In March 1812, during the Napoleonic Wars, an Anglo-Portuguese army laid siege to a French garrison in Badajoz, Spain. A cannon shot, fired by the French, struck the ground first, and then hit a British soldier on the back, felling him to the ground. To the surprise of his comrades, he jumped up unhurt, the shot having glanced off his knapsack. The fortunate soldier was afterwards called "the bomb-proof man."
On 14 April 1812, an English lady was sitting on the balcony of a house in Lisbon. Her husband was at the front, and that day news had arrived of the storming of Badajoz. Presently, a group of English officers passed beneath, and she heard one of them say, "And so poor Grey has gone at last." The "poor Grey" was her husband, and the same day was born the child who became Sir George Grey.
一八一二年三月，即拿破崙戰役期間，英葡聯軍圍攻西班牙巴達霍斯市的法國駐軍。法軍一枚砲彈先擊中地面，再擊中一名英兵的背部。那英兵往前便倒，但隨即跳起來，絲毫無損，令同袍吃了一驚。原來砲彈給他的背包一擋，轉向而去。從此，這個幸運士兵就叫做「炸不死」。
一八一二年四月十四日，里斯本一幢房子的陽臺上，有個英國婦人坐着。她丈夫在前線，而當天她也接到圍攻巴達霍斯的消息。不久，一群英國軍官在陽臺下走過。她聽到其中一人說：「可憐的格雷終於去了。」「可憐的格雷」正是那婦人的丈夫。同一天，她產下一個孩子，那孩子就是後來的喬治．格雷爵士。