John Willis, one of our most prominent former pupils (not to mention one of our most prolific OE authors), has recently celebrated the publication of another book on a Second World War subject. Following Nagasaki: The Forgotten Prisoners and Churchill’s Few: The Battle of Britain, his new book is Fighter Boy, a biography of Geoffrey Page, one of the most remarkable fighter pilots of the war. Shot down in a fireball during the Battle of Britain, Page’s hands were burnt to the bone and his face badly charred; but despite his horrific injuries the young pilot went on to fly at D-Day, the Battle of Normandy and Arnhem – and became the youngest Wing Commander in the RAF at the age of just 24.
Fighter Boy was published by Mensch Publishing on May 8th and is available through Amazon and other retailers. John Willis (OE 1965 and a former Head Boy) had a highly successful career as a TV documentary film-maker which led to him holding posts including Director of Programmes at Channel Four and Chairman of BAFTA. He has visited the school on numerous occasions, most notably in 2014 when he was Guest of Honour at Speech Day.
John will be in conversation with Patrick Kidd on Wednesday 22 May 7.30pm at Blackheath Halls discussing Fighter Boy. If you’d like to attend this talk, you can find all details here.