Morning: 6 June 1944 to 30 April 1945
After a very short overview of this period of time, rom D-Day to Hitler's suicide, we turn to D-Day and the subsequent German fight back.
Paris' Liberation in August is our next scene as the war inches towards a close.
But advance is halted at Arnhem as we turn to the story of John Frost and his brave men in Operation Market Garden.
Then on to the wider picture of the Battle of The Bulge, Hitler's last desperate throw of the dice.
Next up is the still highly controversial Bombing of Dresden. The moral choice I shall leave with each of you.
Finally, with a sigh of relief from many, came VE Day and the end of the war in Europe.
Some further reading (remember you can access all the earlier synopsis blogs, along with their booklists, by simply scrolling down on the blog page of my blog. There are only two pages, Home and Blog. Home Page only shows last three blogs, whereas the Blog Page shows all of them).
The Twentieth Century by RH Mottram
D-Day by Antony Beevor
Dresden by Sinclair McKay
Afternoon: Heseltine and Kinnock
This week we have as our subjects of The Nearly Men, a Tory Politician with huge ambition whose career hit the rocks, but in so doing brought down one of the iconic Prime Ministers of the 20th century, Margaret Thatcher - Michael Heseltine.
The other is the ambitious Neil Kinnock who sought to modernise the Labour Party as its Leader and thereby to reach the wider Electorate and thus eventually No 10. He failed due to the bitter opposition within his own Party, and, some would say, his own hubris.
We shall try to answer in as much detail as time allows why each of these men only made it into the category of 'nearly men' rather than into that of Prime Minister.
Further Reading
Life in the Jungle by Michael Heseltine
Michael Heseltine by Michael Crick
The Path to Power by Margaret Thatcher
Kinnock by Westlake & StJohn
Neil Kinnock by Eileen Jones
Blair by Mick Temple