled in the crater, sent on a few substitutes and resumed the game.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41Another regiment to go hungry at Ladysmith were the "Glosters".
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Gentlemen, lady, Ladysmith is relieved.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47CHEERING
0:24:47 > 0:24:50ALL: To the relief of Ladysmith!
0:24:57 > 0:25:01These days, the catering has conspicuously improved,
0:25:01 > 0:25:07but they still recall those months of near starvation at the turn of the century.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11Earlier on this commemorative evening, we dined extremely well,
0:25:11 > 0:25:16all that is except one man, a major, second in command of Headquarters Company.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20His fate - symbolic deprivation.
0:25:20 > 0:25:26No food, no wine until his famine was ended with a mess tin of bully beef and a hard biscuit.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29It's a bit grubby. LAUGHTER
0:25:29 > 0:25:35The "Glosters" don't dream up these idiosyncrasies on the spur of the moment.
0:25:35 > 0:25:41They're the only British Army regiment to record the significance of their many customs in a book.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Lady, gentlemen...
0:25:50 > 0:25:54..I have before me the regimental customs book.
0:25:54 > 0:26:00Most of the assembled company are familiar with it, but we do have some distinguished guests
0:26:00 > 0:26:06and for their benefit, I will run through the preamble to give you an idea of what it's all about.
0:26:06 > 0:26:12The origins of the regimental customs book are shrouded in the mists of time and will remain so,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15but one or two points are worth mentioning.
0:26:15 > 0:26:21"All records of regimental customs will be maintained in the customs book.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24"The battalion's second in command..." Moi!
0:26:24 > 0:26:30"..will be the keeper of the book and will be responsible for its maintenance.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34"Regimental customs may only be proposed at a regimental guest night.
0:26:34 > 0:26:40"Any officer who has served one year with the battalion may propose a custom.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44"All proposals must have a seconder and be carried by a majority vote.
0:26:44 > 0:26:50"Officers have the following votes - field officers three, captains two, subalterns..."
0:26:50 > 0:26:54'Most customs have their roots in heroic actions or tight corners.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58'Captain John Lambie, tragically to lose a son to terrorism
0:26:58 > 0:27:02'in Northern Ireland shortly after this was filmed, explains another.'
0:27:02 > 0:27:08John, one story here really intrigues me. Now that everybody's gone, please tell me the story.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14It's a custom within the officers' mess to commemorate May 1940
0:27:14 > 0:27:18when the British Expeditionary Force was withdrawing.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22The RSM of the 61st of Foot, RSM Pearce,
0:27:22 > 0:27:27mastered his fatigue by placing his bayonet in his waist belt
0:27:27 > 0:27:29and the point underneath his chin.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34The Regimental Sergeant Major of the 1st, whenever dining in the officers' mess,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37may be asked to partake of a drink
0:27:37 > 0:27:43with the bayonet placed on the table and the point under his chin in remembrance of that time.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47This was mastering fatigue of how long among his troops?
0:27:47 > 0:27:51It was basically about five or six days without any sleep at all.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53So what do you have to do? Show me.
0:27:53 > 0:27:59On my last dining-out night in the officers' mess as Regimental Sergeant Major,
0:27:59 > 0:28:01when I left the battalion,
0:28:01 > 0:28:06it came as a shock when they read the customs book and they produced the bayonet
0:28:06 > 0:28:10- and the cup was full...- This was full of whisky, yeah?- Whisky.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Then you had to place the bayonet, which is the SLR bayonet,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19because we don't have the No.4 bayonet, and you had to drink...
0:28:22 > 0:28:27..from the cup. The only thing that worried me was all the subalterns that were around.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30They may have pressed my head down on the bayonet.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34- That would have been the end of you. - That's the end of it.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2011
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk