1
00:00:02,058 --> 00:00:05,473
We've all seen the pictures and read
the stories in the history books

2
00:00:05,498 --> 00:00:08,353
about the Kings and Queens with
their power and privilege

3
00:00:08,378 --> 00:00:10,073
and silks and furs.

4
00:00:11,818 --> 00:00:16,123
But in this series, I want to
discover the other side of history.

5
00:00:16,148 --> 00:00:18,043
I'm already quite nervous.

6
00:00:18,068 --> 00:00:21,512
The side we don't often hear about -

7
00:00:21,537 --> 00:00:24,473
how ordinary British people
lived their lives.

8
00:00:25,888 --> 00:00:27,553
From the Tudors...

9
00:00:27,578 --> 00:00:30,553
You'll see
why it did attract my attention.

10
00:00:30,578 --> 00:00:31,983
Disgusting!

11
00:00:32,008 --> 00:00:33,553
...to the Victorians...

12
00:00:33,578 --> 00:00:36,863
Throw a stone in Victorian London,
you will hit a drunken cab man.

13
00:00:36,888 --> 00:00:41,063
There's that many of them.
We are not amused.

14
00:00:41,088 --> 00:00:42,572
From the Georgians...

15
00:00:42,597 --> 00:00:44,223
You take a saw. Oh, my God.

16
00:00:44,248 --> 00:00:46,783
It's horrible,
just seeing you do that.

17
00:00:48,568 --> 00:00:51,983
...to the people who really fought
the Second World War.

18
00:00:52,008 --> 00:00:57,103
James could hear the ping of bullets
and the clatter of shrapnel.

19
00:00:57,128 --> 00:01:02,333
One thing's for sure, these people
knew the meaning of the word tough.

20
00:01:03,837 --> 00:01:06,622
I'll be finding the truth
about their daily lives.

21
00:01:06,647 --> 00:01:08,492
What they ate...

22
00:01:08,517 --> 00:01:11,773
How long would that have lasted?
Up to three years.

23
00:01:11,798 --> 00:01:14,572
Ugh!
..how they made a living...

24
00:01:14,597 --> 00:01:17,893
There's even value in a rat,
when it's dead.

25
00:01:17,918 --> 00:01:20,333
...and those vital necessities
of life.

26
00:01:20,358 --> 00:01:23,173
What did you do if you wanted a pee?
Go in the bucket.

27
00:01:23,198 --> 00:01:28,043
The bucket? This is British history,
from the bottom up.

28
00:01:28,068 --> 00:01:30,483
You've got to admit,
I am terrifying.

29
00:01:38,508 --> 00:01:42,053
The Nazis were the most terrifying
enemies

30
00:01:42,078 --> 00:01:44,762
in one of the nastiest wars
in history.

31
00:01:47,258 --> 00:01:51,842
But taking them on wasn't
just down to men like him.

32
00:01:51,867 --> 00:01:55,842
Britain fought the Second World War
with a bunch of ordinary

33
00:01:55,867 --> 00:02:00,113
office workers, grocers, bakers,
and housewives.

34
00:02:00,138 --> 00:02:04,053
We know the result,
but what was it really like

35
00:02:04,078 --> 00:02:07,803
for ordinary Britons caught up
in it all?

36
00:02:07,828 --> 00:02:11,393
Most of the people who still
remember the Second World War

37
00:02:11,418 --> 00:02:13,393
were only children at the time.

38
00:02:13,418 --> 00:02:17,153
But even though they were just kids,
a lot of them

39
00:02:17,178 --> 00:02:20,993
still have vivid memories of
having to seek shelter

40
00:02:21,018 --> 00:02:24,003
because their country was under
brutal attack.

41
00:02:24,028 --> 00:02:26,493
AIR-RAID SIREN

42
00:02:26,518 --> 00:02:31,793
In 1940, eight-year-old Babs Clark
and her family found themselves

43
00:02:31,818 --> 00:02:35,563
in the thick of it all,
in London's East End.

44
00:02:35,588 --> 00:02:38,283
So, what did Babe's mum do?

45
00:02:38,308 --> 00:02:41,632
She grabbed the kids
and headed for the countryside.

46
00:02:41,657 --> 00:02:42,923
Bye- bye.

47
00:02:42,948 --> 00:02:46,053
Thousands of parents had
the same idea.

48
00:02:46,078 --> 00:02:49,642
Nearly a million schoolchildren
were packed off to the country.

49
00:02:50,678 --> 00:02:55,873
Babs and her mum
and sister Jean ended up in Torquay.

50
00:02:55,898 --> 00:02:58,233
It was amazing.

51
00:02:58,258 --> 00:03:01,273
They had a small cottage on a
farm...

52
00:03:03,537 --> 00:03:05,563
...and went to a local school.

53
00:03:05,588 --> 00:03:09,053
Best of all, they could play
on the beach every day,

54
00:03:09,078 --> 00:03:11,083
safe from the bombs.

55
00:03:11,108 --> 00:03:13,213
Or so they thought.

56
00:03:14,698 --> 00:03:16,483
Babs, now in her eighties,

57
00:03:16,508 --> 00:03:20,722
still remembers one particular
incident like it was yesterday.

58
00:03:20,747 --> 00:03:25,123
There was a couple of planes
coming in from the sea,

59
00:03:25,148 --> 00:03:27,443
and I was saying to my sister,

60
00:03:27,468 --> 00:03:30,073
"I wonder what they are, jean?"

61
00:03:31,688 --> 00:03:34,033
And it was two Messerschmitts,

62
00:03:34,058 --> 00:03:37,283
and they machine-gunned the beach
we were on.

63
00:03:41,228 --> 00:03:45,712
Course, we came home full of it,
telling my mum,

64
00:03:45,737 --> 00:03:48,793
and I won't say the actual words
my mum said,

65
00:03:48,818 --> 00:03:52,502
but in other words it was, "So and
so that for a game of soldiers -

66
00:03:52,527 --> 00:03:55,153
"we're going back to London.
I'd rather have the bombs

67
00:03:55,178 --> 00:03:58,772
"coming down than the bloody
Germans machine-gunning my kids!"

68
00:04:05,308 --> 00:04:08,073
Babs and her mum and sister
hot-footed it

69
00:04:08,098 --> 00:04:10,842
back to the family home
in Bethnal Green.

70
00:04:12,178 --> 00:04:14,923
Which was yours? This one.

71
00:04:14,948 --> 00:04:19,492
So, when you got back to London,
what was your house like?

72
00:04:19,517 --> 00:04:22,752
It was all right, apart from the
fact we had to have a tarpaulin

73
00:04:22,777 --> 00:04:24,692
over the roof.

74
00:04:24,717 --> 00:04:29,572
Cos the roof had got
blown off during the Blitz.

75
00:04:29,597 --> 00:04:33,783
And you still lived there?
Oh, yeah, yeah, course you did.

76
00:04:35,727 --> 00:04:40,203
The family's unscheduled break
in Torquay may well have

77
00:04:40,228 --> 00:04:42,213
saved their lives.

78
00:04:42,238 --> 00:04:46,392
And after Hitler had had his way
with the East End,

79
00:04:46,417 --> 00:04:48,522
it was even more fun than the beach.

80
00:04:49,908 --> 00:04:53,363
If, well, a little dangerous.

81
00:04:57,108 --> 00:05:01,213
More of a problem for growing kids
was food.

82
00:05:03,058 --> 00:05:06,923
The Government was keen to make sure
nothing got wasted.

83
00:05:08,988 --> 00:05:11,392
To make sure Britain didn't run out,

84
00:05:11,417 --> 00:05:14,673
the amount of food everybody could
eat was rationed.

85
00:05:14,698 --> 00:05:17,233
And every time you wanted
to buy something,

86
00:05:17,258 --> 00:05:20,592
you got a stamp in this,
your ration book.

87
00:05:22,637 --> 00:05:26,822
For Babs' mum,
it was a right old drag...

88
00:05:26,847 --> 00:05:28,783
"Stuff this for a game of soldiers!"

89
00:05:29,888 --> 00:05:32,783
...and provided for only
a limited menu.

90
00:05:34,168 --> 00:05:37,733
This is what Babs would have been
allowed in her rations.

91
00:05:37,758 --> 00:05:41,803
A couple of pints of milk,
some sugar, little bit of cheese,

92
00:05:41,828 --> 00:05:46,083
some jam, some marge, some lard.

93
00:05:46,108 --> 00:05:48,392
One egg and some egg powder.

94
00:05:48,417 --> 00:05:52,003
This much meat and a few sweets.

95
00:05:52,028 --> 00:05:54,213
It would make a lovely meal,
wouldn't it?

