Cornwall's D-Day

06/16/19 • 32 min

Cornwall's maritime might and strategic coastal location made it far from remote when it came to D-Day operations. Find out how the county experienced an invasion of its own - from thousands of American GIs. Hear which celebrities visited soldiers at Bodmin Keep during training for the Normandy Landings. And discover how a sleepy Cornish village was transformed forever after being chosen as an embarkation point by troops leaving Britain to liberate France from the Nazis.

Previous Episode

The Berlin Wall

It's 40 years this year since the Berlin Wall came down. Many fragments of it were taken by souvenir hunters. One of the biggest pieces in Britain ended up at Bodmin Keep museum in Cornwall. In this episode we'll hear from soldiers and civilians who were there when the wall went up at the height of the Cold War, and when it came down again amid huge celebrations in 1989.

Next Episode

School for Spies

Bodmin was alive with Russians at the height of the Cold War when the town became home to a school for spies! Hundreds of Britain's brightest young men came to learn Russian in order to translate Soviet radio transmissions for GCHQ. Playwrights Alan Bennett, Michael Frayn and Dennis Potter were among those who passed through as part of their National Service. Flamboyant Russian lecturers staged avant garde plays in the local church and one even married a local girl.