The Oldie May issue 413

Page 82

Overlooked Britain

They had no choice

LUCINDA LAMBTON

lucinda lambton Every time I drive past the Animals in War Memorial in Park Lane, I’m pierced by the poignancy

The heart-stirring sight of the Animals in War Memorial, in London’s Park Lane, is to be seen daily by many thousands of people driving by. It is, though, very difficult to inspect its highly rewarding excellence and charm at close quarters. Situated between two roaring traffic-filled freeways on what was originally the elegant edge of Hyde Park, it is tricky to reach. Reach the memorial, however, and you are home and dry. You’re quite magically immersed in a poignant peacefulness, charm and beauty that overpower all else, with a power that renders the world about you quite silent; this despite the multitude of roaring motors on either side. The memorial is as moving as it is momentous. Gently traditional yet slicing-edge modern, it moves you to the very roots of your boots. It was Jilly Cooper, with her book Animals in War, who inspired its creation, along with her husband, the late lamented, delightful 82 The Oldie May 2022

and distinguished military historian Leo Cooper. He suggested the all-important words carved into the stone: ‘THEY HAD NO CHOICE’. The sculptor David Backhouse was the genius behind its design. He sculpted the four bronze animals as well. Richard Holliday and Harry Day sculpted the stone animals. All the names of those who paid for it are incised into the back of the wall. It was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum. The 58-foot-long, curved sweep of a stone wall was designed as the arena of war. It seems to enclose you with all the warrior creatures – carved in bas-relief – that are thundering by. Carrier pigeons fly overhead; two million were used in the Second World War. While 17,000 were parachuted into enemy territory, only one in eight returned. An elephant – considered a ‘skilled sapper’ in Burma – leads the charge on the ground. There are horses – eight million of them perished during

the First World War – dromedaries and camels, as well as a chicken, a dolphin, a donkey, a cat and a goat. A mule at the gallop, with his head thrown back, is enjoying the last of his food in a heavy, leather nosebag. Most endearingly, there are tiny glow-worms to be seen. The little creatures provided light for the ‘boys’ to read their letters and maps in the trenches. The wall is engraved with the ennobling words THIS MONUMENT IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE ANIMALS THAT SERVED AND DIED ALONGSIDE BRITISH AND ALLIED FORCES IN WARS AND CAMPAIGNS THROUGHOUT TIME. Bronze

mules, life-size and heavily laden, somewhat gloomily toil forth to an opening in the wall, through which you too can walk. This enables you to look back at the empty silhouettes of the animals carved on the other side, all of them wraith-like, representing ghosts of these victims of war. On their own and leading away from the memorial are two bronze animals


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Articles inside

Getting Dressed: William Dalrymple and Olivia

5min
pages 92-97

Ask Virginia Ironside

5min
pages 98-100

Crossword

3min
pages 89-90

Taking a Walk: Blean Woods

3min
pages 87-88

Overlooked Britain: Park Lane’s Animals in War

6min
pages 82-84

How the British made the

6min
pages 80-81

On the Road: Maurice Gran

4min
pages 85-86

Bird of the Month: Common

2min
page 79

Exhibitions Huon Mallalieu

2min
pages 69-70

Drink Bill Knott

4min
page 73

Golden Oldies Rachel Johnson

4min
page 68

Television Frances Wilson

4min
page 66

Music Richard Osborne

3min
page 67

Film: Downton Abbey

3min
page 64

History David Horspool

4min
pages 61-62

Bad Relations, by Cressida

5min
pages 59-60

Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK, by Simon Kuper

4min
page 56

Circus of Dreams Adventures in the 1980s Literary World, by John

4min
pages 57-58

English Gardening Eccentrics by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan

4min
pages 54-55

The Palace Papers, by Tina

6min
pages 48-50

Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose, by Alison Weir

5min
page 53

Small World Jem Clarke

4min
page 47

Readers’ Letters

8min
pages 44-45

Country Mouse Giles Wood

4min
page 37

The Doctor’s Surgery

3min
page 43

Postcards from the Edge

4min
pages 38-40

Town Mouse

3min
page 36

Media Matters Stephen Glover

4min
page 35

Never too old for netball

4min
pages 32-34

The genius behind Casablanca Nick Brown

6min
pages 30-31

The first child star, William

4min
page 29

How to buy a picture

6min
pages 26-28

My two dads Allegra Huston

6min
pages 22-23

Branston, king of pickles

4min
pages 24-25

The Old Un’s Notes

9min
pages 5-8

Are You Being Served? turns 50 Roger Lewis

7min
pages 14-15

The joy of dropping out

3min
page 21

1950s school segregation

4min
page 11

Long live oldie Luddites

4min
pages 16-17

Gyles Brandreth’s Diary

4min
page 9

Grumpy Oldie Man

4min
page 10

The Bomber Harris recipe

7min
pages 18-20
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