85 Facts About Richard Dannatt

Richard Dannatt was Chief of the General Staff from 2006 to 2009.

Richard Dannatt attended and then commanded the Higher Command and Staff Course, after which he was promoted to brigadier.

Richard Dannatt was given command of 4th Armoured Brigade in 1994 and commanded the British component of the Implementation Force the following year.

Richard Dannatt took command of 3rd Mechanised Division in 1999 and simultaneously commanded British forces in Kosovo.

Richard Dannatt was responsible for implementing a controversial reorganisation of the infantry which eventually resulted in his regiment, the Green Howards, being amalgamated into the Yorkshire Regiment.

Richard Dannatt was appointed Chief of the General Staff in August 2006, succeeding General Sir Mike Jackson.

Richard Dannatt faced controversy over his outspokenness, in particular his calls for improved pay and conditions for soldiers and for a drawdown of operations in Iraq in order to better man those in Afghanistan.

Richard Dannatt set about trying to increase his public profile, worried that he was not recognisable enough at a time when he had to defend the Army's reputation against alleged prisoner abuse in Iraq.

Richard Dannatt later assisted with the formation of Help for Heroes to fund a swimming pool at Headley Court and, later in his tenure, brokered an agreement with the British press that allowed Prince Harry to serve in Afghanistan.

Richard Dannatt was succeeded as CGS by Sir David Richards and retired in 2009, taking up the largely honorary post of Constable of the Tower of London, which he held until July 2016.

Between November 2009 and the British general election in May 2010, Richard Dannatt served as a defence adviser to Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

Richard Dannatt resigned when Cameron's party formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats after the election produced a hung parliament, arguing that the Prime Minister should rely primarily on the advice of the incumbent service chiefs.

Richard Dannatt published an autobiography in 2010 and continues to be involved with a number of charities and organisations related to the armed forces.

Richard Dannatt is married with four children, one of whom served as an officer in the Grenadier Guards.

Richard Dannatt's father and grandfather were architects, working from a practice in Chelmsford, and his mother was a part-time teacher at the London Bible College.

Richard Dannatt had an elder sister who died from breast cancer in 1988.

Richard Dannatt was heavily influenced by his paternal great-grandfather, a Victorian farmer and devout Christian who devised a drainage system.

Richard Dannatt attended Felsted Junior School, where he gained an ambition to become a professional cricketer.

Richard Dannatt eventually switched to his middle name, Richard, when he was fifteen.

Richard Dannatt entered the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in September 1969 and was commissioned into the Green Howards as a second lieutenant on 30 July 1971.

Richard Dannatt was accepted, and commenced study of economic history later in 1973.

Richard Dannatt was uninjured but four soldiers, including Richard Dannatt's company commander, Major Peter Willis, were killed.

Shortly thereafter, Richard Dannatt arrested a man in connection with the incident and later gave evidence against him in court.

Richard Dannatt graduated in 1976 and, rejoining his regiment, was posted to Berlin.

Richard Dannatt was appointed battalion adjutant and promoted to captain in July 1977.

Richard Dannatt was posted to Northern Ireland, accompanied by his wife, who gave birth to the couple's first son in Craigavon Area Hospital a few weeks into the tour.

Richard Dannatt left Northern Ireland ahead of the rest of the battalion and was posted to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Surrey, then under the command of Major General Rupert Smith, and expected this to be his last posting in the light of his stroke.

Richard Dannatt applied for a variety of jobs outside the Army but, after Smith's encouragement, sat the entrance exams for Staff College, Camberley, in Surrey.

Richard Dannatt passed the entrance exams and turned down two civilian job offers to accept his place.

Richard Dannatt was posted to Northern Ireland for six months in 1985, his fifth tour of the province, though it was significantly quieter than his previous tours.

Richard Dannatt was appointed Military Assistant to the Minister of State for the Armed Forces in 1986, his first position at the Ministry of Defence in London.

The Green Howards celebrated their 300th anniversary in 1988 and Richard Dannatt took command of the regiment in 1989.

