Life
In 1927, he was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards. In 1935 he married Angela Claire Louise, daughter of William Dudley Ward, a Conservative Member of Parliament. They went on to have two sons and three daughters.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939 Laycock's interest in science led to his being appointed to the chemical warfare section of the British Expeditionary Force in France. This was a dead end position, and Laycock was sent home to attend the Staff college, thus missing the Battle of France. In the summer of 1940 Winston Churchill appointed Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes as head of Combined Operations, and Keyes soon sent for Laycock, whom he knew by reputation. Laycock was then a Captain in the Royal Horse Guards and had just received a posting to India. The actor David Niven later claimed that he had introduced Laycock to the Commandos, as Laycock was related to his wife Primula Susan Rollo. Niven claimed to have helped to arrange for Laycock to be interviewed by Dudley Clarke, which resulted in another officer being assigned to India and Laycock going on to form Number 8 Commando.
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Famous quotes containing the word life:
“To my fancy, one looks back on life, it has only two responsibilities, which include all the others: one is the bringing of new life into existence; the other, educating it after it is brought in. All betrayals of trust result from these original sins.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“Look at your [English] ladies of quality—are they not forever parting with their husbands—forfeiting their reputations—and is their life aught but dissipation? In common genteel life, indeed, you may now and then meet with very fine girls—who have politeness, sense and conversation—but these are few—and then look at your trademen’s daughters—what are they?—poor creatures indeed! all pertness, imitation and folly.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“The authoritarian child-rearing style so often found in working-class families stems in part from the fact that parents see around them so many young people whose lives are touched by the pain and delinquency that so often accompanies a life of poverty. Therefore, these parents live in fear for their children’s future—fear that they’ll lose control, that the children will wind up on the streets or, worse yet, in jail.”
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)