Good Day Folks and welcome to the start of another working week. If you have recovered from your St. Patricks Day hangovers, I feel I am safe to proceed with another edition of the Spark! to bring a little light to your Monday.
On This Day – 24th March: The Great Escape
On this day in 1944 a group of allied airmen escaped from Stalag Luft III, Sagan, in what is now Poland. The prisoners had dug three different tunnels, code-named ‘Tom’, ‘Dick’ and ‘Harry’. Tom was discovered fairly quickly by the guards whilst Dick was abandoned as its exit point would rise in an area hallmarked for the expansion of the camp.
The soil in the area was sandy and the spoil from the tunnels was difficult to hide as it was so different to the topsoil. The soil was scattered in numerous locations around the camp, including beneath stalls in the theatre and eventually, in the abandoned workings of ‘Dick’. Harry was eventually completed and 77 prisoners managed to get out of the tunnel before they were spotted by a guard. The prisoners took various routes across Germany to make their escape but in the end, all but three were recaptured. Hitler was apparently furious at the mass escape and ordered all of the escapees to be shot. He was convinced by his generals not to but he still demanded more than half pay the ultimate penalty. Finally, 50 prisoners were executed. The successful escapees were two Norwegians and a Dutchman who flew with the RAF.
The Luftwaffe commandant of the camp was court martialled, demoted and was eventually captured in command of an infantry unit defending Berlin. After the war, the Gestapo officers responsible for the executions were tried and hanged.
The escape became famous due to the now classic movie starring Richard Attenborough, Steve McQueen and a host of other famous actors. It was also not the first movie to depict an escape from that camp. ‘The Wooden Horse’ depicted a 1943 escape attempt where a vaulting horse was used to cover the entrance to a tunnel and to dispose of the spoil from the dig.
Contrary to the famous movie depiction there were no US airmen amongst the Great Escapees as all USAAF personnel were moved out of Stalag Luft III weeks prior to the escape attempt. Certainly no one tried to jump the fence on a poorly disguised Triumph motorcycle!
Read more here.
Also on this day:
1199 – King Richard I, England’s absentee landlord, is mortally wounded by a crossbow bolt
1603 – King James VI of Scotland is proclaimed James I of England upon the death of Elizabeth I
1989 – The Exxon-Valdez runs aground in Alaska, spilling 240,000 barrels of crude oil
1992 – Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-45
1993 – Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is discovered from the Palomar Observatory in California
Arrivals
1874 – Harry Houdini, Hungarian magician and escapologist
1909 – Clyde Barrow, US armed robber (Bonnie & Clyde)
1911 – Joseph Barbera, US animator and producer, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera
1930 – Steve McQueen, US actor and producer (‘Bullitt’, ‘The Great Escape’)
1950 – Dougie Thompson, British bass player (Supertramp)
Departures
1882 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, US poet and author
1905 – Jules Verne, French author (‘Around the World in 80 Days’, ‘20000 Leagues Under the Sea’)
1976 – Bernard Montgomery, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, British soldier
2020 – Albert Uderzo, French artist (Asterix the Gaul)
2023 – Gordon Moore, US engineer, co-founder of Intel Corporation
The Funnies:
Recipe of the day: Healthy Bacon & Lentil Soup
A warming soup from BBC Food that is quick and easy to prepare.
Ingredients
For the vegetable stock
For the main soup
Method
- First, make your vegetable stock. Grate the vegetables and place (along with any ends you can’t grate) into a large heatproof bowl. Add the thyme, bay leaves and the stalks from the parsley. Season with a small pinch of salt and pepper. Cover the vegetables with 1 litre/1¾ pints boiling water. Leave to steep for 10 minutes, or until cool. Once cool, strain the stock through a sieve and discard the vegetables.
- For the main soup, heat the oil in a large saucepan or casserole over a medium heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt. Fry gently for two minutes, then add the garlic and chilli and cook over a low heat for five minutes or until the onions are completely soft but not coloured. Add the bacon and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until cooked through.
- Add the lentils and tomatoes, breaking up the tomatoes with your spoon. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add enough of the vegetable stock to cover (you may need all of it). Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the lentils are completely soft. Turn off the heat.
- Pour half of the soup into a blender and pulse until smooth. Return to the pan with the remaining soup and heat through, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
- Divide the soup between serving bowls, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
Quote of the Day:
“It was dawning on the wizards that they were outside the University, at night and without permission, for the first time in decades. A certain suppressed excitement crackled from man to man. Any watch trained in reading body language would have been prepared to bet that, after the click, someone was going to suggest that they might as well go somewhere and have a few drinks, and then someone else would fancy a meal, and then there was always room for a few more drinks, and then it would be 5 a.m. and the city guards would be respectfully knocking on the University gates and asking if the Archchancellor would care to step down to the cells to identify some alleged wizards who were singing an obscene song in six-part harmony, and perhaps he would also care to bring some money to pay for all the damage. Because inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.” (Moving Pictures)
– Sir Terry Pratchett
Comic of the Day:
Mouseover: “This is the biggest breakthrough since astronomers noticed that the little crosshairs around red giant stars starting to burn helium are all the same size”
Image Credit: https://xkcd.com/3066
Explain XKCD: explain xkcd
Inspirobot Always Controversial, Occasionally Inspirational Quote of the Day:
If you missed @Lonny6654’s viral Spark! from Friday, you can find it here:
(Spark! Pro series – 21st March 2025)
