The Real Life "Most Interesting Man In The World!"

[Perknose]

Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO.

Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (5 May 1880 – 5 June 1963), was a British Army officer of Belgian and Irish descent. He served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War, was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip and ear, survived a plane crash, tunneled out of a POW camp, and bit off his own fingers when a doctor refused to amputate them. He later said "frankly I had enjoyed the war."

:ninja:

There were a number of senior officer prisoners here because of the successes made by Rommel in North Africa early in 1941. Carton de Wiart made friends, especially with General Sir Richard O'Connor, Thomas Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly and Lieutenant-General Philip Neame VC. The four were committed to escaping. He made five attempts including seven months tunnelling. Once Carton de Wiart evaded capture for eight days disguised as an Italian peasant (which is surprising considering that he was in northern Italy, couldn't speak Italian, and was 61 years old, with an eye patch, one empty sleeve and multiple injuries and scars). Ironically, Carton de Wiart had been approved for repatriation due to his disablement but notification arrived after his escape. As the repatriation would have required that he promise not to take any further part in the war it is probable that he would have declined anyway.

:awe:

In 1908 he married Countess Friederike Maria Karoline Henriette Rosa Sabina Franziska Fugger von Babenhausen.

[...]

In his memoirs, Happy Odyssey, Carton de Wiart makes no reference to his wife or to his daughters.

I was told an anecdote concerning this trip by a don at Oxford. I haven’t come across it elsewhere but its teller was a careful and serious historian. It may be revealing of the particular virtues Carton de Wiart brought to wartime diplomacy.

To get back home he had been forced by advancing German and Soviet troops to travel far to the south before turning west, which he did at the Romanian border. He’d thought it appropriate to wear for the journey full dress uniform (including plumed hat) and having been refused entry at the border he decided to put on a show. He marched up to the guards, saluted vigorously, before informing them in parade ground fashion in each of the half-dozen languages he spoke that there were three sorts of Romanians: pimps, homosexuals and violinists. Whilst having no idea which of these he was addressing he demanded free passage. They complied.

:biggrin:

Carton de Wiart was transferred to India in 1902. He enjoyed sports, especially shooting and pig sticking.

[...]

Pigsticking was a form of boar hunting done by individuals, or groups of spearmen on foot or on horseback using a specialized boar spear. The boar spear was sometimes fitted with a cross guard to stop the enraged animal driving its pierced body further down the shaft in order to attack its killer before dying.

Read his whole story. The guy was also a high level diplomat in several war theaters.

 

[Braznor]

This is what being a man is all about. :biggrin:

 

[Sonikku]

Christ he's like a super pirate general badass. Not even Blackbeard got shot that many times.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Maybe he was the most interesting man in the world...until he died....in 1963.

 

[Perknose]

Maybe he was the most interesting man in the world...until he died....in 1963.

Legend has it he's just napping.

 

[dainthomas]

Chuck Norris is mildly impressed.

 

[zinfamous]

In 1908 he married Countess Friederike Maria Karoline Henriette Rosa Sabina Franziska Fugger von Babenhausen.

[...]

In his memoirs, Happy Odyssey, Carton de Wiart makes no reference to his wife or to his daughters.

Editing decision. Can you imagine the time it would have taken to constantly reference all these people, each with a dozen or so names?

Not to mention the cost in print to keep recycling those names.

 

[xanis]

I'm calling shens. No one can be this badass.

 

[OlafSicky]

Guy probably had an undiagnosed mental disorder. A sane man would have never done any of these things.

 

[Perknose]

I'm calling shens. No one can be this badass.

All extensively documented. Read up on him. A real life badass of epic magnitude.

 

[Perknose]

Guy probably had an undiagnosed mental disorder. A sane man would have never done any of these things.

Duh. To wit:

Despite all his wounds in the war, Carton de Wiart said at the end: "Frankly I had enjoyed the war...and why do people want peace if the war is so much fun"

:biggrin:

 

[zinfamous]

lol. this guy is damn amazing.

 

[techs]

Unfortunately the Boers didn't enjoy the war quite so much. Especially when the British invented the concentration camp and rounded up the Boer women and children and stuck them in the camps without adequate shelter, food or medicine and they died like flies.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Guy probably had an undiagnosed mental disorder. A sane man would have never done any of these things.

x2

Probably had a lot to do with 1st Concentration Camps English created during Boer war.....

 

[Pocatello]

Some people enjoy fighting in wars. They live boring lives but become larger-than-life in times of war.

 

[Anonemous]

Must be the guy where they got Big Boss' DNA.

 

[kage69]

Wait, he chewed his own infected fingers off??

You know, it's one thing to have to break out your knife and resort to a little "frontier medicine" when you are desperate, but using your own teeth?

He probably wasn't issued a gun. Just used his dick and huge steel testicles to overcome his opponents.


Hats off to any polyglot who can fight and disguise himself, but in Northern Italy not speaking Italian isn't a huge red flag if you can speak German.

 

[CrypticMind]

Thats a tough sob

 

[Jeffg010]

I'd like to have a beer with that guy.

 

[Murloc]

Maybe he was a guard in teh concentration camps built by the English in south africa and was a psycho all along.

 

[Perknose]

Maybe he was a guard in teh concentration camps built by the English in south africa and was a psycho all along.

He said he would have fought on either side of the Boer War who would have had him.

At that moment I knew, once and for all, that war was in my blood. I was determined to fight and I didn't mind who or what. I didn't know why the war had started, and I didn't care on which side I was to fight. If the British didn't fancy me I would offer myself to the Boers, and at least I did not endow myself with Napoleonic powers or imagine I would make the slightest difference to whichever side I fought for.

I know now that the ideal soldier is the man who fights for his country because it is fighting, and for no other reason. Causes, politics and ideologies are better left to the historians.

 

[Anonemous]

He said he would have fought on either side of the Boer War who would have had him.

Yep a mercenary yo, he could've created Outer Heaven.

 

[Gillbot]

I thought that was Olds....

 

[adlep]

Nice article. There is a large Polish connection to this person. It seems that he was quite happy in the Interwar Poland hunting...

 

[SSSnail]

I think that guy reincarnated as Ronnie Lott.