Battle of Waterloo: How taking part in a re-enactment nearly cost me my life

'The only reason I survived was because the bloke standing behind me happened to be an ex-army medic'

Alan Larsen as the Duke of Wellington, with his mount, Harvey, standing in for Copenhagen (Jon Super)

Gazing imperiously from his charger, with bristling mutton chops and well-cut frock coat, Alan Larsen appears every inch the “Iron Duke” of Wellington, victor of Waterloo.

Hard to believe, then, that the man soon to portray the conservative duke at the 200th anniversary re-enactment of the battle, is an ex-punk rocker from New Zealand who counts Joe Strummer of The Clash as a key influence on his playing the role. Even harder to credit, as Mr Larsen, 55, handles his steed with authoritative aplomb, that he nearly died before he got the chance to play “the gig of my life”.

His secret is revealed only when he removes his cravat, exposing the four-inch scar on his neck. It dates from 1986, and what should have been a Sunday afternoon’s re-enactment of American civil war combat, firing blanks, in Bath.

“A sharpshooter fired at me. He had left the brass tip of his ramrod, for loading the wadding and gunpowder, in his musket, accidentally making himself a bullet – which sliced my carotid artery in half.

“I fell face down. It was five minutes before they turned me over, watched a geyser of arterial blood shoot up in the air, and realised I wasn’t just playing dead.

“The only reason I survived was because the bloke standing behind me happened to be an ex-army medic. Most doctors wouldn’t have known what first aid to give. The surgeons at Bath Hospital told me that even they wouldn’t have had a clue. But this guy ripped open the wound with his hands, found the two ends of the artery and pinched them together to stop the bleeding and save my life.

“My luck at landing the role of Wellington doesn’t compare with my luck at being alive.”

After the 18 June commemoration ceremony, the battle will be refought in two halves – French attack and allied counterattack – over the evenings of 19 and 20 June, with more than 5,000 participants watched by 50,000 spectators on both nights.

Mr Larsen will ride over much of the battlefield, because on 18 June 1815, the real duke was “everywhere, putting himself in incredible danger, steadying the nerves of young soldiers with his coolness under fire”.

It will be the pinnacle of a re-enactment career which began when, aged 18, he was summoned to England from Invercargill, New Zealand, by Brigadier Peter Young, founder of the Sealed Knot English Civil War re-enactment group.

“I wrote to him mentioning I had just left school. He wrote back: ‘Come to England and join my Lifeguard of Horse.’ So I did.

“Two men contributed to giving me the performance confidence I need to be Wellington. One was the brigadier, an ex-Second World War commando. The other – although perhaps the duke wouldn’t have approved – was Joe Strummer of The Clash.”

Returning to New Zealand to study history, Mr Larsen became the lead singer in a punk band. Watching The Clash at Christchurch Town Hall in 1981, he said: “I leapt off the mezzanine floor on to the stage and nearly landed on top of [guitarist] Mick Jones. As I was being wrestled away, Mick said, ‘See you later.’

The Battle of Waterloo re-enacted (AFP) (AFP/Getty)

“I ended up backstage with them, spending hours in the company of Joe, who shared my passion for the Spanish civil war International Brigades. He also wanted everyone around him to be the best they could. Those hours were enough to give me confidence – to stand on stage with the band or sit on a horse at Waterloo in front of 50,000 people.”

Mr Larsen, who lives in Bolsover, Derbyshire, insisted his only other qualification for being Wellington is as “a tolerably competent horseman who can keep away from French cavalry”. Such modesty contrasts, perhaps, with events surrounding the choice of Napoleon. The alleged “Napoleon-off” pitted Mark Schneider, an American actor, against Frank Samson, a Parisian lawyer full of reported indignation that his rival was “an Anglo-Saxon. The horror!”.

After emerging victorious, Mr Samson told a newspaper Wellington was a “frightful Englishman no one has heard of”. Mr Larsen grinned, said, “Perhaps Monsieur Samson genuinely believes it,” and added: “It’s been a relatively gentlemanly process in the British camp.”

He also confirmed that Napoleon will lose at Waterloo 200, adding: “It could all go wrong for me. I could fall off my horse. Then the photo of the day will be Wellington running up the hill on foot, hotly pursued by lots of French cavalry re-enactors keen to make a name for themselves.”

If he doesn’t exit pursued by overenthusiastic Frenchmen, this 21st-century Wellington will have another reason to be thankful his story didn’t end on a battlefield in Bath.

With thanks to Liz and Holly Wilde at the Milbourne Riding Centre, Bolsover, for the loan of Harvey