Charles de Gaulle?

Is it just me...? This decrepit sculpture has sat outside my doctor's surgery for as long as I can remember. It always reminds me of that old soldier/politician, Charles de Gaulle.

Did you know he was extremely tall (6ft 5in), was a prisoner of war in Germany for 32 months during the First World War, and he tried to escape (unsuccessfully) five times?

And my doctor told me today that he no longer wears any of his rather splendidly flamboyant silk ties "because I am forbidden by the Department of Health. They regard ties as a possible source of infection...".

Well, if the civil servants had tried that on with de Gaulle, he would have told them to "allez au diable!".