"The Man Who Never Was" tells the story of "Operation Mincemeat". Fascinating, hugely successful and, as a human story, very sad. Well worth checking out.
He was joking about German (Fry - Frei names), but his maternal grandfather was named Phillip Neumann, a former officer of the Royal Hungarian Hussars. That side of his family is Jewish, and unfortunately his Great Uncle(and family) died in Auschwitz. His Grandfather only survived because about a year before WWII he accepted a job in England.
I like the story about the Germans building a dummy airfield and when it was finished the British sent a lone aircraft that dropped a single wooden bomb with bang written on it.
@@Chug-ip6nf The Germans also painted bomb damage on existing airfields to make them look unusable, Allied pilots sometimes retaliated by dropping fake wooden bombs on the dummy airfields as a joke.
Oh no! I won't hear a word said against Kathy Burke, but that was comedian Cariad Lloyd who is 20 years younger. Not sure she'll appreciate that mix up KB!
Don't forget "helped start" by Stalin himself. It is Germany AND the Soviet Union that invaded Poland even though Poland was allied with Russia, and being a smaller brother slavic country so to speak was historically always protected by Russia. The Russo-German non-aggression pact was Stalin giving permission to H to invade Poland as long as the Soviet Union could take the other half of it..The most understated fact of WW2.
This is precisely why, despite the military might of the US and the fact that the US clearly had more troops to deploy, the Germans considered the Brits to be far more dangerous an enemy. So when the Allies split up and moved further inland after the Normandy invasion, the British intentionally drew away many of the most battle-hardened German divisions to distract from the American advance - and it worked. The war saw many of Britain's unseen tactics, such as Operation Mincemeat, cracking Enigma and operations by the SAS. ThIs secracy the Brits employed, in addition to 80 years of American PR, have convinced so many Americans that THEY were the ones who won the war for the Brits. In reality, much of what the Allies achieved would not have been possible without British war efforts. Certainly, without Britain being able to decode literally every Nazi communique, the US troops would never have got across the Atlantic safely. It is also worth noting that the Japanese used Enigma too, so the Brits breaking the code helped the US win the war in the Pacific. But you'll never hear them mentioning that in the movies
@@speleokeir It was a deliberate choice to use green troops for the D-Day landings. Anyone of the veteran units knowing how bad attacking into the teeth of the German defences is going to be. Green formations do not have a metrestick to truly measure how bad it can be. Some other "Out of the Box" thinking from the British. Research the exploits of the magician Jasper Maskelyne, during WWII.
Stalin said the war was won by British brains, American muscle (by which he meant industrial muscle) and Soviet blood. Hard to argue, with estimates of Soviet military and civilian death tolls at around 25 million.
Indeed. Stains purges of the military in the 1930's cost the Soviets dearly. Stalin was a megalomaniac whose actions doomed Russia. He was, like all dictators, a fundamentally weak man whose insecurities led him to purposeful and unpurposeful genocide.
Cunningham was a night fighter ace, not a bomber pilot. British Radar was very advanced because we had invented the cavity magnetron (the device which makes your microwave oven work) which allowed the radar to fit into an aeroplane. So German bombers over Britain could be intercepted at night by the radar equipped night fighters. This radar was so advanced for its time that when the Germans finally were able to capture a working example, they still didn't recognise what it really was. It was, in effect, alien technology.
As for "Hitler disliking Jazz": The story is much, much worse. In January 1942, at Himmler's instigation, more than 300 youngsters were imprisoned in Germany in a measure targeting the so-called "Swing Youth". Among other brutal forms of repression, many of them were sent to concentration camps: the girls to Ravensbrück and Uckermark, the boys to Moringen and Sachsenhausen. All that for for disobeying the regime by meeting to listen and dance to "anglophile music". There is a place of remembrance for the "Swing Youth" close to where I live, at the site of the former concentration camp Moringen.
'Swing Kids' they were young Germans opposed to the Nazi's and being forced to join the Hitler Youth which was a big part of the Nazi's indocrinating the next generation. There's a film about this. Here's the trailer: ruclips.net/video/YibBVIYwQWs/видео.html
Frys family was Hungarian, and Hungary was obviously part of the Austro-Hungarian empire who actually started World War one and fought on the same side as Germany, Hitler himself being Austrian and not German. However in this instance Stephen was just using comic licence to call Hitlers mate his "great uncle" because of his surname (Fry being a stage name for Stephen).
Qi is a fantastic format. They are currently on Series V which is the 22nd year it's been running. The clips compilations are fun- but there's a lot to be said for watching a whole episode as there are lots of in-jokes and call-backs that build over the course of the show. I was lucky enough to go to a recording many years ago, and they just ran continuously for about 2 hours with one pause of no more than 30 seconds while they reset some eqipment. How on Earth they edit down from 2 hours to 30 minutes (45 for the extended version) I have no idea!
One good one is that a comedian named Rhod Gilbert kept insisting to Sandi Toksvig, the new host, who is from Denmark, that Denmark was in the arctic circle and that it got dark there for weeks at a time during the winter (which it doesn't). A few series later when he was back the contestants all got handed periscopes for some reason and Sandi gave Rhod one with no mirrors in it "to simulate what you think it looks like in Denmark during the winter"
Hi KB, John "cats eyes" Cunningham wasn't a bomber pilot, his job as a night-fighter pilot was to destroy German bombers over Britain. There's been a more recent film since the 1950s film "The Man Who Never Was", released a couple of years ago, and titled "Operation Mincemeat".
There were a lot of British shenanigans during WWII. Another name to look at is Jasper Maskelyne; he was a stage magician who got hired to pull off various illusions, disguising tanks, a battleship and in one case the entire city of Alexandria...
You commented on the amount of deception employed by the British during the war. One of my favourites was when they employed a stage magician, Jasper Maskelyne, to hide the Suez Canal from being seen by enemy aircraft. Now that's an impressive trick.
You should look up more of "Major Martin"- the man who never was. They went to astonishing lengths tro make the body convincing, down to laundry stubs, theatre tickets, everything a normal person would be carrying. A film was made of it which suggested (which was missing from the originally released information) that German agents in the UK went to double check on the background info - the place the receipts were for etc - to see if "Major Martin" was a customer and everything checked out because the secret service were so thorough.
@@tobytaylor2154 It didn't indeed - it was about the invasion of Sicily. I also didn't mention it was nothing to do with Hannibal crossing the Alps, and for the same reason.
I love the Mincemeat story, didn’t they select that body because a homeless man who had frozen to death in the street would likely have fluid in his lungs (pneumonia) therefore would go some way to fooling a doctor conducting a post mortem that the victim had really drowned?
@@finncullen but that's not the reason I mentioned it old boy, Stephen Fry said it was about dday. With your fairly indepth explanation of that operation I would've thought you would've started with that. 😉
During the war the Germans built wooden dummy planes to fool the British as to the amount of aircraft they had. The British flew over and dropped a wooden bomb on them lol.
8:00 After my nan died, me and my family were sorting out her stuff. My dad lost his phone and had to phone my uncle (my nan's son), so he used my nan's phone to call him. My uncle said it was the most horrible feeling he ever had, looking at your phone which says your dead mother is phoning you.
Many places in the UK were also renamed to confuse the Germans, but it also confused the British evacuees some of whom travelled with their buckets and spades only to find themselves in an English town in the middle of the country. They also created decoy towns to draw bombers away from the real ones.
The decoy sites for towns and cities were called "starfish" sites and were basically a bunker with remotely lit bonfires scattered around several adjacent fields. At night these could be lit up - the more advanced ones had moving lights to simulate cars and pedestrians, and pyrotechnics which simulated the sparks made by trams making contact with their overhead electric cables. If the town or city was bombed, the idea was that they would put the fires out as quickly as possible in the town or city, and would set off fires in the starfish site to attract the bombers to bomb the starfish site instead of the town or city. Unfortunately they were never much good at stopping the bombers but they were inventive.
Deception was key to D-day. We had a decoy army build up to make the Germans think we were going to land at Calais instead of Normandy. This involved inflatable & cardboard tanks & trucks. They even had guys dig artificial track marks into the grass. hundreds of mainly American troupes stationed there who walked about, but were none combatant staff so that when German recon planes took photos it would give them a false impression. Not to forget all the false radio communications. When you don't have a big army you have to use one of Baldrics cunning plans.
There was also a third army which was also a deception - it was targeted at Norway so that Hitler couldn't pull his troops out of there to reinforce either of the French landing possibilities.
There was a popular German radio show which the Germans thought was broadcast from France, but was actually broadcast from Kent, England. It was subtly demoralizing the German army.
Stephen is of jewish descent on his mother’s side. The family hailed from Eastern Europe. His mother came to Britain as a child with her family just prior to WW2.
