Cock Loving General Loves Army More

As you see below, we’ve just used the iconic “I Want You” poster featuring good ol’ Uncle Sam. Well, did you know that the image is based on a poster of General Horatio Herbert Kitchener? If you don’t know who that is, you’re not alone – we snoozed through European history, too. Here’s a little back story.

Anyway, Kitchener led an illustrious military career. He studied at the Royal Military Academy and went on to serve in the Franco-Prussian War. From there, he went to Palestine to map the holy land (yeah, that worked.) He was also instrumental in the Second Boer War in South Africa between Brits and Afrikaners for control of the colonial state.

It was during World War I that he lent his face to recruitment posters, which yielded impressive results: garnering nearly a million enlistments. So, why are we telling you all of this? If you didn’t guess already, Kitchener loved cock. Yep. A gay man devoted to the military who plastered his mug on highly effective recruitment poster? Imagine.

Horatio Kitchener [Wikipedia]