0:00:03 > 0:00:07This was Hitler's Blitzkrieg, or lightning war.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10During the nine month bombing campaign,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14the Nazis devastated 16 cities across England, Scotland,
0:00:14 > 0:00:16Wales and Northern Ireland,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18but as the war progressed,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20they widened their targets beyond our big cities
0:00:20 > 0:00:23and industrial heartlands.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26I'm Myleene Klass and, in today's programme,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29I'm finding out why my hometown area also came under attack.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32I'll discover how the Nazis used an unlikely source
0:00:32 > 0:00:34to plot their devastation.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37This is a story of Hitler using a tourist guidebook
0:00:37 > 0:00:42in an attempt to destroy the heart and soul of England.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46And I'll take a flight I'll never forget.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49To think that somebody was looking down on my hometown,
0:00:49 > 0:00:50wanting to bomb it...
0:01:07 > 0:01:10I'm on my way to Norfolk, where I grew up with my mum,
0:01:10 > 0:01:12dad, brother and sister.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Our family actually lived right on the coast in Gorlestone-on-Sea
0:01:15 > 0:01:17near Great Yarmouth,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20and my Blitz journey is starting on the train back home.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24I was quite surprised
0:01:24 > 0:01:26when I was asked to take part in this programme.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28Namely because, when I was at school,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31I thought I pretty much knew all there was to know about the area -
0:01:31 > 0:01:33we learned about the Vikings,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35we definitely learned about the Romans, cos I remember
0:01:35 > 0:01:38having to take that long walk all the way through Colchester.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40However, when it came to learning about World War II,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43I remember that we took a school trip all the way back
0:01:43 > 0:01:45down to London, would you believe?
0:01:45 > 0:01:48We walked around St Paul's, we learned about the Blitz there,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51but there was no mention whatsoever of Norfolk,
0:01:51 > 0:01:56so I reckon the next few days are going to be pretty interesting.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04I left Norfolk to study music in London when I was 18.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08My parents moved away after that, so I rarely get to go back now,
0:02:08 > 0:02:10but it's always a treat when I do.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23I've got a bit of a knot in my stomach.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25I think it must be, like, excitement,
0:02:25 > 0:02:28but nothing has changed, everything looks the same, same faces,
0:02:28 > 0:02:30same concourse.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Even the weather's the same.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37First up, my old house in Gorlestone,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40around 20 miles from the heart of the city.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44The journey's hardly started and already I'm getting emotional.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46God, I didn't even think I'd think about it.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50I didn't think I'd miss it and you come back, it's just quite...
0:02:50 > 0:02:53That room is right where the piano was and you could walk back
0:02:53 > 0:02:56and forth, you could hear the piano playing all the time,
0:02:56 > 0:02:58I'd hear my sister playing or my brother.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04All these people, I know every single one of these houses.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06I've been in all of these houses...
0:03:09 > 0:03:11And then my girlfriends all lived down that way,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15so we'd have sleepovers and just walk back in our pyjamas.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17This is, like... This is my neighbourhood.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Cannot believe that I haven't come back for so long.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Maybe I've avoided coming back here, cos it's a lot to think about.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31My dad said, "You'll miss it when you've gone."
0:03:31 > 0:03:35And he's absolutely right. 18 years... I was here for 18 years...
0:03:39 > 0:03:41This part of the country means the world to me.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44It's tranquil, picturesque,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46and the people are friendly and welcoming.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Why on Earth would anyone want to drop bombs here?
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Well, it turns out it was as much a target as our great ports and
0:03:57 > 0:04:00industrial cities that were all hit in the first Blitz between
0:04:00 > 0:04:06September 1940 and May 1941, but Norfolk's turn came a year later.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12The raids were in revenge for the Allied bombing
0:04:12 > 0:04:14of the scenic German town of Lubeck.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19Hitler was outraged by the destruction.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22He told the Luftwaffe to draw up a list of our most beautiful,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26iconic towns, and then target their best-known landmarks,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29all in an effort to demoralise the British people.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34In compiling that list, the Germans used a tourism book called
0:04:34 > 0:04:38the Baedeker guide, in which Norwich featured prominently.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42So, according to this Baedeker guide of 1937,
0:04:42 > 0:04:47"Norwich is an irregularly-built city of 126,000 inhabitants."
0:04:47 > 0:04:51"Now, in the county town of Norfolk, besides its cathedral,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55"it possesses over 30 old churches, more than any other city in the
0:04:55 > 0:04:58"country except London, and numerous other interesting buildings.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01"Its manufacturers include ladies' and children's shoes,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05"mustard and starch, chocolate, silk, electrical machinery
0:05:05 > 0:05:09"and domestic appliances, hardware and beer.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12"The breeding of canaries is a minor industry."
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Destroying a city, because of its history,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19culture or beauty seems extraordinary,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23but that was the precise aim of the so-called Baedeker Blitz.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26The Nazis attacked York, Canterbury, Exeter and Bath,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and, for two nights in 1942,
0:05:29 > 0:05:30Norwich.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35They descended from about 14,000ft rapidly to three.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Chris Going is an aerial archaeologist.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Today, I'm meeting him
0:05:41 > 0:05:43and pilot Bill Giles on the former site of RAF Horsham,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45an old bomber station.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Today, it's home to Norwich Airport.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51From here, we're recreating the journey
0:05:51 > 0:05:53of those Luftwaffe pilots back in 1942.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59I've been in a lot of planes a lot of times.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01However, this one just feels a little bit different,
0:06:01 > 0:06:05because I think I feel like I'm seeing it with different eyes.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Like, the eyes of a bomber. I feel like I'm going on a bombing mission.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23OK, Myleene, what we're doing is
0:06:23 > 0:06:28we're heading east or south east from Norwich Airport now.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31We're going to go out to sea
0:06:31 > 0:06:33and then we're going to turn
0:06:33 > 0:06:37close to Great Yarmouth and come in from the north-east,
0:06:37 > 0:06:42which was the route the second big attack, the Baedeker attack,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44was flown from.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47So we're going to fly the exact route that the Baedeker bombers
0:06:47 > 0:06:49took to get to Norwich via Great Yarmouth.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52We're certainly going to come in from that angle, yeah.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05This is the coast. Where are we?
0:07:05 > 0:07:08The Gorlestone's going to be off the wing.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10You can see the river
0:07:10 > 0:07:14and you can see where it finally bends round to the sea.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Oh, my gosh! Is that my house?!
0:07:19 > 0:07:21There!
0:07:21 > 0:07:22Right. OK.
0:07:24 > 0:07:25That's fantastic.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27I can't take my eyes off it.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29And so they would have bombed very close to here.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32There were certainly attacks along the seafront.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35And there would have been occasional sort of bombs along the sort
0:07:35 > 0:07:38of dock facilities, so...
0:07:38 > 0:07:41OK, you can see, I'm, like, three minutes away.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Oh, less than that. I mean,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46you know, if you're flying an aircraft, if you'd pressed
0:07:46 > 0:07:48a button two seconds later, it could have easily struck your house.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Oh, my gosh.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59- And here we are. We're just coming up to Norwich.- Wow.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02They'd be flying in in the wake of the
0:08:02 > 0:08:04so-called pathfinder force,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07whose job it was to identify the centre of the city.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12You see, the aiming point for this Baedeker attack, all of them,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15was the railway station, the city railway station just, you know,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18close to the castle, north west by the river.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22It was not the industrial heartland here.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29The attacks were aimed at the cultural heart of the town.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34How much warning would the, erm,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38civilians get? Would they maybe hear the planes coming?
0:08:38 > 0:08:43Well, the two main attacks, it was about ten, 15 minutes warning,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47public warning, from the sounding of the sirens.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50It was about ten past 11
0:08:50 > 0:08:51on the first night
0:08:51 > 0:08:54and about half past 11 at night on the second night.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56ENGINES DRONE
0:08:56 > 0:08:59EXPLOSIONS
0:08:59 > 0:09:03What they tended to do was make quite sure that you didn't
0:09:03 > 0:09:08warn people unnecessarily, so you were fairly confident
0:09:08 > 0:09:12that they were going to end up in your area
0:09:12 > 0:09:14by the time you got the sirens publicly sounding.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21I've taken so much for granted, just walking through this city,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25blinkers on, to school, back home.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28This whole city's alive for me.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31I just had no idea.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36It's already been quite an experience.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39I initially felt giddy at seeing my hometown from above, but
0:09:39 > 0:09:44imagining our plane was on a mission to drop bombs was pretty upsetting.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47But how successful were those Luftwaffe pilots?
