First segment: Stephen getting the story right, but the invasion wrong- The Man Who Never Was was misdirection between Sicily and Greece in the Mediterranean theatre.

There was a shortage of silk during WW2. I remember my Mum telling me about gravy browning and drawing seams on legs. When my Grandad was demobbed from the RAF, he brought back a pilots escape map - it was made of silk and quite colourful. So Mum could use it as a headscarf. Still have it to remember them both by...

I was very privileged to have as a very good friend a man named Peter Martin who was the son of Major (Captain) William Martin who worked with Ian Fleming during WWII, and was the given name of the deceased Welsh man. William agreed to his name being used to add significant weight to the subterfuge. William was actually sent to the US under another name while his name was being used in the subterfuge. To make things even more convincing, William's wife, mother of Peter who was a young boy, was informed of the death of William. Peter said: "When the war ended, my father returned and had a lot of explaining to do to his mother."

My grandad always said "Carrots are good for your eyesight. Or have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?"

Fun fact: the flat where Alois and Bridgette Hitler lived was destroyed in the last German air raid on Liverpool of the war, and the buildings were never rebuilt - it's an open field. If you want to look it up, it's the junction of Upper Stanhope Street and Carter Street, Liverpool. For some reason there's a high density of religious buildings in the immediate area, including a huge synagogue

The gravestone of "Major William Martin RM" in Huelva was changed to read "Glyndwr Michael. Served as Major William Martin RM" after the British Government identified him in 1998.

The Man Who Never Was, was a diversion tactic for the Sicily landings, not D-Day

Victoria's comment on Bill clicking his fingers!!! I wonder what "bad things" she was thinking of committing!

Pretty sure that the poor fellow dropped at the coast of Gibralta, was before the invasion of Sicily. So the Germans thought the landing would be in Greece.

"Cat's eyes Cunningham" was in fact a Beaufighter night fighter pilot, not a bomber pilot.

Point to note:- if you baste carrots in butter & roast them in foil, they’re very sweet & tasty. Boiling them does no justice. (Also, onions are sweet too)

Don't mention the War.

Sadly, Fry got his facts wrong on carrots. Cunningham flew his nightfighter over Britain, not Germany, and the propaganda was nothing to do with bombers, just nightfighters (the propaganda preceded the use of radar in bombers).

Bill Bailey’s BIGOT acronyms had me 😂😂😂

Jazz - A group of musicians all playing different tunes at once, a drummer keeping time with no-one in particular, and someone blowing random notes on a trumpet.

Quite interesting fact: Operation Mincemeat so named because it was part of a big pork pie.

What's the difference between a rock musician and a jazz musician? A rock musician plays three chords to a thousand people and a jazz musician plays a thousand chords to three people. 😝

Minor correction re Monty only allowed Churchill to smoke. He also allowed King George to smoke in his presence. Ike, who was a chain smoker and Monty’s superior could also I suspect smoke in Monty’s presence too.

"Dead person ringing" has already happened. Numbers used to be recycled after 6 months; after an incident with a young person, two decades ago, it was extended to 2 years.

Middle Wallop, did my basic tech training on helicopters there, also my upgraders. Home of 70 Ac Wksp and D & T Sqn. Also home of the AAC. nearby are Nether Wallop and Over Wallop. It was also, I believe, the largest grass airfield in WWII.

There is a German verb "eichen" meaning to gauge, to adjust or to calibrate. So the name Eichmann could also be a profession surname like smith or taylor. But I'm no expert in etymology...🤔

I actually got a call on the number of a dead collegue, who was dead for about a decade then, that had indeed been recycled. It was off course a wrong number being dialed by the current user of that phone number. But I was sure surprised when that number came up on the mobile. And after the call I realised: Yes, off course, the phone companies recycle the numbers.

John Cunningham, went on to become the chief test pilot for DeHaviland aircraft company in Hatfield Hertfordshire. My dad meet him a few times in the BAe systems social club . The factory closed in 1990

Reading about bigot etc. It says that you could'nt tell the French, including DeGaulle anything, and have it kept secret

Whatever happened to Clive Andersen ? And Rich Hall

the man was to hide the invasion of Sicily. Great movie.

I'm not mature enough to not laugh at Stephen saying, it's the sort of thing that pops up now and then.

Oh dear, Alan: the high trouser was to make sure that your shirt didn't show beneath your waistcoat in a 3-piece suit. It also kept your tummy and back warm in chilly England.

Everybody knows how "decadent" jazz is.

The ordinary soldiers did know at least a few days in advance of D-Day (they might not have known the exact day, but they knew it was very very imminent). My Gran's brother was sent to visit his family on embarkation leave and told to tell them "oh I just have a few days' leave" but not tell them why. While home, he told my Gran "when you here the lads have landed in France in the next few days, I'll be there- don't tell anyone!". My Gran was only 15 at the time and she felt the weight of responsibility of knowing a national secret. It terrified her but she didn't tell anyone, even her parents. Even when the news started coming through on the radio, she still didn't tell anyone she'd had advance warning. Poor kid! It makes me wonder how many other families got told a few days in advance by visiting soldiers saying "don't tell anyone, but...".

You should considering combining those comedy clips that kept interrupting the adverts and maybe releasing them on KZfaq.

Swing Kids! Jazz loving young Germans in WWII

How could they possibly allow those errors about Operation Mincemeat to air?

I say old chap, get some working class chappy to do something heroic. Jolly good show 'what !".🎩

Oh yeh? Monty let Churchill smoke? Churchill smoked, full stop. Don't like it Monty?

hitler had the mustache because the extended bits got stuck outside his helmet during a mustard gas raid when he was a soldier in WW1, they got burned and he had to cut them off

My great-uncle did not commit suicide.

There should be a challenge to talk about World Wars but without mentioning Germany. I bet 99% of World War historians would jump out the window. 🤣🤣

The lady saying she's a pacifist always strikes me as being utterly naive. Try telling Al Qaeda and Putin that war is wrong and see how it goes.

The Hitler tree in Norfolk died and is just a stump now

Operation mincemeat

20:55 Hogwarts, the later years.

15:04 - I've heard Stephen do his "as you rightly say / as you rightly pointed out" bit a few times. Can someone explain this to a confused Yank?

Is that Bill Bailey's son on the right?

Not Welsh Stephen. Not Welsh

Where “we landed” !!!!!

I rember Fry asking what percentage of R.A.F pilots in WW2 went to public schools. The answer was (surprisingly) small, but i couldn't help noticing that 100% of the guests went to public school. So much for social equality!

The Man who never was was a Scot who had died of pneumonia (so lungs wet as if drowned) and who's father gave permission for his body to be used on the condition he had a proper Christian funeral -which he did - and his grave is in Spain with his real name on it.

Shame they did no research on the man with no name. He dies from pneumonia, which laeftw after in his lungs, and asked his mother if they could use his body.

So many ad breaks, unwatchable cut up so much, awful

Why do you allow alcohol ads to children.

How does the UK combat the current invasion of rubber dinghies assisted by France?

I USED to like fry !!!! Not anymore

25:33 - I do love this country - what a pity that people like you ruined it while manically virtue-signalling.

Why are there no subtitles for the deaf? Discrimination much?

Operation Mincemeat: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat