51-501: Paul Chester Jerome Brickhill (20 December 1916 – 23 April 1991) was an Australian fighter pilot, prisoner of war, and author who wrote The Great Escape , The Dam Busters , and Reach for the Sky . Brickhill was born in Melbourne , Victoria to journalist George Russell Brickhill (1879–1965) and Izitella Victoria (née Bradshaw) Brickhill (1885–1966). He was the third son of
102-674: A charitable organisation for wrongly claiming links to terrorism. On 24 February 2022, a spokesperson for Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex confirmed he had begun libel action against Associated Newspapers Ltd. The claim related to an article printed in The Mail on Sunday about his security arrangements. On 6 October 2022, it was announced that various individuals, including Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon , Elton John and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex , were taking legal action against Associated Newspapers Ltd. The action relates to allegations of "gross breaches of privacy", including phone hacking and
153-666: A live drama black & white adaptation of the World War II escape story as an episode of The Philco Television Playhouse , starring E.G. Marshall , Everett Sloane , Horace Braham , and Kurt Katch . The live on-air broadcast was praised for engineering an ingenious set design for the live broadcast, including creating the illusion of tunnels. Twelve years later in 1963, the Mirisch Company brothers worked with United Artists studios in Hollywood (Los Angeles, California) to adapt
204-464: A news editor at The Sun to interview Brickhill in 1932. Brickhill was hired as a copy boy, and within a year was promoted to cadet journalist. Within a few years he had worked his way up to journalist, and by 1940 was a sub-editor. Brickhill was unimpressed by war fever, until the shock of the invasion of France and subsequent withdrawal from Dunkirk , coupled with boredom with his deskbound sub-editor job, induced him to enlist on 6 January 1941 with
255-458: A period, Brickhill returned to Australia, taking a job as a sub-editor at The Sun newspaper in Sydney, Australia. Brickhill and Norton had agreed that each would retain the copyright to the chapters that they had written for Escape to Danger . As a result, while awaiting for sufficient stocks of paper to be obtained to print the book, Brickhill was able to sell a condensed version of his chapter on
306-528: A significant minority by Vyvyan Harmsworth, the 2nd Viscount's son by his third marriage). Jonathan Harmsworth is the chairman of the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). Associated Newspapers changed its name to DMG Media in 2013. In January 2022, DMGT delisted from the London Stock Exchange following a successful offer for DMGT by Rothermere Continuation Limited. In February 1954, with the passage of
357-537: A statement that his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex is suing Associated Newspapers over a private letter one of its newspapers, Mail on Sunday , had published. The handwritten letter, which Markle addressed to her father, Thomas Markle, was published by the paper in February 2019. The statement claims that the paper misused private information, copyright infringement and breached the UK's Data Protection Act 2018 . Furthermore,
408-551: A tempestuous marriage. Margot later married Devon Minchin . Paul and Margot Brickhill had two children: Timothy Paul (14 April 1954– ) and Tempe Melinda (August 1957– ). After working as a fashion model Tempe became manager of Issey Miyake London, CEO of Issey Miyake Europe and a director of Fédération Française de la Couture . His life was the subject of a 2016 biography, The Hero Maker: A Biography of Paul Brickhill , by Stephen Dando-Collins and Flying into Danger: The Paul Brickhill Story by John Ramsland. Brickhill wrote
459-738: A written statement, Grant said he took the action because: "I was tired of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday papers publishing almost entirely fictional articles about my private life for their own financial gain. I'm also hoping that this statement in court might remind people that the so-called 'close friends' or 'close sources' on which these stories claim to be based almost never exist." The publisher has also lost libel cases and paid damages to personalities including television presenter Thea Rogers, and Oisin Fanning, former CEO of Smart Telecom. On 1 October 2019, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex announced via
510-583: Is also responsible for overseeing and developing the Group's online consumer businesses and for the group's UK newspaper printing operations. Harmsworth Printing Limited produces all of its London, Southern England and South Wales editions of the national titles out of a print work site in Thurrock , Essex. In 2020 DMG Media acquired JPI Media's print operations in Dinnington, Portsmouth and Carn. Associated Newspaper Ltd