The story about the dead bodies was called Operation Mincemeat and is bloody interesting. Well worth having a look at. There was a very good documentary done by a historian who wrote a book about it and it was also made into a film starring Colin Firth. Both are well worth a watch and maybe a react. I think the documentary is available on RUclips but I could be wrong
@jimb9063 it was dropped off the coast of Spain where the known tides would carry the body to shore, as long as the Spanish authorities got hold of the body they knew, coz Spain was riddled with spies that a German would get access, a hair was put in the envelope so we could tell if it had been opened when it was returned.
British were probably the most inventive, but thats because the country had its back to the wall. invasion was imminent and anyone and everyone with an idea would be listened to. Barnes Wallis has gone down as a genius for inventing the bouncing bomb that broke 3 dams. But he invented loads of other things that were rejected because they were pretty useless. All you need is one GOOD idea
Try to watch the 1956 version of "The Man Who Never Was" not 100 % acurate but the aditional poetic licence is quite exciting and the rest of the story is a true story.
I believe that the US would cut down a gifted tree from Japan after Pearl Harbour, probably even tried to find a way to weaponise it knowing the US I say that because during the American war for independence the colonial rebels melted doen statues of King George III to turn into bullets used against the British
The dead man’s phone thing happened to me when I got a missed call which I tapped on the number merely to ask who it was and got no answer, a couple of days later a woman called me to ask if I knew her husband who had passed away months before as she had a missed call on his old phone. I assumed the No. had been reissued but she said no the phone is still active and has been sat in a drawer since his death. Weird.
The chances of the "man that never was" being A) found and B) handed over to the Germans was small, but it worked, he had a complete back story inc family.
Na, we knew the tides would carry the body to shore and Spain was riddled with spies, we knew even if the Spanish had the body the German intelligence would get access to the body. A hair was used to know for certain if the letter was opened.
Victoria's grandmother quote is maybe not true, but likely based on something she had said. Coren is an altered Cohen, as many Jews, when fleeing persecution, would alter their names in an attempt to not draw unwaned attention.
Cheers KB, love a bit of George Carlin and jazz too, nice. Perfidious Albion, always been at it dear boy. Makes up for a small population and islands. The UK and Soviets probably most adept and keen on deception in WW2. No surprise as both been playing The Great Game for a while. The Us learned they'd have to study the dark arts too when taking a more active global role during and then a couple of years after WW2. Especially love the back story created for Mincemeat, just in case an agent was sent to Britain to check. It was also thought to be too obvious if the German forces found the body directly, so Spain was chosen with the knowledge the information would be passed on.
Theres a documentary about the dead homeless man they dropped. I believe he was given an (obviously posthumous) award. (That wasn't meant to sound funny if it did).
I have a relative on my maternal grandfather's side whose middle name is Adolph. I really wish I could say he was born back when Adolph was just another ordinary German name but no, he was born in 1945. What the hell were his parents thinking? 🙄
Apropos of nothing... Graham Linehan has just announced he's moving to Arizona and hoping to shoot a new sitcom finally (since he can't get work here due to the cowardice of the industry). Apparently a new production company with Andrew Doyle and Rob Schneider.
What they keep quiet about is the fact it's all deliberate, right down to the Germans capturing almost all SOE agents in44 all were tortured or killed themselves M I had given them plans regarding the British landings in the English Channel Not in Normandy it totally convinced the gestapo and German intelligence & it only cost the lives of tens of our best people ( +collateral casualties ) it saved tens of thousands of troops in Normandy
Interesting to see Tim Minchin out from behind a piano. I forget. Have you been subjected to the Tim "Prejudice" challenge ? If not, do it yourself, and then subject Mrs Boomer. ( It's music, but his live performance, & everyone else has reacted, so few copyright issues. ) Your brain will love you afterwards.
I know a guy who claims the random dead guy faked up was a relative of his. That said, he didn't believe the moon landing...so yeah. Pinch of salt and all that! 😂
@kingboomer ..if you did a weekly reaction to one episode of QI and do it every week you will have around 20 years of content .. that show has been going on for over 20 years and they haven’t reached the letter Z yet .. every series is different letters of the alphabet
Do yourself a favor and try to find a DVD or see if anybody is streaming the 1956 film 'The Man Who Never Was' starring Clifton Webb & Gloria Graham. It's a fantastic film based on a true story of deception by the British as a (successful) attempt to save many allied lives during the invasion of southern Europe. There was a remake called Operation mincemeat a couple of years ago, but personally I think the '56 film is better.
