'I am going to be an Admiral': The life and times of Roger Keyes
Published on 24 February 2026
Submitted by Clive Harris
When a confident young master Keyes told his father, a Major General in the Indian Army, of his plans to join the Royal Navy, he provided an indication into the tenacious character traits that would shape his career.
Ambitious, relentless and at times combative, Roger Keyes would grow into one of the most influential sailors in Britain's long maritime history. This talk by Clive Harris discusses his life and experiences from the Boxer Rebellions, through Heligoland Bight, Gallipoli and Zeebrugge onto the emergence of Combined Operations in the Second World War.