561-767: The Desert Air Force in North Africa. On 17 March 1943, he was shot down over Tunisia and became a prisoner of war . He was flown to Italy on 23 March, then sent by train to Germany. After being held at the Dulag Luft at Oberursel , a central receiving and interrogation station for captured enemy airmen for the Luftwaffe , he was sent to Stalag Luft III , in Lower Silesia , 150 km southeast of Berlin, arriving there on 4 April 1943. Brickhill became involved with organizing
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#1732859189715612-817: The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). His flight training commenced in March 1941 at the Number 8 Elementary Flying Training School at Narrandera , New South Wales as undertaken in Australia Under the Empire Air Training Scheme . Brickhill undertook advanced training as a fighter pilot in Canada and the United Kingdom before being assigned to No. 92 Squadron RAF , a unit equipped with Spitfires and part of
663-745: The Television Act 1954 , Associated Newspapers joined forces with Taylorfilms and Rediffusion (the latter being an division of BET plc ) into forming Associated-Rediffusion , winning the rights for London's weekday ITV service. They began broadcasting on 22 September 1955. During the partnership's first year, Associated-Rediffusion was losing money so fast that it was financially suffering; However, Associated-Rediffusion had managed to recover its financial security completely by October 1958. However, Associated-Rediffusion eventually lost its rights into broadcasting within London during August 1967. dmg media publishes
714-652: The 'Great Escape' Murders and the Hunt for the Gestapo Gunmen by author and journalist Simon Read . The book details the 50 murders that took place following the escape and the three-year manhunt by the British Royal Air Force to bring the killers to justice. A year after the publication of Brickhill's history book, on 27 January 1951, the National Broadcasting Company ( NBC-TV ) network televised
765-399: The 1950 book to produce the film The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen , James Garner , Richard Attenborough , Donald Pleasence and James Coburn . The film was based on the real events but depicts a heavily fictionalised version of the escape with numerous compromises for its commercial appeal, such as including three Americans among the escapees (in real life John ("Johnnie") Dodge
816-520: The 617 Squadron history. The Great Escape was published in 1950 and brought the incident to wide public attention. The history of 617 Squadron and in particular its involvement in Operation Chastise and the destruction of dams in the Ruhr valley was published in 1951 as The Dam Busters , which sold over one million copies over 50 years. Following the success of The Dam Busters , Robert Clark
867-558: The Duke and Duchess alleges the letter was published illegally and edited selectively to hide "lies" the paper had told about the Duchess. Prince Harry added that the legal action "hinges on one incident in a long and disturbing pattern of behavior" against his wife by British tabloid media. Associated Newspapers was ordered to pay damages of £120,000 and published two apologies, in April and May 2019, to
918-535: The European war, was related by marriage to British prime minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965), was one of the escapees and nicknamed "the Artful Dodger". The German Luftwaffe officers and guards (called 'goons' by the prisoners) included teams of 'ferrets' who crawled about under the raised huts looking for signs of tunnels. They were carefully watched and surveilled by rotating teams of P.O.W. 'stooges', one of whom
969-749: The Great Escape to several newspapers in Australia. After the end of World War II, John Nerney, head of the Air Historical Branch of the British Air Ministry identified the need for a history of 617 Squadron . While trying to find a suitable author he discussed the issue with John Pudney , who was an editor at News Review . Pudney had liked Escape to Danger and suggested that Brickhill be considered. Following up Pudney's recommendation, Nerney approached Brickhill in February 1949, who jumped at
1020-583: The March 1944 mass escape from the Nazi German Luftwaffe (Air Force) prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III for British and Commonwealth enemy airmen. As a prisoner in the camp himself, he participated in the escape plan but was barred from the actual escape attempt 'along with three or four others on grounds of suffering from claustrophobia'. The introduction to the book is written by George Harsh, an American P.O.W. at camp Stalag Luft III. This 1950 book along with other previously published material
