I'm very good at integral and differential calculus;
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous:
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s famous patter song from “The Pirates of Penzance” needs no introduction even though the above extract is actually its second verse. In the context of the tale I’m about to tell it captures the essence of the man concerned rather nicely. He was Sir Basil Schonland CBE OMG FRS, scientist, soldier and a remarkable servant of two prime ministers plus a redoubtable field marshal.
Sir Basil Schonland
In March 1944, Brigadier Schonland was appointed Scientific Adviser (SA) to Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery’s 21 Army Group, just two months before the invasion of Europe - known as Operation Overlord. It was rather late in the day considering the task that lay ahead of him. Schonland had come to this position after serving, since 1941, in Britain’s Air Defence Research Establishment (ADRDE) and then as the superintendent of the Army Operational Research (AORG). Prior to that, as a Lieutenant Colonel, he was CO of the Special Signals Services (SSS) of the SA Corps of Signals, where he had led South Africa’s remarkable effort to develop a radar system ultimately intended for the defence of the country’s 3000...
