Futility Closet

Douglas Bader was beginning a promising career as a British fighter pilot when he lost both legs in a crash. But that didn't stop him -- he learned to use artificial legs and went on to become a top flying ace in World War II. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll review Bader's inspiring story and the personal philosophy underlay it. We'll also revisit the year 536 and puzzle over the fate of a suitcase. Intro: In 1872 Celia Thaxter published an unsettling poem about an iceberg. In 193 the Praetorian Guard auctioned off the Roman empire. Sources for our story on Douglas Bader: Paul Brickhill, Reach for the Sky, 1954. S.P. Mackenzie, Bader's War, 2008. Andy Saunders, Bader's Last Fight, 2007. Joel Ralph, "Their Finest Hour," Canada's History 95:6 (December 2015/January 2016), 22-31. Paul Laib, "Bader, Sir Douglas Robert Steuart," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, May 19, 2011. A.W.G. English, "Psychology of Limb Loss," BMJ: British Medical Journal 299:6710 (Nov. 18, 1989), 1287.