Is This the Most Interesting Opening Paragraph Wikipedia's Ever Published?

Foreign Policy ^ | Thursday, July 11, 2013 | Elias Groll

[nickcarraway]

Most Interesting Man in the World, meet your match.

On Sunday, Twitter user Matthew Barrett created something of a sensation by linking to the obscure Wikipedia biography of the British army officer Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart. His tweet -- "This guy surely has the best opening paragraph of any Wikipedia biography ever" -- has been retweeted more than 3,200 times over the past several days.

So just how mind-blowing is the introduction? Judge for yourself:

Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart[1] VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (5 May 1880 - 5 June 1963), was a British Army officer of Belgian and Irish descent. He fought in the Boer War, World War I, and World War II, was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip and ear, survived a plane crash, tunneled out of a POW camp, and bit off his own fingers when a doctor wouldn't amputate them. He later said "frankly I had enjoyed the war." [2]

On Twitter, some are simply in awe, while others are pointing out that the rest of the bio is pretty stellar too:

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

If Obama had been his commander, he would have been fired for hiring a hooker.

[liberalh8ter]

Move over, Chuck Norris.

[Wuli]

In 1908 [age 28] he married Countess Friederike Maria Karoline Henriette Rosa Sabina Franziska Fugger von Babenhausen (1887 Klagenfurt – 1949 Vienna), eldest daughter of Karl Ludwig, 1st Fuerst or Prince Fugger von Babenhausen and Princess Eleonora Fugger von Babenhausen of Klagenfurt, Austria. They had two daughters,

In his memoirs, Happy Odyssey, Carton de Wiart makes no reference to his wife or to his daughters.

hmmmmm - now watch the posts

[Publius Valerius]

This is pretty cool.

There is also Jack Churchill, the only man to fell a soldier in World War II with a long bow. Also a pretty interesting guy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

[nickcarraway]

It’s hard to say without reading it. Maybe he just wanted to keep his family private, and only told the stories of his public exploits.

[TalBlack]

That dude looks like a taker of no crap. Couldn’t read the bio, site blocked me.

[TalBlack]

“They had two daughters,”

And thus she was Mother Fugger.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Another amazing British Hero:
Tommy Macpherson:

From Wikipida:
"On another occasion Macpherson took decisive action as the Second Motorised SS Infantry Division and the Das Reich Division pushed towards the fragile Normandy beach-head. Unarmed and accompanied by a doctor and a French officer, he drove a stolen German Red Cross Land Rover through ten miles of enemy-held territory, through machine gun fire and straight to the Das Reich Division headquarters where, dressed in full Highland regalia, he warned that he would unleash heavy artillery and call on the RAF if they did not surrender. In consequence, 23,000 German troops surrendered. It was a bluff

[nickcarraway]

I would hate to play poker with him.

[x]

The most interesting man in the world? Eye patch and everything.

Sounds like he just could not get enough of those Fugger women.

A lot of the obituaries of British WWII luminaries in the Times and the Telegraph read like this.

Sadly, later generations aren't so interesting.

[This I Wonder32460]

“Maybe he just wanted to keep his family private, and only told the stories of his public exploits.”

I was thinking the same thing. After all he grew up and lived during a time when the man was the public face while his home and family were private. Also I’m sure he told the stories that were sure to sell and those

[Steve Van Doorn]

Jack Churchill looks bad ass. Tough movie stars today doesn't even look tough when compared to real life heros.

Although Tommy Macpherson looked like a typical Scotsman in a dressed in a kilt

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Sounds somewhat like Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC, KCB, KCIE.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Tommy Macpherson is still alive... you can try and play poker with him

[Bratch]

From Cracked: 5 Soldiers Whose Horrific Injuries Only Made Them Angry

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#1.

Adrian Carton de Wiart

The son of a Belgian who worked for the British Imperial office, Adrian Carton de Wiart had already seen much of the world at a very young age. He had also decided he wanted to fight as much of it as possible. He ended up joining the British Army during the Boer War, where he soon developed a reputation as a fierce and reckless warrior -- and was promptly shot through the lung.

Via Wikipedia
Eye patches are the HOV lane to Badass.

Not letting a mere life-threatening wound stop him, de Wiart recuperated just in time to sign up again when World War I broke out. Deployed to Africa, he was part of Allied action in Somalia, where during one particularly heated battle he received wounds in the ear and elbow and a blinding blow to his left eye in what to everyone else was a bloody encounter but that he described as "exhilarating fun."

"A rip-roaring good time!"

Still not one for a desk job, de Wiart, now donning a badass eye patch, felt it was time for a bigger challenge. So he headed for the front lines in France where he was -- everybody together now -- wounded multiple times, each time bouncing right back into action like it was nothing. Once, while leading his men over a trench, de Wiart was hit in the hand. Wanting to get back into action faster than the doctors would have allowed, he is said to have bitten off his own goddamn fingers to help them with the decision on whether to amputate or not. True or not, de Wiart certainly thought nothing of the loss of his hand, comparing it to having a tooth pulled.

And that was just the beginning. The rest of de Wiart's life reads out like the man was written by Quentin Tarantino. He rose up the ranks, became Winston Churchill's main man and went on to become the UK liaison officer in Poland during their struggle against the Soviet Union.

The man rolled with the big boys.

His pirate-like visage and larger-than-life warrior antics fit the Polish fighting mentality like a glove, and he happily remained there until the Nazis invaded and England called again. After several James Bond movies' worth of adventures, de Wiart was finally captured by Italian troops in 1941 during a mission in Libya. While this may sound anticlimactic, it must be said that he was in his sixties and presumably pretty tired from having just swam a mile to the shore because his plane had dropped into the ocean.

Getty
The sharks didn't bother him. Not after he turned the first one into a tasteful handbag.

A high-profile prisoner, de Wiart was treated well from the beginning. This, of course, didn't stop him from trying to escape through a tunnel with another high-ranking officer as soon as the guards looked the other way. Keep in mind, he was one-eyed, one-handed and in his sixties.

Perhaps the ultimate testament to de Wiart's unique brand of badassness is his autobiography, where he merrily reminisces about his wounds and generally treats the whole "losing body parts while fighting for your life " thing as jolly good fun. Its title? Happy Odyssey.

Amazon.com
Good times were had by all. Except the millions who died.

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[TBP]

Interesting guy.

[tanknetter]

Move over, Chuck Norris.

Yup. This guy gives Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain a good run for his money.

[nickcarraway]

Reminds me of a homicidal maniac/lunatic redhead, with a kilt and a claymore, "the most dangerous man ever to wear a skirt in Europe."

[Jewbacca]

He even looks a bit like Bill Murray.

[IronJack]

He is the very model ...