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Britain's Home Guard

Episode 6 of 20

Melvyn Bragg reveals archive footage telling the history of modern Britain. At Osterley Park, Melvyn visits the site of the first Home Guard training school.

Melvyn Bragg, accompanied by a vintage mobile cinema, travels across the country, to show incredible footage preserved by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives, to tell the history of modern Britain.

This episode comes from Osterley Park in Middlesex, the site of the first Home Guard training school, and looks back to the Second World War and a time when millions of ordinary men were prepared to die for their country.

Home Guard recruit Robert Brown comes face to face with his father as a Home Guard company commander, Dad's Army creator Jimmy Perry explains why he signed up to the Home Guard, and Ken Chambers shares his own extraordinary stories from his time in the Home Guard, some of which could have been taken straight from Dad's Army.

14 minutes

Clip

Music Played

  • Ralph Butler

    We Must All Stick Together

    Composer: Raymond Wallace. Performer: Billy Cotton. Performer: Alan Breeze.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Melvyn Bragg
Participant Jimmy Perry
Series Producer Dympna Jackson
Executive Producer Ruth Pitt

Broadcasts