Following the feature in The Whistler Oct/Nov issue about the Brighton-born SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents, in November I went to the grand unveiling ceremony organised by The Secret WW2 Learning Network. The great and the good of Brighton & Hove gathered at the Corn Exchange, with serving representatives from the army, veterans, past and present councillors, together with diplomats from the French and Italian London embassies. Continue reading Carve their Names – update
Category Archives: Features
Anything and everything
John Turner 1933 – 2016
West Hill Community Association has lost a very dear friend. Born in Watford on 13 February 1933, John Turner died in Brighton on 30 August 2016. Continue reading John Turner 1933 – 2016
Thomas Hardy
I am afraid my column for this issue may turn out to be a lecture. It may even degenerate into a rant. The inspiration for it came to me about three weeks ago. I had recently introduced a selection of poems for the “Poetry for Pleasure” group, which meets at the Cornerstone Community Centre. In fact my wife, Nikki, read the introduction for me, because I was temporarily unable to speak. My choices were based on the teachings of a great literary critic, the late F. R. Leavis. He was among the first to direct our attention to the outstanding quality of the poetry written by Thomas Hardy (pictured) You may be surprised to hear that he wrote hundreds of poems. In fact during his adult life he was working on a poem almost every day. Continue reading Thomas Hardy
West Hill born Secret Agent remembered
Sussex educational charity the Secret WW2 Learning Network will be honouring four Brighton-born secret agents during Remembrance Week in November.
The four agents are Lieutenant Jacqueline Nearne, Captain Edward Zeff and Captain Michael Trotobas who all operated clandestinely in German-occupied France; and Captain Ronald Taylor who served as a sabotage specialist with Partisan forces in northern Italy. While Nearne, Zeff and Taylor survived the war, Trotobas was killed in 1943 during a shoot-out with German forces in Lille. Continue reading West Hill born Secret Agent remembered
No Deal
Peter Batten is not amused . . .
Earlier this year the very popular television programme, “Deal or No Deal” vanished from our screens. This was a great relief for me. I was not a regular viewer, but I did see parts of the programme from time to time. Whenever I did I was made very angry by the behaviour of the presenter, Noel Edmonds. Over the years, he developed a very sly way of mocking the unfortunate contestants. To my amazement none of them seemed to realise, so they went on exchanging banter with “Good Old Noel”, while the slimy presenter was laughing up his sleeve at their “lucky” numbers and their game plans. It was a horrible performance.
The Whistler 