Newspaper headline fubars

58 Actual Newspaper Headlines (collected by journalists)

1. Something Went Wrong In Jet Crash, Expert Says
2. Police Begin Campaign To Run Down Jaywalkers
3. Saftey Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
4. Drunk Gets Nine Months In Violin Case
5. Survivor Of Siamese Twins Joins Parents
6. Farmer Bill Dies In House
7. Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
8. Is There A Ring Of Debris Around Uranus?
9. Stud Tires Out
10. Prostitutes Appeal To Pope
11. Panda Mating Fails: Veterinarian Takes Over
12. Soviet Virgin Lands Short Of Goal Again
13. British Left Waffles On Falkland Islands
14. Lung Cancer In Women Mushrooms
15. Eye Drops Off Shelf
16. Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
17. Reagan Wins On Budget, But More Lies Ahead
18. Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
19. Shot Off Woman’s Leg Helps Nicklaus to 66
20. Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax
21. Plane Too Close To Ground, Crash Probe Told
22. Miners Refuse to Work After Death
23. Juvenile Court To Try Shooting Defendant
24. Stolen Painting Found By Tree
25. Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
26. Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years In Checkout Counter
27. Killer Sentenced To Die For Second Time In 10 Years
28. Never Withhold Herpes Infection From Loved One
29. Drunken Drivers Paid $1000 in ‘84
30. War Dims Hope For Peace
31. If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
32. Cold Wave Linked To Temperatures
33. Enfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
34. Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
35. Deer Kill 17,000
36. Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
37. Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge
38. New Study Of Obesity Looks For Larger Test Group
39. Astronaut Takes Blame For Gas In Spacecraft
40. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
41. Chef Throws His Heart Into Helping Needy
42. Arson Suspect Is Held In Massachusetts Fire
43. British Union Finds Dwarves In Short Supply
44. Ban On Soliciting Dead in Trotwood
45. Lansing Residents Can Drop Off Trees
46. Local High School Dropouts Cut In Half
47. New Vaccine May Contain Rabies
48. Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing
49. Deaf College Opens Doors To Hearing
50. Air Head Fired
51. Steals Clock, Faces Time
52. Prosecutor Releases Probe into Undersheriff
53. Old School Pillars are Replaced By Alumni
54. Bank Drive-In Window Blocked By Board
55. Hospitals are Sued By 7 Foot Doctors
56. Some Pieces Of Rock Hudson Sold At Auction
57. Sex Education Delayed, Teachers Request Training
58. Include Your Children When Baking Cookies
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Each and every one of these is a gem, i particulary like the last *evil chuckle*

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash - Throw Down The Sword Lyrics

Throw down the sword,
The fight is done and over,
Neither lost, neither won.
To cast away the fury of the battle
And turn my weary eyes for home.
There were times when I stood at death's own door
Only hoping for an answer.
Throw down the sword,
And leave the glory -
A story time can never change.
To walk the road, the load I have to carry
-
A journey's end, a wounded soul.
There were times when I stood at death's own door
Only searching for an answer.

_____________________________________________________

Not the most inspired video i'll admit, but this band has a certain sound to it that is unique. I have the album "The king Will Come" at home, and few artists leave me feeling as peaceful as this group. Harmonious, melodious, and technically brilliant, one piece took me several listens to work out that it was in fact 2 guitars playing, not just one, in almost perfect union.
Not many have heard of them, but highly recommended if you are into electro rock. Known as pioneers of their sound, this is what i listen to when i need to be calmed.

Buccaneer ... RIP

The world is much poorer. Brian Cannoo, AKA Buccaneer succumbed to injuries received in a motorbike accident over the weekend. No words can atone for the loss of this great man. His legacy will be Think Bike, an organisation dedicated to safety awareness for bikes, and cars alike.

He was known for his big heart, generosity, and strenth. He was passionate about helping people be safer on the roads, educating and helping young riders.

I knew him for only a short time, but am richer for it.

Ride the skyways brother, Godspeed.

Eye test

Only the strong

Ask yourself where you're
heading for.
Deviate - no need
to conform.
All it takes is some
confidence.
Seize the day, it might not
come again.
Only the strong will survive
Stand tall and never say die
Come out from where you hide
No need to swallow your pride
Only the strong will survive
get up and reach for the sky
Don't wait for no-one and
Don't let your heart be denied
Face the truth and
control your fate.
Set the pace
never hesitate.
All that scares you and
makes you doubt
Break the silence, just
spit it out.

