"Professor" Alan Thornton "10th Dan" awarded an MBE

I suspect that a great many of us from smaller organisations and clubs would struggle to prove that we had earned our dan grades originally either.

But in this case, the real issue is had this chap done enough to justify an MBE for his services to martial arts.

Given that discussions here and elsewhere seem to indicate that basically nobody has heard of him, the answer to that is surely "no", unless it's a quiet thank you for training special forces on the quiet somewhere, but that seems pretty unlikely.

G

 

unless it's a quiet thank you for training special forces on the quiet somewhere, but that seems pretty unlikely.

He would have mentioned that one ...

 

Let him catch up with the thread first....

 

http://karatekidzonline.com/interviews/thornton.html

Hmmm

Errrrr

Has he been invited over here?

 

Bet he's really just a cab driver.

 

This Thornton guy is hilarious...

Hahah...inspirational spiritual leader? Leading light of the world?
Or maybe just a very priviliged woman that died in a car crash?

 

It gets stranger:

http://www.thetempleoftruth.co.uk/page4.htm

Maybe he has a hobby of applying for/buying awards?

 

Question from a Yank. Why is this MBE thing such a big deal? From what I understand he can add some letters after his name and he isn't entitled to use Sir. To me, outside the military, most awards given by the government or any other organization aren't worth much more than some ego stroking.

Unless you get money or some other legal privileges not available to the average person.

Rev Mike Thomas LCPL(USMC)

 

Honestly...it's not really.
BUT..there are some people that get recognised by these awards that really deserve that recognition. People that work for charities, fund raising, in social welfare work, teaching kids, etc.
And of course people that have been successful in sport, business, politics, academia, science, etc etc.
While a lot of it is the government giving out trinkets to their cronies and donors some are well deserved.

I think in this case IF you are going to hand out these awards they should be on merit and there's no apparent merit here so it goes against our British sense of fair play and fairness.

Although...it's not like we have an empire anymore.

 

It's so much of an award for your achievements, but for your service to an industry.

It's a kind of thank you and recognition for what you have given to a community.

Usually it is the first level towards becoming a Sir or a Lord.

Lord (???) < Sir (KBE) Knighthood < OBE < MBE

 

We still have Scotland

 

I think it's a British peculiarity - a series of awards given by a grateful nation to citizens who have made significant contributions to society.

Some are a bit pointless - sports and media personalities and senior civil servants. However, the vast majority are earned by dedicated and hardworking people who have put a huge amount into society. For example a few knighthoods awarded in the last few years to headteachers who have turned around failing schools, or even MBEs and OBEs awarded to postmen and school crossing assistants to thank them for many decades of service that often has gone far beyond the job they're paid for by doing any number of things within their communities.

And these things carry significant kudos within British society - admittedly the MBE is pretty much the bottom of the ladder of these awards, but it is still of some significance.

In my day job in aviation I used to have working for me a chap who after 20+ dedicated years of service to the Air Force, then spent a year running the team who picked up all the pieces at Lockerby. For that, he got an MBE - and receiving it was one of the proudest things in his life. To compare a self-promoting club sensei to that is not fair !

G

 

Bermuda, the Falklands, chunk of Antarctica, Ascension, Gibraltar, Turks and Caicos....

G

 

You colonial scoundrels will never understand.

 

It certainly does seem that way.

Which is yet another reason why he shouldn't be given this MBE when you think about it.

 

The martial arts world is too overloaded with "grandmasters", "10th Dan", and people with dozens of fake black belts, who rely on pieces of paper, belt mills, and awards with no substance.

Oh and none of them can throw down worth a damn, and one look at Alan convinced me he can't, so I'll trust my own eyes over the prestigious "Committee"'s in-depth analysis.

We have yet to find a single STUDENT of his, right? Somebody who might actually convince us his made-up system and made-up instructor credentials might be legitimate in some dark corner of the Universe?

 

He claims to have studed under Grandmaster Hendrick in Isshin Ryu Karate. Mr. Hendrick lives in Indianapolis Indiana. Here is his Google + page.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111933685849333635250/posts

Someone should ask him if he really trained this person.

 

Message sent