ZULU: The Amazing TRUE Story of Private Hook

Поділитися
Вставка
  • Опубліковано 21 лис 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 119

  • @luv2fly352
    @luv2fly352 Рік тому +4

    I'm a 77 year old disabled Vietnam combat veteran and I salute and fully support British soldiers. God bless you all !

  • @brandonrossjr
    @brandonrossjr 10 місяців тому +2

    I just watched the movie and found this. Thank you!

  • @welshwarrior5263
    @welshwarrior5263 Рік тому +20

    Wonderfully told, thank you. I recently paid my respects to the grave of private Robert Jones VC, in Peterchurch near Hereford. Due to his act of suicide with a shotgun at the age of 41, they refused to carry his coffin through the gates of the cemetery. Instead, they passed it over the wall and buried him the wrong way round. A terrible tribute to a VC winner of the battle of Rorke's Drift.

    • @redcoathistory
      @redcoathistory  Рік тому +8

      Thanks mate. What a tragic story.

    • @hackedhatedguy
      @hackedhatedguy Рік тому +3

      I think they did far worse to suicide victims' corpses back in the days of biblical literalism.

    • @longyx321
      @longyx321 Рік тому +1

      ​@@hackedhatedguy some were buried at a crossroads I read a long time ago... No such thing as battle stress in those days.

    • @longyx321
      @longyx321 Рік тому +1

      I read a blog on the film, which I still enjoy watching, mentioned some of the collar badges were wrong and the cap badges would have been covered so as not to reflect.

    • @DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis
      @DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis Рік тому +2

      ​@@longyx321very far back in times, yes. Suicides were laid to rest by crossroads so the spirit that was rejected from heaven would be confused as to where to go and could not come back and haunt their village. It's that sort of stupidity that makes dogma such a vile thing at any time, in any religion. But then, when my son died aged 8 in Penzance a few years ago, because he was baptised catholic, he could not be buried with the other protestant graves but in a different graveyard that was outside the old town limits as they did not bury Catholics inside the town. Also, because of this, he could not be buried in a child's grave but in an adult's grave with all the cost associated with it. Dogma still sadly exists even now.

  • @markevans6973
    @markevans6973 Рік тому +7

    Brings tears to my eyes. Such gallant bravery.

  • @UkrainianPaulie
    @UkrainianPaulie Рік тому +13

    Well done Chris. Always thought that the movie portrayal of Hook was disrespectful. Pvt. Hook was one heck of a soldier. Like all military movies, they play fast and loose with the details.

  • @peterhoughton3770
    @peterhoughton3770 26 днів тому

    Thanks Chris- excellent summary and amazing character. Yes, I believe the relatives who walked out of the screening in 1964 were actually his elderly daughters and they were disgusted, making the point that he was teetotaller and would have been extremely upset at being portrayed as a philandering drunk. A very strange choice on the part of Baker, Enfield and Prebble. Prebble in particular would have known the real story well. The old trope of the rebel come good must have felt irresistible, but sad they stick that on hook. As you say, several other more likely candidates.

  • @timberry5666
    @timberry5666 Місяць тому

    I had the honour to see Pvt Hooke, in spirit (i.e. as a ghost in a pub) behind a man stood at the bar in the Cricketeers, Broadwater, Worthing. We were, at the time, discussing the pub ghost, who had the habit of switching on and off the lighting in the building. The gentleman then admitted to being related to Hooke, by announcing "guess who my famous ancestor is?" to which I answered correctly "Pvt. Hooke VC". I recognised him from the Victorian photo featured.

  • @mikeoveli1028
    @mikeoveli1028 Рік тому +2

    Great stuff.
    This is a favorite movie of mine.
    I am so glad to hear the real stories.

  • @psnaris
    @psnaris Рік тому +6

    One thing I like about Zulu is that, even in the heat of battle, they all managed to shave regularly.

    • @psnaris
      @psnaris Рік тому +3

      The Zulus too.

  • @paulkernan7336
    @paulkernan7336 Рік тому +5

    Love your vlogs... really informative and important to see the locations today. My great grandfather fought at Ladysmith with the Dublin Fusiliers, his pregnant wife and daughter were evacuated during the siege and sailed to Hyderabad (now in southern Pakistan) were my grandfather was born. He later served in the same British army regiment as his father during the First World War and was gassed and invalided out in 1916.

  • @melliecrann-gaoth4789
    @melliecrann-gaoth4789 9 місяців тому

    This is very interesting- thank you. I’ve just watched Zulu on TV, first time as an adult. I’m struck by what you said about the fate of many of the Veterans. Mental illness and poverty. It seems to me, that even in modern times, soldiers post very serious service are not looked after.

