BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

A Quiet Invasion

A Quiet Invasion: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC Radio 4 - A Quiet Invasion, Episode 2

Twenty years after being taken hostage there, Kirsty Norman returns to Kuwait.

In August 1990, when Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait, Kirsty Norman was one of many British hostages taken. 20 years on she returns to hear how Kuwaiti friends survived the invasion.

In August 1990 Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait. Kirsty Norman was working for the Museum of Islamic Art, and due to fly out on the day of the invasion. Then tanks started rolling past her apartment, but it was a quiet invasion: The gardener out watering the palm trees as they passed. Two weeks later she was taken hostage, bringing her family history full circle as her father and grandparents had been interned by the Japanese.  

As momentous as those events seemed at the time, what happened to Kirsty and other British hostages was part of a much bigger story. 

The events of August 1990 still vividly etched on her memory, Kirsty returns to Kuwait to hear how friends and colleagues there dealt with the events that tore their lives apart so suddenly. In an intensely private society, she finds few people have talked publicly about their experiences before and hears remarkable tales of resistance and bravery.
   
The Islamic Art collection she was working with was shipped to Baghdad during the invasion and Kuwait's National Museum  torched. We find out what happened to the priceless treasures in the collection. 

Producer: Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans production for Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Documentaries

Factual: Life Stories

20 years after Iraq invaded Kuwait, Kirsty Norman tells her story of being taken hostage

In August 1990, when Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait, Kirsty Norman was taken hostage. She recounts the story of what happened to her, based on her diaries and recollections

Accessibility links

Programme Index

A Quiet Invasion

Episode 2

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4