Sir Isaac Brock part 1: Early life

Hello, this is one of our old episodes where are sound quality isn't quite so good. I'm a bit amateur.

Yeah, now we're pros and we've spoken about a lot more things and ohh sound quality is a lot better as you can hear currently.

Yes, so enjoy the show. Anyway, thank.

You show.

Welcome to the curiosity of a child.

I I hope everybody's well. This is episode 5 and today we are going to introduce our first.

Yancy, great, yes, it will again see traits. Gansey greats are famous people from Guernsey and I came up with that name.

He did, that's right. So as you may or may not know we are from Guernsey to very small island in the English Channel. See between England and France, and despite its size, we've had quite a few sort of famous people or interesting people from the island.

But maybe they're not all name. So yeah, we're hoping to talk about them and learn a bit for ourself, and also an for our listeners, yeah?

And also don't forget you can follow us on Twitter at Curie Child Pot. Your feed send us a message and also leave us a review or rating on Apple Podcasts mostly on Podbean Stitcher and Spotify. They can find us all these places.

So what have you been up to, Anton in the last while since the last episode?

Yeah, well, I've been researching DNA at school. That's interesting. I've been painting my cars actually because I enjoy modelling and painting.

I've got a new mattress, Owen Nail finish shelf.

Yes, you got. Yeah, he's scared you bitten he.

Yeah at first, but most importantly, we've been getting ready for Christmas.

That's right, yeah, but it's already December, which is crazy.

So can you tell me anything about DNA?

We haven't done too much in it that we've done age diet well, not really. Diagram it's more drawing of a double Helix, which is what they come in the shape. Yeah yeah, the shape that they come in and.

Yes, Pyro isn't it like a spiral ladder.

Yes, spiralled ladder A and T screwed together.

I CNG xoxo go together.

And yeah, you can't have the A and J. You have to have anti CNG otherwise. Yeah.

There was not the same pairs don't make most amazingly with DNA is that bees all living things up DNA and slightly instructions of how we're going to be built. And do you know how much DNA we share with the banana?

50% yeah.

It's crazy to think that you are 50% banana.

Yeah, so is that almost cannibalism. If you get banana.

80%.

Cannibalism yeah yeah. Was amazed about DNA. If you think about it, there's any 4.

I didn't. I was at the 80 DNG. Yeah yeah.

Sizes for different types of Lego brick? Yeah, that's going to be combined in certain ways.

If you put them in different orders, you can create anything with them.

Yeah, actually another good fact about DNA, everybody and tyre world 99.99% the same yeah and justice 0.01 ten different that's what makes us look different.

Yeah, so you are half man, half Mummy aren't you? Yeah, with your DNA an actually I've been thinking for a while doing this DNA test.

And I can show you where you're from and amount and how much Neanderthal you are.

Yeah, we watched the programme and there's like this guy who did it and he was like something like.

2% Norman or something wasn't.

Yes yes, amazing actually this is your half Russian. Yeah so I think it be really interesting actually. See kind of your.

Backgrounds and granny is from Yorkshire.

As well, so yeah.

Be interesting, gramps. He's local to the island, but apparently there's from.

His mother's side. Your great grandmother? Yeah, kind of done that family line. This meant to be some Spanish. I think Spanish yeah yeah, that be really interesting. And then there must be some French with our names, yeah?

Right, so should we get cracking on with our first game zydrate?

Yeah, off we go.

Ganzy great.

Sir Isaac Brock part one.

Yeah, thank you. So this is part one of our Guernsey rates. There's a news feature which will be doing fairly regularly. As you know, we live in Guernsey and it's a small island in the English Channel, so it's between England and France.

Now we're not English or part.

Of the UK, but we are British and we have our own.

Government, but I'm not part of the EU but are part of the European Community.

Little bit confusing to.

Explain that to people sometimes now the population of the island is just under 65,000 people, but despite our small size with producing fine figures in history that I've set out across the globe from their humble home.

This can be our first on and we're going to look at a gentleman called Sir Isaac Brock.

So let's start with a picture of him. So this is a picture from 1809. How's he look to you? Very smart and he looks like maybe a general from the army.

Floss is East from yeah, the army or some sort. Yeah, so this is a profile like a side view of him here and he's kind of very smartly dressed as the time and kind of a fine kind of red uniform. And actually you can't really see here, but it would have had round his neck. You know they had these neckties. Are you at the time?

It will be important later. Okay, he's not actually.

That well known in Guernsey.

But in Canada he's huge where he earns the soubriquet, the hero of Upper Canada was actions in the War of 1812.

Now, do you know anything about the war of 18?

12 no, I got from it in 1812 and 18 traffic no. Yeah. So it was a war between the British and America or the United States, rather where the United States they invaded Canada. So that was, well, still is part of the British Empire. Yeah there. But as more British at the time and it is now now, the war lasted from June 1812 to.

Every 1915, as I said, it's for between the United States and the UK, including Canada, but there are also some Native Americans fighting both sides. More First Nations people.

And we also burned down the White House.

I5 bothering with Trump in there. I think it's worth burning down. Anyway, back to Brock so.

