In 1940, the British and French forces waited for the Germans to attack.
They were behind the impregnable Maginot Line, so they weren’t worried.
The Maginot extended as far as the Ardennes forest, but that was impassable to tanks so it was unthinkable the Germans would come that way.
But the Germans did come that way, it wasn’t impregnable at all.
And the Blitzkrieg cut the British and French armies apart, ending in the French surrender and the total retreat of the British at Dunkirk.
So, not quite so unthinkable then.
In 1942, the Japanese were attacking towards Singapore.
They were coming down Malaysia through the jungle, but the British knew the jungle was impassable so getting an army through it was unthinkable.
But the Japanese bypassed the jungle using small boats to leapfrog down the coast.
Never mind, Singapore had huge guns to protect it, so capture was unthinkable.
Except the guns were pointing the wrong way, Singapore fell and 30,000 Japanese captured 100,000 prisoners in the worst defeat in British military history.
So, not quite so unthinkable then.
Also in 1942, two huge German battleships, the Scharnorst and the Gneisenau, were sitting in a dock in northern France.
The shortest route back to Germany was via the English Channel, but that was unthinkable.
They’d have to pass within ten miles of the British coast, no one would be that crazy.
But just after midnight, the two huge battleships left France and did make their way through the English Channel.
The Royal Navy and the RAF had no plans to defend it because it was unthinkable.
24 hours later the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau arrived safely home via the English Channel.
So, not quite so unthinkable then.
In 2016, the UK held a referendum on the European Union: should the UK remain a member or should it leave?
No one in government really considered the result to be in doubt, leaving was unthinkable.
The UK had been a member since 1973 and the benefits were obvious to everyone.
But when the referendum was held, the unthinkable happened.
48% voted to stay, but 52% voted to leave.
David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister and in 2020 the UK left the European Union.
So, not quite so unthinkable then.
Also in 2016, there was an election in America.
The result was a foregone conclusion: the powerful, experienced Senator Hilary Clinton against the crass, boorish, non-politician, Donald Trump.
No one would vote for Trump, it was unthinkable.
Time Magazine already had its post-election covers printed, it said ‘Madam President’.
But Trump won the election and, in 2017, he was sworn in as President, not Clinton.
Time Magazine had to scrap all their covers.
So, not quite so unthinkable then.
It’s worth remembering that next time someone ridicules your opinion of anything.
The next time someone tells you your idea is ridiculous, unthinkable.
History is full of examples where ‘experts’ are convinced that their opinion is the only one and anything else is nonsense, unthinkable.
And then the unthinkable happens, and suddenly the experts can’t be found.
Until the next time, when they pop up to tell us that they are the source of all knowledge and the only people we should be listening to.
Because anything else is unthinkable.
They said the Titanic was unthinkable..
If it can’t be done, you can be sure it will be.
Great article. I was reading just now about the night of 13 October 1939. The British Fleet were safely inside Scapa Flow. The ships couldn’t be attacked, obviously. But a German U boat got in and hit The Royal Oak with a torpedo in the bow. The ship’s company imagined it must be an explosion in the forward inflammable store. So many went back to bed.
The U boat re armed and hit the battleship with three torpedoes midships and sank her. 835 men died. Had they imagined the unthinkable it might have been a very different outcome.
Great example Julian, wish I’d thought of that one
Hey Dave,
Did you ever have one of your ads ridiculed, only for it to go on to be hugely successful?
Nick,
Lots of times, one particular time was when a very senior account-man said “Watch my lips “Hello Tosh Gotta Toshiba” will never run”.
Or when we showed a different senior account-man “You can break a brolly but you can’t k-nacker a K-nirps” he just said “Fuck off” and walked out.
..We always celebrate and relish the unbelievable but true stories or indeed the “unthinkable” which is very inspiring and encourages one to go with their gut feeling and confound the crtics !
If they had failed they would be criticed and considered frankly stupid foolish and putting many peoples lives in great jeopardy ot wasting money on ideas that all the stats indicated would never work!
There is a very thin line between Blind, Mad, selfish and egotistical or so clever! so brave! so brilliant!
Of course we don’t talk about “wtf was going through their mind to make that decision”….WHEN IT GOES WRONG!
At Proximity I came up with ‘In or out another chance to decide’ for Lloyds Bank. It had nothing to do with Brexit but set against that backdrop it implied it did. Of course the suits and planners said far too political for a big posh bank like Lloyd’s and laughed it off. But the group heads saw it differently and presented it. The client loved it and ran the work. And I got kicked out a couple of weeks later. Lol.
“If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done.” – Peter Ustinov.
Working at GGT in the late 80s was an honour Dave!
Me too Danny