
Guernsey Liberation 80: Memories of occupation and liberation
The German Occupation of the Channel Islands during World War Two changed life in the islands and affected everyone.From schoolchildren who were evacuated before the occupiers arrived, to islanders serving in the military around the world and those who stayed - they all have a story to tell.Some resisted occupation in the ways they could - such as listening to the banned BBC broadcasts and sharing the news - while others were forced to take part in the enormous building programme that transformed the islands as they became part of Adolf Hitler's Atlantic Wall.By the time liberation came on 9 May 1945, many islanders were reliant on Red Cross parcels to avoid starvation.The BBC and Guernsey Museums have partnered in The Island Memories Project - launched to capture memories of this key time in island life.
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Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Telegraph
John Simpson: I got Frederick Forsyth sacked from the BBC
John Simpson has claimed that he engineered Frederick Forsyth's sacking from the BBC for spreading 'propaganda' about the Biafran War. Forsyth, who died earlier this week, maintained that he quit his job as a BBC foreign correspondent because he was fed up with his bosses, who thought he was biased in favour of the Biafran fight for independence. But Simpson, the BBC's world affairs editor, says he was instrumental in Forsyth's exit, and suggested that Forsyth might never have written The Day of the Jackal were it not for his intervention. He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: 'The Times obit on Freddie Forsyth says he left the BBC in 1967 because he displeased powerful people by his reporting from Biafra. Not quite. 'As a very junior BBC subeditor, I spotted how he was introducing Biafran propaganda into his reports and told my boss. Forsyth was sacked – and went on to write one of the best thrillers ever.' The Times obit on Freddie Forsyth says he left the BBC in 1967 because he displeased powerful people by his reporting from Biafra. Not quite. As a very junior BBC subeditor I spotted how he was introducing Biafran propaganda into his reports and told my boss. Forsyth was… — John Simpson (@JohnSimpsonNews) June 11, 2025 Writing for The Telegraph more than 20 years ago, Simpson said: 'As an extremely lowly subeditor in the BBC radio newsroom, I had to put Mr Forsyth's Biafran dispatches on the air. 'Even at the age of 23, I could see that he had accepted the Biafran line entirely. He was reporting propaganda as fact. 'Eventually he announced, without any qualification, that Biafra had shot down (as far as I remember) 16 federal Nigerian aircraft. 'The newsroom copy of Jane's All The World's Aircraft said that the federal air force possessed only 12.' Forsyth joined the BBC in 1965, first as a radio reporter then as the assistant diplomatic correspondent for BBC Television. When war broke out between Nigeria and the secessionist Republic of Biafra, he was dispatched there for three months. Writing in 2020 to mark the 50th anniversary of the war's end, Forsyth said he realised within days of arriving in Biafra that the BBC had swallowed British government propaganda. Harold Wilson's government supported Nigeria in its fight against the Biafran forces. Forsyth said: 'My brief was to report the all-conquering march of the Nigerian army. It did not happen. 'Naively, I filed this. When my report was broadcast our high commission complained to the CRO [Commonwealth Relations Office], who passed it on to the BBC – which accused me of pro-rebel bias and recalled me to London. 'Six months later, in February 1968, fed up with the slavishness of the BBC to Whitehall, I walked out and flew back to West Africa.' He said that 'every reporter, peer or parliamentarian who had visited Biafra and reported on what he had seen was smeared as a stooge'. Forsyth later wrote a non-fiction book, The Biafra Story (1969), and used some of his experiences there to inform his third novel, The Dogs of War. The conflict officially ended in 1970. It caused an estimated one million civilian deaths from starvation after the Nigerian federal government cut off food supplies to Biafra. Forsyth remained 'haunted' by what he had seen there, saying: 'Sometimes in the wee small hours I see the stick-like children with the dull eyes and lolling heads, and hear their wails of hunger and the low moans as they died. 'What is truly shameful is that this was not done by savages but aided and assisted at every stage by Oxbridge-educated British mandarins… with neutrality and diplomacy from London it could all have been avoided.'


Daily Record
6 hours ago
- Daily Record
Raploch war memorial plans take next step as long-running project moves closer
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Daily Mirror
8 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
'I was watching TV at home when deadly African scorpion crawled past my feet'
The homeowner from Swindon was given the shock of her life when the deadly scorpion appeared on her living room floor - but acted quickly to trap it under a wine glass A woman has been been lauded for her brave actions after a terrifying African scorpion appeared on her living room floor while she was watching TV. The homeowner, from Swindon, was given a huge shock when the exotic creature began scuttling across the carpet one evening earlier this month - and quickly trapped it under a wine glass. After carefully transferring the arachnid into a jam jar, she got in touch with the RSPCA, who told her to get in touch with a specialist. The scorpion - later found to belong to the venomous and potentially deadly Buthidae family - is thought to have hitched a ride in her luggage back to England after a recent trip to Africa. It was initially given to local expert Jonathan Cleverly, who lauded the anonymous woman for her quick-thinking response. He told the BBC: "She'd done a brilliant job of moving it from a wine glass into a jam jar with a secure lid so it couldn't move and escape. "She put in some lettuce for a bit of moisture. She looked after it brilliantly well." Mr Cleverly, who runs a 'Jungle Roadshow' that educates local children on different types of wildlife, said he did not believe the scorpion was an escaped pet - and believed it was likely a stowaway which had survived the trip over. He added: "The scorpion, I would like to say, is absolutely gorgeous - even if it is potentially harmful to humans, it's a very rare thing for these sorts of scorpion to make their way into the UK." The scorpion has since been sent to live with an expert who holds a Dangerous Wild Animals (DWA) licence. It's believed the critter was around 4cm long, with Jonathan calling it the "most dangerous animal" he ever had. It's not the first time a scorpion has made an unexpected visit to Britain. Last summer, a couple were left stunned after discovering a 'venomous' scorpion stowaway in their suitcase. John Gray, 27, and his girlfriend, Jodie Daly, 26, were unpacking their luggage after arriving back in England from Mexico when the unwelcome visitor suddenly emerged. He managed to trap the scorpion in a pint glass before transferring it to a takeaway container with added air holes and calling a local reptile rescue. Soon after, they discovered the arachnid was pregnant, and they kept it overnight before it could be taken to a rescue centre the following morning. Describing the incident last July, John, a client solutions manager from Streatham, South London, said: "We got back to the flat and Jodie was sorting out the washing. As she pulled out a t-shirt and the scorpion dropped out and ran into the bedroom. All I heard was her screaming and shouting - I had no idea what was going on. "She was shouting 'scorpion', but I still didn't know what she meant I ran in there and found a six-inch scorpion sitting in the bedroom trying to hide under the washing. We didn't even see one while we were in Mexico - I was shocked. I called Mitcham Zoo who work with non-native species and reptiles, and they wanted to send it over to their team to do some research. "They said it was highly likely it was highly venomous - we kept it in a container inside a Hello Fresh box. We were trying not to kill it but to also stop it from killing us."