0:09:47 > 0:09:50And how much damage did they cause on the ground?
0:09:52 > 0:09:54I've seen where the bombs fell,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57but I want to hear about what people's lives were like.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Mike Bailey is a local artist whose paintings are still
0:10:00 > 0:10:02inspired by his childhood during those war years
0:10:07 > 0:10:09Who is that fine looking chap?
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Well, this is me at the age of eight with my mum.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15She's beautiful.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19And how come we find you and your mum in this book?
0:10:19 > 0:10:24Well, this is a book of my paintings which was published about five
0:10:24 > 0:10:28- years ago.- So, this is your book, your published work?
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Even to see, at 80 years old,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34you're sitting here showing me images that you painted of the war.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36It must have had a profound effect on you as an eight-year-old.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Yeah, I think it shaped my life, actually. I was totally obsessed.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45All I cared about was aeroplanes, ships, tanks, guns, you know.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Terrific, all exciting, you know, bring it on.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50People think, oh, my God,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53it must have been terrible for young children.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57But to horrible little boys like me, it wasn't horrible at all.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59The death and destruction passes over your head
0:10:59 > 0:11:02and you think, oh, well, that's something that happens to
0:11:02 > 0:11:05everybody else, it can't happen to me or my family.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11But, of course, with so many bombs falling,
0:11:11 > 0:11:16no-one was immune to tragedy, even an excited schoolboy like Mike.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Well, my best friend, a guy called Reggie Wright,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22he was about three years older than me.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24He was 11 and, on the Monday night,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26the first night of the Baedeker raids,
0:11:26 > 0:11:31I was actually round his house having tea.
0:11:31 > 0:11:32I left about seven o'clock.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38"Bye, Reggie, see you tomorrow." "OK, Mike."
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Fine. Went home but, of course, next day, Reggie was dead.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45They went down the shelter like everybody else
0:11:45 > 0:11:50and there was a bomb landed right on the spot,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and I was told it blew the shelter right out off the ground.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Did you feel that loss?
0:11:56 > 0:11:59Well, it must have had an impact,
0:11:59 > 0:12:05but there was so much going on around you, it didn't have the same
0:12:05 > 0:12:08sort of impact as it would have done if I was a bit older.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16It's really surprising to hear that, for some children at least,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19the Blitz felt like an exciting adventure, but, of course,
0:12:19 > 0:12:23that didn't stop the adults from trying to keep them safe.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25I've heard about a network of tunnels under the nearby
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Norwich Grammar School.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30They were built to provide shelter for the pupils during air raids
0:12:30 > 0:12:33and, apparently, they've survived to this day.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36After a quick change of wardrobe, I'm going to get a guided tour
0:12:36 > 0:12:38by the current school archivist, John Walker.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Whoa!
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Well, Myleene, this is the actual entrance we're going to
0:12:45 > 0:12:48- use into the underground shelter. - That looks insane.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Well, this is actually the emergency exit.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55This whole network of shelters did extend across that far, to the far
0:12:55 > 0:12:57- corner, there.- Where the tree is?
0:12:57 > 0:13:00You're making out that it looks pretty big underneath,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03- but all I can see is... - Well, it does develop.- ..tiny space.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07- It does develop into quite a system.- OK, well, after you.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09All right, here I go. I'm all right.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22- OK, we're all right now, Myleene. - OK.- It's safe to come down.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26It's a bit squelchy underfoot.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31I'm a Norfolk girl, we're made of strong stuff, it's OK.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34You're not wrong.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Oh, what am I standing on? Gosh, look at this.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41- You can see, it's a bit gloomy, isn't it?- Oh, my gosh, look at this.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43- This is the loos. - Yes, they're the toilets.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46And there's somebody's boot that got left behind.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Well, Myleene, if you want to see more of it, we'll go this way.
0:13:49 > 0:13:50Yes, please.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02- This is incredible. - Well, we're in a long corridor now.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05- There's several of these.- This looks brand-new. When was this built?
