Remember The war??

Retired Beefeater 'ejected from pub for speaking German'

A former Beefeater at the Tower of London has reportedly been thrown out of his local pub for talking German to his daughter.

Tom Sharp, 71, said he was talking to his half-German daughter in the Packhorse pub in the Peterborough village of Northborough when their conversation slipped into German.
Mr Sharp, who also served with the Royal Signals for 26 years during which he met his wife Anni in Germany, said the pub's landlady flew into a rage when she heard the language being used on Wednesday evening.
He claims she told him: "We are white, you are English so you speak English in my pub otherwise get out."
Other drinkers who witnessed the row and spoke up for Mr Sharp and his 49-year-old daughter Nichole Falconer were also ejected, he said.
"I honestly couldn't believe she was telling us we couldn't speak German. Now and again the odd German phrase slips up – it is my daughter's mother tongue. It is natural," he said.
"It's not as if we were always speaking German and being rude. I could understand if it was all the time and looking at her as if we were plotting, but we weren't.
"You just can't tell people they can't speak their mother tongue. Would she do that to the Polish community in Peterborough?
"I think it is a sad reflection of her attitude to life that she can be upset about speaking a language she can't understand. It's outrageous. She was just like a mad woman completely possessed."
The incident has been reported to police as a hate crime.
A witness said: "It's disgraceful. Everyone in the pub was horrified. We all left and I don't think many people will be going back."
Mr Sharp, who was widowed two years ago, said it was the worst racism his daughter, an employment lawyer, had faced.
"I would hate to think what my wife's family would think of this. But it's even more mind boggling to suggest that I am not patriotic if that what her problem was," he added.
"I served in the army for 26 years before joining the beefeaters for 20 years. I guarded the Tower of London.
"Should a father not speak to his daughter in her mother tongue?"
Mr Sharp became a Yeoman Warder in 1984 and carried out the daily Ceremony of the Keys to lock the gates of the Tower.
His daughter, who moved to the village to be closer to her father at the end of last year, said: "It's just not acceptable.
"I have no idea of motivation but I found it very offensive and it caused me a great deal of distress."
The landlady of the pub, which is owned by Scottish and Newcastle but managed by LT Pub Management, declined to comment.
A police spokesman said: "We were called to reports of an alleged prejudice incident at the Packhorse Pub Northborough at 7.20pm.
"Officers attended and spoke to both parties."