Apocolypse: The Second World War.

Image via Wikipedia

 There is little enough television around these days which makes absorbing and educational watching as well as providing a new perspective on past events. I have no hesitation therefore in recommending the new Channel 4 series, being shown on Saturday evenings, about The Second World War. not only are there, to me, new historical facts (more on this later) but with the introduction of computer graphics to enhance the shots and more importantly provide provide colour to the old footage then this groundbreaking series is not to be missed.
 For those of you who missed the first episode it is available here at Channel 4's download site and I urge you to watch it and, if possible, make the remaining episodes part of your regular Saturday night's viewing.
 As for those facts that I had never heard of whilst I knew that Edward the V11 was a Nazi sympathiser I did not know that Henry Ford had anti-semitic views and nor that John Kennedy's father was behind America not getting involved in the early days of the war although his son, John,  to his credit took the opposite view.
 The one issue that staggered me however was that Sweden supplied iron ore to Germany throughout the war, when I always thought that they were neutral.
 Stalin's deviousness and cruelty are well documented but the film showed in close up the look of deceit in his eyes when he expressed surprise and denial as General Sikorsky of Poland presented him with a list of the Polish Officers that Stalin had exterminated.
 This is the great thing about education which is to reveal hidden truths and remind us of things which have been conveniently dusted under the carpet. Just as the history books in Britain tell us about the triumphs of Nelson and the defeat of the Spanish Armada they do not tell us about the complete destruction of the British Fleet off of the coast of East Anglia during that same period.
 To those of you who live outside of the United Kingdom I understand how annoying it is to be unable to watch these programmes as is the same with BBC I-player. However keep reading as in a few days I might have good news for you. Testing, testing, testing as they say.