There exists, out there somewhere, the second-most interesting surfer in the world. And I feel sorry for that person. Because he or she would have to inflate their resume ten-fold to get within shouting distance of the base of the five-mile-high granite pedestal upon which Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm "Mad Jack" Churchill is standing. 

I just posted the Severn Bore EOS page. I'd always believed that toothy British champ Rod "The Gopher" Sumpter was first to ride the Bore, in 1968 (above right), but while poking around online a couple of days ago, looking for Bore-related intel, I discovered that Surrey-born war vet John Churchill (above left) rode Severn way back in 1955. 

John Churchill? Wonder if there's anything interesting there. Let's click this link here and 

 At age 21, tries to ride across the Indian continent on his single-cylinder Zenith motorcycle; after 1,500 miles the adventure ends when he T-bones a water buffalo at speed.

 Runner-up in the UK's premier bagpipe competition.

 male model and bit player in Hollywood movies.

 Represents England at the 1939 World Archery Championships.

 Shoots and kills a German soldier with a crossbow; the West's last battle-related bow-and-arrow kill.

 Stands alone at the bow of his landing craft during a sea-launched commando raid on a Nazi beachfront garrison in Norway, blowing "March of the Cameron Men" on bagpipes, with a broadsword strapped to his side. ("Any officer who goes into action without his sword," Churchill later said, in one of his many gift-wrapped bon mots, "is improperly dressed.")

 At night, accompanied only by a single low-ranking member of his squad, Churchill captures 42 Germans from a sentry post in Salerno, Italy, and marches the entire group back across British lines. (“I maintain that, as long as you tell a German loudly and clearly what to do, if you are senior to him he will cry ‘Jawohl’ and get on with it enthusiastically.")

 Qualifies as a British paratrooper at age 40. Captured and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, from which he escapes after being chained to the floor for a month. Walks 125 miles to the Baltic Sea, where he is recaptured. Escapes again, this time with the aid of an American convoy. (“You know, if it wasn’t for the damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going another ten years.”) By war's end, has a Military Cross and a Distinguished Service Order medal pinned to his chest.

 During some of the earliest Israel-Arab battles, Churchill leads the evacuation of 500 Jewish patients and staff from a hospital in Jerusalem.

 picks up surfing while working as a land-air warfare instructor in Australia.

Which brings us back to England. On July 21, 1955, while living in Hampshire, Churchill built himself a 14-foot toothpick-style surfboard, with the intention of riding the Severn Bore near Gloucester. Towed the board behind his motorcycle and headed down to the river. Picked his way down the bank, waded out—presumably wearing nothing but regimental skivvies and a roguish half-smile—and looked upriver, waiting for the bore. Onlookers were convinced that the approaching wave would drown him, as it often did to stray farm animals who wandered too close to the bank when the bore ran past. The wave could be heard, growling forth, around the bend. People shouted at Churchill to give way. He looked at them, smiled, and said, "I will be alright." He rode the Severn Bore for over a mile.

For more on Mad Jack, have a look at this 

 article. And lately, here's Churchill getting in a little R&R at Land's End, Cornwall.

ADVENTURE, THY NAME IS MAD JACK CHURCHILL

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