Richard Dannatt was responsible for overseeing its transition into an airmobile role, forming part of 24th Airmobile Brigade.

Richard Dannatt served his sixth and final tour in Northern Ireland in 1991 when the Green Howards were deployed to South Armagh for a month.

Richard Dannatt drafted the campaign plan for Lieutenant General Mike Rose's command of the United Nations Protection Force in the Balkans.

Richard Dannatt was promoted to brigadier on 31 December 1993, backdated to 30 June 1993, and took command of 4th Armoured Brigade, based in Germany.

Richard Dannatt spent 1994 commanding the brigade and overseeing training and, in 1995, was posted to Bosnia along with his headquarters staff, leaving the rest of the brigade in Germany and taking command of separate units already deployed in Bosnia.

Richard Dannatt commanded UNPROFOR's Sector South West, composed of troops from multiple nations, while serving as Commander of British Forces, responsible for overseeing operations of all British troops in Bosnia.

Richard Dannatt was later appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his service in the Balkans.

Richard Dannatt was later awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service for his conduct in Kosovo.

Richard Dannatt gave evidence as an expert witness in the trial of Radislav Krstic in relation to the Srebrenica massacre, shortly after which he was posted to Bosnia, where he served as deputy commander of NATO's Stabilisation Force in 2000.

Richard Dannatt's tour, scheduled to last a full year was cut short when Sir Michael Willcocks took early retirement from the Army in order to become Black Rod.

The resulting personnel changes to fill the vacancy meant that Richard Dannatt was appointed Assistant Chief of the General Staff in April 2001.

Richard Dannatt was appointed Commander, Allied Rapid Reaction Corps on 16 January 2003 and promoted to lieutenant general the same day.

Richard Dannatt was knighted with his investiture as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in June 2004.

However, his term coincided with an increase in the intensity of simultaneous operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Richard Dannatt formed the view that government spending priorities did not accurately reflect the commitments of the British Armed Forces at the time.

Richard Dannatt raised concerns with the standard of accommodation provided for soldiers at home and with soldiers' wages.

Richard Dannatt met Des Browne in person for the first time two days after becoming CGS and later acknowledged the difficulties faced by defence secretaries in the little time they have to prepare for the role.

Later in his tenure as CGS, Richard Dannatt became concerned that his public profile was not high enough that he would be listened to outside of the Army, especially given the ongoing controversy surrounding the courts-martial of soldiers alleged to be involved in the death of Baha Mousa.

Richard Dannatt appeared in newspaper headlines in October 2006 when he gave an interview for Sarah Sands of the Daily Mail in which he opined that a drawdown of troops from Iraq was necessary in order to allow the Army to focus on Afghanistan, and that wounded soldiers should recover in a military environment rather than civilian hospitals.

Richard Dannatt's comments were supported by several journalists and retired officers, though others believed Dannatt had acted improperly and called for his resignation, while Simon Jenkins of The Times called Dannatt's comments "either daringly brave or totally naive".

Later the same year, Richard Dannatt raised the same issue in a lecture to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

However, after Richard Dannatt had brokered an understanding with the British press, Harry was able to serve in Afghanistan for three months in late 2007 and early 2008 until the story broke and he was ordered home.

In 2008, in the first speech of its kind by any CGS, Richard Dannatt addressed the Army-sponsored Fourth Joint Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Matters, stating that homosexuals were welcome to serve in the Army.

Richard Dannatt's last act as CGS was to nominate Nick Houghton to become the next Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff.

Richard Dannatt was appointed Colonel, The Green Howards on 1 December 1994, succeeding Field Marshal Sir Peter Inge.

Richard Dannatt was in turn relieved by Brigadier John Powell in May 2003.

Richard Dannatt succeeded Sir Christopher Wallace as Deputy Colonel Commandant of the Adjutant General's Corps on 1 April 1999, holding the title until 17 June 2005, when he was relieved by Major General Bill Rollo.

Richard Dannatt was appointed Colonel Commandant of the King's Division, in succession to Sir Scott Grant, on 1 July 2001.

