DUNDEE: Saluting the ‘General’ on his 85th birthday
he General has certainly given back to Dundee through his unselfish service and many re-enactments
Peter Jones is one of the “characters” of Dundee. Suave, distinguished, punctilious, stiff-upper-lipped and pedantic to the point of insanity, give Peter a clipboard and a pen and he will happily make notes of anything under the sun.
If you ever want an event planned to the “Nth” degree, Peter’s your man. He also has an impish sense of humour. Peter recently marked his 85th birthday. Still enjoying good health, he has an interesting history, having come out to South Africa from England.
He later worked at Amcor in Newcastle and at Durnacol as a draughtsman before becoming a highly successful real estate agent in Dundee. Peter’s wife, Decima, used to run the Tourism Office, so Peter found himself gravitating towards tourism.
In 1999, the idea of forming a battle re-enactment group to spice up Dundee’s contribution to the Anglo-Boer War Centenary was mooted. Pam McFadden organised her minions to run the commissariat, while Peter, Pat Rundgren and Neville Worthington begged, borrowed and mostly stole all the military accoutrements necessary to make everything look plausible. Peter automatically became “The General”, playing the part of General Sir William Penn Symons.
He led the Diehards with aplomb for almost 20 years before age prevented the trio from charging up hills. Towards the end, they would call an “O” Group and send in the troops instead. But during his time as “The General”. Peter was involved in many hilarious incidents that bear repeating.
Peter took things terribly seriously as “The General”, but realised his limitations when it came to equestrian prowess. Unfortunately, the battle of Talana script dictated that he and Neville Worthington should be on horseback for the scene where “The General” gets shot in the groin, which causes every man to twinge in sympathy.
On a trip to Allison’s Saddlery in Pietermaritzburg to have them design and fabricate webbing for the soldiers, a life-size wooden dummy of a horse was discovered in one of their displays in the window.
This Trojan Horse had several attributes – Peter could sit on it with confidence. It didn’t move and didn’t need either feeding at the one end or deposit large piles of waste at the other end.
The Diehards did get some residual satisfaction, though, as the Boer Commando parked their steeds next to a hollow tree which happened to be the command centre for a swarm of bees.
Exit the Boers, hard left, to be recalled to finish the job as they were supposed to capture the British camp before they knocked off for “chop ‘n dop”.
Peter didn’t have much luck with horses. During a parade at Utrecht to mark the participation of foreign volunteers during the Boer War, the horse he was following appeared to have had a surfeit of Weetbix for breakfast, with the result that Peter was more concerned about dodging landmines than leading his troops.
The General has certainly given back to Dundee through his unselfish service and many re-enactments that have included appearing in movies and documentaries, including those broadcast on the BBC. Dundee can only salute him on his 85th birthday!
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