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Lt Col AD Wintle MC

An incredible bloke, played to perfection by Jim Broadbent in the BBC series "Heroes & Villains". (aka "The Last Englishman" IMDB)

Losing a leg to a shell in WW1, he escaped from hospital disguised as a nurse to return to the front. Whilst in hospital, he had ordered his batman not to die from his wounds ....

Having attempted to shoot an Air Ministry official in WW2 for refusing to send planes to help the BEF, he eventually parachuted into France as a secret agent. He was captured by the Germans and imprisoned.

He escaped, was betrayed and recaptured. Eventually he went on a hunger strike to protest at the "slovenly appearance of the guards who are not fit to guard an English officer!"

He held daily inspections of his guards and berated them and his French jailers for their poor deportment and treachery in supporting the Vichy regime.

After his second (successful) escape many of his captors defected to the Free French forces, convinced that if a one-legged Englishman with a monocle could outwit them and the Germans, they were better off on his side.

Makes Andy McNab sound like a Big Jessie.