Once again, despite my love of British history, the only thing that I seem to remember from my school days about King Alfred is that he was holed up somewhere in some sort of boggy terrain following a lengthy battle and, due to exhaustion had fallen asleep by a fire and managed to burn some cakes!

I know that a lot of you out there are probably not too familiar with or indeed interested in Hitler’s deputy and I suspect I probably would have felt exactly the same if it hadn’t been for my father’s “connection”.

The majority of us acknowledge that our brave forces, whether they be on the ground, at sea or in the air, are the most vital element of any war campaign, but other essential elements are required to keep the cogs of war turning