Hackett

I was watching the History Channel the other night and they showed the true story of 'The Man Who Never Was'. To confuse the enemy Lt Cmdr Ewen Montagu posts 'TMWNW' name in the missing in action list in the news papers. To emphasize this point in the documentary they show a picture of an actual paper. The headline of that day's edition was the disappearance of actor Leslie Howard. There is a photo of Howard in uniform and wearing a Mac on the front page. Later in the 'MWNW' story a picture of the real dead body used in the deception is shown. He is in uniform and wearing a Mac. The documentary later tells its own tale that differs from the 1956 film "THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS" and Montagu's own book. This is the sinking of an aircraft carrier with a great loss of lives that was censored at the time. The first body used for Major Martin deteriorated so they used one of the dead sailors from the carrier sinking. The documentery has more twists and turns than the 1956 film and if you added Leslie Howard it would get more snakey. Howard was rumoured to be engaged in secret meetings at the time of his disappearance. So mix all these ingredients together and add a bit of Conspiracy Theory and it has the making of a good cocktail.

[ 05. November 2004, 20:16: Message edited by: DB7 ]

Steve Crook

Nice thought.

But Leslie Howard was flying over the Bay of Biscay when he was shot down. He would have had to drift a long way to get to southern Spain.

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS