Coniston Water per hour () in "Blue Bird K4". Between 1956 and 1959 Sir Malcolm's son Donald Campbell set four successive records on the lake in "Bluebird K7", a hydroplane. In 1966 Donald Campbell decided that he needed to exceed 300 miles per hour (483 km/h) in order to retain the record. On 4 January 1967, he achieved a top speed of over 320 miles per hour () in "Bluebird K7" on the return leg of a record-breaking attempt. He then lost control of "Bluebird", which somersaulted and crashed, sinking rapidly. Campbell was killed instantly on impact when decapitated by the K7's
The Man He Killed also describes and observes characters in close detail, which is consistent with many of his previous poems. This somber poem expresses the internal battles that soldiers face, particularly the regret he faces on a battle field. "The Man He Killed" has been interpreted and interchanged with the title "The Many He Killed" as the author attempts to make a point that this scenario happens frequently with soldiers. Soldiers progressively begin to have a harder time summoning the it-could-have-been-me scenarios of fate that have traditionally provided a warrior's haunted but honorable bottom-line consolation. Hardy argues this and emphasizes the fact that