WIGGY

HI STEPHEN IN RESPONCE TO YOUR QUESTION THE TWO BRITISH RAILWAY STATIONS ARE RADLET ON THE MIDLAND REGION(NOW MIDLAND MAINLINE)AND WAIT FOR IT VICTORIA ON THE SOUTHERN,WHAT A JOKE

WIGGY

HI BOBS PLEASE DONT THINK I AM BEING A BIT OF A KNOWALL BUT AS AN OLD BRIGHTONIAN I KNEW THE STATION PRETTY WELL IN THE 50s AND 60s AND CAN SAY THAT IT WAS NOT BRIGHTON THAT THIS WAS FILMED IN BUT VICTORIA IN LONDON AND THAT WAS THE ONLY PART OF THE SOUTHERN THAT APPEARS IN THE FILM,NEXT TIME YOU VIEW THE FILM LOOK AT THE PLATFORM No AND GATES,BRIGHTON HAD SLIDING METAL GATES UP UNTIL THE EARLY SIXTIES AND ONLY TEN PLATFORMS,THE ONE IN THE FILM IS MARKED SEVENTEEN.

WIGGY

HI STEVE LETS FACE IT FILMS AND SHOWBUSINESS ARE THE BIGEST RECYCLEING AGENTS IN THE WORLD AND AT TIMES LIFT WHOLE CHUNKS FROM OTHER PRODUCTIONS,I KNOW THIS FROM EXPERIENCE FROM THE LOCAL AMATUER THEATRE,BUT BACK TO THE GREAT ESCAPE, THIS WAS A PRISON CAMP FOR AIRFORCE OFICERS ONLY AND WAS RUN BY THE LUFTWAFFE ALL LUFTWAFFE P O W CAMPS WERE CALLED STALAGS AS OPPOSED TO OTHERS BEING CALLED OFLAG OR OFFIZERLAGER HOPE THIS CLEARS A FEW THINGS UP.

WIGGY

HI BOB
REF CHARLIE COWARD AND THE GREAT ESCAPE,THERE IS NO LINK AT ALL EXCEPT ON FILM,THE GREAT ESCAPE WAS BY OFFICERS ONLY AND THEY WERE ALL AIRFORCE OFFICERS,HENCE THE NAME STALAG AS OPPOSED TO OFFIZERLAGER AS ALL LUFFTEWAFFE RUN P.O.W CAMPS WERE CALLED STALAGS,CHARLIE WAS IN THE ARMY SO WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN IN ON THE GREAT ESCAPE.HOPE THIS CLEARS UP SOME OF THE SIMILARITIES.

WIGGY

John Wignall
(wiggy)

Just An Afterthought,if You Look Closley At The Party Scene After Charlie Coward Is Let Out Of Solitary You Will Find That The Real Charlie Coward Is In This Scene As An Ordinary Soldier,this Was Probaly Due To The Fact That He Was A Technical Adviser On The Film.

mark-b

Hi There,
I have a book called Spectator in Hell, isbn 1-901442-06-3 its true the story of Arthur Dodd ?, (could it have been about C Coward using a different name) British POW who was also at Auschwitz, it makes for quite a harrowing read, esp parts where Polish prisoners wanted him to witness some pretty gruesome acts carried out by the guards towards the end, thinking that as he was British he may well survive to tell the story, finishes by him and another (Arnhem veteran) shortly after wars end being asked to give a speech on there experiances at the village hall the Arnhem vet had a standing ovation, when Arthur tells his story he is met by an embarressed silence, and vows not to speak again, it was a long time before he did.

A very good read albeit very very harrowing in places.

Mark

Steve Crook

Sgt Maj Coward wasn't the only British (or American) PoW to be sent to one of the death camps like Auschwitz. Some of the Great Escape escapers were sent to a death camp (& survived, one even escaped again).

A lot of the British (& Poles) that fought at Arnhem escaped when the Germans over-ran the town. Some of them were probably captured but I don't know if any finished up in any of the death camps.

A lot of the "evaders" as they were called got together and were wandering about behind enemy lines in quite large groups before the MI whatever group in charge of escaping got them back to Allied lines.

One such story concerns Major Digby Tatham-Warter, company commander under Lt-Col John Frost at Arnhem. Digby was the one who always carried an umbrella because he could never remember passwords. He was wounded, but escaped from hospital and gathered a group of paratroopers that had also evaded capture. They were walking down a road at night when they came across a German staff car that had gone into the ditch. The driver and the officers were all right, just a bit bemused at having crashed in the dark. They were even more bemused when Digby and his group of paras turned up!

But nobody was looking for any trouble, they all just wanted to get home. So the paras got the car out of the ditch and they went on their way :)

There were some strange things that happened in those strange times.
See the Arnhem Archive for that and some equally strange tales.

After the war, Digby retired to Kenya, where he ran a safari park. He died in 1993.

Steve

kevin daley

the scenes at the beginning where he escapes via a ditch and up a road chased by the germans are in hadley wood barnet and the house is probaly folly farm.there are scenes reminiscient of barnet coke works.the railway line is the kings cross line and the studios and scratchwood services are nearby

murdock

Hi everyone, I read in an article in the Independent that “The Password is Courage” was filmed at Teazelmead (formally an old army camp) in Thornwood Common nr Epping Essex dose anyone have any more information regarding this?

JamesM

The place you refer to is spelt Teazle Mead.

Hackett

There's no need to shout:

murdock

Hi I am sorry that you think I was shouting but I am new to this and didn’t know that I was (if you can shout with the written word) however I feel sorry for the two contributors that think they can only reply with unnecessary comments, You know what they say "Think much, say little, write less”.

smiffy

Don't worry about it murdock,we all start somewhere and if you read some old threads and posts you'll find that even the most knowledgeable of members has made a gaffe somewhere.There is one thing essential although not compulsory to joining this forum and thats a sense of humour,there are some world champion leg pullers on this forum so take it in good spirit (the smilies will give you a clue to the posters intentions)Unfortunately your text overshadowed the point of your post,don't give up you'll get a positive response

I May be getting older ,but I refuse to grow up

theuofc

Hello, Murdock,

The initial filming of "The Password is Courage" was done in the Home Counties: the farmhouse scene in a Sussex-like farmhouse in the vicinity of Ewhurst, Surrey, which doubled for Pas de Calais'; other scenes in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

I see that the imdb says that the railroad yard and also Radlett Station both in Herfordshire and Victoria Station, London were used.

The Essex filming locations may have been at Teazle Meade. I will check this. If it is important that 'The Password is Courage' was actually filmed there for anyone considering buying one of the detached houses of the Furlong Homes development in Epping, which start at pounds 625,000! best ask the Estate Agents to show proof for their statement.

All the best,

Barbara

Dirk_Bogarde_Brigade - a Yahoo Group

JamesM

I can honestly say that the reason I provided the correct spelling of the location you mentioned was for the purpose of assisting you with your research. I don't know whether you had heard of the place or not so I thought if I provided the correct spelling it would help you find the location or further information through the use of search engines or location finding software.

As for shouting, only the use of block capitals is considered the typeface equivalent.