  • @pshehan1
    @pshehan1 Рік тому +10

    Very sad that Hook arrived home to find that his wife had sold his possessions and married another man. She should have been prosecuted for bigamy.

    • @redcoathistory
      @redcoathistory  Рік тому +3

      Yes, it was a tough break. I don't know what the law said but it does seem she didn't wait very long...

  • @lukeskywalker3329
    @lukeskywalker3329 Рік тому +6

    Thank you Chris for enlightening us .
    On the Zulu DVD. There is a commentary option to play which explained quirks in the making .
    Zulu was a budget movie . Looks like the research was c grade .
    There was a lot of ad libbing because of budget constraints.
    I have always found fact to be more amazing than fiction though . The story needed no embellishments.

    • @hackedhatedguy
      @hackedhatedguy Рік тому

      History means "his story". Don't believe everything you read in history as fact,. about Hook, if he got a job at the museum thanks to Chelmsford and Bromhead, that's like getting a job thanks to Don Corleone and Michael Corleone , meaning you are probably not a straight shooter if those snakes pull strings for you.

  • @FranciscoPreira
    @FranciscoPreira Рік тому +3

    A great hero private Hook, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year best regards for you and your family, you all keep well.

  • @DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis
    @DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis Рік тому +1

    Subscribed to both your newsletter and your channel Chris. Rivetting and well thought and researched work.

    • @redcoathistory
      @redcoathistory  Рік тому

      Great thanks a lot. Look forward to interacting more with you in the future.

  • @julieblundell7421
    @julieblundell7421 Рік тому +3

    Hello Christian, great video mate, Merry Christmas and best wishes to you and your family, Lee.

  • @elizabethtamp1537
    @elizabethtamp1537 Рік тому +5

    Yeah, thanks a well researched and described account. How many rank and file soldiers finished like Hook died with TB or poverty? I am sure the VC he won helped with obtaining the job at the museum. Well done Hooky!

  • @grahamrock3942
    @grahamrock3942 Рік тому +1

    Thank you SIR, a truly fantastic overview of just one Group of Comrades at Arms during the Battle. So what is MY connection, a very proud Great Granson of JOHN WILLIAM FIELDING V.C., (aka Pt.John Williams), on my dear Mother's side of our Family.
    All is well documented, both Historically and through the extended Fielding family, yes John Fieldings hair DID turn White following the trauma of the Battle, my own Grandfather, WILLIAM FIELDING, suffered the same when at just 25 HIS Hair also turned White, (I just lost mine at the age of 30).
    Sir...I had the profound privilege of meeting ZULU KING GOODWILL ZWELITHINI at a Pageant held at Brecon Barracks on the 21st July 2019, never to be forgotten....History lives on through my Cousins, Peter and Colin, and THEIR extended families. Thank you again for your overview...G.A.R.

    • @paulkelly8456
      @paulkelly8456 Рік тому

      The second Irish VC recipient from the battle. Surgeon Major James Henry Reynolds from Dunleary, South County Dublin being the other. I think I am correct in thinking your heroic ancestor was the last survivor of the 11 VC winners. RIP to them all.

  • @alicetickle
    @alicetickle Рік тому +1

    Brilliantly made

  • @TenementFunster.74
    @TenementFunster.74 Рік тому +1

    i suppose thats the film industry that they have to glamourise and embelish a story,still always watch it when its on TV,just subscribed aswell.

  • @schubert06sebastian39
    @schubert06sebastian39 Рік тому +2

    Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Great to hear these greetings. I like your content, very informative. Subbed.

  • @keithagn
    @keithagn Рік тому +2

    Incredible story! Thank you for setting the record straight. Looking forward to seeing your shows in February. Take care, and Merry Christmas from Canada 🇨🇦

  • @philipsquires3060
    @philipsquires3060 Рік тому +2

    Great video as always!! Zulu was my favorite movie growing up. Knowing the real men's stories is awesome!

  • @rickyb5499
    @rickyb5499 Рік тому +4

    Excellent video, showing the real Private Hook, a total soldier and a very brave man, sad to know he suffered in his private life and from PTSD. The 1964 movie Zulu is a classic, but certainly had many inaccuracies. ‘Hollywood Licence’, I’ve heard it called. Thanks for the real history about this gentleman 👍🇬🇧

  • @outpostraven
    @outpostraven Рік тому +3

    Love this man's story. Thanks for telling it.

  • @kiwifruit27
    @kiwifruit27 Рік тому +2

    Fascinating to hear his actual words. Thanks, have a great Christmas 🎅

  • @swampyankee
    @swampyankee Рік тому +14

    Excellent stuff Chris! It's particularly irritating when film makers misrepresent a person like Hook when if they stuck more to the facts they would have had a better character. (Just my opinion) Please have a wonderful and safe holiday season and my best to you and yours.

    • @FMCH6444
      @FMCH6444 Рік тому +3

      That's always annoyed me, since I learned that Henry Hook was the complete opposite of the way he's portrayed

    • @redcoathistory
      @redcoathistory  Рік тому +4

      Thanks, Gregg. Have a great one and we will speak again in 2023.

    • @hackedhatedguy
      @hackedhatedguy Рік тому +1

      IMHO Hook is better in the movie, more Christ-like and compelling as a drunkard who heeds the call to battle when needed, similar to the parable of the prodigal son.

    • @FMCH6444
      @FMCH6444 Рік тому +1

      @@hackedhatedguy EXCEPT, and work with me here, they assassinated his character. There's no justification for that. Same for making Dalton a rather effete dude when in reality he was a badass and was at least partially responsible for the idea of using mealie bags & boxs to make the lagger a strong defensive area.

    • @hackedhatedguy
      @hackedhatedguy Рік тому

      @@FMCH6444 They didn't make Hook a pederastic alcoholic, Bromhead admires Hook's drinking. Which characters were not fabricated in Zulu would make a better video.

  • @andyeveritt9003
    @andyeveritt9003 Рік тому +1

    really enjoyed this video
    what a story he certainly earned his VC
    now to look at your other vids on the other men there
    thanks and all the best

  • @rodneybarton-hall3867
    @rodneybarton-hall3867 Рік тому +6

    When I watched 'Zulu' for the first time in London in 1964 I thought it second only to 'Lawrence of Arabia' as the most thrilling film that I had ever seen, but decades later, having discovered the truth about Hook and other characters as well as the offence caused to his two elderly daughters, I felt less comfortable about it. When Hook died in1905 in Gloucester the funeral procession drew crowds of thousands. I have visited his grave in Churcham several times. The film still makes terrific cinema but...

    • @skylarkman2000
      @skylarkman2000 Рік тому +1

      The two most amazing films ever made . I have visited Lawrence's grave in Morton , Dorset .

    • @rodneybarton-hall3867
      @rodneybarton-hall3867 Рік тому

      I have not been to Morton but I have seen where he was born in Tremadoc.@@skylarkman2000

  • @mktf5582
    @mktf5582 Рік тому +4

    Please do Bio's of, Redvers Buller - Guillermo Miller (Latin American Wars) - Rowland Hill - Evelyn Wood.

  • @SetForAdventures
    @SetForAdventures Рік тому +1

    Fabulous portrait of a brave man Chris 👍 don’t worry about the poor initial showing this will keep giving as a film because it’s GOOD 👍
    Best wishes Simon 🇬🇧

    • @redcoathistory
      @redcoathistory  Рік тому +2

      Thanks, Simon - I really appreciate the positive feedback!

  • @michaeldean1289
    @michaeldean1289 Рік тому +1

    I love your videos Chris, great work!
    When was in the Australian Army, Royal Australian Engineers back in the early 80’s, they used to screen the movie as a motivational historical training aid.
    I still wonder why, as there was obviously only one British engineer officer as we all know!
    Lt. John Chard RE

    • @redcoathistory
      @redcoathistory  Рік тому

      Cheers, Michael.

    • @fatmanfaffing4116
      @fatmanfaffing4116 Рік тому +1

      I was in 1FER 1979-82. I have seen the movie at least 11 times. I remember the Cpl Projectionist at the Army Apprentice School telling us when the catering van comes into shot on the hillside and when the jet flies over and the Zulu with the wristwatch. I have met the great granddaughter of Lt Chard VC and she was dead chuffed anyone remembered.

  • @outpostraven
    @outpostraven Рік тому +2

    The real personalities of the men at the battle deserved to be represented accurately. Real shame. Great movie though

  • @karenalletson9767
    @karenalletson9767 Рік тому +2

    They destroyed the preacher De Witt also. He actually stayed at Rorke's Drift and displayed great courage rescuing wounded in the heat of the battle. They made Ardendorf into a hero when in fact he was nothing of the kind, later being charged arrested along with British Officer and charged with cowardice. He was not at Rorke's Drift during the battle.

  • @catholicmilitantUSA
    @catholicmilitantUSA Рік тому +2

    Poor Hook! Being a decorated war hero and coming home to find your wife has married someone else! Also how ON EARTH could anyone portray a teetotaller Methodist preacher as a drunken malingerer? RIP Hook :'(

  • @FelixstoweFoamForge
    @FelixstoweFoamForge Рік тому +7

    No ones portrayal in the film "Zulu" is realistic! I mean, Clr Sgt Bourne was in his mid twenties and stood about 5'3". nicknamed "the kid" by the men under him. Damn good film none the less!!

    • @seanford2358
      @seanford2358 Рік тому +3

      Even the lay out of the post is altered for the film!! Still my favourite war film though!!

    • @alonsocushing2263
      @alonsocushing2263 Рік тому

      I think we can thank the actor and producer of the film, Stanley Baker for this. Not only did he misrepresent most of the central characters, he over-emphasised the 'Welshness' of the company because of his own nationality.

    • @hackedhatedguy
      @hackedhatedguy Рік тому

      @@alonsocushing2263 Wait, Wales is a nation?

    • @alonsocushing2263
      @alonsocushing2263 Рік тому +1

      @@hackedhatedguy Stanley Baker thought so.

    • @trigger399
      @trigger399 Рік тому

      @@alonsocushing2263 It's doubtful if Richard Burton would have bothered if he had known it wasn't a Welsh regiment.

  • @DMBall
    @DMBall Рік тому +1

    Anybody who relies on the movies for their history is bound to be disappointed. But then, the same could be said about William Shakespeare.

  • @gap9992
    @gap9992 Рік тому +3

    Baker was Welsh so his character assassinations were reserved for the English participants! I suppose he couldn't claim it as a Welsh dominated victory if he undermined any of the Welsh characters!
    He must have been fuming that even he couldn't claim Chard was Welsh but he deflected this issue by portraying Bromhead as a very English upper class toff!
    I absolutely love the film though and have watched it many times !

  • @njd2342
    @njd2342 Рік тому

    I liked Hooke's character in the movie. He's one I remember - He came across as the poacher type, the good time guy, the one who gets the birds. The one you'd want on your side in a real fight.

  • @garycooper3487
    @garycooper3487 Рік тому +5

    I once read that after the battle that Hook held out his mug for a drink of rum when it was being shared out, much to the surprise of his comrades who knew he didn't drink. He said he felt he felt he needed a tot after what he had been through. I don't know if it is true, but I can understand the sentiment if it is. A very brave man.

  • @martynrawlins8050
    @martynrawlins8050 Рік тому

    Only today I've watched your video, a great account of Private Hook. I heard he had become a sergeant sometime after the battle but I can't say whether the info was correct or not.

  • @notwocdivad
    @notwocdivad Рік тому +2

    I think nowadays the other defenders would have been said to be suffering from PTSD? but of course no one had heard of that yet!!

  • @11buster1000
    @11buster1000 Рік тому +1

    Thanks for that.

  • @GW_01
    @GW_01 Рік тому +1

    Short answer: No, but it made for a good character in the film. He's my favourite character in the film.

  • @ogyxfallvanlore8511
    @ogyxfallvanlore8511 Рік тому +1

    It's still a brilliant film!

  • @PtolemyJones
    @PtolemyJones Рік тому +2

    Seems to me that if they wanted to create a character with that type of behavior, they could have made someone up.

  • @ramblingbunnyable
    @ramblingbunnyable 9 місяців тому

    Poverty stricken former soldiers: look up Kipping's poem, "The Last of the Light Brigade".

  • @Oscarhobbit
    @Oscarhobbit Рік тому +1

    As a former soldier you can appreciate how loud it would be to discharge a rifle inside a confined room, it's not like the movies their ears must have been deaf. This truly must have been terrifying for the men who fought there. I can't imagine what it was like holding off Zulu warriors with a single shot rifle and bayonet, ammunition running low and the roof on fire. I was in a burning building once and within mere moments the smoke hit my lungs, I couldn't breathe and later had to have oxygen. These men must have had PTSD for the rest of their lives, as you alluded to; I know some had and died in poverty.
    I would love to see a historically correct version of the movie Zulu remade, but in today's politically correct world this will never happen. It is a shame that the valour of these men has been replaced by the call to punish Great Britain for her imperial expansion. It is the same old story, politicians start wars and soldiers suffer and die in them. Those who start wars from behind a desk and those who condemn the military from their armchair will never experience being in combat or servicing in the BAF themselves. Another great video!

