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The Blitz

The Blitz: Episode 2: Liverpool

Episode 2

Episode 2: Liverpool

Liverpool

BBC Radio 4 - The Blitz, Liverpool

Peter Sissons tells the story of a unique account of the Liverpool Blitz.

Peter Sissons visits his home town of Liverpool, where he explores a unique account of the Blitz on Merseyside - a secret diary kept by one of the city's wartime reporters.

In the second of a series of programmes telling stories of the Blitz from around the UK, Peter Sissons is in his home town of Liverpool to find out about the Blitz on Merseyside.

Peter starts by exploring the 'secret diary' kept by one of Liverpool's newspaper journalists during the city's Blitz. Arthur Johnson was the Blitz Correspondent for Liverpool's Daily Post and Echo newspapers. Throughout the bombing he reported for the papers. But once he got home, he would also type up his own detailed accounts of the bombing and the deaths and damage caused. At a time when all newspaper reports had to be censored, this was his own personal record which told exactly what was happening during the Blitz.

Arthur Johnson died towards the end of the War, but Peter meets his son - also Arthur Johnson - who takes him through some of the diary entries and tells him more about his father and how he gathered this remarkable account.

Liverpool's importance as a port made it an obvious target for the Luftwaffe, but it was also home to the command centre for the Battle of the Atlantic. Local historian Ken Pye takes Peter to see the underground complex where that crucial campaign was co-ordinated

During the programme, Peter also talks to some of the men and women who lived through Merseyside's May Blitz in 1941. One of these is Sophie Griffiths - whose home was destroyed by the bombers on her 21st birthday. She gives Peter a vivid account of what it was like to face up to the German bombers and how her family survived a direct hit on their street.

Producer: Louise Adamson
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.

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