SAS Rogue Heroes: Gentleman Jim was 'quiet but deadly'
2025-01-26
Category: entertainment

Jim Almonds, a founding member of the SAS, earned the moniker Gentleman Jim for his manners. As he is brought to life in BBC drama SAS Rogue Heroes, BBC News discovers more about the man who wreaked havoc behind enemy lines."My father was quiet," reflects Lorna Almonds-Windmill. "But deadly when necessary."The exploits of Jim Almonds feature prominently in the television series created by Steven Knight, with the quiet man being portrayed by Corin Silva.Almonds' service saw him earn the Military Medal, with bar, for his bravery and he twice escaped from Italian prisoner of war camps.But in contrast to the carnage he caused during conflict, Almonds hailed from the peaceful Lincolnshire village of Stixwould, near Woodhall Spa, and the Gentleman Jim nickname was coined by his fellow SAS originals.
"I once asked someone who served alongside my father how he had come by that name," says Ms Almonds-Windmill, who has penned books charting his tales of derring-do."I was told it was because he didn't swear and to quote them, 'didn't shout the odds' like the rest. My father also never boasted about what he did. He was also a man of faith."He was a true gentleman."
Ms Almonds-Windmill is keen to shine further light on her father; one of the key characters in the series.He was born in 1914.On his 18th birthday, Almonds cycled from Stixwould to Lincoln, where he joined the Coldstream Guards. He served from 1932 to 1936, before leaving to join the police in Bristol.However, at the outbreak of war in 1939 he was recalled back to his old unit and given the rank of sergeant."My father was adamant that he didn't want to spend the war polishing brass," chuckles Ms Almonds-Windmill.To that end, he put himself forward for No. 8 (Guards) Commando.Ms Almonds-Windmill says her father was the only one of the SAS originals who kept a diary throughout the war.On 3 September 1941, two years to the day after Britain entered the war, Almonds declared in his diary: "I am now SAS".Ms Almonds-Windmill adds: "We think his few years with the police influenced this decision to keep a contemporaneous record of events. He left school at 14, but his recollections are beautifully written."Poignantly, at the front of the diary is an instruction to send it on to his wife should he be killed.
On 14 December 1941, Almonds and another SAS soldier, Jock Lewes, who would be killed on a later mission, attacked an Italian roadhouse and a fort at Mersa Brega in Libya.The pair parked their lorry, captured from the Italians, next to a row of enemy vehicles."They worked fast, on foot, planting bombs on all the vehicles," says Ms Almonds-Windmill. "All the time, German and Italian transport pulled in and out of the car park."They [Almonds and Lewes] took cover as the bombs went off while the enemy fled into the fort, clearly thinking that a large force was attacking them."Just a few weeks later, on New Year's Eve, Almonds played a key role in the attack on Nofelia airfield in the Western Desert, which helped earn him his Military Medal.In that raid, Lewes, who was also portrayed in the TV series, was killed when their vehicle was attacked by a Messerschmitt 110 (Me 110) fighter bomber."They scattered from the truck but Lewes lingered," says Ms Amonds-Windmill, who devotes a chapter to the incident in her book Gentleman Jim: The Wartime Story of a Founder of the SAS and Special Forces."Almonds grabbed a Bren gun, ammo and water and he and two men raced for a head-height rock," she says. "Almonds fired at the Me 110, revealing their presence and they played a deadly 'ring a ring of roses' around the rock, being shot at by the enemy."But Almonds got the aircraft's gunner and it flew off. He then found more men, cannibalised [damaged vehicles] to make one roadworthy vehicle and got all the survivors back to base."
Almonds won his Military Medal for his part in a raid on an Italian outpost in the Western Desert. A bar was added for one of two daring escapes from Italian prisoner of war camps, during which he mapped an enemy minefield, saving Allied lives.During one of the escapes, he fashioned a rope made from string used to secure Red Cross parcels that were sent to prisoners."He got a job unpacking the parcels, which enabled him to save bits of string," says Ms Almonds-Windmill. "He knew his knots, from his time growing up in Lincolnshire."Ms Almonds-Windmill, who herself served as a captain in the Royal Corps of Signals, says she is enjoying the second series of SAS Rogue Heroes, currently screening on BBC 1 and iPlayer."Stephen Knight has a very good way of getting into the heads of the men," she says. "The atmospherics are very good, showing the danger my father and others were in."Silva, who plays her father, bears an "uncanny resemblance" to him, she says."I exchanged emails with Corin in which I told him about my father and his mannerisms. He's got my father's stance down to a tee. It was very good casting."Corin even sounds a bit like my father, who despite being 6ft 4in (1.9m) didn't have a loud, deep voice, as you might have expected."
Almonds was troop sergeant to Paddy Mayne, portrayed in the TV series as a charismatic but volatile officer prone to outbursts."It was hoped my father would be a calming influence to Paddy," says Ms Almonds-Windmill, though she thinks the portrayal of Mayne's "wildness" in the TV series is a "little over the top".After the war, Almonds left the military but the pull of overseas adventure proved too alluring."My mother wanted him to have a quiet life," says Ms Almonds-Windmill. "But that was not my father. He went back into action, fighting bandits in the Horn of Africa."In 1953, he re-joined the SAS, this time battling Communist soldiers in jungles during the Malayan Emergency.After thus, he went to Ghana where he built the boat he designed in his mind's eye during his captivity. He sailed it back to the UK.However, the march of time eventually forced him to adopt a quieter life. Almonds returned to Stixwould, where he spent his final days in the same house where he was born.He died, aged 91, in 2005 at Lincoln County Hospital.
Ms Almonds-Windmill reflects on his legacy.Recalling a conversation she had with David Stirling, the founder of the SAS, she says: "He told me, 'your father set the standard'."David told me he thought it was a bit unfair on the others who came after him because he was that good - his fitness, endurance and his character."The final episode of SAS Rogue Heroes can be seen on BBC1 on Sunday at 21:00 GMT. All episodes are also available now on BBC iPlayer.Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.