Legacy
Race horse trainer and owner Michael Jarvis named a horse after Patch in 2008. Having bought the horse in October 2007, during that year's Poppy Appeal, the Newmarket trainer decided to name him after a First World War veteran. Michael's daughter suggested Patch after reading an article about him. The horse won the 1.30 at Doncaster racecourse on 8 November 2008, the day before Remembrance Sunday.
A commemorative plaque in Patch's memory is to be placed on the Guildhall in Bath.
The BBC commissioned Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate, to write a poem to mark the deaths of Patch and Henry Allingham (who died one week before Patch, on 18 July 2009). The result, Last Post, was read by Duffy on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 on 30 July 2009, the day of Allingham's funeral.
On 5 August 2009, Radiohead released the song "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)", in tribute to the recently deceased Patch. Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke explained that the song was inspired by "a very emotional interview with him" in 2005, on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. The song was sold direct from Radiohead's website for £1, with proceeds donated to the British Legion.
In early summer 2009, Harry recorded some spoken word parts for UK heavy metal band Imperial Vengeance, to be included on the title track to the album At the Going Down of the Sun. The song was about the horrors of the trenches and Patch read part of the poem For the Fallen.
Former UK Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion composed a poem, The Death of Harry Patch, which he read for the first time on The World at One Radio 4 programme on Armistice Day 2010.
Read more about this topic: Harry Patch
Famous quotes containing the word legacy:
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)