Paddy Mayne was probably the greatest soldier who ever lived (oh he was also a lawyer, champion boxer, international rugby player and anarctic explorer). and at long last there might be a movie being made about him, now the debate we've been having is about who should play him it boils down to Colin Farrell or Liam Neeson who do you think? or should it be another actor entirely? also what parts of his life should any film cover?
i'll put some Mayne ancedotes below for those of you unfamiliar.
On the SAS first Raids Payne destroyed over thirty planes when he ran out of explosives he started setting fires in the cockpits .
Mayne test for join the SAS was to throw recruits out of the back of speeding jeep and if they could get and walk away they were accepted for training.
after the death of his father during World War II. Mayne was refused leave to attend the funeral and so the story goes he embarked on a drinking binge and rampage in central Cairo in an effort to find and beat up Richard Dimbleby. In the course of this, Mayne is said to have smashed up a half-dozen restaurants, beat up a squad of Redcaps and a Provost Marshal.
Mayne spearhead the invasion of Sicily being the first man on the island (and thus the first allied soldier to return europe after dunkirk) scaled the cliffs to destroy a battery overlooking the landing beaches.
by the time D-day was in planning Mayne was felt too valuable for frontline service instead needed in planning, one day he failed to show for work, it transpired he had comandeered a plane and parachuted into occupied france to personally lead his men.
after D-day his unit was pinned by 4 german machine gun nests protecting a bridge, mayne's response was to jump into a jeep drive with one hand and fire the mounted machine gun with the other, he drove up and down the bridge firing until all the germans were dead.
i'll put some Mayne ancedotes below for those of you unfamiliar.
On the SAS first Raids Payne destroyed over thirty planes when he ran out of explosives he started setting fires in the cockpits .
Mayne test for join the SAS was to throw recruits out of the back of speeding jeep and if they could get and walk away they were accepted for training.
after the death of his father during World War II. Mayne was refused leave to attend the funeral and so the story goes he embarked on a drinking binge and rampage in central Cairo in an effort to find and beat up Richard Dimbleby. In the course of this, Mayne is said to have smashed up a half-dozen restaurants, beat up a squad of Redcaps and a Provost Marshal.
Mayne spearhead the invasion of Sicily being the first man on the island (and thus the first allied soldier to return europe after dunkirk) scaled the cliffs to destroy a battery overlooking the landing beaches.
by the time D-day was in planning Mayne was felt too valuable for frontline service instead needed in planning, one day he failed to show for work, it transpired he had comandeered a plane and parachuted into occupied france to personally lead his men.
after D-day his unit was pinned by 4 german machine gun nests protecting a bridge, mayne's response was to jump into a jeep drive with one hand and fire the mounted machine gun with the other, he drove up and down the bridge firing until all the germans were dead.