Richard Dannatt relinquished the title on 10 December 2005 to fellow Green Howard, Lieutenant General Nick Houghton.

Between appointments in 2002, Richard Dannatt spent six weeks at the School of Army Aviation at Army Air Corps Middle Wallop, where he was trained as a helicopter pilot in order to fulfil his duties as Colonel Commandant of the Army Air Corps, to which he was appointed on 1 April 2004, succeeding Michael Walker; Also in succession to Walker, he was appointed Aide de Camp General to Queen Elizabeth II on 5 June 2006.

Richard Dannatt was succeeded in his position with the AAC by Major General Adrian Bradshaw on 1 July 2009, and relinquished the appointment of ADC Gen on 1 September 2009.

The tenure of the previous incumbent, General Sir Roger Wheeler, a former CGS, expired on 31 July and Richard Dannatt became constable on 1 August 2009.

In 2009, Richard Dannatt became an Honorary Doctor of Technology at Anglia Ruskin University.

Shortly after leaving office, Richard Dannatt was approached by David Cameron, then leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition.

Cameron invited Richard Dannatt to become a defence adviser for the Shadow Cabinet once he was officially retired from the Army and no longer bound by Queen's Regulations, which mandate political neutrality in the armed forces.

Richard Dannatt advised Cameron and his shadow cabinet until he resigned, shortly after the 2010 general election, stating that Cameron, by then prime minister, should turn to the incumbent chiefs of staff for defence advice and citing no desire to become a special adviser.

Richard Dannatt took up the appointment on 1 September 2009, but resigned in October the same year after the announcement that he was to become an adviser to David Cameron, believing that his resignation was necessary for RUSI to maintain its political neutrality.

Richard Dannatt was eventually succeeded by former Defence Secretary John Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness.

Richard Dannatt has written an autobiography, titled Leading from the Front, published by Bantam Press in 2010.

Richard Dannatt criticised Tony Blair for allowing himself to be effectively overruled by Brown and said of Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, then CDS, that "although brilliant at what he did, [he] could not have been expected to understand the sights, sounds and smells of the battlefield".

In July 2010, Richard Dannatt gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry, focusing predominantly on his role as ACGS in 2002.

Richard Dannatt described an initial reluctance to commit the Army and stated that planning had been for a minimal land commitment and the provision of naval and air support to the United States.

Richard Dannatt repeated his previous assertions that the army had been over-stretched by simultaneous operation in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2006 and re-stated his view that Afghanistan was the more important for British interests.

Richard Dannatt's evidence was followed by that of his predecessor as CGS, General Sir Mike Jackson.

Richard Dannatt was nominated for a life peerage by David Cameron while Cameron was Leader of the Opposition.

Richard Dannatt was quoted as saying he had engineered a seat at a formal dinner with the Ministry of Defence's new permanent secretary, Jon Thompson, to help another company, Capita Symonds, which was bidding for a contract to manage MoD estates.

Richard Dannatt met his wife, Philippa during his first year at Durham University in 1973.

In 1977, then just 26, Richard Dannatt suffered a major stroke, rendering him unable to speak and leaving the right-hand side of his body paralysed.

Richard Dannatt spent much of the subsequent two years recovering and was eventually allowed to return to duty, though he still tires more quickly on his right-hand side than on his left and has other minor residual effects.

Richard Dannatt has been Vice President of the Armed Forces Christian Union since 1998 and President Emeritus of the Soldiers' and Airmen's Scripture Readers Association since 2020.

Richard Dannatt was President of the Army Rifle Association from 2000 to 2008 and of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association in 2008, presiding over that year's Royal Norfolk Show, attended by Prince Harry at Dannatt's invitation.

Richard Dannatt served as a trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust since 2005 and as patron of Hope and Homes for Children since 2006, and continues his patronage of Help for Heroes, which he assisted in founding while CGS.

Richard Dannatt was appointed president of the Norfolk Churches Trust in November 2011, and Vice President of The Western Front Association in 2013.

Richard Dannatt is President of YMCA Norfolk and chairman of the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance.