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Journalist's son is seeking survivors
The son of the late BBC broadcaster Godfrey Talbot is appealing to readers to assist with his own interviewing project, collecting the memories of those who lived through the Second World War.
David Talbot, a 69 year old retired teacher from Sanderstead, wants to hear from anyone with interesting tales to tell as part of his work with the Second World War Experience centre.
When David first became involved with the Centre, a Leeds based museum, it was to donate his father's wartime diaries to the project shortly after his death in 2000. Despite being close to retiring from Cambridge Tutors' College in Croydon and a lack of journalism training, David was delighted when he was asked to take on the role of interviewer on behalf of the museum, something that would have surprised his father. He said: "It's very much a voluntary role but it's a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend my retirement." "I've interviewed more than 800 people so far."
"My father would be very surprised to know that I was doing this now as I was never a journalist. I was very interested in his career when he was a war Broadcaster journalist, but not so much when he became a royal correspondent.
"Shortly before my father died he was interviewed by the Second World War Experience. After his death I gave the museum his fascinating collection of wartime diaries, It was then they asked me if I wanted to do a bit of interviewing."
Godfrey Talbot lived in Sander-stead for 45 years. After joining the BBC in 1937 he became a front-line war reporter before becoming the corporation's first officially-accredited royal correspondent.
The veteran broadcaster made his name with despatches on the 'Desert Rats' campaign in north Africa during the Second World War and his work as a war correspondent earned him an QBE.
In 1948 he became the first person to be officially accredited to Buckingham Palace and travelled all over the world with members of the royal family during the next 20 years.
For more information about the Second World War Experience go to www.war-experience.org.
If you are prepared to be interviewed by David Talbot for the Second World War Experience, call the newsroom on 0208 774 6590 or email kmcqueeney®London.newsquest.co.uk.