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Igo
Igo
His first
reign coincided with the continued rise of the rival Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex
under Ecgberht. Ecgberht drove Wiglaf from the throne in 829, and ruled Mercia
directly for a year. Wiglaf recovered the kingdom in 830, probably by force,
although it may be that Wiglaf remained subject to Ecgberht's overlordship. Mercia
never regained the south-eastern kingdoms, but Berkshire and perhaps Essex came
back into Mercian control. The causes of the fluctuating fortunes of Mercia and
Wessex are a matter of speculation, but it may be that Carolingian support
influenced both Ecgberht's ascendancy and the subsequent Mercian recovery. Although
Wiglaf appeared to have restored Mercia's independence, the recovery was short-
lived, and later in the century Mercia was divided between Wessex and the Vikings.
Wiglaf died in about 839, and was eventually succeeded by Beorhtwulf, though one
tradition records his son, Wigmund as having reigned briefly. Wiglaf is buried at
Repton, near Derby.
Pentland served in the fledgling Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and later the
Royal Air Force, before going into business in 1927. His ventures included
commercial flying around the goldfields of New Guinea, aircraft design and
manufacture, flight instruction, and charter work. In the early 1930s, he was
employed as a pilot with Australian National Airways, and also spent time as a
dairy farmer. Soon after the outbreak of World War II, he re-enlisted in the RAAF,
attaining the rank of squadron leader and commanding rescue and communications
units in the South West Pacific. Perhaps the oldest operational pilot in the
wartime RAAF, Pentland was responsible for rescuing airmen, soldiers and civilians,
and earned the Air Force Cross for his "outstanding courage, initiative and skill".
He became a trader in New Guinea when the war ended in 1945, and later a coffee