Aubrey Herbert was almost blind but served in France, Gallipoli and Mesopotamia in World War One. He was the basis for characters in the work of John Buchan and Louis de Bernières. Herbert’s life and death (he died after having all his teeth pulled in a misguided attempt to restore his sight) are a surreal tale of adventure – twice in his lifetime he was offered the chance to be King of Albania.
As part of the Bodleian Google Books project – Herbert’s War diary has been digitised. We’ve taken this diary and turned it into a Google Earth KMZ file.
Albania seemed quite keen on this sort of thing.
C.B. Fry, the all-round sportsman who played for England at both cricket and soccer – and equalled the world long jump record whilst at Oxford University in the 1890s – was allegedly invited to become King of Albania in the 1920s.