Exciting broke his born on 6th of October 1769 in St Peter Port which is the main town in Guernsey.

The house in which he lived is now a boots, and that's.

A chain of chemists in.

The UK, so you know I don't know, yeah.

So it's in our.

High Street and I can't imagine it being a house, can you no?

On the beach to lot. Yeah, I'm never walking round and I would have been about your age.

Now he was actually his parents eighth son.

Eight, yes, there's another kids nearly as old as I am, not his age.

Change the eighth son. He's had some sisters, but I don't know how many hunting.

Now his father.

Was a midshipman in the Royal Navy and his Gran father on his mother's side was the Lieutenant Bailiff of Guernsey. Now he was a chap called. If I find the tab, here's a chap called Daniel Delisle Brock, and he's actually another important person in some games in history. From what I've read so far, he seems like he really supported the islands and helped the island out so he would argue the rights of the Islanders, modernising the island and bring it up to date when he was the.

A list of the island and also his brother in law was Admiral James. To summary.

And he's gonna be another person who will feature. See, you know the yeah, yeah, says an exhibition at the museum about him. I think. Yeah, he's a really important figure in the island and he would. He would have known Lord Nelson.

Okay, back to Brock.

Now he is a good student and I used it just 10 here since his Southampton to study. He also spent a year in Rotterdam where he learn French.

But it's really important because later in his life would have been the Napoleonic Wars where yeah we were fighting.

Napoleon, who he wasn't French. Corsican yeah yeah. But he was waving Emperor France tenancy.

It was also physically fit and it was a very strong swimmer and also a good boxer and he measured 188CM or 6 foot two as an adult which is particularly for his time. Yeah, there's still quite cold today, isn't it? Yeah, taller than me is also said to be handsome man, but on his death his waist size is 120 centimetres, so it's pretty big. Yeah, yeah, there's several of you.

Now when he was only 15, he joined the 8th King's Regiment of Foot, where he had an older brother who was already an.

Officer and he quickly rose through the ranks.

Purchasing the position of Lieutenant in 1790 and becoming captain a year later and then he transferred to the 40.

9th Regiment now back then, if you.

Are somebody who was maybe quite well to do and kind of a gentleman or something. You might not have to actually progress through the ranks in the normal manner.

He could buy.

Your position wasn't just done a merit yeah, but supposedly people say that his quick rise through the ranks was.

Some people say it may be.

Partly luck, but other people say it is also down to skill and ability.

And it's after you join the 49th Regiment where we got our first cool Storey and he was challenged to a duel.

Okay, so now being the target of the duel, he got to choose the terms and insisted that they use pistols.

Not everyone was.

Shocked as Brock was.

A large target and his opponent was a very good shot. He also decided this would be taken at close range.

Yeah, Okay, now his.

Opponent declines this and he was forced to leave the.

Regiment. Because of this, Brock will run a losses support amongst his fellow officers.

Now the man who I didn't have his name actually, but the man who.

Proposed the duel.

Against him and his ability, and are very nice man. So he kind of stood up to him, which is really good. So there yeah.

And he was. He came close to death again when he became Hill, serving in the Caribbean. So this was shortly after, yeah, so.

He adds a few kind.

Of scrapes in his early.

Life there. Now you can remember.

This is the time in the British.

Empire was really powerful, so think of horn blower and sharp. Yeah yeah. So if you picture these kind of series which are both brilliant. So this is kind of the world in which is living in which he was an officer.

In the.

British Army.

But I'm not time Europe would be plunged in the Napoleonic Wars and the 1799.

Brock had his first active combat, and there's now a Lieutenant Colonel that's during the Battle of Ach Mar, which is in the modern day Netherlands, and during this battle he was hit in the neck.

With a musket ball.

Mr.

Yeah, say and that's play. It probably saved by his neck tie his neck stuff that you had. It would have kind of kept. Yeah, being closed.

Yeah, so did it come straight in the front of this I couldn't find out exact details. I'm guessing it's a bit of a grazing shot which he didn't get through any of the important kind of arteries there. Nothing there but.

Quite lucky there, yeah definitely.

Let's hope he hasn't used up all of his luck already.

I'm now here is a list of uniform so.

You can see how they.

Look, there's not Brock, there's.

Just from the era. Okay, so there you can see the necktie around the neck, yeah?

Big country yeah.

Now brought himself said of the event. I got knocks down and shortly after the enemy began to retreat, but never quitted the field and returned to my duty in less than half an hour.

As I said, stop or hide together.

With whatever they did and he was going, so that's pretty impressive stuff, isn't it?

OK, now in 1880 he was placed into Canada and this is where his.

Most famous chapter.

Starts to begin.

But things didn't start well for him and he had to deal with deserters and attempted mutiny.

Yeah, so these actually went really aimed directly against him, but as he was kind of won the senior sort of ranking commanders or officers that he had to step in and trying to sort them out. Yeah, somebody deserters got ordered to be shot, so that's what happened back then. If you were already meeting at the meeting the errors mutineers. Yeah, I mean I could always be showing a penny for a little bit bad about that. Well, at least he wasn't too gear. At least he has a heart, yes.