96
00:05:54,238 --> 00:05:56,753
But it had to last Babs
a whole week.

97
00:05:59,188 --> 00:06:02,454
The Government was full of useful
advice on how to make

98
00:06:02,479 --> 00:06:04,062
everything go further.

99
00:06:04,087 --> 00:06:07,062
But there was one thing that
wasn't in short supply for Babs

100
00:06:07,087 --> 00:06:09,342
and her family - greens.

101
00:06:09,367 --> 00:06:10,932
We... Hate... Spinach!

102
00:06:10,957 --> 00:06:13,652
We had our allotment
and we grew a lot of veg,

103
00:06:13,677 --> 00:06:15,982
and our allotment was in there.

104
00:06:16,007 --> 00:06:18,422
My dad used to be quite proud
of that allotment,

105
00:06:18,447 --> 00:06:21,052
what things he grew.

106
00:06:21,077 --> 00:06:22,212
Yeah.

107
00:06:22,237 --> 00:06:24,462
What did your mum make you?

108
00:06:24,487 --> 00:06:27,552
Stew, we used to have a lot of
stews.

109
00:06:29,447 --> 00:06:33,652
After tea, as night fell,
Babs and her mum and sister would

110
00:06:33,677 --> 00:06:36,831
head down to the newly built
Bethnal Green Tube station.

111
00:06:40,447 --> 00:06:43,992
East-Enders depended
on the underground as the best place

112
00:06:44,017 --> 00:06:45,902
to hide from Hitler's bombs.

113
00:06:48,087 --> 00:06:50,831
My mum got a bunk down here for us.

114
00:06:50,856 --> 00:06:52,142
A bunk?

115
00:06:52,167 --> 00:06:55,831
Yeah, it was a three-tier bunk.
Bottom, middle and top.

116
00:06:55,856 --> 00:06:58,631
There was loads of space

117
00:06:58,656 --> 00:07:02,222
because the rails hadn't yet been
laid in the new station.

118
00:07:02,247 --> 00:07:05,662
But it's surprising the bunks
didn't collapse,

119
00:07:05,687 --> 00:07:09,742
they'd been assembled
by Boy Scouts from a flat-pack.

120
00:07:09,767 --> 00:07:13,982
How far down that tunnel did
you used to sleep?

121
00:07:14,007 --> 00:07:16,222
I wouldn't like to say how
many yards,

122
00:07:16,247 --> 00:07:19,711
but it was a good 10, 15 minute
walk. Really?

123
00:07:19,736 --> 00:07:21,371
It was quite a way down.

124
00:07:21,396 --> 00:07:23,581
And you didn't feel claustrophobic?

125
00:07:23,606 --> 00:07:27,862
No, no. I mean, you had the bunks
either side and the walkway

126
00:07:27,887 --> 00:07:31,742
in the middle, and I think it was
because we knew so many people,

127
00:07:31,767 --> 00:07:35,782
my mum would stop and talk to them
and you got to your bunk in the end.

128
00:07:35,807 --> 00:07:38,142
What did you do if you wanted a pee?

129
00:07:38,167 --> 00:07:40,862
Go in the bucket. The bucket?

130
00:07:40,887 --> 00:07:46,461
Yeah, they had buckets, every so far
along, with a curtain round it.

131
00:07:47,526 --> 00:07:48,982
Very smelly.

132
00:07:54,117 --> 00:07:57,192
Apart from the smell,
it all sounds rather jolly.

133
00:07:57,217 --> 00:07:59,782
It was like an underground town.

134
00:07:59,807 --> 00:08:02,772
With a library, doctor's surgery...

135
00:08:02,797 --> 00:08:04,491
Say "ah".

136
00:08:05,957 --> 00:08:08,701
...and a hall for weddings
or parties.

137
00:08:08,726 --> 00:08:13,182
Every time a soldier came home,
they had a jolly shindig.

138
00:08:15,207 --> 00:08:17,192
Did you feel safe here?

139
00:08:17,217 --> 00:08:20,942
Yeah. But there again, you see,
I had my mum and my sister,

140
00:08:20,967 --> 00:08:23,662
so I felt safe cos I was with them.

141
00:08:23,687 --> 00:08:26,742
I wonder if you left anything
down there? Bit of chewing gum.

142
00:08:26,767 --> 00:08:29,143
I stuck it on one of the walls.

143
00:08:29,168 --> 00:08:32,783
Could still be there, couldn't it?
I reckon it still is there, yeah.

144
00:08:32,808 --> 00:08:36,832
But the fun was about
to come to a juddering halt,

145
00:08:36,857 --> 00:08:40,432
as, once again,
the realities of war hit home.

146
00:08:40,457 --> 00:08:45,602
On 3rd March 1943, an incident
took place at Bethnal Green,

147
00:08:45,627 --> 00:08:48,612
which, in moments, became
a major tragedy.

148
00:08:48,637 --> 00:08:51,553
Coming up...
Disaster in the Underground,

149
00:08:51,578 --> 00:08:55,343
and Babs' family are caught up
in the panic and turmoil...

150
00:08:55,368 --> 00:08:57,702
There were
so many people down the stairs,

151
00:08:57,727 --> 00:08:59,423
they were all falling on top 'em.

152
00:08:59,448 --> 00:09:01,293
...and the young office boy

153
00:09:01,318 --> 00:09:04,553
who left his fiancee and dad
for the front line.

154
00:09:12,807 --> 00:09:16,462
In London's East End,
during the Second World War,

155
00:09:16,487 --> 00:09:18,792
people like eight-year-old
Babs Clark

156
00:09:18,817 --> 00:09:22,053
depended on the London Underground
for their survival.

157
00:09:22,078 --> 00:09:24,743
But one evening in 1943,

158
00:09:24,768 --> 00:09:29,863
something truly tragic happened
at Bethnal Green Tube.

159
00:09:29,888 --> 00:09:34,953
It was a rainy night,
the air-raid siren went off at 8:17,

160
00:09:34,978 --> 00:09:38,973
people started coming down into
the Tube, as they always did.

161
00:09:38,998 --> 00:09:42,452
But at that moment,
anti-aircraft guns began to start

162
00:09:42,477 --> 00:09:45,743
firing in Victoria Park,
just over the road there.

163
00:09:49,118 --> 00:09:52,313
So more and more people came down.

164
00:09:52,338 --> 00:09:54,893
And it was very dark,
they'd only got one light

165
00:09:54,918 --> 00:09:56,823
because of the blackout.

166
00:09:56,848 --> 00:10:00,743
And there weren't handrails here
then, like there are now.

167
00:10:00,768 --> 00:10:03,053
And all the steps were
really slippy.

168
00:10:03,078 --> 00:10:06,953
And a woman tripped over
with her son, and some old chap

169
00:10:06,978 --> 00:10:11,873
fell on top of them and more
and more people kept pressing down

170
00:10:11,898 --> 00:10:15,233
until they were right up to the
ceiling, crushing each other.

171
00:10:17,128 --> 00:10:19,903
Although Babs survived, many didn't.

172
00:10:19,928 --> 00:10:23,313
A memorial next to
Bethnal Green Tube station,

173
00:10:23,338 --> 00:10:25,383
erected surprisingly recently,

174
00:10:25,408 --> 00:10:30,863
in 2017, marks the worst British
civilian disaster in World War ll.

175
00:10:30,888 --> 00:10:35,503
173 people were crushed to death.

176
00:10:35,528 --> 00:10:37,693
What do you remember
about that night?

177
00:10:37,718 --> 00:10:43,103
I know I got pushed and I fell over
something, and somebody fell on me.

178
00:10:43,128 --> 00:10:45,943
There were so many people
down the stairs, they were all

179
00:10:45,968 --> 00:10:49,412
falling on top of them,
and I just heard my sister saying,

180
00:10:49,437 --> 00:10:53,303
"Oh, don't pull me out yet,
I've got my little sister here."

181
00:10:53,328 --> 00:10:57,023
And with that, whoever it was
pulled the pair of us out.

182
00:10:58,258 --> 00:11:00,703
Didn't know what had happened
to my mum.

183
00:11:03,808 --> 00:11:06,033
And my sister was going round asking

184
00:11:06,058 --> 00:11:10,233
if people had seen anything of our
mum, which they hadn't, and then

185
00:11:10,258 --> 00:11:12,263
an air-raid warden said to her,

186
00:11:12,288 --> 00:11:15,113
"Go in that room,
she might be in there."

187
00:11:15,138 --> 00:11:18,993
jean went in there,
and it was all dead bodies

188
00:11:19,018 --> 00:11:21,513
she had to look at
to see if our mum was there.

189
00:11:23,338 --> 00:11:25,913
Luckily, Babs' mum had survived.

190
00:11:25,938 --> 00:11:29,592
And the next day,
life went on as usual.

191
00:11:29,617 --> 00:11:33,823
She still got us up the next
morning, for me to go to school.

192
00:11:33,848 --> 00:11:37,743
And the headmaster was in assembly,
and he said, "There's been

193
00:11:37,768 --> 00:11:41,592
"a bad accident at Bethnal Green
Tube station."

194
00:11:41,617 --> 00:11:44,693
And he said, "Any of you children
that were in it, you can

195
00:11:44,718 --> 00:11:45,953
"go home for the day."

196
00:11:47,288 --> 00:11:51,422
Well, half the school come home with
us! They all marched out!

197
00:11:55,538 --> 00:11:58,633
Did you ever use that shelter again
or was it closed down?

198
00:11:58,658 --> 00:12:01,113
Oh, no, we used it
the following night.

199
00:12:02,858 --> 00:12:07,823
Babs and her family just kept calm
and carried on.

200
00:12:07,848 --> 00:12:11,313
The German bombing campaign
deliberately set up to

201
00:12:11,338 --> 00:12:13,552
undermine our morale,

202
00:12:13,577 --> 00:12:18,753
but, talking to Babs, I get a real
sense of the conviction

203
00:12:18,778 --> 00:12:22,393
and determination that was shared
by almost everyone.

204
00:12:22,418 --> 00:12:26,552
And I reckon it was that, as much
as anything, that got us through.

205
00:12:28,018 --> 00:12:32,233
Many, though,
faced a different kind of danger.

206
00:12:32,258 --> 00:12:35,462
Hundreds of thousands of ordinary
young men were learning

207
00:12:35,487 --> 00:12:37,462
how to fight and to kill.

208
00:12:38,697 --> 00:12:40,823
James Palmer was one of them.

209
00:12:41,908 --> 00:12:46,233
James Palmer lived
in Hulme, Manchester with his dad.

210
00:12:46,258 --> 00:12:49,743
He was very larky,
very jokey as a lad.

211
00:12:49,768 --> 00:12:52,973
"Oh, by 'eck,
do you think they're impressed?!

212
00:12:52,998 --> 00:12:57,043
"I should flipping well hope so!
Very good, what's next?"

213
00:12:57,068 --> 00:13:01,682
By 1939, he was working
as an office boy in a garage.

214
00:13:01,707 --> 00:13:05,393
He spent a lot of time
with his girlfriend Muriel.

215
00:13:05,418 --> 00:13:08,393
And he was just about to turn 21.

216
00:13:09,858 --> 00:13:13,113
James's birthday was on July 1st.

217
00:13:13,138 --> 00:13:16,143
But it was a slightly glum affair.

218
00:13:17,728 --> 00:13:22,393
War was on the horizon
and young men between the ages of 20

219
00:13:22,418 --> 00:13:26,672
and 22 were being recruited by the
Government to boost Army numbers.

220
00:13:26,697 --> 00:13:31,592
James must have opened his birthday
cards with mixed feelings.

221
00:13:33,728 --> 00:13:37,713
Especially as one of the cards
wasn't a card at all.

222
00:13:37,738 --> 00:13:40,633
It was his call-up notice.

223
00:13:40,658 --> 00:13:44,243
Within two weeks, James was being
seen off at the station

224
00:13:44,268 --> 00:13:46,963
by his girlfriend and his dad.

225
00:13:46,988 --> 00:13:51,313
James's parting from his father was
emotional for both men.

226
00:13:51,338 --> 00:13:53,602
His dad had served in the First War

227
00:13:53,627 --> 00:13:57,422
and had seen the horrors
of the battlefield first-hand.

228
00:13:57,447 --> 00:14:01,342
And when his wife had died, he'd
devoted himself to looking after

229
00:14:01,367 --> 00:14:06,113
his son - and now
he was going to have to let him go.

230
00:14:06,138 --> 00:14:08,053
He must have been worried sick.

231
00:14:08,078 --> 00:14:10,063
He knew all about war.

232
00:14:11,898 --> 00:14:15,422
James wrote in his diary
on the day he left...

233
00:14:15,447 --> 00:14:18,143
Muriel was in tears,
clinging to my arm.

234
00:14:18,168 --> 00:14:20,472
Dad turned away as she kissed me.

235
00:14:20,497 --> 00:14:23,783
A lump in my throat prevented me
from saying much.

236
00:14:23,808 --> 00:14:27,323
I was on my way
to God knows where or what.

237
00:14:27,348 --> 00:14:30,753
Where James was actually headed
was Warminster,

238
00:14:30,778 --> 00:14:33,403
to join the 13th Tank Regiment.

239
00:14:39,697 --> 00:14:45,143
On his first day, James was
presented with loads of stuff.

240
00:14:46,778 --> 00:14:50,783
I'm meeting Alex Jones,
a war veteran and Army historian,

241
00:14:50,808 --> 00:14:52,633
to find out more.

242
00:14:52,658 --> 00:14:56,403
So he would suddenly have been
responsible for all this?

243
00:14:56,428 --> 00:14:59,472
Absolutely. As soon as he arrived,
he would have been given

244
00:14:59,497 --> 00:15:00,913
a kit bag in the QM Stores.

245
00:15:00,938 --> 00:15:03,352
And, of course, if the Army gives
someone kit and equipment,

246
00:15:03,377 --> 00:15:05,552
you know there's going to be
inspections coming up.

247
00:15:05,577 --> 00:15:08,472
He'd have had to have bulled
his boots, he would have had to

248
00:15:08,497 --> 00:15:11,602
have pressed his kit,
he would have had to have blancoed

249
00:15:11,627 --> 00:15:15,313
the webbing as well, so given it
this kind of nice green protective

250
00:15:15,338 --> 00:15:18,113
layer, which all the soldiers
thought was utterly pointless.

251
00:15:18,138 --> 00:15:20,863
"Don't say a word,
absolute silence."

252
00:15:20,888 --> 00:15:23,983
So, this is what his set-up would
have been like.

253
00:15:24,008 --> 00:15:26,743
He's not real, by the way.
Just in case you were wondering.

254
00:15:26,768 --> 00:15:30,593
He'd have had a cupboard like this,
with all his stuff in it,

255
00:15:30,618 --> 00:15:32,352
and his uniforms laid out.

256
00:15:32,377 --> 00:15:35,323
And he'd have had
a regulation blanket,

257
00:15:35,348 --> 00:15:39,682
everything shipshape,
all out there for the world to see.

258
00:15:39,707 --> 00:15:44,393
But amidst all this boysy jollity,
James met the corporal in charge.

259
00:15:45,948 --> 00:15:49,682
Jock - a regular soldier.

260
00:15:49,707 --> 00:15:54,352
On the first night,
the lights go out, darkness,

261
00:15:54,377 --> 00:15:56,193
you're supposed to go to sleep.

262
00:15:56,218 --> 00:16:00,713
But some of the recruits
keep on talking, and Jock tells them

263
00:16:00,738 --> 00:16:04,503
to shut up. But they don't - in
fact, they're talking even louder.

264
00:16:04,528 --> 00:16:06,222
And Jock goes...

265
00:16:06,247 --> 00:16:09,863
IN SCOTTISH ACCENT: "When I tell you
to do something, you do it!"

266
00:16:09,888 --> 00:16:12,833
And it goes completely silent.

267
00:16:12,858 --> 00:16:16,873
And then one of the recruits
says, "Get stuffed!"

268
00:16:16,898 --> 00:16:20,393
And then all hell breaks loose -
Jock grabs him

269
00:16:20,418 --> 00:16:24,143
and punches him straight in the
face, and knocks him out cold.

270
00:16:24,168 --> 00:16:26,783
Welcome to the war, James.

271
00:16:28,808 --> 00:16:31,393
But it wasn't only this
mouthy private

272
00:16:31,418 --> 00:16:33,783
who got a rude shock from Army life.

273
00:16:33,808 --> 00:16:36,143
James and the new soldiers like him

274
00:16:36,168 --> 00:16:38,342
were complete fishes out of water,
weren't they?

275
00:16:38,367 --> 00:16:40,552
They really were, cos
they didn't have any prior military

276
00:16:40,577 --> 00:16:43,552
training, maybe the only experience
they had were the stories maybe

277
00:16:43,577 --> 00:16:45,482
from their fathers.
We know james's father

278
00:16:45,507 --> 00:16:47,273
was a veteran of the Somme, for
example.

