Cocoa, sir?
Ian Jack: The Royal Navy, 2 January 2003
Sober Men and True: Sailor Lives in the Royal Navy 1900-45
by Christopher McKee.
Harvard, 285 pp., £19.95, May 2002,0 674 00736 0 Show More
by Christopher McKee.
Harvard, 285 pp., £19.95, May 2002,
Rule Britannia: The Victorian and Edwardian Navy
by Peter Padfield.
Pimlico, 246 pp., £12.50, August 2002,0 7126 6834 9 Show More
by Peter Padfield.
Pimlico, 246 pp., £12.50, August 2002,
“... its history as ‘the pre-eminent sea-fighting force of the post-1500 world’, in the words of Christopher McKee, resonated still in school history books, comics and war films (Officer with mug: ‘Cocoa, sir?’ Officer with binoculars: ‘Good man, Number One!’). The most popular cigarette brands suggested that seagoing manliness and smoking were ... ”