In August, he officially left the Army, which denied him a medical retirement that would have entitled him to special tax breaks.
Modern ways to confound the enemy's scouting effort are keeping radio silence and jamming his radars, both of which deny him information.
He was among Sydney's best players in the back-to-back finals losses which denied him the opportunity to become the first Swan to win three premierships.
Several members of the Royal Society of London have suggested to me that it was his quirky sense of humour which denied him the FRS on which he had set his heart as an undergraduate.
McIlroy's entire season has been plunged into doubt by the ruptured ankle ligament caused during a football game with friends which denied him a change to defend the Open Championship.
In the past, Modi has also had his issues with the U.S. government, which denied him a visa in 2005, when memories of the Gujarat riots were still fresh.
Nick Clegg, who replaced him in December, has had a testing start to his reign too.Mr Clegg beat his rival for the job, Chris Huhne (now the party's home-affairs spokesman), by a vanishingly thin margin, which denied him the momentum new leaders often enjoy.
Faubert suffered a ruptured achilles tendon in pre-season last term which denied him a debut for six months and he has been used as a utility player over the current campaign, filling in at full-back as well as in his favoured attacking midfield role.
Novo created more danger when he pounced on a loose pass back from Carl Tremarco and it was only a chance deflection which denied him a shot on goal.
Stuart Broad's spell began in horrific fashion, spraying short and wide, and four boundaries came off his opening over, including one from a free hit following a no-ball which denied him the wicket of Hafeez when he had been caught at backward point.
