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Jean Claude Lengela
Played by Fiston Barek
| Fact title | Fact data |
|---|---|
| Date of birth |
4 April 1888
|
| Place of birth |
Coquilhatville, Belgian Congo
|
| Age at outbreak of WW1 |
26
|
| Occupation |
Wounded soldier and munitions worker
|
| Address |
Elisabethville
|
Jean Claude is one of the thousands of wounded soldiers at Elisabethville, a specially-built Belgian town and munitions works at Birtley, just outside Newcastle.
It is easy to see why Marion falls for the romantic, violin-playing Jean Claude, who acts as her chivalrous translator at the factory where he works 72 hours a week. However their relationship does not go unnoticed by the overzealous military management and a few suspicious locals, who aren’t as welcoming to the war-fleeing workforce as most.
"Jean Claude has suddenly found his home - and that's what we felt like"
Actor Fiston Barek on the upheavals of war and his character's parallel journey
