Kevin O'Shaughnessy - a Boyhood Hero.
When you are a lad and on the threshold of going out in the world you have heroes that you admire and would quite possibly follow. I am not talking of the obvious people, you know famous sportsmen and women or someone who has done something brave or noble and therefore have become famous. No, I am talking of possibly someone in your family or community who you like and admire and, in truth, has some impact on your life and may even help shape your life in some way. I was reflecting on this having heard a chance remark and then saw a TV programme on the Queen becoming ninety and one of her first tasks following coronation was decorating Private Speakman with the Victoria Cross for bravery in the Korean War in 1951. Now there is a hero and now a Chelsea Pensioner. There's a man who a role model not one of vapid people that in this day and age are called "celebs." Anyway in 1950 I was thirteen years of age and had others too closer to home that I admired and could b...