From Yngwe Malmsteen

Some days ....

School pledge

"We the youth of South Africa, recognising the injustices of our past, honour those who suffered and sacrificed for justice and freedom.

"We will respect and protect the dignity of each person, and stand up for justice.

"We sincerely declare that we shall uphold the rights and values of our Constitution and promise to act in accordance with the duties and responsibilities that flow from these rights."
___________________________________________________________________

Oh crap, nowi have to explain to my kids why i will not allow them to say this.

Is it obvious or do i have to explain to you too?

Luna

Luna is the Latin name of the Earth's Moon (Latin: lūna) as well as the Roman moon goddess Luna.


In Greek mythology, Selene "moon" was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon".

Like most moon deities, Selene plays a fairly large role in her pantheon. However, Selene was eventually largely supplanted by Artemis, and Luna by Diana.

In post-Renaissance art, Selene is generally depicted as a beautiful woman with a pale face, riding a silver chariot pulled by a yoke of oxen or a pair of horses. Often, she has been shown riding a horse or bull, wearing robes and a half-moon on her head and carrying a torch. Essentially, Selene is the moon goddess but is literally defined as 'the moon'

The Roman moon goddess, Luna, had a temple on the Aventine Hill. It was built in the sixth century BC, but was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome during Nero's reign. There was also a temple dedicated to Luna Noctiluca ("Luna that shines by night") on the Palatine Hill. There were festivals in honor of Luna on March 31, August 24 and August 29.

The Moon (Latin: Luna) is Earth's only natural satellite, and is the fifth largest one in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,403 km, which is about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The Moon has a diameter of 3,474 km[8] —slightly more than a quarter that of the Earth, and about two-thirds of the average east–west distance across the United States. This means that the volume of the Moon is about 2 percent that of Earth. The gravitational pull at its surface is about 17 percent of the Earth's. The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth every 27.3 days, and the periodic variations in the geometry of the Earth–Moon–Sun system are responsible for the lunar phases that repeat every 29.5 days.

Lunatic
Lunacy
Loony

Luna

Luna is the Latin name of the Earth's Moon (Latin: lūna) as well as the Roman moon goddess Luna. It may also refer to:

Ghost biker

http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Look/ghost_rider

Ghost Rider
Worldwide
Words By Patrick James

You might have seen them on your way to work—old bikes spray-painted white, adorned with plaques, and permanently bolted to street signs. These Ghost Bikes are sobering epitaphs for bikers who’ve been hit or killed by automobiles. The first Ghost Bike appeared in St. Louis in 2003, and now the monuments have been erected by cyclist groups in nearly 30 cities around the world, serving as a stark reminder that drivers must share the road with more fragile means of conveyance. "I wish I never had to do another one," explains Ryan Nuckel, who helps create the bikes in New York. "But as long as there’s a need, they'll continue."

Time for truth ... origional

This is not my writing, however it is certainly brilliant.

TIME FOR THE TRUTH

For the past 13 years we have heard how all our problems are the fault of the long since departed apartheid regime.

The ANC spin doctors resort to all sorts of excuses when things go wrong, as they have been doing for the past 10 years.

Now is the time for the truth.

In 1994 the ANC took over a country that was in a healthy state of repair, with an Education system rated one of the top ten in the world.

A Health system that produced pioneers in many fields of medical research and enjoyed the respect of the medical fraternity the world over.

A transportation system that was the envy of the rest of Africa, and a network of roads equal to the best in Europe.

A police force that controlled crime.

A water supply rated one of the cleanest in the world.

What have we now?

An education system rated at the bottom end of a field of 50, with a required pass rate of 33% (the lowest requirement of any system in the world, and still our pupils are unable to achieve this miserable standard).

We have a health system where those in control believe beetroot and garlic will cure AIDS, where babies die in hospitals through lack of knowledge, medication, equipment and efficient care.

Where untrained staff forget to check regularly on patients in serious condition.

We have a Minerals and Energy Minister who suggests that businesses close for certain periods to conserve electricity whilst South Arica suffers power failures, but until very recently continued to supply electrical power to our northern and eastern neighbours.

We have cholera outbreaks because of contaminated water supplies in rural areas.

We have a crime rate which is just about the highest in the world.

We have a government composed of officials under investigation for corruption, theft, fraud, consorting with criminals, drunken driving, speeding and many other forms of law breaking.

