Thursday January 5, 2023
The weather outside is still grey, overcast and relatively small waves. The lectures today were very good and diverse. First was Mike Ling, who was a 20 year Royal Air Force Pilot and more importantly a 10 year Red Arrow Pilot. The Red Arrows are the elite force (part of the RAF) that perform aerobatic shows and support British industry. Usually, the Red Arrow pilots serve 3 years only before moving on, however Mike served in various capacities not only as a pilot, but also in ground coordination. We saw them recently at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee where they flew over our heads as we stood in front of the Queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, with the traditional red, white and blue “smoke” from their trails. This is actually diesel (with dye for the red and blue) that is injected through nozzles directly into the hot air coming out of the jets. They have 1 minute for the red and blue and 5 minutes for the white.
The next lecture was by The Royal Butler – Grant Harrold – Who was Prince (now King) Charles’ butler for many years and still lives at King Charle’s home at Holyrood. He told us of some very amusing situations that occurred, but unlike Diana’s Butler who told many inappropriate stories, all were amusing and never revealing secrets. He is now an advisor and educator in etiquette and is still employed by the Royal Household.
Once again we had the change in hour where noon became 1 PM, the third lecture was by the Royal historian Carol Ann Lloyd talking about the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II.
The evening entertainment was by Ben Mills – a UK Pianist, Vocalist and guitarist who had performed with people like Rod Stewart, Lionel Richie and Barry Manilow – very good.
Roger & Anne Travels 