History Literature / CrossAndPoppy

* TheBeard: Briefly, [[spoiler:Gwen]] for [[spoiler:Sher]].

--> '''Hetty (the Duke's teenaged niece and huge [[spoiler: One Direction]] fangirl), about any of the five:''' He's ''so'' fit, and he looks ''just'' like….

--> [After all the local great and good and a squadron of the County TA Regiment and everyone else has marched in:] … Headmaster Trulock and the Free School, Sher bringing up the rear, all the masters and mistresses gowned academically, and on the Head's gown and the Maths master's the gleam of metal and the splash of ribbon: the OSM for Sierra Leone for the Head, that for the DRC for the Maths master. … And then, moving rather more slowly, they came. The duke, buried in the obscure midst of them, almost anonymous, in bowler hat and perfect tailoring, impeccably suited, furled brolly under arm, topcoat irreproachable, every scant inch the officer and gentleman; and on his breast his decorations and the campaign and OS medals that testified to service: the Gulf Medal, the OSM for Afghanistan, the Iraq Medal – all three with the oak leaf of a Mention in Despatches. He matched his pace to his fellows': one truly ancient man in a hooded Bath chair…. Then another old man … with the Arctic Star. Another … one of the very last of the Few, with the DFC and Bar … And younger men, also: the Korea Medal … And men younger yet – one of them in a wheelchair, with but one leg and one arm – who wore the South Atlantic Medal with rosette. Mr Kellow was amongst these, solicitously steadying the steps of a man lamed aboard ''Antelope''. And the youngest men: here an empty sleeve, here a wheelchair, but most of these – physically – uninjured, wearing the same campaign medals and {{OSM}}s as did [the Duke]: the men of [[AC: Granby]] and of [[AC: Telic]], and of [[AC: Fingal]] and of [[AC: Herrick]], who had known the deserts and the deathly mountains, the waters of the Gulf and the skies over Mesopotamia and the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush. Some had bled at Basra; some had intercepted missiles bound for the American navy; others had faced suicide bombers and {{IED}}s directed by nominal allies; all had dared and done their duty.
** Yeah, that one's a Crowning Moment of several things. Mileage will ''not'' vary. If you ever doubted the Brits were all {{ProudWarriorRaceGuy}}s….

* FiveManBand: Noel, The Breener, Teddy, Edmond, and Sher. ''Literally,'' at the Village Concert. The roles, however, seem to fluctuate wildly.

** For Mr. Kellow, the jovial landlord of [[UsefulNotes/BritishPubs the Blue Boar]] and aging fan of Northern {{Soul}}, it's justified -- and has more lampshades than a Chinese restaurant -- in that, even though his old dad had had him apprentice in every pub from Land's End to John o' Groats [[spoiler: (including Noel's native [[UsefulNotes/TheMidlands Wolverhampton]], where Mr. Kellow danced all night]], he himself realizes that trippers and tourists expect a West Country publican to sound like someone out of ''Film/HotFuzz''. And he gives them that, Turned UpToEleven, to the point he can't turn it off.

* SpotOfTea: Answer to all of life's problems. When [[spoiler: Sher]] and [[spoiler: Noel]] finally discuss Out Loud their mutual attraction, [[spoiler: Sher]] nervously raises the subject and [[spoiler: Noel]]'s response is, "Well, then, sit down, have a biscuit and – good, there ''is'' yet tea – tell me about it."

* BiTheWay: Averted. Some are, some aren't, everyone accepts that, and it avoids both tacking-on and being anvilicious.

* WhiteAndGrayMorality: With few exceptions [[spoiler: namely, the students who try to ruin or kill Sher]], there are no utter villains – or saints, according to Father Paddick, although he gets some look-in-the-mirror pushback on that. And ''he'' thinks that even [[spoiler: the three students]] are redeemable if they choose to be.

* DeadpanSnarker: The duke is unabashedly an {{Oxbridge}}, GentlemanSnarker. Of ''course'' he's the SnarkKnight. (To what extent he's an AuthorAvatar in this is up to the reader.)

* OneOfUs: Hetty, being very much the {{Fangirl}}.
** (And it also appears the author OneOfUs….)
** And when the press starts reporting on events in the Woolfonts, Father Paddick as well as the villages ''become'' a fandom, InUniverse, with sites dedicated to them.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: The Duke is described as being Stirling Moss in a Bristol – on a C road. It's also asserted that [[Main/TopGear Richard Hammond]] is his spirit animal.[[note]]Richard Hammond is of course often referred to as "The Hamster"….[[/note]]

** The Duke, when behind the wheel of his Bristol, is said to have [[Main/TopGear Richard Hammond]] as his spirit animal.