279
00:16:47,298 --> 00:16:49,323
Yeah. What would his training have
been?

280
00:16:49,348 --> 00:16:52,232
Well, James, when he first turned
up, would have undertaken

281
00:16:52,257 --> 00:16:54,043
8 weeks of basic military training.

282
00:17:00,148 --> 00:17:03,513
It also would have consisted
of anti-gas training.

283
00:17:03,538 --> 00:17:07,763
The Army was very
concerned about the gas threats.

284
00:17:07,788 --> 00:17:11,232
Behind you, there is a pretty
fearsome-looking instrument.

285
00:17:11,257 --> 00:17:13,913
Presumably he would have been
trained on that?

286
00:17:13,938 --> 00:17:15,843
Yes, this is the Vickers machinegun,

287
00:17:15,868 --> 00:17:18,043
which would have been the standard
armament in a lot

288
00:17:18,068 --> 00:17:19,863
of British light tanks at the start
of the war.

289
00:17:19,888 --> 00:17:23,232
James recounts when he first
gets his chance to shoot on a

290
00:17:23,257 --> 00:17:27,153
live range, he's so excited he just
fires off all the rounds at once.

291
00:17:27,178 --> 00:17:30,123
He's going, "Blam, blam, blam, blam,
blam," forever and ever?

292
00:17:30,148 --> 00:17:33,993
Well, no, because all he has, given
the cuts to training allowances,

293
00:17:34,018 --> 00:17:35,503
is 20 rounds to practise with.

294
00:17:37,298 --> 00:17:39,593
Which, at about 500 rounds a minute,

295
00:17:39,618 --> 00:17:42,873
meant that James would be out
of ammo

296
00:17:42,898 --> 00:17:45,083
in, ooh, about two seconds.

297
00:17:45,108 --> 00:17:46,963
"Oh."

298
00:17:48,438 --> 00:17:50,593
Perhaps because of his enthusiasm,

299
00:17:50,618 --> 00:17:53,482
James was assigned to be a gunner
on a tank.

300
00:17:57,978 --> 00:18:02,793
Then in late May 1940,
the call finally came.

301
00:18:02,818 --> 00:18:05,993
James was going to fight in France.

302
00:18:06,018 --> 00:18:10,153
He was given 48 hours leave
and then, he was off.

303
00:18:12,098 --> 00:18:15,422
He spent his last day in Britain
with his girlfriend, Muriel,

304
00:18:15,447 --> 00:18:18,713
and his father,
before heading across the Channel.

305
00:18:22,818 --> 00:18:26,362
When he landed, the German army was
only a few miles away,

306
00:18:26,387 --> 00:18:29,673
and his tank troop soon found itself
under attack.

307
00:18:34,698 --> 00:18:38,603
As we topped the rise, anti-tank
guns hit us from the right flank.

308
00:18:38,628 --> 00:18:41,673
Four of our tanks were ablaze
before we had gone ten yards.

309
00:18:41,698 --> 00:18:43,723
We were sitting ducks.

310
00:18:43,748 --> 00:18:45,352
It was sheer murder.

311
00:18:46,878 --> 00:18:49,562
I saw some men running
amongst the trees,

312
00:18:49,587 --> 00:18:51,773
with their clothes burning
like torches.

313
00:18:51,798 --> 00:18:54,203
Men were dragging their pals through
the mud,

314
00:18:54,228 --> 00:18:55,873
away from the burning tanks,

315
00:18:55,898 --> 00:18:59,403
and the smell of burning flesh
was catching my throat.

316
00:18:59,428 --> 00:19:02,803
James crouched, and he could hear
the ping of bullets,

317
00:19:02,828 --> 00:19:05,403
and the clatter of shrapnel.

318
00:19:05,428 --> 00:19:10,810
But his tank driver pressed on and
on, through the hailstorm of fire,

319
00:19:10,835 --> 00:19:14,734
and eventually he reached
the other side of the valley.

320
00:19:14,759 --> 00:19:17,814
Their first action had been
a disaster, though.

321
00:19:17,839 --> 00:19:23,174
Only 4 of the 25 lads
in james's troop were still alive.

322
00:19:25,269 --> 00:19:29,094
Soon, his regiment was
desperately retracing the path

323
00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:33,283
back to the coast
as they Army retreated via Dunkirk.

324
00:19:34,428 --> 00:19:38,333
They were off back to Blighty
almost as soon as they'd left.

325
00:19:41,279 --> 00:19:45,614
James returned to Manchester and
proposed to Muriel.

326
00:19:45,639 --> 00:19:47,644
She said yes.

327
00:19:47,669 --> 00:19:50,094
But now James had a war to win.

328
00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:54,044
He'd be in some of its most crucial
battles before life would

329
00:19:54,069 --> 00:19:56,134
return to anything like normal,

330
00:19:56,159 --> 00:20:00,644
and he and his new fiance, Muriel,
could finally tie the knot.

331
00:20:02,358 --> 00:20:05,564
Coming up...
The truck-driving grocer's daughter

332
00:20:05,589 --> 00:20:07,894
who rubbed shoulders with royalty.

333
00:20:07,919 --> 00:20:09,203
Little did she know, though,

334
00:20:09,228 --> 00:20:13,844
what use her driving skills
would be, once the war started.

335
00:20:13,869 --> 00:20:17,894
And life under German occupiers
in the Channel Islands.

336
00:20:17,919 --> 00:20:20,564
They had fixed bayonets and
they went through the toy basket,

337
00:20:20,589 --> 00:20:22,614
under the bed - wicker toy basket -

338
00:20:22,639 --> 00:20:25,134
and it went right through
my panda bear's stomach.

339
00:20:32,089 --> 00:20:37,138
For many ordinary Brits, taking
on Hitler's fearsome war machine

340
00:20:37,163 --> 00:20:39,610
demanded a brazen response.

341
00:20:41,403 --> 00:20:44,934
And women especially
suddenly found themselves doing

342
00:20:44,959 --> 00:20:48,094
all sorts of things
they'd never imagined doing.

343
00:20:51,849 --> 00:20:54,144
Women like Eileen Heron.

344
00:20:54,169 --> 00:20:59,094
In 1939, Eileen was 23,
but she still lived at home

345
00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:03,344
because she worked for her family's
grocery business in Folkestone,

346
00:21:03,369 --> 00:21:07,374
where she served behind the counter
and drove the delivery van.

347
00:21:07,399 --> 00:21:09,624
Eileen was a bit of a pioneer.

348
00:21:09,649 --> 00:21:13,214
When she was only 20, she'd
been among the first women to take

349
00:21:13,239 --> 00:21:15,703
the newly introduced driving test.

350
00:21:15,728 --> 00:21:17,903
Little did she know, though,

351
00:21:17,928 --> 00:21:21,624
what use her driving skills
would be, once the war started.

352
00:21:23,299 --> 00:21:27,864
Just three months into it,
43,000 women volunteered for

353
00:21:27,889 --> 00:21:33,533
the Auxiliary Territorial Service,
or ATS - the women's infantry.

354
00:21:33,558 --> 00:21:37,713
And Eileen decided to do her bit,
and join them.

355
00:21:40,659 --> 00:21:43,663
The Army welcomed her
with an armful of jabs...

356
00:21:43,688 --> 00:21:46,104
"Just a scratch! Agh!"

357
00:21:46,129 --> 00:21:49,174
"from a needle already blunted
by the other recruits.

358
00:21:50,938 --> 00:21:54,984
She shared a freezing Nissen hut
with around 20 other women,

359
00:21:55,009 --> 00:21:58,294
but at least they could help
each other take their medicine...

360
00:21:58,319 --> 00:22:02,214
...before settling down on a lumpy
mattress.

361
00:22:02,239 --> 00:22:04,134
"Oh, night-night."

362
00:22:04,159 --> 00:22:06,944
I wonder if Eileen regretted
her decision

363
00:22:06,969 --> 00:22:10,604
as she sat in her freezing-cold
barracks.

364
00:22:10,629 --> 00:22:13,214
There was 3 feet of snow
on the ground

365
00:22:13,239 --> 00:22:17,443
and, OK, the recruits were given a
bucket of coal a day, but one bucket

366
00:22:17,468 --> 00:22:22,094
was hardly going to make any impact
at all in a tin building.

367
00:22:23,728 --> 00:22:27,304
At the end of the first week, she
trudged all the way to the nearest

368
00:22:27,329 --> 00:22:31,734
town for a hot bath at the swimming
pool and a nice cup of cocoa.

369
00:22:34,639 --> 00:22:38,504
But getting used to un-sumptuous
living conditions was the easy bit.

