Page 168 - They Also Served

Hospital to learn braille. Purchasing a house in Devon, he eventually turned his land into a profitable market garden, learning to gauge the health of a plant by touch alone. Exhibiting at the Chelsea Flower Show, and with his old squadron sergeant-major as head gardener, he won a silver medal.
In December 1944, Ansell had been elected president of the British Show Jumping Association and was determined to widen the appeal of the sport. He first restarted the Royal International Horse Show, then initiated the Horse of the Year Show. Instinctively understanding the need to appeal to the public, both attending the show and watching on television, he devised events that were visual spectaculars. Awarded the CBE in 1951, he was chairman of the British Horse Society, British Show Jumping Association, and the first president of the British Equestrian Federation as well as colonel of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. Appearing on This Is Your Life in 1960, the producers flew his son, a subaltern with the 12th Royal Lancers, home from operations in Cyprus. Knighted in 1961, Ansell was the president of St Dunstan’s (now Blind Veterans UK) and a castaway on Desert Island Discs. Colonel Sir Mike Ansell, whose promising military career was cut brutally short, but who later triumphed over disability, died in February 1994.
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