Bearded and booming, James Robertson Justice was the sort of memorable screen presence that we just do not have these days, and we are all the poorer for it. Everyone remembers him as the domineering Sir Lancelot Spratt in the Doctor films, but I like him as the appropriately named Captain Boomer in Moby-Dick - a brief but noteworthy appearance in a great film.
I came across JRJ at TNA recently in a most surprising way; not, as one might expect, in connection with his fighting for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War (although I've often wondered if that story is apocryphal), but as a passing reference in PREM 13/2774 which confirms that JRJ had a passion for falconry - apparently he pursued the pastime with Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi. I wonder how that worked in practice: the same briefing note confirms that the Sheikh spoke no English.