1071-521: The RAF about the status of the proposed history of 617 Squadron, offering his services if they were still required. As the RAF had made no further progress in finding an alternative author, his offer was accepted. Brickhill approached Evans Brothers about an advance for the proposed book on 617 Squadron, but they were not interested in providing any advance until they saw a manuscript. Already working on The Great Escape , Brickhill also commenced simultaneous work on
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#17328591897151122-685: The Western Front only to the Western Allies in April–May 1945, which was rejected. Only three escaped airmen prisoners eventually made it home safely. The book is dedicated "to The Fifty". In the aftermath, according to historian author Brickhill, 5,000,000 million Germans searched for the escaped Allied Powers airmen prisoners, many of them full-time for subsequent weeks. According to author Brickhill's later interviewer / biographer Stephen Dando-Collins (born 1950), while this may have been claimed by
1173-473: The age of 64, and his son Esmond took over that role. He served as chairman until 1971, after which he assumed the titles of President and Director of Group Finance, and chairman of Daily Mail & General Trust Ltd, the parent company, from 1938 until his death. Harmsworth ran the businesses with sufficient skill that they remain firmly under family control today, majority ownership being voted by his grandson, Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere (and
1224-477: The announcement of the murder of the escapees who had been recaptured following the Great Escape, Brickhill became determined to document the event. Discussing the subject with fellow prisoner Conrad Norton, they found that many of their fellow prisoners had other tales of daring escapes that would justify a book following the end of the war. As Brickhill had been involved in "The Great Escape", he concentrated on that story, while Norton collected individual tales. Since
1275-649: The book. None was interested, so Brickhill was forced to decline Nerney's offer. At the same time Brickhill had been approached by John Pudney, who had recently joined London based publisher Evans Brothers as an editor, with a proposal to write a book on the Stalag Luft III mass escape. This was eventually to be published as The Great Escape . With the advance that Evans Brothers offered Brickhill, he left his job and sailed to England in May 1949. Once in England, Brickhill asked
1326-411: The camp's escape, initially as a lookout or "stooge", before volunteering to work as a digger on the "Tom" tunnel. He developed claustrophobia , so he was put in charge of security for the forgers. Because of his claustrophobia and the risk that he would panic and block the escape of those behind him, he was not allowed to take part in the escape attempt , which is known as "The Great Escape". Following
1377-457: The code name of " Dean and Dawson ", after a well-known British travel agency'; Al Hake , the compass maker; Des Plunkett, the ingenious chief map tracer, who somehow made a mimeograph duplicating machine for reproducing maps; and Tommy Guest, who ran a team of tailors. American-born Major John ("Johnnie") Dodge (1894–1960), who had enlisted in the British Army in 1939 at the beginning of
1428-415: The compound's imprisoned population had no interest in escaping. Much of the book is focused on Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Roger Bushell , also known as the nicknamed " Big X ", including his capture, early escape attempts, and planning of the escape . All the major participants and their exploits are described by Brickhill. Among these are Tim Walenn , the principal forger, who 'gave his factory
1479-505: The couple's five children, the others being Russell (1911–2002), Ayde Geoffrey (1914–), Lloyd (1918–2011), and Clive (1923–2009). When Brickhill was 11 the family moved to Sydney, where he was educated at North Sydney Boys High School . A classmate, and friend, was actor Peter Finch . Brickhill left school in 1931 after his father had been made redundant as a result of the Depression . While his other brothers continued with their education it
1530-471: The escape was in progress with only seventy-six of the planned two hundred and twenty prisoners free. The Germans filled Harry with sewage and sand and sealed it off with cement. After the escape, the prisoners started digging another tunnel called George , but this was abandoned when the camp was evacuated in 1945. Sixty-eight years later, on 2 October 2012, Penguin Books released Human Game: The True Story of