0:14:05 > 0:14:10This was built in 1939 and only took a matter of weeks to build
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and, when the air raid shelters were on, the boys actually
0:14:13 > 0:14:17came down here with their teachers and they were taught lessons.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19Certainly well underground, well protected
0:14:19 > 0:14:25and this top is made with concrete to give it a more solid structure.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29- And they put it together in three weeks?- About three weeks, yeah.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Above ground, of course, things were a whole lot more scary.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Norwich was being decimated
0:14:37 > 0:14:41and yet one building stood tall against the bombs - the spectacular
0:14:41 > 0:14:45cathedral which lies just next door to the grammar school.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51On June 27th, 1942, it was attacked with hundreds of incendiary bombs.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Back above ground, and having cleaned ourselves off,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58John explains how the older pupils came out of the shelters
0:14:58 > 0:15:00and played a role in saving the day.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05So, you can see the cathedral and the roof perfectly here.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Whereabouts would the incendiary devices be landing?
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Of course, it was random where they fell,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14but the roof being sloping, they would fall into that pit
0:15:14 > 0:15:18just behind the windows of the crenulations.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21The boys would be stationed there with their buckets of water
0:15:21 > 0:15:23and their stirrup pumps.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26BIG BAND PLAYS
0:15:30 > 0:15:33The main problem with incendiary bombs was fire.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35Armed with stirrup pumps and buckets of water,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39it was possible to deactivate the bombs before they caused
0:15:39 > 0:15:42too much damage, but it took courage and speed.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44And if one of the incendiary devices landed,
0:15:44 > 0:15:46they'd have to do what with it? Pick it up?
0:15:46 > 0:15:50Put it in a bucket of water, dowse it with a stirrup pump,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53try and get it into soil, anything to put it out.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58- The thing was, you only had a certain time to do that.- How long?
0:15:58 > 0:16:02If you let it flare up... About five minutes or so before it detonated.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05So, do you think that the actions of those boys,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08and they were boys, saved the cathedral?
0:16:08 > 0:16:10They helped save the cathedral, there is no doubt.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13By the time some of them had left the school at the end of the war,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15- they were Spitfire pilots.- Gosh!
0:16:15 > 0:16:18So, actually, they saw quite a lot of action.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25The survival of Norwich's most historic and impressive building
0:16:25 > 0:16:29would no doubt have been a blow to the Nazi's plans.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32The whole point of the Baedeker Raids, after all,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36had been to target the heritage of Britain's most historic towns.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39It's certainly something the current canon thinks helped
0:16:39 > 0:16:42galvanise locals who are looking for hope in those dark days.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49Can you show me where exactly were the bombings here?
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Most of them were on the north and south transepts.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Mercifully, because the cathedral has got this wonderful stone vault
0:16:56 > 0:16:59that you can see here, which is pretty impervious to bombs
0:16:59 > 0:17:02and to, particularly, lightweight incendiaries,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05the damage was sustained by the lead and the timber of the roof above,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09but nothing actually came down into the body of the cathedral.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12So the bombs weren't heavy enough to penetrate through the stone vault
0:17:12 > 0:17:16and just such damage as was done was confined to the roof above.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21I think if you've been born and bred in Norwich and you've lived
0:17:21 > 0:17:24under the shadow of the cathedral all your life, whether you have
0:17:24 > 0:17:27a faith system or not, it's a very reassuring presence and to see it
0:17:27 > 0:17:31undamaged was an undoubted boost to the morale of the people of the city.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46There is no film of fires raging around the cathedral
0:17:46 > 0:17:50like those famous images from the City of London around St Paul's.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53In fact, unlike London,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56or even other cities involved in the Baedeker Raids,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00archive footage of any of the Norwich raids is rare.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Thankfully, some locals fought hard to record the horrors that they
0:18:04 > 0:18:06and their neighbours faced.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10Hello.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12I've come to meet Judy Ball whose dad, George Swain,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14was a photographer during the war.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Whilst most people were running away from the bombs, he would be
0:18:17 > 0:18:20on his bike, cycling furiously towards the latest attack,
0:18:20 > 0:18:21camera in hand.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Yes, that's the camera he had.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27He just looks wonderful. I love the jacket, the corduroy.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Yes, yes, he was about 40 when that was taken.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35He was a brilliant photographer. Camera went everywhere.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37Even when he and my mum got married,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39the camera went on honeymoon with them.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42If he was in the car and he saw a fire engine or something and he had
0:18:42 > 0:18:45the camera with him, he had to turn round and follow the fire engine.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Now, look at this. You look like a tiddler. Tiny.
