According to tradition, Kruger, whos family was of German descent, was born at Bulhoek, on his grandfather's farm, which was approximately 15 km west of the town of Steynsburg and 100 km to the north of Cradock in the Eastern Cape Province, and he grew up on the farm Vaalbank.

Nevertheless, Cradock was ordered simply to " be prepared to meet them in company " with no effort made to clarify what action Cradock was expected to take, should he find von Spee.

The remaining vessels formed Cradock ’ s west coast squadron which was reinforced by HMS Canopus which finally arrived on 18 October.

The Chief of the Admiralty War Staff — Vice-Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee — requested additional ships be sent to reinforce Cradock, but this was vetoed by First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill and First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Prince Louis of Battenberg.

On 22 October, Cradock cabled the Admiralty that he was going to round Cape Horn and was leaving Canopus behind to escort his colliers.

It is known that a friend of Cradock was at that time awaiting Court-martial for failing to engage a superior enemy and he had been told by the Admiralty that his force was " sufficient ".

The more common explanation is that Cradock, knowing his mission was impossible, wanted to damage von Spee and force him to use ammunition he could not replace.

Cradock was faced with a choice ; he could either take his three cruisers capable of, abandon Otranto and run from the Germans, or stay and fight with Otranto, which could only manage.

A signal from Cradock was received by Churchill on 27 October, advising his intention to leave Canopus behind, because of her slow speed, and as previously instructed to take his remaining ships in search of Spee.

Cradock believed he was expected to advance against von Spee with those forces he had, whereas the Admiralty expected him to exercise caution, centering upon Canopus for defence, and merely to scout the enemy or take advantage of any situation where he might come across part of the enemy force.

Churchill replied to the signal telling Cradock that Defence was to remain on the east coast and that Cradock was considered to have sufficient forces for his task, making no comment about his plan to abandon Canopus.

Thus Cradock would have taken the message as final confirmation that he was doing what was expected.

Luce reported that " Cradock was constitutionally incapable of refusing or even postponing action if there was the smallest chance of success ".

* Fanny Cradock made her last BBC TV appearance on the show in 1986 and told Wogan his questioning was " very rude " and " very English ".

Admiral John Fisher replaced Battenberg as First Sea Lord on 27 October, and the following day Fisher ordered Cradock not to engage von Spee without Canopus.

Cradock had been less convinced of the value of Canopus, being too slow at 12 knots to allow his other ships freedom of movement and manned only by inexperienced reservists.

He urgently gave orders for Defence to join Cradock, and stressing the need to keep Canopus together with the other ships.

Richard Cradock probably married Janet Horton around 1468 as may be deduced from the fact that their son and heir Sir Mathew Cradock ( d. 1531 ) was born about then.

Beyond Our Ken featured characters similar to those later featured in Round the Horne, for instance Betty Marsden's Fanny Haddock ( which parodied Fanny Cradock ).

At 18: 18, Cradock again attempted to close, steering directly towards the enemy, which once again turned away to a greater range of.

As a result of ‘ The Big Time ’ Fanny alienated the public, lost her contract with the BBC and became fair game for a drubbing by the media, which revealed that she and Major Cradock were not married.

Cradock had adopted a variation on the family name, marrying as Primrose Pechey, which was a form passed down her father ’ s side.

Fanny and Johnnie Cradock began writing a column under the pen name of " Bon Viveur " which appeared in The Daily Telegraph from 1950 to 1955.

Subsequently, 27 military posts were erected across this border, which resulted in the establishment of the garrison towns of Grahamstown and Cradock.

Since then he has presented television shows such as Win, Lose, or Draw, Pets Win Prizes and TV Heroes, which was a series of 10-minute homages to some of Baker's entertainment idols including Fanny Cradock, Peter Glaze ( from Crackerjack ) and the Top of the Pops audience.

The following spring, at Bob Brister's suggestion, the legendary Chris Cradock from England designed a Sporting Clays venue at Remington Farms, which was used to introduce the sport to Outdoor Writers.

He returned to Wales as a schoolmaster ( 1638-9 ) during which time he was converted to the Puritan understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ under the preaching of the Puritan Walter Cradock and through the writings of Richard Sibbs ( 1577-1635 ) and William Perkins ( 1558-1602 ).

Cradock attended Harrow School and served in the British Army, reaching the rank of Major in the Royal Artillery ; he is best remembered as being the long-suffering stooge for his wife in their popular United Kingdom cooking programmes which were shown from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Sir Percy Cradock, GCMG (, 26 October 1923 – 22 January 2010 ) was a British diplomat, civil servant and sinologist who served as British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1983, playing a significant role in the Sino-British negotiations which led up to the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984.

In Hong Kong, only MacLehose, Kan and Wilson knew the purpose of their mission, which was facilitated by Youde in London and Cradock in Peking, and was endorsed by the Foreign Secretary, Dr David Owen.

Although Cradock was succeeded by Sir Richard Evans as the British chief negotiator in January 1984, Cradock had made most of the agreements which later formed the foundation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

In the quarrel between Patten and the Chinese government, Cradock stood firmly against Patten and criticised him in many occasions, blaming him for damaging the planned road-map which had been endorsed by both the British and Chinese governments.

From 1992 to 1997, both Cradock and Patten criticised each other in many occasions which made them in very bad terms.

Cradock was a bitter critic of Governor Patten's political and democracy reform, blaming him for enraging the Chinese government of which he thought Patten should be responsible for.

Cradock believed that these measures would be effective in maintaining the prosperity of Hong Kong, and in the long run, he believed all the seats of the Legislative Council would be directly elected.

Cradock defended that he acted from a realist point of view and he thought that the United Kingdom actually had " no card " on hands and had little bargaining power at all.

In an interview in 1996 with The Common Sense, a documentary produced by the Radio Television Hong Kong, Cradock commented that the United Kingdom nearly lost all her influence over China because the two countries had been in political dispute.

At the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile on 1 November 1914, Spee's force engaged and sank two British armored cruisers commanded by Sir Christopher Cradock ; HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth.

Glasgow, however, intercepted radio traffic from one of the German cruisers and informed Cradock who turned his fleet north to intercept the cruiser.

With the start of the First World War, in August 1914, Cradock, commanding the 4th Squadron of the Royal Navy, was ordered to pursue and destroy Admiral Maximilian von Spee's fleet of commerce-raiding cruisers.

In response to Cradock's criticisms on the political reform, Governor Patten struck back in a number of occasions, and in the Legislative Council meeting on 13 July 1995, he publicly mocked Cradock and those who appeased with China as suffering from " Craddockitis ":