Ps Ch5+ 1 at 2:45 pm for anyone missed the beginning , Escape To Victory starring GOAT Pele straight after .
Private Henry Hook played by James Booth was the polar opposite of how he was portrayed in the film. Other Zulu film facts. Michael Caine's first ever film. He played Bromhead but initially auditioned for the rile of Henry Hook. When you see the zulus on the hillside for the first time en masse they only had a limited number of extras to work with so what they did was nail a long piece of wood to 10 zulu shields and had one extra stood at each end carrying it. The zulus and the British regiment never sang to one another. The was no glorious final charge of the zulus as the battle petered out to small skimishes around 3am until the impis got word of Chelmsford and his army heading towards them. It was the most Victoria cross medals handed out for one single battle. 11 i believe. In real life colour sargeant Bourne was actually a short chap in his mid twenties and not a tall middle aged fellow.
First film I ever saw at pictures. (apart from kids Saturday matinees) Twice, one showing after the other. Then next day. zooo loooooo
At the time of the battle they were NOT a Welsh regiment....that came about two years later. Dalton was one of the real heros who organized the camp for defence. Bromhead (Caine) was partly deaf and considered a poor officer.
Were they a Warwickshire regiment? 24th foot? Thats also correct regarding Dalton as Bromhead and Chard wanted to vacate the camp. Dalton gets very little notice in the film adaptation.
Yea and I think although they recruited around Brecon and area only about one third of the men at Rorkes drift were Welsh.
Lord Chelmsford was told by prime Minister Disrali not to antagonize the Zulus...however he was itching for some action. Fortunately for him he was a fav of queen victoria and although he came back disgraced (Isalwanda) he got away with it.
Interesting fact I stumbled on. Not everyone at Rorke's Drift died a miserable death. The last survivor, Frank Bourne, lived to be 91. He died on 9th May 1945 day after VE day. Although some other sources say 8th may VE day.
Couple of quick questions that have never been cleared up, the bugle sounded ...and the order given '' Take aim ...Hold your fire"... they then were given the order to " Fire at Will " Was Will a Zulu or was Will such a bad bugle player they needed to shut him up. Taxi....
Alternatively Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is on ITV, now I’m just waiting for some sick ******* to tell me that the car couldn’t really fly,
If you ever find yourselves in Brecon the regimental museum is fantastic, also the cathedral is worth a look. It has a fantastic memorial to honour the regiment .
Also Pvt Hook wasn't the waster portrayed in the film, he had a long and distinguished career in the Army. There was no herd of Cows in reality... The South African Govt wouldn't allow the Zulus to be paid like the white actors so Baker and Cy Enfield came up with a plan to buy in a herd of Cows, use them in the film and just leave them to the Zulus after the filming finished.
