World War One veteran Henry Allingham has died, aged 113.
Mr. Allingham predeceased his country, though probably not by much, to judge from the literacy level on display in his obituary.
The great-grandfather was the last founder member of the RAF and the only remaining survivor of the infamous Battle of Jutland off the Danish coast in 1916.
(1) The obituarist just got through telling us that Mr. Allingham was in fact a great-great-great grandfather. (2) Why is the Battle of Jutland “infamous.” (“Having an extremely bad reputation” — Random House Dictionary: “Having an exceedingly bad reputation; notorious” — American Heritage Dictionary.) Jutland was a bit of a cock-up, to be sure; but then, most battles are.
And then:
A third known Great War survivor, Claude Choules, 108, who served with the Royal Navy, now lives in Australia. He born in Worcestershire.
Mr. Allingham’s obituary must have been in the Daily Mail files for some time. Couldn’t they have an editor look it over? Perhaps they too busy.