It was 10.30pm on August 5, 1946, when two boxers, a brother and sister named Punch and Judy, were severely injured when saving the lives of British officers in Palestine. They ‘belonged to Lt-Col A. H. K. Campbell, the deputy judge advocate general of the Jerusalem Military Court, and Lt-Col H. G. G. Niven, the adjutant general, who shared a house in a Jerusalem suburb,’ explains Christopher Mellor-Hill of Noonans. ‘The two officers were relaxing at home with their two dogs. The front door was open. All was quiet and they had no suspicion that any danger was threatening them.’
He continues: ‘Suddenly, the dogs became aware of intruders within the compound. Racing into the darkness and barking furiously, they were met with a burst of sub-machine gun fire from one or possibly two terrorists within the barbed wire protected perimeter. Apparently, the intruders were stealthily creeping towards the house with the intent to kill the officers.
The barking and gunfire alerted the officers, thwarted the attack and thus saved their lives. Police and military parties arrived and, following a trail of blood, found the seriously wounded Punch. He had been hit four times and lay in a pool of blood, apparently dying. His sister, Judy, also covered in blood, stood protectively over him.’
Despite the curfew, the superintendent of the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) rushed to the scene. Punch was gravely wounded and Judy, although covered in blood, appeared only to have a bullet graze on her back, most likely from covering her brother to protect him. Both made a full recovery and were each awarded a PDSA Dickin Medal — the ‘animal VC’; Judy’s will go under the hammer at Noonans Mayfair, London W1, on June 11 (estimate £14,000–£18,000).
Maria Dickin, the founder of the PDSA, presents RAF homing pigeon Winkie with the Dickin medal in 1944 for delivering a message that contributed to the rescue of a ditched aircrew in February 1942.
Mali, a Belgian Malinois British military working Dog, wearing the Dickin Medal with his handler Corporal Daniel Hatley in 2017. Mali received the medal after his role in military operations in Afghanistan in 2012.
The Dickin Medal has since been awarded 75 times, mostly during the Second World War; the recipients were 32 pigeons, 38 dogs, four horses and one cat. ‘The sale of a Dickin Medal is always hugely emotive,’ adds Mellor-Hill.
-
The captivating art of the Japanese woodblockHokusai’s ferocious wave and Hiroshige’s relentless downpour stole the show at a sale of ukiyo-e prints earlier in the summer
-
'Unquestionably one of the most distinctive and stylish homes in the Cotswolds' is for sale, just across a field from Soho HouseWith a staircase upcycled from a Spitfire machine gun factory and , and suspended lights came from a Dutch cargo ship. Every element in this room — and indeed throughout the house — tells a story Annabel Dixon peeks inside.
-
'A world within a world… a community with an identity, a smoothly turning cog in the wheel of royal life': A look behind the stable doors of the Royal MewsHome to carriages, coachmen and craftspeople, Buckingham Palace’s Royal Mews is a village in the heart of London. It celebrates its 200th anniversary this year.
-
‘We couldn’t go around digging holes in existing graveyards for fear of exhuming a real body’: The man who brought The Thursday Murder Club to the big screenLotte Brundle caught up with James Merifield, the production designer behind the new Netflix film adaptation of the Richard Osman novel, to chat about the murder mystery.
-
What everyone is talking about this week: The great porpoise panicWeek in, week out, Will Hosie rounds up the hottest topics on everyone's lips, in London and beyond.
-
The otterhound — the story behind Britain's rarest breed of dogBred for centuries to hunt otters in icy rivers, these shaggy, web-footed hounds were once favoured by royalty. Today, fewer than 1,000 survive worldwide.
-
One by one: The lone wolves of the animal kingdomMankind may be tribal and sociable by nature, yet the ‘bliss of solitude’ — a state previously reserved for hermits — is the key to achieving inner peace, says Laura Parker
-
If there's no fish, there's no fishing, with Robin PhilpottThe CEO of Farlows joins the Country Life Podcast.
-
Pugs in pearls: Nine times dogs stole the show on publishing’s most famous pageEvery Monday, Melanie Bryan, delves into the hidden depths of Country Life's extraordinary archive to bring you a long-forgotten story, photograph or advert.
-
What everyone is talking about this week: The problem(s) with cyclistsWeek in, week out, Will Hosie rounds up the hottest topics on everyone's lips, in London and beyond.
