Saturday, 7 September 1940, was the day the London Blitz began. But it was also the night the dreaded codeword 'Cromwell' was issued: the night the church bells rang; the night an army officer decided to arm his men with spanners; when a Middlesex Home Guard went looking for parachutists with a broom handle; and a former nun wondered if she could bring herself to kill an enemy soldier with a garden fork.
David Mahlowe introduces the first-hand memories of these and other people who recall the events of May-September 1940. which culminated in The Invasion that Never Was.
With the recorded voices of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Adolf Hitler, and some of the British men and women who defeated him.
Written by Norman Longmate, with the assistance of contributors to his recently published book, How We Lived Then.
(from Manchester)
(The Sorrow and the Pity, the film by Marcel Ophuls of France under the Occupation: BBC2 Friday, 8.0 pm. See p 3)