NICK KNOWLES REVEALS HIS PASSION FOR HISTORY
IN NEW YESTERDAY DOCUMENTARY,
THE FORGOTTEN BLITZ
TX: Thursday 11 August 2011
In a brand new one hour documentary, The Forgotten Blitz, for leading digital history channel, Yesterday, Nick will hear first hand accounts of the ferocious German bombing raids on Bath and explore one of the most devastating attacks on British soil of World War II.
The Baedeker raids took place between April and June 1942 and were the German response to the Allied bombing of Lübeck. They were planned using the eponymous Baedeker travel guide to attack English cities of historical importance. The Forgotten Blitz will paint a broader picture of World War II and how these raids marked a sinister change in bombing tactics by the Germans, when their sole aim became to inflict as much damage on civilian life as possible.
The show’s presenter, Nick Knowles, said: “I discovered the extraordinary story of the Baedeker raids whilst researching the history of a house in Exeter. It became clear that a family had gone to bed one evening surrounded by all that was familiar only to wake next morning to find their entire landscape changed. Houses and streets flattened and bodies of neighbours lay out in their road. The claim was that Hitler had chosen his targets using a pre-war travel guide book to target the most beautiful cities. It seemed so unlikely and at the same time possible. So I set out to research the subject and make a one off documentary about this curious yet murderous chapter in the Second World War. The programme, I hope, gives some insight into the bravery and determination of people trying to continue an everyday existence in the face of violence aimed at terrorising a population. It's important to remember these moments of strength and resolve and how easily Governments can fall into murderous intent on innocents. When we forget, it will be all too easily to fall into it again.”
The programme will feature the moving eye witness account Harry Hemmings who lived through the raids. Harry was just 14-years-old at the time of the bombings that came completely out of the blue. For him and others living through it, until now the German attacks had concentrated on cities and for them to attack smaller, historic towns was an unexpected twist in the war.
During the raids, it was not just the devastation of the bombs that horrified the people of Bath but the sheer cruelty of the German pilots who, once their bombs were dropped, would return to fire their machine guns at the fire crews desperately trying to put out the flames that would cause the real damage. Harry knew he had to do his part, and so lied about his age to enroll as a messenger boy to lead fire crews to put out the fires.
The bombings had a huge affect on so many lives including Harry’s future wife, Eileen Bailey. Eileen and her brother were lucky to survive a hit on their childhood family home, the rest of her family were not so fortunate and didn’t survive the attack. Anne Salter and Doreen Williams will also tell Nick of the fear they felt as young girls when the bombs struck. But it was not only fear for their own lives but for their fathers’, who were out heroically fighting the fires and trying to save the lives of those trapped in the rubble.
As well as discovering the human side of the attacks and personal sacrifices that were made Nick will also delve into archives, show reconstructions of the bombings created using state of the art CGI and reveal a side to the The Forgotten Blitz that hasn’t been seen before.
-ENDS-
For more information or interview opportunities, please contact:
Samantha Elliott, Factual Publicist
020 7299 6278 / Samantha.elliott@ukv.co.uk
Notes to Editors
About Yesterday (www.visityesterday.co.uk)
Yesterday is the channel where the past is always present.
Where to find Yesterday: Sky channel 537, Virgin TV channel 203 and Freeview channel 12.
© Nick Knowles 2008