    • @redcoathistory
      @redcoathistory  Рік тому

      Thanks a lot. Must have been terrible. Take care and keep in touch mate

    • @retriever19golden55
      @retriever19golden55 10 місяців тому

      Spot on. Soldiers don't make policy they don't start wars, and they don't choose their enemies. Brave men on both sides, doing their duty, defending their comrades and their country.

  • @waynevaughan9325
    @waynevaughan9325 Рік тому

    Great work done Sir somtimes the film maling good people who cant answer back

  • @dylhemsley9458
    @dylhemsley9458 Рік тому +1

    Hook was a true hero. What a courageous man.

  • @QuietManUK
    @QuietManUK Рік тому +1

    No, he was a teetotaler, not a hostile drunken sot thrown into glory.

  • @davidcunningham2074
    @davidcunningham2074 Рік тому +1

    Hook was villified!

  • @retriever19golden55
    @retriever19golden55 10 місяців тому

    It happens a lot. They Died With Their Boots On, about Custer, makes Custer look like a fool in his West Point days. He was a prankster, yes, but never stupid. The movie also has a character called "Queen's Own" Butler, used for comic relief, short and chubby, a bit of a buffoon. W.W. Cooke, a Canadian, was the one called "Queen's Own," and he was tall and elegant, smart, a sharpshooter, and a fierce warrior. Sergeant Butler was also a fierce warrior, found alone with a large number of spent cartridges around him; he sold his life dearly.
    Far worse, though, was Little Big Man. The movie had little in common with the book it was supposedly based on, and even less with actual events. A couple generations of Americans now believe Custer was stupid, a racist, a butcher of women and children, and crazy, when he was in fact courageous and a fine cavalry officer with an exemplary record in the Civil War. He admired the Natives, parleyed when possible, fed starving reservation people out of his troops' stores more than once, and gave testimony before the Clymer Committee concerning corrupt Indian Agents starving their charges. He was loved and admired by his Crow and Arikara scouts, who wept openly at his death. He spent much of his post-war time on Reconstruction duty. He's blamed by many for the treatment of our Indigenous people, when he had nothing to do with government policy or broken treaties, and had a grand total of four engagements with warriors, two of which were very minor skirmishes.

  • @milmex317th
    @milmex317th Рік тому

    My favorite film of the British army in Africa.

  • @tobytaylor2154
    @tobytaylor2154 Рік тому +1

    Apparently, his relatives walked out at the premier coz of his portrayal in zulu

  • @markpage9886
    @markpage9886 Рік тому +1

    Based on your startling revelations, Hook's movie portrayal is scandalous--slanderous in the legal sense, I should think.

  • @peterrooke5336
    @peterrooke5336 Рік тому

    Would the public remember Hook if they played him any other way ? I think not

  • @Jubilo1
    @Jubilo1 Рік тому +1

    Hey! You said you couldn't grow a mustache or beard!

    • @redcoathistory
      @redcoathistory  Рік тому +2

      Ha Ha I am trying...it's a bit longer now but still quite patchy...

  • @williamkettle8666
    @williamkettle8666 Рік тому

    Its a disgrace that he was misrepresented by the film company.

  • @Jesusisking2785
    @Jesusisking2785 Рік тому

    They could have made up someone if you are going to make a movie about real people and rwal events then you owe it to the men who fought and died to get it right dont make crap up its disrespectful to me maybe im to patriotic i am American but still

    • @trigger399
      @trigger399 8 місяців тому +1

      No Hollywood director worth his salt would miss the opportunity to show a bunch of topless native dancers watched by Otto Witt and his comely adult daughter Margaretta. The real daughter was named Elin after her mother and was nearly three in January 1879.

    • @Jesusisking2785
      @Jesusisking2785 8 місяців тому

      @@trigger399 😆😆😆😆😆

  • @jacobolopezgil1740
    @jacobolopezgil1740 8 місяців тому

    You make a video on corporal Schiess and I send you US$20,00. Who wants to join?
    It is the saddest story in the world - first foreigner recipient of the Victoria Cross, died of poverty - but it deserves to be told.

    • @redcoathistory
      @redcoathistory  8 місяців тому

      Hi, I am very happy to do a video on him but just FYI he wasn't the first foreigner to win a VC - there had been many. If you are keen to support then the best way is through the Patreon. - www.patreon.com/RedcoatHistory - thanks and keep in touch

  • @13strange67
    @13strange67 Рік тому

    He was no doubt related to Captain Hook ( the enemy of Peter Pan )