John Willis, one of our most prominent former pupils (not to mention one of our most prolific OE authors) is this week celebrating the publication of another book on a Second World War subject. Following Nagasaki: The Forgotten Prisoners, Churchill’s Few: The Battle of Britain and Fighter Boy, his new book The People’s War: Unheard Voices – Life on the Battlefront and at home in World War II is published on May 1st in hardcover, ebook and audiobook by BBC Books.
The book looks at the remarkable stories of ordinary individuals who lived, fought, grieved, loved, and survived through the war – from soldiers in North Africa and prisoners of war in East Asia, to evacuees in the British countryside and women in the factories. Material in the book is drawn from an oral history project launched just over 20 years ago by the BBC that recorded the lives and experiences of the ordinary people who lived through World War II, amounting to 47,000 testimonies and over 400 diaries and letters, all of which have remained unexplored in the archives for twenty years – until now.
John Willis (OE 1965 and a former Governor and Parent) had a highly successful career as a TV documentary film-maker which led to him holding posts that included Director of Programmes at Channel Four and Chairman of BAFTA. He has visited the school on numerous occasions, most notably in 2014 when he was Guest of Honour at Speech Day.
Join John for an engaging conversation with journalist Patrick Kidd, diary editor at The Times and author of The Weak are a Long Time in Politics, on Thursday, 26 June at 7:30 pm at Blackheath Halls, as they delve into The People’s War. Please click here for further event details.