0:18:51 > 0:18:52- Yeah, I was about four.- Gosh.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55I mean, it's brilliant that he was a photographer,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58- because I've not seen anything like this.- No.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01There was the other one that went on the back of the book with me,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04with the teddy bear. That became quite famous, that picture.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07- So, a gas mask for you and a gas mask her teddy?- Yes.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13This is Norwich Under Fire. My dad wrote this book, A Camera Record.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Here you are. Look, that's where it starts.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19"For some of us, the siren was a warning of danger calling us
0:19:19 > 0:19:23"to seek shelter, but for others, it was a summons to duty.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26"Wardens hurried to their posts or patrolled their areas.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30"Fire guards put on their tin hats and got ready to man the pumps.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33"All the civil defence workers sprang into action.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35"As for me, as I loaded my camera
0:19:35 > 0:19:38"and set out for the places where bombs were dropping,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40"I felt that mine also was a war job,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43"as exciting as any and useful too.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46"But it was not with any idea of making a book of them,
0:19:46 > 0:19:47"that I took these pictures.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50"They were taken, because I felt that such opportunities to picture
0:19:50 > 0:19:54"historical events at the moments of their happening ought to be seized."
0:20:10 > 0:20:14The Baedeker Raids may have been targeting Norwich, but as I learned
0:20:14 > 0:20:17on my earlier flight with Chris, all through the war, bombs fell
0:20:17 > 0:20:22far and wide across the surrounding area, including Great Yarmouth.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25I'm heading there to meet local historian, Colin Tooke,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28and to brave the typical British seaside resort weather.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34So, the troops here in Yarmouth removed
0:20:34 > 0:20:38- this whole chunk from the pier. - Yeah, they were just blowing it up.
0:20:38 > 0:20:39So why did they do that?
0:20:39 > 0:20:43So nobody could use it as a landing stage...
0:20:43 > 0:20:46- On the pier?- Otherwise they would've landed at the end of the pier
0:20:46 > 0:20:48and then ran into the town.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51So bizarre to think, as well, that all these German soldiers
0:20:51 > 0:20:54running past the candyfloss machines and the carousel.
0:20:55 > 0:21:011940, the invasion was quite likely and the East Anglian coast,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04being very close to occupied Europe,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06was an ideal place for the invasion force to come.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Population wise, were there a lot of people living in Yarmouth
0:21:14 > 0:21:19- at the time?- In 1940, there was a large evacuation from the town.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Children were evacuated from many seaside towns.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26In my head, oh, I don't know, from what I've been fed, I thought
0:21:26 > 0:21:29all the children from London, during the Blitz, came to the countryside.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31They came to places like here.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Well, strangely enough, the London children did come
0:21:34 > 0:21:35here at the beginning of the war.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39When the war first started, they evacuated children from London
0:21:39 > 0:21:41to coastal towns.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44And then they realised this was a very bad idea
0:21:44 > 0:21:46and so the children, they were gone.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51In June that year, 3,500 Yarmouth children were evacuated on trains
0:21:51 > 0:21:56all in one day and, very soon after that, a lot of the adult population
0:21:56 > 0:21:59left as well, because the livelihood of most people had gone
0:21:59 > 0:22:02during the war, because most people in Yarmouth relied on
0:22:02 > 0:22:06the holiday industry or the fishing industry for their livelihood.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10And these both finished.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18I grew up here and I didn't have a clue 200 bombs had dropped
0:22:18 > 0:22:21in a matter of years ago and I didn't know.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Why don't Yarmouth schoolchildren know about this or even the locals?
0:22:24 > 0:22:26How come no-one has got any idea?
