Soft Words Butter No Parsnips: The Life & Times of John Iliffe Poole
Published July 2008 Wondering about the curious title? Little homilies like this are interspersed throughout the book - "soft words butter no parsnips" was one of John Poole's favourite sayings and its aptness to his lifetime struggles will become apparent as you read through. It means that people should be judged by what they do rather than by what they say - particularly when their words are full of platitudes and flattery. He was given a lot of that in his lifetime! Gassed in the Great War and labelled a mute after a pioneering laryngectomy operation, John Iliffe Poole was given just six months to live but went on to become the longest-surviving laryngectomee in the world and an avid crusader of people's rights. Poole was an ordinary man who overcame all the odds. No different to millions of other ordinary people who were called upon to protect their country and were somehow proud to face death in the fight for freedom. No different to millions of ordinary people who found themselves struck down by a disabling illness and who faced penury because of it. Poole's moving and remarkable story has been lovingly pieced together by his grand-daughter Lynda Franklin from boxes of yellowed and tatty papers and photos stored in the attic for over 30 years. This is a book like no other and its simple words will tug at the chords of all who read it. It is filled with pathos, humour, contemporary information and press cuttings and lots of colour photographs. It has to be one of the most inspirational stories to come out of the shambles that was the First World War. John Poole; born when Queen Victoria had been a widow for two decades, was a Scot and proud of it. He enlisted in the King's Own Scottish Borderers in 1906 and saw service in Egypt, Sudan and the East Indies before active service in the First World War. His family had a 'unique record of patriotism' with 13 members in the Army. Poole's two younger brothers were killed within the first year; Poole was given a letter written to him by one of them that had a bullet hole through the centre. He kept this for the rest of his life. It was while fighting in the trenches on the assault on Cambrai on 30th November 1917 (a 'landmark' battle), Poole was blown up and as he lay there during the long wait for the stretcher-bearers, he was gassed. The gritty reality of life during the Great War and the remarkable historical framework with modern-day context is captured in great depth throughout the book. Poole sustained horrible injuries, was shipped back to England, operated on and within eighteen months pronounced fit to rejoin his regiment. England was not the place he left - with strikes and post-war depression taking hold. In 1923, Poole underwent tests and was finally operated on in June 1924 -one of the first of its kind for carcinoma of the larynx. He weighed 9½ stone and was given 6 months to live. It was fortuitous that his surgeon Dr Douglas Guthrie, who went on to become an international leader in the field, took a keen interest. Still very much a guinea pig, however, he was left to his own devices after the operation. Barely able to swallow a teaspoon of water and, unaided, he doggedly taught himself to speak, astounding the medical profession. Poole's pioneering method of speech served as the blueprint for all future laryngectomees throughout the world. The book documents his long fight to have his carcinoma declared the result of gas inhalation during the war, but even when the Pensions authorities capitulated on this, his fight continued. Finally declared 100% disabled, he was discharged as medically unfit for further duties and awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct medal for over 18 years' service. When the Second World War broke out, Poole could not fight - when fishermen can't go to sea they repair nets - instead, he and his wife Winifred opened up their picturesque cottage, Glen Cot in Newton Ferrers on the south Devon coast, to up to 70,000 service personnel from all over the world including Mickey Rooney (serving in Europe as part of the American Forces Network). Unfortunately, their only son Donald was killed as part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1944 but this only reinforced the couple's efforts to give every visitor through their doors a wonderful welcome and some quality time. A penny for a bun and a penny for a cup of tea and soon Winifred was making up to 600 apple pies a week. The Pooles never turned anyone away, only too aware that for some, it would be their last taste of home life. Another legacy Poole left was the tatty and yellowed visitors' books which are crammed full of poems, sketches, observations, cartoons and little homilies and there is a chapter devoted to these voices from the past. It makes sad but uplifting reading, as do the letters Donald wrote home before he was killed. The Pooles won accolades from King George VI, Lady Astor, the Lord Lieutenant of Devon, the Red Cross, all sort