The Young Ambassadors
Summer 1940: Britain faces the Nazis alone. Amid fears of blanket bombing and probable invasion, plans are afoot for a mass evacuation of British schoolchildren to safety in the Dominions and the USA.
Fifty years on, the good intentions stand against a political background of muddle and cynicism. Was Churchill right to scorn the plan as defeatist? Was it safe to send evacuees across a North Atlantic full of German U-boats? Were the children used as pawns to increase American sympathy for the British war effort?
How changed would they be when they returned?
In this Everyman special, the parents who sent children, foster families who offered their homes, and the 'young ambassadors' themselves tell their stories.
The film is narrated by Claire Bloom , herself evacuated to the United States in 1941. Film cameraman Mike Fox Film editor David Eluott
Everyman editor Jane Drabble Producers Gill Barnes and Rex Cowan
An Inca production in association with Worlds Edge Films for BBCtv: Feature page 28