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Once the war was over, you see, people forgot about it.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32They wanted to not remember the war any more.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Yarmouth had to rebuild, everybody had to rebuild
0:22:35 > 0:22:38and they were more interested in building houses, getting ready
0:22:38 > 0:22:42for the holiday season again and the beach was cleared very quickly.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44All the barbed wire taken down,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47the pill boxes were taken down and the seafront opened again.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54MUSIC PLAYS
0:23:02 > 0:23:05I'm nearing the end of my Blitz journey, and I feel like I've learnt
0:23:05 > 0:23:10a huge part of Norfolk's history, history that somehow seems secret.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Coming face-to-face with some of the survivors who enjoyed the bombs
0:23:19 > 0:23:23and uncertainty has been pretty emotional.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26It's so hard standing here on this beautiful beach, to imagine it full
0:23:26 > 0:23:29of land mines and barbed wire and scaffolding,
0:23:29 > 0:23:33trying to keep any soldiers away, when you also then think 200 feet
0:23:33 > 0:23:38in that direction, its Joyland, there's the snails, candyfloss.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40So hard to marry the two images.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43You can completely understand why people wanted to forget about it.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46It's a seaside town, it's meant to be for holidays.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09Before I finish, I want to pop in on someone who's very special to me.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11My old piano teacher, Miss Wright,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13lives a few miles from Great Yarmouth.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15I've known her almost all my life.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18She's taught me, my sister and my brother to play piano.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21She's more than a teacher, she's family.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Hello. Hello.
0:24:29 > 0:24:35- Hello, Myleene.- Hi. Look at you. - Thank you very much indeed.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37These are for you.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45How old am I there, Miss Wright? 13?
0:24:45 > 0:24:47Your sister, Jessie, on the end there.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49Myself, my sister, my brother.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51I'm going to fill you in on what we've been up to,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54because I think you're going to really love it.
0:24:54 > 0:25:00We went up in a plane and I got to see my house from way up.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02It was amazing.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05I just wanted to know, because you and I have never discussed this.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08- Did you have any experiences during the war?- Yes, I did, yes.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Well, we used to hide.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14When we heard the sirens, we used to hide under the table.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18- In this cottage?- Yes. It was in the other room.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21I know the table you mean. Do you mean the one in the alcove?
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Where you used to give me lemon cake and salmon sandwiches?
0:25:25 > 0:25:27- That's right, yes, yes. - That little table?
0:25:27 > 0:25:30So, how old were you, then, Miss Wright?
0:25:30 > 0:25:32I would think I was about 15.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35So you're old enough to really remember how you felt.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38- Oh, yes, indeed.- Were you frightened? What did you feel?
0:25:38 > 0:25:42It wasn't very nice. We had the gas masks.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47I think we were always frightened until the war ended, really.
0:25:47 > 0:25:53- What did you do during the war? - Well, I had scarlet fever, yes.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Of course, it left me with a weak heart,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01so I couldn't do any war work.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05But we had a doctor of music come to our village.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08- All the organists were called up, you see.- Oh, OK.
0:26:08 > 0:26:15Yes, and he said, "Well, if I give you some organ lessons,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17"would you help with the organ?"
0:26:17 > 0:26:20- That's that is how I came to go to Fritton.- This is because of the war?
0:26:20 > 0:26:24- Yes.- I had no idea. So, you became the organist.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Well, I was the organist of Fritton church, yes.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30- Because all the other organists had been deployed elsewhere?- Yes.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33No idea that is why you learnt to play the piano.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35And then, also, he said, "I think, really,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37"that you'd make a good teacher."
0:26:37 > 0:26:40In a nutshell, everything that I have today,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43everything that I've learnt, is because of you.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45You taught me everything I know and I owe you so much,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49but what I didn't realise is that everything that you were able
0:26:49 > 0:26:52- to teach me was all because of the war.- That's right.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56I can't believe that you and I have never had this discussion before.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59That's probably because I was too busy asking for more cake
0:26:59 > 0:27:01every time I came.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Before I say my goodbyes, I can't resist playing a duet
0:27:08 > 0:27:12with my piano teacher on the piano on which I learnt so much.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19WE'LL MEET AGAIN PLAYS
0:27:55 > 0:27:56Yay!
0:27:57 > 0:28:01When I was 18, I couldn't wait to get out of Norfolk, get down
0:28:01 > 0:28:04to London, see all the bright lights, be a part of the action.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09But what I have learnt, is that even small ordinary places with
0:28:09 > 0:28:13seemingly ordinary people have extraordinary stories to tell.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15You should never forget that.