370
00:22:38,529 --> 00:22:40,304
Eileen was in the Army now,

371
00:22:40,329 --> 00:22:44,344
and there was a whole new world
of pain to embrace.

372
00:22:44,369 --> 00:22:48,894
For the new recruits,
training was intense and relentless.

373
00:22:48,919 --> 00:22:52,014
From the shrill sound
of the bugle at 6am...

374
00:22:54,249 --> 00:22:58,024
The whole day was a long
list of drills...

375
00:22:59,279 --> 00:23:04,074
...physical exercises,
and skills training.

376
00:23:04,099 --> 00:23:08,424
And all for a measly
11 shillings a week -

377
00:23:08,449 --> 00:23:12,744
two-thirds of what a man
of the same rank would have got.

378
00:23:12,769 --> 00:23:16,374
But Eileen was special,
she was a high-value recruit

379
00:23:16,399 --> 00:23:19,064
because she had
something the Army needed -

380
00:23:19,089 --> 00:23:21,374
she could drive a truck.

381
00:23:24,199 --> 00:23:28,094
So-called Tilly trucks were used
as anything from ambulances

382
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,694
to carriers of vital military
equipment.

383
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:34,523
And I'm having a go on one.

384
00:23:34,548 --> 00:23:37,854
The clutch and the accelerator
and the braking is great,

385
00:23:37,879 --> 00:23:40,174
but the steering - phwoar.

386
00:23:40,199 --> 00:23:45,713
Oh! It leaves lot to be desired
compared with today's cars.

387
00:23:45,738 --> 00:23:49,034
Every time I go round a corner,
I feel it in my biceps.

388
00:23:49,059 --> 00:23:53,333
But these were brilliant vehicles,
they were so adaptable,

389
00:23:53,358 --> 00:23:56,074
real dogsbodies vehicles.

390
00:23:57,409 --> 00:24:01,144
But the downside was that they were
very bumpy and uncomfortable.

391
00:24:01,169 --> 00:24:05,504
I'm having a great time, but I'm
only doing it for one morning.

392
00:24:05,529 --> 00:24:08,614
Eileen had to do it
month after month.

393
00:24:08,639 --> 00:24:11,624
Poor old Eileen,
she must have been knackered.

394
00:24:11,649 --> 00:24:14,864
In fact, she called it her
wretched Tilley.

395
00:24:14,889 --> 00:24:18,374
That was a really good drive. It was
nice and simple, you know, there's

396
00:24:18,399 --> 00:24:21,424
only sort of four or five little
things to push and pull on it.

397
00:24:21,449 --> 00:24:23,064
But the vis is not very good at all,

398
00:24:23,089 --> 00:24:25,074
it must have been very
difficult at night.

399
00:24:25,099 --> 00:24:27,583
Absolutely, and especially
because of the blackouts.

400
00:24:27,608 --> 00:24:30,174
Headlights would have been just
a glimmer of light

401
00:24:30,199 --> 00:24:32,744
coming from that,
and obviously the threat of invasion

402
00:24:32,769 --> 00:24:35,254
was at its height, so all of the
signposts have all been taken down.

403
00:24:35,279 --> 00:24:38,224
So you'd have to rely on map reading
and knowing where they were going.

404
00:24:38,249 --> 00:24:41,694
Juliette Pattinson is
an historian of the ATS.

405
00:24:41,719 --> 00:24:45,424
She knows all about everyday life
for women like Eileen.

406
00:24:45,449 --> 00:24:46,884
Well, they're in barracks,

407
00:24:46,909 --> 00:24:49,104
so they're going to be having mass
catering,

408
00:24:49,129 --> 00:24:53,264
hearty, nutritious meals that
could be feeding hundreds of people.

409
00:24:56,209 --> 00:24:59,154
They actually got better rations
than the ordinary civilian,

410
00:24:59,179 --> 00:25:02,114
but... So I think she would have
been well fed.

411
00:25:02,139 --> 00:25:05,074
And the rest of the time
when she wasn't working?

412
00:25:05,099 --> 00:25:07,694
She worked long hours,
but she would always have time off,

413
00:25:07,719 --> 00:25:10,793
and they would go to the cinema,
there would always be

414
00:25:10,818 --> 00:25:13,264
dances on a Saturday, women
were very much in demand at the

415
00:25:13,289 --> 00:25:16,304
local Army barracks, so I think
they played hard and worked hard.

416
00:25:18,649 --> 00:25:21,974
There's lots of nice accounts, where
women talk about wearing

417
00:25:21,999 --> 00:25:24,583
a bit of lipstick, wearing
non-regulation underwear, cos

418
00:25:24,608 --> 00:25:28,154
nobody's going to notice they're not
wearing their khaki pants.

419
00:25:28,179 --> 00:25:31,864
Um, so there are opportunities
for these women to individualise

420
00:25:31,889 --> 00:25:34,144
the muddy green/grey dull uniform.

421
00:25:35,449 --> 00:25:38,374
There was a slogan that
beauty is a duty too.

422
00:25:38,399 --> 00:25:40,094
So you have these manufacturers,

423
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:43,864
whether it's of toothpaste
or breakfast cereal or shampoo,

424
00:25:43,889 --> 00:25:46,944
and it would be very much, you know,
the woman in the ATS, like Eileen,

425
00:25:46,969 --> 00:25:50,264
who would be applying a particular
kind of face cream, for example.

426
00:25:50,289 --> 00:25:54,194
There was this expectation
that women would pay attention

427
00:25:54,219 --> 00:25:55,583
to their appearance,

428
00:25:55,608 --> 00:25:58,984
because actually it would have
a knock-on effect on male morale.

429
00:25:59,009 --> 00:26:01,834
I bet if I said to you
beauty is a duty too now,

430
00:26:01,859 --> 00:26:03,663
you'd smack me in the nose!

431
00:26:03,688 --> 00:26:05,824
I'm not going to answer
that question!

432
00:26:08,488 --> 00:26:12,314
Eileen might not have enjoyed
driving her Tilly very much,

433
00:26:12,339 --> 00:26:16,704
but she was obviously pretty good
at it because soon, she was made a

434
00:26:16,729 --> 00:26:20,154
driving instructor and was promoted
to the rank of Lance Corporal.

435
00:26:20,179 --> 00:26:24,423
This meant she now
had 25 trainees under her,

436
00:26:24,448 --> 00:26:26,164
and a lot more responsibility.

437
00:26:28,649 --> 00:26:31,803
Under Eileen,
hundreds of women learned to drive

438
00:26:31,828 --> 00:26:34,944
and maintain motorbikes,
ambulances and trucks,

439
00:26:34,969 --> 00:26:38,984
helping the war effort
to smash the Nazis.

440
00:26:39,009 --> 00:26:43,264
But she was about to experience
something even more exciting.

441
00:26:43,289 --> 00:26:45,904
PHONE RINGS

442
00:26:45,929 --> 00:26:49,954
One day, Eileen was ordered to go
to her commandant's office,

443
00:26:49,979 --> 00:26:52,154
and he told her a secret.

444
00:26:52,179 --> 00:26:56,624
Apparently, a new subaltern,
which was the equivalent of a second

445
00:26:56,649 --> 00:27:00,463
lieutenant, was going to be working
alongside her and her friends.

446
00:27:00,488 --> 00:27:02,984
But this was no ordinary subaltern.

447
00:27:03,009 --> 00:27:05,984
Her name was Princess Elizabeth.

448
00:27:08,899 --> 00:27:11,054
Eileen and Princess Elizabeth were

449
00:27:11,079 --> 00:27:13,384
soon mending the Tilly trucks
together.

450
00:27:13,409 --> 00:27:18,154
By day, Subaltern Elizabeth
mucked in with the other girls,

451
00:27:18,179 --> 00:27:21,384
but at night
she turned back into a princess

452
00:27:21,409 --> 00:27:23,944
and went to sleep in her castle.

453
00:27:23,969 --> 00:27:25,744
OWL HOOTS

454
00:27:25,769 --> 00:27:29,583
Eileen wrote at the time that the
Princess was "quite striking.

455
00:27:29,608 --> 00:27:33,274
"Pretty with lovely eyes
and a charming smile."

456
00:27:33,299 --> 00:27:37,114
But more
celebrities were about to appear.

457
00:27:37,139 --> 00:27:43,164
One day, King George VI
and his wife turn up to have a

458
00:27:43,189 --> 00:27:46,104
look at exactly what it is
their daughter, Princess Elizabeth,

459
00:27:46,129 --> 00:27:48,884
is doing, and it's,
it's all pomp and circumstance.

