"Temporary gentlemen" is a colloquial term referring to male officers of the British Army who held temporary (or war-duration) commissions, particularly when such men came from outside the traditional officer class. Historically the officers of the British Army were drawn from the gentry and upper middle classes. The First World War required a rapid expansion of the officer corps and more than 200,000 additional officers were recruited, many on temporary commissions. Many of these were drawn from the lower middle and working classes. They came to be referred to as "temporary gentlemen" with the expectation that they would revert to their former social standing after the war. The term was revived in the Second World War, which saw a similar increase in the number of officers holding temporary commissions. The term continued to see use for officers commissioned from those conscripted for National Service, which lasted until 1963.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_gentlemen
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1841:
Pedro II, the last Emperor of Brazil, having reigned in minority since 1831, was acclaimed, crowned and consecrated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_II_of_Brazil
1949:
Francisco Javier Arana, Chief of the Armed Forces of Guatemala, was killed in a shootout with supporters of President Juan José Arévalo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Javier_Arana
1976:
At the Olympic Games in Montreal, Nadia Comăneci became the first person to score a perfect 10 in a modern Olympics gymnastics event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Com%C4%83neci
1989:
American actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed by Robert John Bardo, eventually prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Schaeffer
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
get someone's goat: (informal) To annoy or infuriate someone. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_someone%27s_goat
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist, you have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it. --Hunter S. Thompson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson