Ghent was occupied by the Germans in both World Wars but escaped severe destruction and was liberated by the British 7th Desert Rats Armoured Division on September 6, 1944.

In Hollywood, Rafferty also appeared in Australian themed films, including The Desert Rats, The Sundowners and Mutiny on the Bounty.

His roles include Brutus in Julius Caesar ( 1953 ), Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel and The Desert Rats, the amoral valet turned spy in Joseph Mankiewicz's 5 Fingers, the declining actor in the first remake of A Star Is Born ( 1954 ), Captain Nemo in 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea ( also 1954 ), a small town school teacher driven insane by the effects of cortisone in Bigger Than Life ( 1956 ), a suave master spy in North by Northwest ( 1959 ), a determined explorer in Journey to the Center of the Earth ( also 1959 ), Humbert Humbert in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita ( 1962 ), a river pirate who betrays Peter O ' Toole's character in Lord Jim ( 1965 ), the evil Doctor Polidori in Frankenstein: The True Story ( 1973 ), the vampire's servant, Richard Straker, in Salem's Lot, and surreal Royal Navy Captain Hughes in Yellowbeard ( 1983 ).

* The Desert Rats ( 1953 )

Greene was discharged in December 1944 and appeared in the stage plays Desert Rats and I Capture the Castle.

A large section of bare desert land on the north side of Antonio Street near the 1400 – 1600 block is designated to become a soccer field complex with at least 4 fields and home to the Anthony Desert Rats soccer team.

It was part of the " Divisional Troops " of the 7th Armoured Division ( known as the " Desert Rats ").

: Desert Rats redirects here.

As alternatives to Chatterton or Mr Chadwick as the origin of the name Chad, REME claimed that the name came from their training school, nicknamed " Chad's Temple ", the RAF claimed it arose from Chadwick House at a Lancashire radio school, and the Desert Rats claimed it came from an officer in El Alamein.

In May 2006 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats were relieved by 20th Armoured Brigade under the command of Brigadier James Everard.

The regiment is currently based in Bad Fallingbostel, British Forces Germany, as part of the 7th Armoured Brigade (' The Desert Rats ').

In October 1990 The Staffordshire Regiment was deployed to Saudi Arabia as part of 7th Armoured Brigade, better known as the ' Desert Rats '.

Initially based at Tidworth, the battalion moved to Bad Fallingbostel, Germany in August 2009, where it is now permanently based as part of 7th Armoured Brigade ( The Desert Rats ).

* Moreman, Timothy Robert, Anderson, Duncan, Desert Rats: British 8th Army in North Africa 1941-43, Osprey Publishing, 2007.

Although there was pressure from London for the reconstituted Desert Rats to go into action, outfitting for the desert and training delayed their first use until Operation Battleaxe, an attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk in June.

* Panzer Grenadier: Desert Rats

* Desert Rats ( April 2012, ISBN 1-84732-968-3 )

The last of the Zoo's Central Rock Rats were sent to Alice Springs Desert Park in 2007 and the breeding program closed.

* The Desert Rats ( 1953 )

He was a Second Lieutenant in the British 7th Armoured Division, called " the Desert Rats ".

In W. W. II 9 Bty fired both 25 pdrs and 105mm SP, with 3rd Field Bde, 11th Army Field Regt, 1st Canadian Corps Artillery, both in Italy, where at one time they were part of the 8th Army, the “ Desert Rats ”, and later in Northwest Europe as part of the 1st Canadian Army Artillery.

* The Desert Rats, nickname for the British 7th Armoured Division

* The Desert Rats, 1953 war film starring Richard Burton

* 1954: Best Documentary, Features: The Living Desert ( 1953 )

The Living Desert is a 1953 American nature documentary film which shows the everyday lives of the animals of the desert of the southwestern United States.

While on loan to Warner Bros., her first musical release was The Desert Song, May 1953, alongside Gordon MacRae.

* Carlia triacantha ( Mitchell, 1953 ) -- Desert Rainbow-skink

* The Desert Song ( 1953 )

It is one of the longest-serving designs of all time, serving as a battle tank for the British and Australian armies from the Korean War ( 1950 – 1953 ) to the Vietnam War ( 1961 – 1972 ), and as an armoured engineer vehicle during Operation Desert Storm in January – February 1991.

In 1953, the unit flew the Sikorsky HRS-1 and during this period took part in Operation Desert Rock, the first atomic test to use ground troops.

Arlott was twice invited to appear on Desert Island Discs with Roy Plomley, in May 1953 and again in May 1975.

Decca made an album in 1953 with Lee Sweetland and Jane Wilson covering six selections from the score which has been reissued on CD paired with The Desert Song.

General Charles de Gaulle was informed of the work during his " Crossing of the Desert " ( 1953 / 58 ), in particular by Chaban-Delmas.

* Desert Legion ( 1953 )

A year later the first nuclear test on the Australian mainland was Totem 1 ( 9. 1 kilotons ) at Emu Field in the Great Victoria Desert, South Australia, on 15 October 1953.

Films shown in roadshow format before 1953 included silent epics such as The Birth of a Nation ( 1915 ), Intolerance ( 1916 ), The Covered Wagon ( 1923 ), The Hunchback of Notre Dame ( 1923 ), The Ten Commandments ( 1923 ), Ben-Hur ( 1925 ), The Big Parade ( 1925 ), and other films such as The Phantom of the Opera ( 1925 ), the first Oscar winner Wings ( 1927 ), the very first feature length part-talkie The Jazz Singer ( 1927 ), the silent film Chicago ( 1927 ) ( based on the play that inspired the Kander and Ebb Broadway musical and Oscar-winning film ), Show Boat ( 1929 ) ( a part-talkie based not on the 1927 stage musical but on Edna Ferber's original novel from which the musical was adapted ), The Desert Song ( 1929 ), Rio Rita ( also 1929 ), Cecil B. DeMille's The Sign of the Cross ( 1932 ), the all-star Oscar winning Grand Hotel ( 1932 ), the Oscar-winning biopic The Great Ziegfeld ( 1936 ), the classic films Lost Horizon ( 1937 ), Gone with the Wind ( 1939 ), Fantasia ( 1940 ), For Whom the Bell Tolls ( 1943 ) and The Song of Bernadette ( 1943 ), the wartime tear-jerker Since You Went Away ( 1944 ), Samuel Goldwyn's Oscar-winning postwar epic The Best Years of Our Lives ( 1946 ), the flamboyant Western Duel in the Sun ( also 1946 ), and the biopic Joan of Arc starring Ingrid Bergman ( 1948 ), as well as some other DeMille epics, such as Samson and Delilah ( 1949 ).

Buena Vista's first release was the Academy Award winning live-action feature The Living Desert ( 1953 ).

The area around it is nearly flat desert country dotted with joshua trees and heavy brush .< ref >" Girl, 3, Lost on Desert ," Los Angeles Times, April 18, 1953, page 1 < code >< nowiki > Library card required </ nowiki ></ code ></ ref > The California Aqueduct runs through the northern half of the town, eleven miles ( 18 km ) from State Route 18 and ten miles ( 16 km ) from Phelan Road.

* Desert Magazine, April 1953, Life on the Desert, as told to Ernest K. Allen

He was the guest castaway on BBC radio's Desert Island Discs on 2 January 1953 ; his chosen book was " The Oxford Book of English Verse " by Arthur Quiller-Couch and his luxury a yellow waistcoat.

* The Desert Rats, 1953