460
00:27:48,909 --> 00:27:52,343
Until suddenly, King George leans
under the bonnet,

461
00:27:52,368 --> 00:27:55,184
starts fiddling away with the
engine, Lord knows what he's doing.

462
00:27:55,209 --> 00:27:57,984
"One wonders what this bit does?"

463
00:27:58,009 --> 00:28:02,343
Elizabeth's panicking, everyone else
is laughing, then Elizabeth

464
00:28:02,368 --> 00:28:07,514
gets HER hands out and says,
"Look, Dad, they're all oily."

465
00:28:08,618 --> 00:28:11,543
Everyone seems to have seen
the funny side.

466
00:28:11,568 --> 00:28:13,147
Eileen later wrote that,

467
00:28:13,172 --> 00:28:16,903
"The Queen was very interested
to see who these girls were,

468
00:28:16,928 --> 00:28:18,873
"consorting with her elder daughter.

469
00:28:18,898 --> 00:28:21,662
"And the King was absolutely
charming."

470
00:28:21,687 --> 00:28:23,903
The visit was filmed at length

471
00:28:23,928 --> 00:28:27,233
and became a very effective piece
of wartime propaganda.

472
00:28:28,848 --> 00:28:33,193
For most ordinary people at that
time, the King and Queen had become

473
00:28:33,218 --> 00:28:37,273
powerful symbols of the kind of
country that they were fighting for.

474
00:28:37,298 --> 00:28:42,993
So, when their daughter, Princess
Elizabeth was seen amongst them,

475
00:28:43,018 --> 00:28:45,913
mucking in, getting her hands dirty,

476
00:28:45,938 --> 00:28:48,873
it must've sent
a really powerful message.

477
00:28:48,898 --> 00:28:51,993
When the Nazis finally
threw in the towel,

478
00:28:52,018 --> 00:28:57,542
Victory in Europe was celebrated
with a party to end all parties.

479
00:28:57,567 --> 00:29:01,143
Eileen and the other women
of the ATS let rip outside

480
00:29:01,168 --> 00:29:02,773
Buckingham Palace.

481
00:29:02,798 --> 00:29:05,973
And even Princess Elizabeth snuck
out incognito

482
00:29:05,998 --> 00:29:07,592
to gate-crash the party.

483
00:29:13,798 --> 00:29:16,973
Four years before those joyful
celebrations,

484
00:29:16,998 --> 00:29:19,383
it had only been that
bit of muddy water

485
00:29:19,408 --> 00:29:23,913
we call the English Channel
that held the Nazi foe at bay.

486
00:29:23,938 --> 00:29:28,472
But some rather unlucky Brits
didn't even have that.

487
00:29:28,497 --> 00:29:34,143
It's easy to forget that over 60,000
British people lived under

488
00:29:34,168 --> 00:29:37,592
Nazi control
here in the Channel Islands...

489
00:29:39,888 --> 00:29:44,592
"from June 1940
all the way through to 1945.

490
00:29:46,168 --> 00:29:49,993
The German invaders were excited
to have claimed a little

491
00:29:50,018 --> 00:29:52,233
piece of Britain.
I suppose that, for them,

492
00:29:52,258 --> 00:29:55,542
compared to fighting, say, on the
Russian front...

493
00:29:57,288 --> 00:29:59,243
# Hello, sunshine, hello, sky... #

494
00:29:59,268 --> 00:30:01,623
...it was almost a holiday.

495
00:30:04,058 --> 00:30:06,853
But not so for the locals.

496
00:30:06,878 --> 00:30:09,313
"Just keep walking."

497
00:30:09,338 --> 00:30:11,682
There may not have been any
fighting,

498
00:30:11,707 --> 00:30:13,623
but the very feeling of being

499
00:30:13,648 --> 00:30:17,263
British, and any connection with
Britain was under attack.

500
00:30:17,288 --> 00:30:19,193
Can you imagine what life would have

501
00:30:19,218 --> 00:30:21,623
been like here
during the German occupation?

502
00:30:21,648 --> 00:30:24,783
Wouldn't have been a lot of happy,
smiling faces, I can tell you that.

503
00:30:26,718 --> 00:30:29,422
One ordinary Briton, Hubert Lanyon,

504
00:30:29,447 --> 00:30:34,063
was the only baker on the small
island of Sark, just off Guernsey.

505
00:30:34,088 --> 00:30:36,873
He lived there
with his wife and four kids,

506
00:30:36,898 --> 00:30:39,503
including five-year-old Maisie.

507
00:30:39,528 --> 00:30:43,273
I just remembered being told,
oh, the Germans are coming,

508
00:30:43,298 --> 00:30:47,043
the Germans are coming, and then
when they arrived, they marched,

509
00:30:47,068 --> 00:30:51,073
and they used to sing...
beautiful songs, and it just echoed

510
00:30:51,098 --> 00:30:54,833
all around the island. It was really
lovely to hear them singing.

511
00:30:54,858 --> 00:30:57,552
And of course,
we were a bit apprehensive,

512
00:30:57,577 --> 00:31:01,823
but once we got to know them, the
ordinary soldier was quite friendly.

513
00:31:01,848 --> 00:31:06,833
But, for Hubert, the new regime
changed everything overnight.

514
00:31:06,858 --> 00:31:11,422
He even had to share his baker's
oven with the Germans.

515
00:31:11,447 --> 00:31:15,232
They had half the week
and he had half the week and, as war

516
00:31:15,257 --> 00:31:19,633
went on, the provisions came from
France. The flour was terrible

517
00:31:19,658 --> 00:31:22,323
quality, it was full of bits
of wood...

518
00:31:24,178 --> 00:31:26,552
"stones, and rat droppings.

519
00:31:26,577 --> 00:31:30,552
To make things worse,
the departing British Army had taken

520
00:31:30,577 --> 00:31:33,562
a lot of the Channel Islands'
food supplies with it.

521
00:31:33,587 --> 00:31:35,153
And there wasn't much left.

522
00:31:36,658 --> 00:31:40,863
We could manage to grow vegetables
which was, you know, a saving grace.

523
00:31:40,888 --> 00:31:43,843
We didn't have meat, we
didn't have much meat, just rabbit.

524
00:31:43,868 --> 00:31:46,323
But, er, whatever animal was killed
had to be shared

525
00:31:46,348 --> 00:31:48,913
with the Germans,
the Germans had their proportion,

526
00:31:48,938 --> 00:31:52,193
and there was so much left
for the islanders. Yeah.

527
00:31:54,298 --> 00:31:58,552
So the local people started
to think outside the box,

528
00:31:58,577 --> 00:32:02,273
and go in search of new culinary
experiences.

529
00:32:02,298 --> 00:32:04,113
II

530
00:32:04,138 --> 00:32:07,623
The beach was awash with seaweed,
which they harvested

531
00:32:07,648 --> 00:32:09,633
and boiled up to make jelly.

532
00:32:11,008 --> 00:32:14,763
It wasn't too bad, if it was
flavoured with blackberries

533
00:32:14,788 --> 00:32:17,633
or frankly anything
they could lay their hands on.

534
00:32:19,028 --> 00:32:22,843
As time went by, the food shortages
got worse and worse.

535
00:32:22,868 --> 00:32:26,472
The fishermen were only allowed
to go about a mile out to sea

536
00:32:26,497 --> 00:32:29,692
because the Germans were frightened
that they would run away.

537
00:32:29,717 --> 00:32:33,923
Basic commodities like soap began
to disappear off the shelves.

538
00:32:33,948 --> 00:32:38,153
What little there was
was reserved for newborn babies.

539
00:32:38,178 --> 00:32:41,403
Moss replaced cotton wool
in the hospitals.

540
00:32:41,428 --> 00:32:44,393
Some people said they couldn't
recognise their friends

541
00:32:44,418 --> 00:32:47,713
and colleagues in the street
cos they'd grown so thin.

542
00:32:47,738 --> 00:32:51,232
Even the Germans were hungry.

543
00:32:51,257 --> 00:32:53,843
When it came towards
the end of the war,

544
00:32:53,868 --> 00:32:56,993
they shot cats, they ate cats.
The Germans?

545
00:32:57,018 --> 00:33:01,583
Yes, we saw them go up the lane
with our cat strung on their belt.

546
00:33:01,608 --> 00:33:05,482
You're kidding. Our cat was on his
belt, they'd...they'd shot it.

547
00:33:05,507 --> 00:33:09,043
That must have been awful for a little
girl to see that. It was terrible.

548
00:33:09,068 --> 00:33:13,403
Maisie's father Hubert decided
to make a stand.

549
00:33:13,428 --> 00:33:16,663
In June 1942,
the Germans had confiscated

550
00:33:16,688 --> 00:33:21,793
the radios on the island and, now
people couldn't even get the news.

551
00:33:21,818 --> 00:33:24,403
So Hubert joined a secret
organisation,

552
00:33:24,428 --> 00:33:27,513
defiantly named GUNS -

553
00:33:27,538 --> 00:33:28,833
the Guernsey

554
00:33:28,858 --> 00:33:30,403
Underground

555
00:33:30,428 --> 00:33:31,993
News Service.

556
00:33:33,538 --> 00:33:37,793
Because it was all so secret,
no-one knew very much about it.

557
00:33:37,818 --> 00:33:39,203
But...

558
00:33:39,228 --> 00:33:43,423
This building is now
the Priaulx Library,

559
00:33:43,448 --> 00:33:46,944
and it's here that I reckon
I am going to find the evidence

560
00:33:46,969 --> 00:33:51,463
I need about what Maisie's dad was
doing in the war.

561
00:33:54,328 --> 00:33:58,333
Historian Gilly Carr has found
some of the news sheets that the

562
00:33:58,358 --> 00:33:59,824
resistance group published.

563
00:33:59,849 --> 00:34:02,054
Oh, look, there's V for Victory.

564
00:34:02,079 --> 00:34:04,834
GUNS and V for Victory.

565
00:34:04,859 --> 00:34:09,223
These are original copies, and
as you can see, they're typed out

566
00:34:09,248 --> 00:34:12,553
on tomato packing paper,
which is really thin.

567
00:34:12,578 --> 00:34:15,543
And if you were caught with one of
these, you would have been arrested?

568
00:34:15,568 --> 00:34:17,944
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Yes.

569
00:34:17,969 --> 00:34:21,834
So what was it that Maisie's dad
actually did on this newspaper?

570
00:34:21,859 --> 00:34:24,914
He was the distributor
of GUNS in Sark.

571
00:34:24,939 --> 00:34:28,064
He had a little library
at the back of the bakery, and

572
00:34:28,089 --> 00:34:32,014
so he would take a newsletter and
put it inside a book in the library

573
00:34:32,039 --> 00:34:35,343
so people would come along and
browse in the library and, you know.

574
00:34:35,368 --> 00:34:39,654
But apparently there were even
German soldiers who knew about it,

575
00:34:39,679 --> 00:34:43,634
but stayed silent cos they also
wanted to have the real news.

576
00:34:45,219 --> 00:34:48,714
But not everyone could be trusted
to keep a secret.

577
00:34:48,739 --> 00:34:53,204
Some islanders were prepared
to trade information for food,

578
00:34:53,229 --> 00:34:57,433
even at the risk of having their
houses daubed with the swastika.

579
00:34:57,458 --> 00:35:01,754
One day, acting on a tip-off,
the Germans came to the Lanyons'

580
00:35:01,779 --> 00:35:05,194
house, searching for Hubert
and his newsletters.

581
00:35:08,889 --> 00:35:11,914
They had fixed bayonets and they
went through the toy basket

582
00:35:11,939 --> 00:35:13,664
under the bed - wicker toy basket -

583
00:35:13,689 --> 00:35:16,251
and it went right through my panda
bear's stomach.

584
00:35:16,276 --> 00:35:17,891
That's outrageous!

585
00:35:17,916 --> 00:35:19,731
THEY CHUCKLE

586
00:35:19,756 --> 00:35:22,530
But it wasn't long
before they found her dad.

587
00:35:23,826 --> 00:35:27,450
They beat him up and knocked teeth
out and, and he was...he was

588
00:35:27,475 --> 00:35:31,761
unconscious for a while, and then
they hauled him off, hands behind

589
00:35:31,786 --> 00:35:35,481
his back and holding his hair and
pulling...and he went past our door

590
00:35:35,506 --> 00:35:39,200
with all the family standing on the
doorstep, and he just looked at us

591
00:35:39,225 --> 00:35:42,931
and I suppose he thought,
"When will I ever see them again?"

592
00:35:42,956 --> 00:35:45,450
Can you remember
what YOU were thinking?

593
00:35:45,475 --> 00:35:50,011
Well, I just thought
they were being cruel to my daddy.

594
00:35:50,036 --> 00:35:52,971
Was your mum able to explain to you
what was going on?

595
00:35:52,996 --> 00:35:55,171
She didn't know where he was
for a month.

596
00:35:55,196 --> 00:35:59,171
We thought he'd been taken to
concentration camp and perhaps shot.

597
00:36:00,516 --> 00:36:03,460
Then the family discovered
Hubert was alive

598
00:36:03,485 --> 00:36:05,651
and in prison on the island.

599
00:36:05,676 --> 00:36:08,041
Maisie's mum pleaded
for his release,

600
00:36:08,066 --> 00:36:11,530
saying that the islanders were
desperate for him to bake bread.

601
00:36:13,206 --> 00:36:16,320
After four months in prison,
he was released.

602
00:36:16,345 --> 00:36:20,841
But five others involved in the free
paper were deported to Germany,

603
00:36:20,866 --> 00:36:23,121
where two of them died in prison.

604
00:36:24,276 --> 00:36:27,361
I consider my father was
lucky to come home to us. Sure.

605
00:36:27,386 --> 00:36:31,601
And I do still feel very sorry for
the people whose lives were lost.

606
00:36:31,626 --> 00:36:35,290
Of course, there's no doubt
that Hubert was a very brave man,

607
00:36:35,315 --> 00:36:37,280
But it does make me wonder

608
00:36:37,305 --> 00:36:40,891
what I would have done in a similar
situation.

609
00:36:40,916 --> 00:36:45,571
Would I have resisted,
knowing that it could put my family

610
00:36:45,596 --> 00:36:47,501
and my neighbours in jeopardy?

611
00:36:47,526 --> 00:36:50,450
Or would I just have gone
about my business

612
00:36:50,475 --> 00:36:53,971
and kept my head down
til the end of the war?

613
00:36:53,996 --> 00:36:55,561
I really don't know.

614
00:36:57,076 --> 00:37:01,371
Coming up... Over-sexed, overpaid,
and over here.

615
00:37:01,396 --> 00:37:05,330
Britain is invaded
by swaggering American soldiers.

616
00:37:05,355 --> 00:37:10,101
Can one young Englishwoman find
lasting love in wartime?

617
00:37:18,368 --> 00:37:22,103
In the Second World War,
victory against the Nazis

618
00:37:22,128 --> 00:37:26,772
depended on an event that happened
far away, on the other side

619
00:37:26,797 --> 00:37:31,013
of the world, on the peaceful
Pacific islands of Hawaii.

620
00:37:35,288 --> 00:37:39,333
In December 1941,
the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor,

621
00:37:39,358 --> 00:37:42,572
and forced the United States
into the war.

622
00:37:42,597 --> 00:37:44,902
BUGLE PLAYS

623
00:37:47,518 --> 00:37:50,022
The cavalry had arrived.

624
00:37:50,047 --> 00:37:54,652
And very quickly, our little island
was swarming with Americans.

625
00:37:54,677 --> 00:37:58,572
One and a half million of them
were either stationed here or

626
00:37:58,597 --> 00:38:01,642
stopped off here on their way
to Germany.

627
00:38:01,667 --> 00:38:05,902
This development had a decisive
impact on the course of the war

628
00:38:05,927 --> 00:38:10,133
and meant a heck of a lot to the
Brits who worked with them, fought

629
00:38:10,158 --> 00:38:15,702
with them or, as was often the case,
fell in love with the American Gls.

630
00:38:20,398 --> 00:38:23,333
Joy Beebe would be one of them.

631
00:38:23,358 --> 00:38:27,423
But back in 1941, before the Gls
arrived, she was just 16,

632
00:38:27,448 --> 00:38:31,572
and a love affair was the last thing
on her mind.

633
00:38:34,398 --> 00:38:37,423
Joy soon became her family's
only wage earner

634
00:38:37,448 --> 00:38:41,253
and had to support her mother
and two younger brothers.

635
00:38:41,278 --> 00:38:45,543
She'd catch the train before half
seven each day, when it was cheaper.

636
00:38:45,568 --> 00:38:48,582
But instead of leaves
or snow on the line,

637
00:38:48,607 --> 00:38:52,853
there was the threat of blown-up
bridges or unexploded shells.

638
00:38:54,677 --> 00:38:58,373
She had a boring job
at the Inland Revenue in the city,

639
00:38:58,398 --> 00:39:01,733
typing letters to people
who hadn't paid their tax.

640
00:39:01,758 --> 00:39:04,572
Joy lived for her daily break.

