Gold Leaf and All
Pink Floyd's Death Certificate
Is Pink Floyd dead? Obviously, Pink Floyd is dead; we have his death certificate! Of course, I'm referring to Pink Floyd Senior. On the other hand, Junior (known as Pinkie to his old school chums) is alive and well, living outside his wall.
There's a scene in the Wall film where the younger Pink finds a drawer full of mementos. Among the bullets and uniforms is a simple scroll. Pink takes an ever-so-brief look at it before setting it aside in favor of the more interesting .45 caliber ammunition.
Pausing my VHS tape at this point made for an aspirin-gulping, futile attempt at reading what was written on the scroll. (The irony that Bayer is a German company totally unbeknownst to me.) But now, thanks to the wonders of DVD, undistorted freeze-frame is here.
 |
GVIR
This scroll commemorates
2nd Lt. J.A. PINKERTON, Royal Fusiliers
Held in honour as one who
served King and Country
in the World War of 1939-1945
and gave his life
to save Mankind from Tyranny
May his sacrifice bring Peace and Freedom
for which he died.
Centered at the top of the scroll is an emblem known as the Royal Arms. It pictures the English lion and the Scottish unicorn holding the Royal Shield between them. This identifies the stationery as being from the desk of the Sovereign.
Below the Coat of Arms is the Royal Monogram - G VI R. The 'VI' in the middle is the Roman numeral for 6. The 'G' at the beginning stands for 'Georgius', Latin for George. The 'R' at the end stands for 'Rex', Latin for king. Put it all together and you get: King George the Sixth. He ruled Great Britain from 1936 to 1952.
Queen Elizabeth the Second, the current monarch, has a similar monogram - E II R. But in this case, the 'R' at the end stands for 'Regina', Latin for queen.
Those tricky Brits. They always have a knack for using gender generic acronyms. For example, the warships in the British fleet are prefaced with 'HMS', which stands for either 'His Majesty's Ship' or 'Her Majesty's Ship', depending on the gender of the reigning monarch.
And finally, you may have noticed the surname Pinkerton on the scroll. Is this just another Pink enigma? Not really. What kind of name is "Floyd Pinkerton" for an up-and-coming rock star? He just followed in the footsteps of his idol Elton John and had it changed.