1581-428: The escapees, it is merely an exaggeration which added to the story's heroic narrative. Three tunnels were dug for the escape. They were nicknamed Tom , Dick , and Harry . The operation was so secretive that everyone was to refer to each tunnel by its name. Bushell took this so seriously that he threatened to court-martial anyone who even uttered the word "tunnel" aloud. Tom was dug in hut 123 and extended west into
Paul Brickhill - Misplaced Pages Continue
1632-613: The following books: Three books by Brickhill were made into feature films: The Dam Busters (1955), Reach for the Sky (1956), and The Great Escape (1963). Deadline became an episode of the Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre anthology series titled War of Nerves that was first broadcast on 5 January 1964. The Great Escape (book) The Great Escape is a 1950 book by Australian writer Paul Brickhill (1916–1991), that provides an insider's account of
1683-427: The following titles: On 27 April 2007, Associated Newspapers was ordered to pay undisclosed damages to Hugh Grant . He sued over claims made about his relationships with his former girlfriends in three separate tabloid articles, which were published in the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday on 18, 21 and 24 February. Grant's lawyer stated that all of the articles' "allegations and factual assertions are false." In
1734-458: The forest. Its length eventually reached 140 feet beyond the perimeter and the escapees were about to start digging vertically to the surface when it was found by the Germans and dynamited. Dick was dug in the shower room of hut 122 and had the most secure, well-hidden trap door beneath the usually water-filled drain. It was to go in the same westward direction as Tom and the prisoners decided that
1785-427: The head of production at Associated British Picture Corporation approached Brickhill about acquiring the screen rights to the book. The company's production manager was of the opinion that there were too many people and raids involved, and that they would not be able to film the book in its entirety. As a result, he requested that Brickhill provide a condensed film treatment. Brickhill agreed to do it without payment, in
1836-644: The hope of selling the screen rights. To assist, Clark teamed him up with Walter Mycroft who was the company's Director of Production. Brickhill decided to concentrate the film treatment on Operation Chastise , and ignore the later raids. Associated agreed with Brickhill on the film rights in December 1952 for what is believed to have been £5,000. The subsequent film was released in 1954 as The Dam Busters . After reading The Dam Busters , Battle of Britain ace Douglas Bader approached Brickhill in 1951 about collaborating on his biography. Brickhill agreed to undertake
1887-402: The hut would not be a suspected tunnel site as it was further from the perimeter fence than the others. Dick was abandoned for escape purposes because the area where it would have surfaced was shortly afterwards cleared for camp expansion. Dick was then used to store dirt, supplies, and as a workshop. Harry , dug in hut 104, was the tunnel ultimately used for the escape. It was discovered as
1938-526: The offer. While doing all it could to assist his research the Air Ministry could only provide Brickhill with a small honorarium, and no guarantee of publication other than as a government produced publication. In an attempt to obtain an advance which would pay enough for him to leave his current job as a sub-editor at The Sun and relocate to England, Brickhill approached a number of Australian publishers to see if they were interested in an Australian edition of
1989-455: The prisoners were forbidden from writing anything other than letters and postcards, they collected every piece of paper they could find and, writing in as small a hand as possible, they collected stories and hid them from the guards. Following the end of the war, while the terms of his enlistment with the RAAF had been that he had to serve for 12 months following the cessation of hostilities, Brickhill
2040-468: The project. Several publishers were approached about the proposed biography. Brickhill's agent found that William Collins and Sons offered the best terms, leading Brickhill to sign with them. However Brickhill felt guilty about not signing with John Pudney and Evans Brothers, who had previously been so supportive of him. He consequently offered to write an anthology of escape stories for them, eventually published as Escape – Or Die . The biography of Bader
