Brian Horrocks (1895–1985) was a British Army officer who commanded XXX Corps during the Second World War. He also served in the First World War and the Russian Civil War, was taken prisoner twice, and competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Later he was a television presenter, a military history author, and Black Rod in the House of Lords. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery identified Horrocks as one of his most able officers, appointing him to corps commands in North Africa and Europe. Horrocks was seriously wounded in 1943, and took more than a year to recover before returning to command a corps. His wound caused continuing health problems and led to his early retirement from the army. Since 1945, Horrocks has been regarded by some historians as one of the most successful British generals of the war; Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe, called him "the outstanding British general under Montgomery".

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Horrocks

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1698:

Most of London's Palace of Whitehall, from 1530 the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Whitehall

1798:

After his investiture as Prince of Wallachia, Constantine Hangerli arrived in Bucharest to assume the throne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_Hangerli

1951:

Korean War: Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Seoul

1989:

Two American F-14 Tomcats shot down two Libyan MiG-23 Floggers that appeared to be attempting to engage them over the Gulf of Sirte in the Mediterranean Sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_air_battle_near_Tobruk

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

prescient: Exhibiting or possessing prescience: having knowledge of, or seemingly able to correctly predict, events before they take place. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prescient

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

You are what you do. If you do boring, stupid monotonous work, chances are you'll end up boring, stupid and monotonous. Work is a much better explanation for the creeping cretinization all around us than even such significant moronizing mechanisms as television and education. People who are regimented all their lives, handed off to work from school and bracketed by the family in the beginning and the nursing home at the end, are habituated to hierarchy and psychologically enslaved. Their aptitude for autonomy is so atrophied that their fear of freedom is among their few rationally grounded phobias.   --Bob Black https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bob_Black