John Nichol
speaker
413 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 27 Jul
John Nichol’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
And so that was kind of April to June 1942.
So depending on what your historical context was, the Blitz finished in supposedly May 1941.
Well, not if you are in those historic towns in the summer of 1942, they were.
So
There's a book, Beidecker's Great Britain, The Handbook for Travellers.
And basically, the Germans, if you remember the Grand Tour when we would go over to Europe and see the historic sites of Europe, well, the Germans would come here and they'd use the Beidecker's Great Britain Handbook for Travellers.
And that listed all of the great, largely cathedral cities.
So anything Canterbury, Exeter, Norwich, and they were attacked.
And so it was in revenge for our attacks on the great German cities, but also sending a message to the people of Great Britain, nowhere is safe.
We can attack you in your homes.
We can attack your cathedrals.
We can attack your historic sites.
We can attack your beautiful buildings, whether you're in Bath or in Exeter, Canterbury.
June the 1st, 1942.
And I think Canterbury, I think it was ordered in retaliation for an RAF raid on Cologne in the days before.
And so 130 HE high explosive bombs, nearly 4,000 in centuries dropped on one raid.
Doesn't sound much, 130 bombs, 4,000 in centuries, but it largely leveled
the medieval part of Canterbury.
Interestingly, of course, the cathedral, for some reason, survived.
40 people killed, 100 people wounded, 800 buildings destroyed, corn exchange, the city market.
Showing 281–300 of 413 · page 15 of 21
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