Eric Ravilious – Drawn to War is the first feature-length film about Eric Ravilious (1903-1942), the much loved but hugely underestimated British Official War artist, killed in a plane crash over Iceland in 1942. Written by Alan Bennett and Robert Macfarlane, ‘Eric Ravilious – Drawn to War’ recounts a life as compelling and enigmatic as…
Dawn, September 1939. German forces invaded Poland and hostilities began. ‘The Prime Minister asked me to visit him at Downing Street.’ Winston Churchill wrote in his memoirs. ‘I was invited to become a member of the War Cabinet.’ Two days later, 24 years after resigning as First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill returned to the Admiralty….
13 October 1941 – 20 January 1942 Hostilities Only Ordinary Signalman Brooks’ first draft after training was His Majesty’s Trawler (HMT) Southcoates. Built in 1918, she was christened Samuel Drake and launched from yard no.363 into the River Clyde by builders Bow McLachlan & Company of Paisley. Bow, McLachlan & Co. had entered the specialist shipbuilding market…
Also known as HMT Ephreta, the Admiralty Steam Drifter Ephretah was built at Oulton Broad, Lowestoft in 1918 named Quicksand. She was one of the many pre-war trawlers requisitioned by The Admiralty for minesweeper or anti-submarine work. The trawler, though not an ideal anti-submarine craft, was a cheap and accessible resource for that duty. The guns they…