Time to tell the truth – the ANC government is incapable of running our country. And their policies border on insanity.

The ANC policy of Affirmative Action has stripped the country of 75% of its skilled population and is responsible for the deprivation of the constitutional and social rights of the white population.

The practice of putting black people in a position way above their ceiling of competence is now showing the inevitable signs of efficiency erosion at all levels. Along with the inevitable rise in prices and lowering of standards of service and living.

The Black Economic Empowerment policy has empowered a certain group of people (all ANC members) at the expense of the entire population. And has cost, and continues to cost, our country billions of rand.

The ANC government officials, both local and national have embarked on a policy of rewarding themselves with excessive salaries, and ridiculous bonuses, for utter inefficiency.

Eskom is another case in point, with an alleged R143 million paid in bonuses, whilst the country suffers an energy crisis due to ignorance and lack of planning. This crisis now threatens the economy of our country.

I am sure many of those who operate a Telkom service have had the pleasure of holding on for 49 minutes when contacting Telkom's help line. (My personal best was 59 minutes on January 26, 2008. I must admit that I was helped after that period, which was a refreshing change).

We have a crime rate that is the envy of the Russian Mafia, who will no doubt soon be relocating to Johannesburg and Cape Town. (The Sicilian Brotherhood are already here it seems, enjoying the friendship of some of our Commissioners and Ministers).

We have roads which, in the rural areas, are slowly crumbling away, if they have not already disintegrated.

We have roads in our towns and cities which have more potholes than a slice of Swiss cheese. We have traffic lights which do not work for at least 2 - 3 days each month.

As a reward for this farcical and criminal inefficiency, the government hands out awards and bonuses to all concerned.

Let's be honest. Several Ministers should have been fired by the President 4 years ago. Those involved in Health, Safety and Security, Education, Home Affairs, Land Affairs, Labour and Minerals and Energy should long since have walked the plank.

The latest madness is to disband the one department that stands between absolute corrupt government and the man in the street, the Scorpions.

In fact our democracy, such as it is, is under severe threat.

We have a former Minister of Defence who bought fighter planes which the airforce did not want, and who, it is alleged by a former ANC Minister, received R39-R50 million for his troubles.

We have two submarines (cost R1.6 billion a piece, it is alleged) which are languishing in Cape Town Harbour as no one can drive them.

We also have a fancy army, which costs millions monthly, with no one to fight. Which is why we have millions unemployed and without shelter.

And 4 million refugees, which we cannot afford to cater for.

But if one criticises the present ANC government, (which should be one’s democratic right), one is labeled 'racist'. But the biggest racists are those who accuse others of racism, and everyone knows where they are.

Let's be honest, tell the truth and declare quite openly, the ANC are incapable of running this country.

The Pied Piper.

Eskom to get giant candle

Eskom to get giant candle
10/02/2008 17:28 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Mulder will present Eskom management with a huge candle and the FF Plus's database of 1 800 skilled unemployed or under-employed South Africans on Monday.

The ceremony will take place at the main entrance to Eskom headquarters at Megawatt Park, north of Johannesburg, said the FF+.

"The purpose of the ceremony is to convey to Eskom the frustration of members of the public who have been plagued by Eskom's load-shedding practices (often having to settle for candlelight).

"It also is to offer Eskom the services of hundreds of skilled South Africans who would have loved to be employed by them, but for the limitations of affirmative action practices," said the FF+.
___________________________________________________________________________

Ok this IS funny!!!
Since when do electricity suppliers get given CANDLES!!!??? hehehehehe

Lies, damned lies, politics

Mbeki doesn't like Pik's bright idea
Peter Fabricius
February 10 2008 at 01:14PM


Pik Botha, the former foreign minister, has been rebuffed by President Thabo Mbeki in his efforts to persuade the government to set up a high-powered body to manage and monitor infrastructure development and service delivery.

Botha said this week that he hoped that Jacob Zuma, the new ANC president, would be more receptive to his ideas. Botha said he was extremely concerned that the country was heading for a huge infrastructure collapse, not only in electricity but also in water and other services.

Botha said he had met Frank Chikane, Mbeki's director-general, in January 2006 to raise his concerns. He said he had given Chikane a proposal for improving public-service delivery by setting up a central body with the power to monitor it at all levels of government.

"I gave him examples of how black patients were treated dismally at state hospitals. I told him that houses were being allocated to foreign blacks to the detriment of South African blacks."

