A Breed of Heroes
LC Class | PR6060.U32 B7x 1983 | |
Followed by | Legacy |
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A Breed of Heroes is a 1981 novel by Alan Judd. It narrates in third person the experiences of a young British Army officer as he is deployed on his first tour of duty, a four-month operation in Armagh and Belfast at the height of The Troubles.
Plot introduction
Set in the 1970s, ‘’A Breed of Heroes’’ follows the deployment of young British Army officer Charles Thoroughgood on a four-month emergency tour of Northern Ireland. Charles is new to the army and the difficulty he has with adjusting to army life adds to the complications faced in Northern Ireland. Being an
Plot summary
The first month of the tour is spent in the countryside of Armagh, where Charles’
In moving to Belfast for the remaining three months of the tour, things take a turn for the worse – something Charles thought couldn't happen after the endless boredom and sporadic fear of Armagh. Billeted in a working factory which produces bottles 24 hours a day, his company’s quarters are ridiculed by the entire Belfast garrison as the worst in the city. The floor given over to officers for accommodation, dining and radio watch-keeping consists of ‘rooms’ created only by cardboard separations. As well as the deprivations of the location, Charles finds the customs of army life difficult to understand and get used to, especially as they seem to have no logic behind them.
The officers and men of his
More escapades follow, with Charles being involved in heart racing riots and close scrapes with members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, as well as comic activities with his brother officers. During this time, Charles begins writing indirectly for The Times. His job as PRO leads him into contact with The Times' cowardly and drunkard Northern Ireland correspondent Beazley, who pays Charles and his Lance Corporal photographer to write and send his dispatches, thus allowing himself to avoid danger and sit in his hotel bar.
Charles’ slightly more pleasant life at HQ ends abruptly, however, with the bombing of the police station. The adjutant is killed and their room destroyed, leading Charles to be sent back to the Factory but still in his role as PRO. More brilliantly described riots and arms finds occur, while Charles realises that he both enjoys and excels at journalism through his arrangement with Beazley. Charles resolves to leave the army, and eventually amasses enough money to buy himself out of his contract which runs for another few years. His resignation is accepted, and he gains permission to leave on his battalion's return to England.
The climactic scene of the book involves Charles and his CO in a gun battle with some young IRA gunmen. Fighting through an alley, Charles fires at an armed man in his twenties. He misses his target several times, before hitting his mark and killing the man. As Charles and the CO run on up the alley an unarmed teenage boy jumps out from the side. Charles points his gun at him and shouts, "Don't move!", then the CO shoots the unarmed boy twice killing him. Charles’ reaction to his first kill is necessarily short, the battalion is preparing to leave Northern Ireland and return home. The novel ends with Charles, for the first time in the novel, being completely at ease, enjoying a parachute drop into England and revelling in the fact that all he has to worry about is the drop itself.
Characters
2nd Lt. Charles Thoroughgood – Main Character, Platoon Commander then Battalion Press Relations Officer
Janet – Charles’ girlfriend
Lt. Col. Ian Gowrie MC – Commanding Officer of No. 1 Army Assault Commando (Airborne)
Major Edward Lumley – Officer Commanding, A Company, AAC(A)
WOI (RSM) Bone – Regimental Sergeant Major, AAC(A) and Charles’ nemesis
Major Anthony Hamilton-Smith – Second in command, AAC(A)
Sgt. Wheeler – Charles’ loafing platoon sergeant
Capt. Henry Sandy – Battalion medical officer and ‘famous cad’
Beazley – Northern Ireland Correspondent for The Times
Awards and nominations
A Breed of Heroes won the 1981 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize and was shortlisted and became runner-up in the 1981 Booker Prize
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
A Breed of Heroes was adapted for a BBC Television production by Charles Wood, starring Samuel West in 1994.[1]
Sequel
The story of Charles Thoroughgood is continued in Alan Judd's 1996 novel
Release details
- 1981 Hardback - ISBN 0-340-26334-2
- 1982 Paperback - ISBN 0-00-616458-7
- 1993 Paperback - ISBN 0-00-654535-1
References
- ^ Breed of Heroes (TV 1994) - IMDb Retrieved 2013-01-01.
- ^ New Statesman (1996) | October 8, 2001
- ^ Legacy - Alan Judd - Google Books