641
00:39:04,597 --> 00:39:07,263
CUCKOO

642
00:39:07,288 --> 00:39:09,943
Best time of day was the lunch hour.

643
00:39:09,968 --> 00:39:14,183
And I could walk in the gardens
of the Tower of London.

644
00:39:14,208 --> 00:39:18,413
At the end of each day, she'd catch
the train home before night fell

645
00:39:18,438 --> 00:39:20,983
and the bombing started once again.

646
00:39:22,318 --> 00:39:26,373
Supper could be an omelette, made
from powdered egg, or if there was

647
00:39:26,398 --> 00:39:31,263
nothing else available, there was
the sinister threat of whale meat.

648
00:39:34,597 --> 00:39:36,822
In the evenings,
they'd listen to jazz

649
00:39:36,847 --> 00:39:39,023
or popular songs
on the record player...

650
00:39:41,607 --> 00:39:45,373
...or tune in to Winston Churchill,
for a bit of courage.

651
00:39:45,398 --> 00:39:48,863
We will mete out to the Germans
more than the measure

652
00:39:48,888 --> 00:39:51,013
they have meted out to us.

653
00:39:51,038 --> 00:39:52,013
APPLAUSE

654
00:39:54,168 --> 00:39:58,652
At weekends, Joy and her friends
glammed up and hit the dance hall -

655
00:39:58,677 --> 00:40:01,303
the Embassy Ballroom in Bexley.

656
00:40:01,328 --> 00:40:05,093
Newly reopened after
the worst of the Blitz.

657
00:40:05,118 --> 00:40:08,452
It was really a nice place.
It was a big dance hall.

658
00:40:08,477 --> 00:40:10,582
And they had a nice band.

659
00:40:15,158 --> 00:40:19,493
It was also a popular haunt
for American Gls.

660
00:40:19,518 --> 00:40:23,253
Of course, that drew
a lot of girls that

661
00:40:23,278 --> 00:40:26,273
wanted to come here
and dance with the soldiers.

662
00:40:30,018 --> 00:40:33,223
But these American boys were
supposed to be

663
00:40:33,248 --> 00:40:36,373
on their best behaviour.
Just look at this.

664
00:40:37,807 --> 00:40:40,983
This is the little book
they all had to read -

665
00:40:41,008 --> 00:40:44,863
Instructions For American
Servicemen In Britain, 1942.

666
00:40:44,888 --> 00:40:47,503
Issued by the US War Department.

667
00:40:47,528 --> 00:40:51,503
"The purpose of this guide is to
start getting you acquainted

668
00:40:51,528 --> 00:40:54,623
"with the British, their country,
and their ways."

669
00:40:54,648 --> 00:40:58,093
It goes on to give
lots of handy advice.

670
00:40:58,118 --> 00:41:02,093
"The British are often more
reserved in conduct than we.

671
00:41:02,118 --> 00:41:05,863
"So, if Britons sit in trains
or buses without striking up

672
00:41:05,888 --> 00:41:08,093
"conversation with you,
it doesn't mean

673
00:41:08,118 --> 00:41:10,303
"they are being haughty and
unfriendly.

674
00:41:10,328 --> 00:41:13,183
"Probably they are paying more
attention to you than you think.

675
00:41:13,208 --> 00:41:14,983
"But they don't speak to you

676
00:41:15,008 --> 00:41:19,303
"because they don't want to appear
intrusive or rude."

677
00:41:19,328 --> 00:41:23,263
And there's another one here,
I really like this.

678
00:41:23,288 --> 00:41:25,582
"Keep out of arguments.

679
00:41:25,607 --> 00:41:28,943
"You can rub a Britisher the wrong
way by telling him,

680
00:41:28,968 --> 00:41:31,223
" 'we came over
and won the last one.' "

681
00:41:31,248 --> 00:41:33,353
I don't think they'd like that.

682
00:41:34,888 --> 00:41:36,423
And most importantly,

683
00:41:36,448 --> 00:41:38,343
"Don't be a show-off.

684
00:41:38,368 --> 00:41:41,153
"The British 'Tommy' is apt to
be specially

685
00:41:41,178 --> 00:41:44,093
"touchy about the difference
between his wages and yours.

686
00:41:44,118 --> 00:41:45,702
"Keep this in mind."

687
00:41:45,727 --> 00:41:49,943
Actually the British Tommy
was MOST likely to be worried about

688
00:41:49,968 --> 00:41:54,582
the thought of the GI running off
with his wife or the girl next door.

689
00:41:54,607 --> 00:41:57,813
And to be quite honest,
he was probably right to be.

690
00:41:57,838 --> 00:42:03,303
As one British comedian famously put
it, the Yanks were "oversexed,

691
00:42:03,328 --> 00:42:06,532
"overpaid and over here".

692
00:42:08,487 --> 00:42:13,582
But the GI that Joy met in September
1944 wasn't like that at all.

693
00:42:15,248 --> 00:42:17,582
How did you first meet Carl?

694
00:42:17,607 --> 00:42:19,912
He was brought to the Embassy
ballroom

695
00:42:19,937 --> 00:42:21,782
by the other guys in the unit.

696
00:42:21,807 --> 00:42:24,902
They said, "You should come
and meet this girl."

697
00:42:24,927 --> 00:42:27,373
His name was Carl Beebe.

698
00:42:27,398 --> 00:42:30,273
He was not so laughing and joking

699
00:42:30,298 --> 00:42:32,863
and all that kind of thing,
like the others were.

700
00:42:32,888 --> 00:42:36,023
You know, he didn't tell me
that the streets of New York

701
00:42:36,048 --> 00:42:37,743
were paved with gold.

702
00:42:39,378 --> 00:42:43,143
Carl was stationed here,
at the stately home, Hall Place,

703
00:42:43,168 --> 00:42:44,993
two miles from Joy's house.

704
00:42:46,328 --> 00:42:48,743
He worked for US Army Intelligence,

705
00:42:48,768 --> 00:42:53,353
intercepting encoded
messages from Nazi High Command.

706
00:42:53,378 --> 00:42:57,143
Soon Carl asked Joy out,
and they hit it off.

707
00:42:57,168 --> 00:43:01,503
They'd go for walks in the park
near where she lived.

708
00:43:01,528 --> 00:43:04,782
He was always bringing me flowers
or something.

709
00:43:04,807 --> 00:43:09,623
For Easter, he picked a whole
bunch of daffodils.

710
00:43:12,477 --> 00:43:16,063
After 3 months of courting,
Carl proposed.

711
00:43:16,088 --> 00:43:21,743
But arranging a wedding in wartime
required, let's say, special skills.

712
00:43:27,848 --> 00:43:31,452
How did you get a dress this nice
in the middle of the war?

713
00:43:31,477 --> 00:43:33,652
You'd have to ask my brother.

714
00:43:33,677 --> 00:43:37,303
How he got it through some friends
of his or people he knows,

715
00:43:37,328 --> 00:43:38,582
I don't know.

716
00:43:38,607 --> 00:43:41,633
So, you're saying it was off the
black market, really, aren't you?

717
00:43:41,658 --> 00:43:44,532
I believe that it was
the black market, yes.

718
00:43:47,687 --> 00:43:51,303
Did you get married in a church?
Yes, I did.

719
00:43:51,328 --> 00:43:53,792
A very much damaged church.

720
00:43:53,817 --> 00:43:59,103
The roof was out, and the rain
and the snow was coming through.

721
00:43:59,128 --> 00:44:02,582
They'd had little pots on the floor
to catch the water

722
00:44:02,607 --> 00:44:05,223
and you could hear the water
dinging into the pots.

723
00:44:10,098 --> 00:44:13,662
The Second World War had bought Joy
and Carl together,

724
00:44:13,687 --> 00:44:17,043
and they eventually made
the journey to America together

725
00:44:17,068 --> 00:44:19,523
with their young son.

726
00:44:19,548 --> 00:44:22,893
The war created huge rifts
between countries,

727
00:44:22,918 --> 00:44:25,073
which took decades to heal,

728
00:44:25,098 --> 00:44:28,993
so it's nice to hear some
stories of romance coming out of all

729
00:44:29,018 --> 00:44:33,183
that chaos. For joy, at least,
and for others like her,

730
00:44:33,208 --> 00:44:36,223
the war did have a silver lining.

731
00:44:38,198 --> 00:44:41,513
The Second World War was
the people's war,

732
00:44:41,538 --> 00:44:42,993
and for many Britons,

733
00:44:43,018 --> 00:44:47,823
its triumphant end remains
one of our country's finest hours.

734
00:44:52,827 --> 00:44:56,153
Subtitles by Red Bee Media