The Great Escape - fact versus fiction
David Nicholson
- Region:
- South East
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Hobby
- Fee:
- Paid: Fee for 2025 - £75 plus 45p per mile travel expenses
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 31st October 2024
- Tagged:
- Second World War
The film The Great Escape was released in 1963 and became a huge hit with cinema audiences. For many years it was a traditional film in the Christmas TV schedules. Like many films about a true event there are many comments on what was real and what was pure Hollywood. Here I look at what actually happened and look at what the makers got right and what was just hokum. But many people are unaware of what happened to the the main players in the real drama and we look at the manhunt after the war conducted by RAF investigators.
Views: 770 | Enquiries: 4About David Nicholson
I am now retired after a varied career that started in the military but ended in financial services. Throughout I have had, and retained, a love of history, especially military history. As a result I have read widely on the subject but retain a special interest in the American Civil War. In retirement I have, over the last five years, written and presented talks through Microsoft PowerPoint. Essentially the subject matter is what interests me and from that interest grows the presentation. I believe that any talk needs to be well illustrated so that there is a natural flow to what is being discussed, after all it has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words.
My talks can be tailored to as short as 45 minutes but where there is a more complex subject they can run for up to 90 minutes.
My other great interest is travel and photography. This has allowed me to create presentation based upon my travels to some of the more exotic places in the world such as Bhutan, Nepal and Peru.
For calculation of travel expenses I live between Woking and Weybridge.
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by David Nicholson
- The Dambusters - the story of 617 Squadron in the Second World War
- George Armstrong Custer - Gallant Hero or Reckless Fool?
- Military Blunders
- Dodgy Military Equipment
- Dodgy Naval Equipment
- Special Forces in World War II
- Gettysburg
- Images of World War I
- Travels to a different land - Bhutan and Nepal
- Battle of the Coral Sea
- Battle of Midway
- Battle of the Philippines Sea
- Brooklands - the birthplace of British motor racing
- PT Boats in the Pacific and what John Kennedy did with PT109 and beyond....
- Harold Godwinson's last 25 days
- Was World War I worth it?
- Trafalgar - an overrated victory?
- Kamikaze, Japan's last throw of the dice
- The English Civil Wars from 1640 to the Restoration in 1660
- The Sherman Tank
- The Anguish of Cambodia
- Christs Soldiers
- Hoodwinking Hitler
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