News about James Holland

Kirsty Young was presenting from the Bayeux Cemetery in Normandy for the corporation's 90-minute special programme last night ahead of the 80th anniversary of the invasion. The veteran broadcaster told viewers the emotional commemoration to remember the fallen was about to begin. There was an awkward moment of silence as they wait for the footage to cut to a military band parade before the camera wobbles and a male voice behind the camera appears to mutter: 'French a*******s.' Ms Young looks on stony-faced as she sits beside the equally silent historian James Holland and Anthea Goldsmith, the daughter of  D-Day hero Theodore Ionides whose grave is at the Bayeux, who all make no reaction.

Australian-born former Socceroo star James Holland has sold off his investment pad in Sydney's Bondi. The 35-year-old champ had listed the vintage two-bedroom, one-bathroom flat for $1.2million earlier this month. It was originally scheduled to go under the hammer at auction on June 30.

The National Archives has unearthed a shocking report that sheds a whole new light on the Great Escape from the Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp. A recently released National Archives paper details Flight Lieutenant Desmond Plunkett's account (pictured left), the map-maker and 13th man to flee the camp. Plunkett informs British authorities that an unidentified pair of English double agents was responsible for exposing the scheme to Nazi captors, causing the death of hundreds of prisoners. On the night of March 24, 1944, the eerie discovery comes as the Great Escape's 80th anniversary of the Great Escape draws near.

Several rows of portable cabins were placed on RAF Scampton's airfield, in Lincolnshire, with diggers seen standing inside the temporary metal fencing, stacking pallets, and ring-fenced building materials. According to locals, the Home Office needed the huge detention center at the former Red Arrows base by Christmas, but locals have sluggishly reacted with a grassroots group led by Conservative MP and former defence committee member Sir Edward Leigh. West Lindsey District Council (WLDC) sent the Home Office a warning in September that it would suspend operations until the property was restored to its original state. However, evidence work was ongoing, and it was 'inundated.' On October 31, the plans will be heard in a judicial investigation. To accommodate migrants, the Home Office is now being asked to pay £8 million a day, while big accommodation facilities are required to reduce the 'unacceptable' cost.

Sam Little didn't appear to be a serial murderer at first glance, much less America's most prolific serial killer, who was accused of 93 murders in three decades. He trundled into the visitors' room of California State Prison with a charming, twinkly-eyed 78-year-old with a heart disease, diabetes, and an amputated toe. His first words to his new visitor Jillian Lauren were: 'You! From Heaven, you, my angel, will visit me. 'I knew you were lonely,' God sent me.' So began the strangest, most frightening two years any investigative journalist or novelist might have expected in their professional life.

Local authorities in charge of RAF Wethersfield (main) and RAF Scampton (top left) are seeking high court injunctions to stop the government from converting the bases into asylum seekers' centers. In World War II, RAF Scampton was home to the legendary Dambusters regiment, and it is under a £300 million reconstruction programme. According to the government, it is now spending over £6 million per day on the migrant crisis, which has seen thousands of people cross the channel illegally in boats (bottom left).

According to the historian (lower left inset) who is fighting to keep the Dambusters' headquarters (right) from being turned into a migrant detention center, the campaign has been hijacked by anti-immigration activists. James Holland, a Second World War expert, created an online petition that has now attracted 18,000 signatures. He favors a £300 million alternative to redevelop the Lincolnshire site (left) and protect the HQ. "The whole thing seems to have been slightly hijacked by Nigel Farage (lower right inset).

A top historian and locals have blasted proposals to transfer '1,000 asylum seekers' into the historic RAF Scampton base, which was also used as the World War II base for the infamous 'Dambusters' unit.'