The man who WARNED us against mass migration: Enoch Powell was a genius.
Trained as a classicist at the University of Cambridge, graduating with a double starred first, he became the youngest-ever Professor of Greek at Sydney University at the age of just twenty-five.
His scholarship in Greek and Latin was widely respected, and his extraordinary gift for languages (ranging from Hebrew and Welsh to Urdu) meant that he could read, speak, or write in more than 12 (!) tongues.
Those who knew him often remarked on his prodigious memory and his ability to recite long passages of poetry or scripture without hesitation.
When the Second World War broke out, Powell put aside academia and enlisted as a private soldier. He rose through the ranks with remarkable speed, becoming a brigadier by the age of thirty-two, an almost unheard-of achievement. Much of his wartime service was spent in military intelligence, where his command of languages proved invaluable, particularly during his time in India.
Powell’s political career was just as impressive. As Minister of Health in the early 1960s, he oversaw ambitious reforms to modernise Britain’s hospitals and improve mental health care, personally launching plans for ninety new hospitals.
His reputation as a formidable parliamentarian rested not only on his ability to master detail but also on his oratory. Even opponents acknowledged that he was one of the most powerful speakers of his generation. What set Powell apart was the unique combination of brilliance, discipline, principle and an uncompromising integrity. Either way, his blend of intellectual genius, rapid military advancement, and rhetorical power made him one of the most unforgettable public figures in twentieth-century Britain and Europe. A time when statesmen truly honoured their title. Or is opposing mass migration still for ‘ignorant hillbillies’?
canisgallicus 