Calums Letter From, His Mum
 

It was a beautiful letter from a mother to her very precious son - it summed up how proud she was (is) of him. I was very touched by the words and senitments. I think KH said that it was from a poem writting by Kipling. Does any know the name of the poem and if the writer really was Kipling?

Yes. The poem is called 'IF' by Rudyard Kipling. Wonderful poem.

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Really nice moment that letter being read out in the highlights tonight.

I seen a documentary on George Best. His wife, Calum's mum, was former playboy bunny. It was obvious after the 1st line that those weren't her words.

If I had a letter from home for the first time in a month and it was some random ass poem, I'd flip ****

his mom should have written an actual letter to her son as she was supposed to, instead of stealing someone else's words. it doesn't really seem personal, heartwarming, or creative.

It is and it's one of my favourites. Last year on holiday in Britain I managed to get all of Kiplings verses.

Brilliant poem, but not very personal, seemed to get to KH more than it did to Calum.

I'm genuinely curious because I was a bit distracted last night but was there any message with Calum's letter or just the poem?

it was a bit odd. When it was read out, he was told to study it and read it very slowly.

But when Perez said there was a message within it, calum bad mouthed him :laugh:

Well said. The letter was a load of ****.

The 'point' of a letter from home is to tell the person receiving it how his family are doing. Is George the goldfish being fed regularly? ETC.:joker:

It's not an opportunity to try and be clever. It's just boring.:sleep::sleep:

See I was thinking if there was no message at all apart from the poem then maybe there was a message in there somewhere that Callum could work out for himself.

I actually felt embarrassed for Calum. I then muted the 'poem' half way through.

Its the meaning behind those words and I have to say, Michell read out that poem with such emotion...it was quite special.

It just seemed to go on, and on, and on, and to be out of context. Calum's in the CBB - not on the battlefield. :joker::joker::joker:

Not to his face though. He couldn't wait to run off to his little gang and tell them!!

Actually your right. For Xmas this year I was given my great, great grandfathers war hero medal along with a poem he had written to his wife just before he was killed on the Somme. I balled my eyes out when I read it because they were the last words to his family.

Perhaps it was a little OTT to write something so deep for such a show and I do think Callum was embarrassed.

It was all a bit Mike Bassett.

words
 

michelle surprised me.......................great! to listen to her read

i agree shame! to have opportunity to write a personal letter then just

copy/paste a poem however wonderful it was

as usual pez can't resist poking..................

Mark L

I was thinking that too :laugh:

I thought it was nice,she had obviously chosen it and read it and they were her sentiments,seems people always need to complain and moan about something.

I'd rather hear about my family, how everyone is, what's going on at home etc :shrug:

i am not biased - but his mum shpould have emailed me i would have done it for free

This.If i was Calum i would've been annoyed by that.