But he had heard nothing more from Chikane.

Botha was involved in a sharp exchange of correspondence with Mbeki last year, sparked by Botha's criticism of affirmative action and black employment equity, which he believes are causes of the breakdown of government services.

In July, Botha was quoted in the Sunday newspaper Rapport as saying that the ANC had lied to the old National Party about affirmative action during the negotiations for democracy between 1990 and 1994.

Botha was reported to have told a conference of the trade union Solidarity that the National Party would not have agreed to a political settlement with the ANC if it had known that the ANC was going to implement affirmative action in the way it had.

Botha's reported remarks drew a sharp response from Mbeki, who wrote an eight-page letter to him on July 17. Mbeki strongly denied that the ANC had lied about affirmative action during the negotiations.

"We have never hidden our resolve that the new South Africa should 'recognise the injustice of the past', as our constitution says," Mbeki wrote.

"Neither have we been equivocal about our commitment to the view stated in our constitution in the following words: 'to promote the achievement of equality, legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination, may be taken..."

Mbeki said that, by agreeing to this clause of the constitution, the old NP had committed itself to eradicating "the deeply entrenched inequalities that centuries of colonialism and apartheid had bequeathed to all of us."

He said the ANC had been under pressure from its constituents to move faster to redress the legacy of inequality.

"We did not do this because we had to address both black and white concerns and interests" but "very few of our white compatriots seem to understand what the ANC has done for many decades and continues to do to this day.

"To present the matter in its most naked form: for decades, to date, because of its commitment to non-racialism, and its love for our country and all its people, the ANC has stood as a buffer between a deeply aggrieved black majority and a white minority that seems mercilessly insensitive to the grievous harm that was done to millions, in its name."

But, Mbeki said, the ANC was now being attacked by Botha and other whites because its "measured pace towards the creation of a non-racial society has not been measured enough!"

In a reply to Mbeki on July 19, Botha denied he had said that the ANC lied to the NP about affirmative action. But he confirmed that he had told the Solidarity meeting on July 13 that, if the ANC had demanded that the Employment Equity Act, and in particular the way it was implemented, be incorporated in the new constitution, the constitution would not have been agreed to.

Botha told Mbeki in the letter: "You know that we could not have agreed and have not agreed to a process based solely on racial demographic representivity.

"Surely you will agree that young white children who were at school in 1990 and who had no connection with apartheid should not be punished for the sins of their fathers and grandfathers?

"I am not advocating the discontinuance of affirmative action, though I feel strongly about announcing a time limit.

"I believe that a thorough analysis should be made as to whether the majority of black people have benefited markedly from the particular way in which affirmative action is applied. Are the disadvantaged not becoming more disadvantaged?

"Why can't we debate adaptations to the current model without being suspected of racist motives?"

Botha complained that many people from elsewhere in Africa who became South African citizens after 1994 were benefiting from black economic empowerment and affirmative action.

Botha attributed much of the blame for the current breakdown in services to affirmative action because "whites who have the skills to manage efficiently electricity production and distribution, sewage systems, roads planning and construction, water supplies and other disciplines are removed and replaced by inexperienced blacks."

The breakdown in service delivery was hurting blacks even more than whites, Botha said. - Foreign Service

This article was originally published on page 4 of Sunday Independent on February 10, 2008

Metallica - And justice for all

...And Justice for All
(Hetfield,ulrich,hammett)

Halls of Justice Painted Green
Money Talking
Power Wolves Beset Your Door
Hear Them Stalking
Soon You'll Please Their Appetite
They Devour
Hammer of Justice Crushes You
Overpower

The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting Their Supremacy
I Can't Believe the Things You Say
I Can't Believe
I Can't Believe the Price You Pay
Nothing Can Save You

Justice Is Lost
Justice Is Raped
Justice Is Gone
Pulling Your Strings
Justice Is Done
Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real

Apathy Their Stepping Stone
So Unfeeling
Hidden Deep Animosity
So Deceiving
Through Your Eyes Their Light Burns
Hoping to Find
Inquisition Sinking You
With Prying Minds

The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting Their Supremacy
I Can't Believe the Things You Say
I Can't Believe
I Can't Believe the Price You Pay
Nothing Can Save You

Justice Is Lost
Justice Is Raped
Justice Is Gone
Pulling Your Strings
Justice Is Done
Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real

