Where Is Marshall O’Rourke?

   Indeed where is Marshall O’Rourke? He seemed to spend most of his time down in the armoury. In the episode of ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ Napoleon refers to his men as Marshall’s, except the men are credited as Scots Napoleon, Welsh napoleon, and originally Marshall O’Rourke was to have been the Yorkshire Marshall or Napoleon. However in the original script Napoleon’s men were to have been German officers who looked like Hitler and would have had the Yorkshire Fuhrer singing;

“Underneath the lamplight

By the barrack gate.

That’s where my darling, my Lili used to wait…….”
   As Mister X hits him, rendering the Yorkshire Fuhrer unconscious. However as we know it was all changed because it was thought to have NAZI’s in ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ was too close to the end of WWII. But even then the Yorkshire Marshall or Napoleon should have been singing;

ON ILKLEY MOOR BAHT 'AT

(Traditional English - Yorkshire)

“Wheear 'as ta bin sin ah saw thee,

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!

Wheear 'as ta bin sin ah saw thee?

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!

Tha's been a cooartin' Mary Jane

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at

Tha's been a cooartin' Mary Jane|

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at”……………

   But then the Yorkshire Napoleon changed to the Irish Napoleon {but was still named Yorkshire Napoleon in the closing credits} and it would not surprise me if that was done by Pat McGoohan so that he could sing “Oh Danny Boy,” however that is a personal impression.

“Oh Danny boy the pipes the pipes are calling

From glen to glen and down the mountain side

The summer's gone and all the flowers dying

'Tis you 'tis you must go and I must bide

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow

Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow

'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow

Oh Danny boy oh Danny boy I love you so…………”

   "Danny Boy" is a ballad set to a traditional Irish melody, by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly who wrote the lyrics in Bath, Somerset, in 1913. The lyrics were rearranged in order to better suit the accompanying melody of "Londonderry Air" after Weatherly heard a copy of the tune sent to him from the USA by his sister, affectionately known as 'Jess'. So there is the irony, changing the character of Yorkshire Napoleon to Irish Napoleon so Pat McGoohan wanting to sing an Irish song in ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ However for me the real irony is that “Oh Danny Boy” is an English song, yet held dear by the Irish, and Pat McGoohan technically wasn’t Irish, although was of Irish parentage. Although on their immigration to America his parents chose to be legally British.

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