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  • November 11 1943 is, I understand, a well-remembered day for historians of the Resistance in Nazi-Occupied France. It was on that day that the Maquis paraded through the town of Oyonnax in an event designed as a show of strength, a morale boost for the local population. The town was chosen because there was no…

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  • The Story of the “Real McCoy”

      Writing Tom Sharkey’s biography meant we got to “meet” many of the great characters of old-time boxing. Sharkey wasn’t the only wild character among them. One of our favourites was “Kid” McCoy – real name Norman Selby – who faced Sharkey in January 1899 as a boyish-looking 26-year-old and had fast become one of…

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  • For those fascinated by this week’s tributes to Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and Christoph Probst (all executed 76 years ago) this is the spot at which their fate was sealed. Sophie threw anti-Nazi leaflets from the balcony under the clock and into the hall below at Munich university. All these years later it is…

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  • Photographing the film-makers

    A big shout-out to photographer Susy Fernandes who is following the production of our short film This Is Not A Poem. I’ve worked on dozens of productions but have never had someone taking photos during the process. Being behind the camera one feels quite anonymous. Susy’s photos are putting the camera operator Paul Roberts and…

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  • THIS IS NOT A POEM

    We’re underway. My friend, Eric Ngalle Charles, and I have long-cherished a dream to turn his words and poetry into a film-hymn to tolerance and understanding. Eric is a Cameroon-born writer who came to Britain as a refugee almost twenty years ago and has since become one of Wales’ foremost poets. His writing is fearless…

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  • Coming soon from Dutton Caliber in the US (published April 2019):An enthralling work of popular history that vividly resurrects the web of everyday Germans who resisted Nazi rule Nazi Germany is remembered as a nation of willing fanatics. But beneath the surface, countless ordinary, everyday Germans actively resisted Hitler. Some passed industrial secrets to Allied…

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  • Aberfan

    Originally posted on Stirlingretail: At a period when there seems to be an anniversary at every turn, on the 21st October there will be the 50th remembrance of a truly shocking event – Aberfan.  Seared in the memories of individuals and communities, especially across South Wales, Aberfan stands as testimony to collusion, cover-up and ‘corporate’…

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  • Les Spence was a remarkable man who kept an astonishing journal. For almost four years he risked his life to keep a daily record of hardship, courage and endurance in prison camps run by the Japanese. He and his fellow prisoners faced starvation, disease and cruelty. They kept up their spirits by playing sport, listening […]…

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  • Telling stories from the Somme to Ypres, the war in the skies and at sea, the series ‘Wales and the Great War’ includes some incredible first person testimony from the Great War. The second programme in the series – ‘Voices from the Front’ – pulls together a range of archive interviews with veterans from the…

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  • Important documents, whose disappearance led to the collapse of Britain’s biggest ever corruption trial, have been found in boxes held by South Wales Police. Yesterday, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, ordered a full inquiry into the collapse of a trial of eight police officers accused of perverting the course of justice during the 1988…

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