Lady Justice Has Been Raped
Truth Assassin
Rolls of Red Tape Seal Your Lips
Now You're Done in
Their Money Tips Her Scales Again
Make Your Deal
Just What Is Truth?i Cannot Tell
Cannot Feel

The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting Their Supremacy
I Can't Believe the Things You Say
I Can't Believe
I Can't Believe the Price We Pay
Nothing Can Save You

Justice Is Lost
Justice Is Raped
Justice Is Gone
Pulling Your Strings
Justice Is Done
Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real
Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real

Metallica Lyrics

Pwetty pictures

Giordano Bruno

Giordano Bruno (1548, Nola – February 17, 1600, Rome) was an Italian philosopher, priest, cosmologist, and occultist. Bruno is known for his mnemonic system based upon organized knowledge and as an early proponent of the idea of an infinite and homogeneous universe. Burnt at the stake as a heretic by the Roman Inquisition, Bruno is seen by some as the first "martyr [1] for science."

Quotations
"Firstly, I say that the theories on the movement of the earth and on the immobility of the firmament or sky are by me produced on a reasoned and sure basis, which doesn’t undermine the authority of the Holy Scriptures […]. With regard to the sun, I say that it doesn’t rise or set, nor do we see it rise or set, because, if the earth rotates on his axis, what do we mean by rising and setting ..." -Giordano Bruno, from the Vatican summary of Bruno's trial ([5]).
"I fought, and that's a lot. I thought I could win ... but nature and luck curbed my endeavour. But it's already something that I took up the struggle, because I see that victory is in the hands of Fate. In me was what was possible and what no future century will be able to deny to me: what a winner could give from his own; that I did not fear death, that I did not submit, my face firm, to anyone of my breed; that I preferred courageous death to pavid life." -Giordano Bruno, De Monade
"I cleave the heavens, and soar to the infinite. What others see from afar, I leave far behind me." -Giordano Bruno
"'I have held and hold souls to be immortal speaking as a Catholic, they do not pass from body to body, but go to Paradise, Purgatory or Hell. But I have reasoned deeply, and, speaking as a philosopher, since the soul is not found without body and yet is not body, it may be in one body or in another, and pass from body to body. This, if it be not (proved) true seems at least, likely." -Giordano Bruno, Venice Trial

Courtesy of Wikipedia

How many 5 year olds could you take in a fight?

34

Eksdom Horoscopes

Your Stars Foretell : By S. Com (The Future Made Clear - dark, but clear-eish)

Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 21) : Things will be pretty dark for you today, unless you remember to buy new torch batteries.

Taurus (Apr 21 - May 21) : You'll probably eat cold, raw food again today. Try to remember to get that gas cylinder filled! Be cheerful, though, and remember that your ancestors lived like this and survived - 25,000 years ago.

Gemini (May 21 - Jun 22) : There will be a programme on TV tonight that you'll love. Bummer that you can't watch it 'cause it's on during your allotted "block" in the Eskom disco derby...

Cancer (Jun 22 - Jul 23) : Thought you were smart buying that generator? But we know you're going to run out of fuel tonight and the nearest working petrol station is 20km away. As you get there, we'll cut their power... Sorry.

Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 24) : Another morning without that essential cup of coffee awaits you... If you make it to 10am we'll reward you with enough power to make some, but by then you'll probably have killed 3 people and severely injured a 4th. (Don't worry, though. This is the New SA - you'll probably get away with it.)

Virgo (Aug 24- Sep 23) : Not for very much longer... What else is there to do after dark?

Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 23) : Your star-sign stands for fairness and justice. That's why we're going to hit your area with three 2hr outages a day, while the area where your local MP stays will enjoy uninterrupted power throughout.

Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 23) : Your area's assigned outage "block" is from 10:00 to 12:30. Expect the power to go off any time before or after that. And don't think it will only be out for two-and-a-half hours, either.

Sagittarius (Nov 23- Dec 22) : Today you'll buy some food that is apparently within its sell-by date. What you won't realize is that the sell-by date is for food that has been stored in a constantly operating fridge.... Although you'll get severe food poisoning, we think you may survive if you can find an emergency ward that has back-up generators. Good luck!

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 21) : Don't bother to go to work today. During the hours when you actually will have electricity, your network provider will not, so you won't be able to do anything anyway. Stay home and well.... there's not much to do there either, is there?

Aquarius (Jan 21 - Feb 20) : Today you'll get so fed up with our incompetence that you'll decide to emigrate. We regret to inform you that this is no longer possible... The airports have all shut down, because - well think about it! They need electricity to run the place!! You ain't going - nowhere...

