Deborah Jones

The defence investment plan will no longer be published on Monday as planned, raising questions about where Dan Jarvis stands on the plan. Will be very awkward for Jarvis heading to NATO defence ministerials next week

Al Carns resignation apology to colleagues on WhatsApp opens with “Legends”, concludes: “Stay awesome!”

A summary of the script of "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943) found its way to Prime Minister Winston Churchill before the movie began production. He wrote to Minister of Information Brenden Bracken, "Pray propose to me the measures necessary to stop this foolish production before it gets any further." Bracken was uncomfortable with Churchill's request, and responded that he had "no power to supress the film", stating that "in order to stop it the government would need to assume powers of a very far-reaching kind". Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger wanted Laurence Olivier to play the lead role of Clive Candy in the movie. But Olivier was prevented from being furloughed from the Navy by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill didn't want to bolster the production with an actor and star of Olivier's caliber, as he felt the movie was critical of a type of British patriot. Olivier was allowed to take a leave from the Navy to make a film about William Shakespeare's patriotic King Henry V in Henry V (1944). Roger Livesey was cast instead. After the proposal to release Laurence Olivier was turned down by the War Office, Michael Powell asked the Minister Jack Beddington "Do you forbid us to make the film?" He replied, "Oh, my dear fellow, after all, we are a democracy, aren't we? You know we can't forbid you to do anything, but don't make it, because everyone will be really cross, and the Old Man [Winston Churchill] will be very cross and you'll never get a knighthood." Filming was made difficult by the wartime shortages and by Winston Churchill's objections leading to a ban on the production crew having access to any military personnel or equipment. But they still managed to "find" quite a few Army vehicles and plenty of uniforms. In his autobiography, Michael Powell wrote, "I have often been asked how we managed to obtain military vehicles, military uniforms, weapons and all the fixings after being refused help by the War Office and the Ministry of Information. The answer is quite simple: we stole them." ("The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp: The war film that Churchill tried to ban", Mark Allison, BBC, 2023, "A Life in Movies", Michael Powell, 1986 & IMDb) P.S: On this day, 83 years ago, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943) premiered in London, UK.