Brigadier Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart, embodiment of all that was best on the conservative side of the post-war consensus, is dead. Obit here. Because the videos I’ve been posting are bleeding off the main page, here are some links.
Presumably, as they lower the coffin, Benton will fire five rounds rapid.
{ 14 comments }
Chuchundra 02.23.11 at 3:25 pm
Just once, I’d like to face an alien menace that wasn’t immune to bullets
Ali F. 02.23.11 at 3:59 pm
time to grow the honorary mustache
flyingrodent 02.23.11 at 10:41 pm
I did always hope they’d give him one last hurrah in the new series, but it wasn’t to be. A great shame, he came off like an affable guy and seems to have had plenty of time for fans, however geeky.
belle le triste 02.23.11 at 10:51 pm
Strange pleasing to learn he spoke Arabic…
belle le triste 02.23.11 at 10:52 pm
Citation here
Pinko Punko 02.24.11 at 7:28 am
His character never seemed to get too down with an entirely ineffectual force. I mean consider the self-esteem blow of your arsenal comparing unfavorably to the sonic screwdriver.
UNIT will miss him.
yeliabmit 02.24.11 at 5:54 pm
The funeral procession I imagine would have stunts by HAVOC, of course.
Ariyas 02.25.11 at 1:54 am
RIP a wonderful actor. Will be missed.
maidhc 02.25.11 at 9:47 am
Nice to know that a fine actor from years ago is not forgotten by his fans, among which I include myself. When his performances are still remembered many years later, it’s a tribute to an actor’s craft.
PHB 02.26.11 at 12:59 am
In army terms, his career seems to have stalled somewhat after his posting to UNIT. Brigadier is probably the least common rank in the British Army being above Colonel yet not General Staff rank.
Most Brigadiers get promoted to general within a year. Lethbridge-Stewart seems to have remained in the rank for well over a decade. Surely a record in the ‘up-or-out’ modern military. While he did later advance to General, that seems to have been a courtesy promotion shortly before his planned retirement.
Given the size of UNIT, surely a Colonel level appointment would be more appropriate? UNIT seems to have had a single squad on hand in most engagements and the brig is typically giving orders direct to his (lone) NCO Benson or his lone subordinate officer Cptn. Yates. Both of whom appear to have had similarly compromised military careers.
yeliabmit 02.26.11 at 3:04 am
Then again, UNIT might have been something of a career-killer, seeing as duty included what was likely the most classified and secret of subjects. Possibly once you accepted transfer into UNIT, you stayed in until you died or cashiered?
Craig 02.26.11 at 3:49 am
I imagine it was determined at the formation of UNIT that the commanders of the principal subdivisions ought to have what the Americans would call “one-star” rank, and NATO would call OF-6 status. A “brigadier,” normalized along international protocol, is properly speaking a sort of general, and is the colleague of persons addressed as “general” in many countries, including Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, etc. So perhaps the best understanding is that Lethbridge-Stewart received the appropriate bump from Colonel on taking command of UNIT forces in the United Kingdom (and perhaps all of Europe? There are sometimes reasons to think so; it’s just that all the alien monsters preferred to invade England on account of the preponderance of really desirable rock quarries there). And, having moved up in the world a tick, he found himself in the ultimate career-killing role: blowing up Silurian bases and fighting Autons and so forth. Not the sort of thing one wants publicized. Heaven knows how they ever managed to give him a knighthood. I mean, what did they ever put on the citation?
cod3fr3ak 03.01.11 at 3:09 am
I think Benton made is to Warrant Officer…
cod3fr3ak 03.01.11 at 3:09 am
Good times nonetheless. He will be remembered.
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