Jock Lewes - Co-Founder of the SAS

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Mortimer credits that sequence in the series as being very authentic – a sequence of horrifying carnage, as the men leap to violent, harrowing deaths. I had given up hope of ever seeing another second world war series or movie that did not have me grinding my teeth in irritation at unnecessary historical mistakes. Worst of all are the deceitful rewrites, changing characters and events in vital ways yet still claiming some sort of authenticity, such as the unforgivably distorted film The Imitation Game, in which Benedict Cumberbatch plays legendary codebreaker Alan Turing. I think there is a direct correlation between being a kid and playing games in a sandpit, making stories up about monsters or whatever, and doing what we do. To me it’s exactly the same, and I think if you lose that or forget it then you can suddenly be in a world of pain, stress, conflict and it seems pointless because usually you’re with all of these super cool people who want to do this super cool thing. We are all unbelievably privileged to do what we do and be in the places we get to go to do it. It’s completely fictitious,” says Mortimer. “As I said in my book, his brother Bill was the brains behind the SAS. Why on earth would Stirling break into HQ when he could just say to his brother, with whom he shared a flat, ‘Hey Bill, do you mind giving this to the general?’” Child dies in horror Surrey car crash between Tesla and Vauxhall Astra - as cops arrest 'uninsured and unlicenced' man, 20, for 'dangerous driving'

It’s about one of the most intense and mysterious combat organisations that started in 1941 during Second World War in North Africa. They were a group of men that were intense, intelligent, and that didn’t go by the rules. Playing the mysterious spy Eve, you’ll most likely know Sofia Boutella from her role as Jaylah in Star Trek Beyond, Ahmanet in The Mummy and Gazelle in Kingsman: The Secret Service. Theo Barklem-Biggs as Reg Seekings The overall depiction of Mayne is “OTT” according to Mortimer. “I sympathise with his family,” he adds. In the latter, they helped ease the final Allied advance in 1945 by destroying Nazi communications, collecting intelligence and training Resistance fighters. Reg Seekings is another of the SAS’ original members, and is involved in their first parachute drop operation. Theo Barklem-Biggs is best known for playing Ronnie Jr in White Gold, and also appeared in Sliced, The First Team and The Inbetweeners movie. Other castI’m a surgeon who’s survived breast cancer - here’s what women need to know about having a mastectomy and how ops to rebuild breasts can leave them looking and feeling natural,' writes DR LIZ O'RIORDAN Lewes travelled to the United Kingdom to attend Christ Church, Oxford, from September 1933, where he read philosophy, politics and economics. In 1936–37, he was president of the Oxford University Boat Club. During 1937 he voluntarily gave up his place in the Oxford Blue boat crew, to assist it in winning that year's University Boat Race, [4] and ending a 15-year winning streak by Cambridge. [5] [6] Lewes travelled to Berlin to work for the British Council and, [1] before the events of Kristallnacht, was briefly an admirer of Hitler and the Nazi state. [7] It’s Steven Knight’s telling of a piece of the Second World War that wasn’t made public knowledge for a long, long time. Lewes may be accompanied by up to 3 men (Veterans armed with anti-tank grenades and submachine guns, pistols or rifles/carbines as depicted on the model) for +19pts each Made for the BBC by Kudos (a Banijay company) SAS Rogue Heroes is a six-part series created, written and executive produced by Steven Knight and directed by Tom Shankland, with Stephen Smallwood as producer. The series is executive produced by Karen Wilson, Martin Haines and Emma Kingsman-Lloyd for Kudos, and Tommy Bulfin for the BBC.

Former Army captain Lorna told the Daily Express: "I am not only in touch with the SAS but also with guys who have left the regiment and they are now calling it Khaki Blinders.They are really enjoying it." Even if Eve is a fictional character in comparison to David Stirling or Paddy Mayne, she is very much a character that existed at the time. There were spies like Noor Inayat Khan or Virginia Hall. So many incredible women who were a part of the liberation during the Second World War. Eve, like a lot of them, used methods that were born within her instinct and her intelligence. In reality, the mission was – as described by members of the Long Range Desert Group, which ferried the SAS in and out of enemy territory – “a Gilbert and Sullivan farce”. And then we had to find David Stirling and I count myself quite fortunate that I was included in part of that process and was able to read with one or two actors for the role. When you saw Connor’s take there was no removing him from what you were hoping the project would end up being. Working with him has been one of the highlights of the job, just to see him step up to the mark and take it all in his stride. What he does when the cameras are on is spell-binding. I think if it wasn’t for Tom I wouldn’t have been able to play David Stirling at all. I think he feeds off the chaos and because of that always keeps morale, even when it’s really hard. I think on face value Tom Shankland wouldn’t have been the guy to do this job, but ultimately when you meet him he’s the most extreme adrenaline junkie, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, sweet-talking dude who is perfect for this kind of experience. There is a version of this story that you could tell - a superhero version where no one has any emotions – but this isn’t that. This is a version that features the flawed nature of all of these characters too. These are the things Tom and myself really wanted to dive into, and what I think is going to make this show so special.Also in the first episode, Stirling and Lewes take the plunge with their daring, first-of-its-kind parachute jump in the desert. Stirling’s parachute tears, causing him to plummet towards the ground and temporarily paralyse himself. That’s all true. Stirling was burdened with health problems for the rest of his life from the spinal injury he suffered in that drop. The series doesn't skim over how much Stirling's inherited privilege helped him become a renegade warrior — in one (fictional) scene, he confidently explains to Winston Churchill that he's walking strangely because of sores on his private parts caused by the desert sand. But it's perhaps best summed up by this exchange with his sweaty, pudgy commanding officer: "What would it take for you to call me Sir?" Stirling replies: "It would take respect." Their sabotage missions would see them trek up to 300 miles across seemingly unending desert before sneaking into German and Italian air bases and blowing apart parked planes. He’s fantastic to work with. He’s probably one of the most positive directors, if not person, I’ve ever met. Anything could happen - covid, heatstroke, sandstorm - and he’s always there with a glass half full mentality. That’s always helpful for a team to have someone leading us who has so much positivity.

Aside from his oft-overlooked but vital contributions as the SAS’ training officer, Lewes would also invent the eponymously named ‘Lewes Bomb’, a combined explosive and incendiary device designed specifically to meet the unique requirements of the SAS. Compact and light at around a pound in weight, and made of a mixture of diesel oil and plastic explosive, it could be easily transported in large numbers by the men of the SAS over long distances, and proved to be very effective at destroying enemy equipment, particularly fuel dumps and most especially aircraft. Although the detonators could be somewhat unreliable (something not really in Lewes’ control), it was nevertheless an undeniably useful weapon, and a crucial component of the infrastructure destruction raids that formed the bread and butter of the early SAS. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Blair 'Paddy' Mayne is pictured right in Norway in 1945. The SAS wreaked havoc against German and Italian positions Mayne was infamous for his violent antics before war had even broken out, whilst his feat of tearing out the control panel of an enemy aircraft in one raid has gone down in SAS legend.

Disaster in the desert

Sandstorms we can’t do anything about and also we got some great footage of them for the series which were otherwise going to costs us a lot of money in visual effects, and we got that for free! I like to be positive about that! For Gavin Mortimer, the competitive streak before Stirling and Mayne is one of the best elements of the series. “I don’t think they really had a scoreboard,” he says, “but there was a competitive element. Stirling was intimidated by Paddy Mayne. Mayne was a qualified solicitor, an international rugby player, and idolised by the men. And there’s Stirling, who in the Thirties had acquired a rep as a quitter and a loafer. Omid Scobie's book is understood to include a volley of withering criticisms of the Royal Family. Here, Royal Correspondent NATASHA LIVINGSTONE sifts fact from fiction...