2091-432: The remaining twenty-three survivors later tunnelled again out of Sachsenhausen (another concentration camp they were transferred to), but were recaptured and then chained to the floor of their cells. One of them, Major John ("Johnnie") Dodge , was released to be taken to Berlin , then to neutral Switzerland to relay from the Germans to Allied officials in London to attempt to secure a cease-fire or partial surrender on
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2142-609: The rest of his life working on unfinished film screenplays, novels and biographies, but was unable to repeat his successes of 1949 to 1954. In 1969 he returned to live permanently in Australia. Brickhill died in Sydney , New South Wales on 23 April 1991 aged 74. After meeting on a ship from Australia to England in 1949, the 33-year-old Brickhill married 21-year-old Margot Slater, also an Australian, in St. Michael's Church, Chester Square , Pimlico on 22 April 1950. They divorced on 20 July 1964 after
2193-413: The war, had previously written four different accounts of the story, first as a BBC media talk / interview, then as newspaper and Reader's Digest magazine articles, and in the 1946 book Escape to Danger which he co-wrote with Conrad Norton. By the time four years later of the 1950 book, Brickhill had eliminated some of the less heroic aspects of the story, including the fact that a large proportion of
2244-537: Was established in 1905 and owns the Daily Mail , MailOnline , The Mail on Sunday , Metro , Metro.co.uk , i newspaper , inews.co.uk and New Scientist . Its portfolio of national newspapers, websites and mobile and tablet applications regularly reach 63% of the British adult population every month: it includes two major paid-for national newspaper titles as well as a free nationally available newspaper. The firm
2295-670: Was established in 1905 by brother newspaper barons Alfred and Harold Harmsworth . When Alfred died in 1922 without an heir, Harold Harmsworth acquired his controlling interest in Associated Newspapers for £1.6 million, and the next year bought the Hulton newspaper chain, which left Associated Newspapers in control of three national morning newspapers, three national Sunday newspapers, two London evening papers, four provincial daily newspapers, and three provincial Sunday newspapers. Harold retired as chairman of Associated Newspapers in 1932 at
2346-451: Was future historian / author Paul Brickhill, 'boss of a gang of "stooges" guarding the forgers'. In the end, seventy-six men actually escaped. Seventy-three were recaptured and fifty of those were shot by the Gestapo notorious secret police in violation of the ratified 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War , which specified that P.O.W.'s could not be killed for trying to escape. Four of
2397-444: Was granted six months' leave without pay. During his leave he returned to journalism, working as a London-based correspondent for Associated Newspapers . Meanwhile, outside of working hours he had typed up his and Norton's stories and selected David Higham as their literary agent. With Higham's help the manuscript was accepted by Faber & Faber and published as Escape to Danger in 1946. After working for Associated Newspapers for
2448-610: Was made into the 1963 film The Great Escape . The book covers the planning, execution and aftermath of what became known as The Great Escape . Other escape attempts (such as the Wooden Horse ) are also mentioned as well as the post-war hunt for the Nazi German Gestapo agents who murdered fifty of the Allied airmen escapees on Hitler's direct order. The book was published in 1950. Brickhill, an Australian journalist before and after
2499-475: Was necessary for Brickhill, who was regarded as the least academic child, to get a job to assist his older brother Russell in bringing money into the family. He was sacked from his first two jobs due to his stutter. He then got a job as office boy and then lift boy at the Adelaide Steamship Company . That job did not last long, as Peter Finch, who was by then working as a copy boy, was able to convince
2550-467: Was published in 1954 as Reach for the Sky . In the first few months alone, 172,000 copies were sold. The initial print run of 300,000 quickly sold out, and the biography became the best-selling hardback in post-war Britain. The book was subsequently adapted for the screen and released in 1956 as a feature film . Starring Kenneth More as Bader, it topped the box office in Britain that year. Brickhill spent
2601-508: Was the only one). The characters are based on real men, and in some cases are composites of several men. Associated Newspapers DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers , Northcliffe Media , Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust . It is based at 9 Derry Street in Kensington , West London . Associated Newspapers Limited
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