Pisces (Feb 20 - Mar 21) : Today all your hopes and dreams will come true. You'll have power during "Days of Our Lives".

If today is your birthday : Use lots and lots of candles on that cake - even if they don't reflect your age. How else are you going to see to open the presents?
_________________________________________________________________________

Ok, i did copy this, care of http://boerejeug.blogspot.com/ who got it from www.Africancrisis.co.za. Jawellnofine. For international visitors, the national power utility is called Eskom, eksdom literally translated is i'm stupid. It's too good to ignore!!!

Real hero ... RIP

Jimmy James, P.O.W. Plotter of Escapes, Is Dead at 92

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Published: January 31, 2008

Jimmy James, a British flier in World War II obsessed with escape plots during his five years in German captivity, most prominently the breakout portrayed in the movie “The Great Escape,” died Jan. 18 in Shrewsbury, England. Mr. James, who lived in Ludlow, England, was 92.

His death was confirmed to the BBC and The Birmingham Post by Howard Tuck, a military historian who said he had been working on a book with Mr. James.

On the night of June 5, 1940, Flight Lieutenant James, the co-pilot of a Wellington bomber, was on the way to a mission over Germany when his plane was shot down by antiaircraft fire over the occupied Netherlands. He bailed out about 25 miles south of Rotterdam but was captured and taken to the prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I on the Baltic coast of Germany.

Mr. James made at least seven unsuccessful attempts to tunnel out of that camp. Then he was transferred to Stalag Luft III, about 90 miles southeast of Berlin. By the time he was liberated by American troops in Austria in May 1945, a few days before Germany surrendered, he had tried to escape at least 11 times from P.O.W. camps and a concentration camp and had succeeded twice, only to be recaptured.

“I was just a guy who wanted to get home; I was no hero,” The Birmingham Post quoted Mr. James as saying. But his unrelenting will to be free brought him Britain’s Military Cross for gallantry in 1946.

Mr. James was “one of the last great links with a period of history that continues to exert a fierce grip on the popular imagination,” The Independent newspaper said upon his death.

The most storied escape occurred on the night of March 24, 1944, when 76 Allied prisoners, mostly airmen from Britain and the Commonwealth nations, tunneled out of Stalag Luft III. Mr. James and another prisoner had overseen the hiding of soil displaced by the tunnel digging, supervising its placement underneath seats in the camp’s theater, where the captives had put on shows. Mr. James was the 39th man to escape through the tunnel.

Mr. James could sometimes look back with a wry eye. He once told the BBC about a flier who was annoyed over having been shot down when he had London theater tickets for the next night.

“He’d bought a ticket for ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ in London that was on in the West End,” Mr. James said. “And he was bemoaning this fact when he came into the camp. He said, ‘I bought a ticket for this show,’ and I said: ‘Oh, that’s all right old boy, we’re putting it on next week. You can see it here.’ ”

The breakout, as depicted in the 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen, is remembered for what Mr. James once called “rather Hollywood fantasy” — the McQueen character’s short-lived escape on a motorcycle.

But the real escape became a grim affair. Only 3 of the 76 escapees made it to freedom. Fifty of the 73 men who were recaptured were shot on Hitler’s orders.

Mr. James was recaptured at a German railroad station while fleeing toward the Czech border and was eventually transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In September 1944, he joined several other prisoners of war in escaping from the camp through a 100-foot tunnel they had dug 10 feet below the surface, using a table knife. He fled north, hoping to board a ship for Sweden, but was recaptured once more and later imprisoned at two other concentration camps before being liberated.

Bertram Arthur James, known as Jimmy since his days in military service, was born in India, the son of a tea merchant. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 and remained in the military until the 1950s. He later entered the British diplomatic corps, holding posts on the Continent and in Africa.

He is survived by his wife, Madge.

Mr. James told of his experiences in a 1983 memoir, “Moonless Night.” In 2004, he attended a ceremony at the site of Stalag Luft III, now a part of Poland.

“The huts have been razed to the ground but you can see where we dug, the route of the tunnel, and you can still feel the atmosphere of the camp,” he told the BBC then.

“Having lost 50 comrades, ghosts of the past are inevitably going to rise up. I feel a great loss. I never thought that 60 years ago, when I crawled out of the snow, there would be a ceremony in Poland to commemorate the event.”