Certainly nobody was more persistent than the British in war. ('Operation Mincemeat' is also a more recent film about the scheme, starring Colin Firth.)
@King_Boomer Other people fill the screen and put themselves in a tiny square in the corner. With you I always have to massively zoom in to get your background out of the way. Can you change that? I think it would improve peoples XP. Also I don't know about you but the aspect ratio is completely broken on my end. All people become fat the way you stretch the vids. I'm sorry but I can't watch this vid like this, which is a shame because I like your content otherwise. Can you pleazzzze change that? 🙁
Would being nicer to the Germans after WWI made a difference ? Being nice to the Russians after the fall of the Soviet Union hasn't stopped another megalomaniac has it.
There is a difference between being nice and choosing not to financially ruin a country. As demonstrated by the fact that Russia in the 90s was an anarchic hellhole precisely because it was left to its own devices, whereas the two Germanies in the 1950s and 60s got a lot of help re-establishing their economies from their respective occupiers.
I rly liked the force awakens it was true Star wars it was perfect popcorn cinema and because people like you complained about it we got the garbage that was 8 and 9 so I blame you personally for the worst are wars movies xS
its partially true it wasn't a raid it was aircraft with radar used to target German submarines coming back to base ergo enigma code breakers told coastal command when the subs where coming back so the aircraft waited until they showed up on radar then at last minute illuminated them with Leigh lights at the last moment hence pilots having good night vision
"The Man Who Never Was" tells the story of "Operation Mincemeat". Fascinating, hugely successful and, as a human story, very sad. Well worth checking out.
Nothing to do with Normandy, however. "Operation Mincemeat" was to divert attention from the invasion of Scilly.
Good movie. Watched it recently on Prime.
Except it had nothing to do with dday, that was for the invasion of sicilia
@tobytaylor2154
Yes. Posted the same thing, but my post seems to have disappeared. I'm still being notified about replies, though. Weird!
@@robbie_I know the story well. I've got Prime video, I'll have a look for it. Cheers for the heads up.
He was joking about German (Fry - Frei names), but his maternal grandfather was named Phillip Neumann, a former officer of the Royal Hungarian Hussars. That side of his family is Jewish, and unfortunately his Great Uncle(and family) died in Auschwitz. His Grandfather only survived because about a year before WWII he accepted a job in England.
I like the story about the Germans building a dummy airfield and when it was finished the British sent a lone aircraft that dropped a single wooden bomb with bang written on it.
😂 I really hope that’s true, going to look it up
@@Chug-ip6nf The Germans also painted bomb damage on existing airfields to make them look unusable, Allied pilots sometimes retaliated by dropping fake wooden bombs on the dummy airfields as a joke.
I don't think Stephen was actually related to the German Mr. Fry, but called him "Great-Uncle" amd pretended to be related as a joke.
Oh no! I won't hear a word said against Kathy Burke, but that was comedian Cariad Lloyd who is 20 years younger. Not sure she'll appreciate that mix up KB!
There’s a quote that I think comes from Joseph Stalin, where he said that WWII would be won ‘with British brains, American steel and Soviet blood’.
Don't forget "helped start" by Stalin himself. It is Germany AND the Soviet Union that invaded Poland even though Poland was allied with Russia, and being a smaller brother slavic country so to speak was historically always protected by Russia. The Russo-German non-aggression pact was Stalin giving permission to H to invade Poland as long as the Soviet Union could take the other half of it..The most understated fact of WW2.
Fun Fact, the last bomb to drop on England during the war fell on Stanhope Street in Liverpool, the Home of Hitler's Sister-in-law.
As soon as the joke about Stephen's German uncle came up I knew he'd believe it
This is precisely why, despite the military might of the US and the fact that the US clearly had more troops to deploy, the Germans considered the Brits to be far more dangerous an enemy. So when the Allies split up and moved further inland after the Normandy invasion, the British intentionally drew away many of the most battle-hardened German divisions to distract from the American advance - and it worked. The war saw many of Britain's unseen tactics, such as Operation Mincemeat, cracking Enigma and operations by the SAS. ThIs secracy the Brits employed, in addition to 80 years of American PR, have convinced so many Americans that THEY were the ones who won the war for the Brits. In reality, much of what the Allies achieved would not have been possible without British war efforts. Certainly, without Britain being able to decode literally every Nazi communique, the US troops would never have got across the Atlantic safely. It is also worth noting that the Japanese used Enigma too, so the Brits breaking the code helped the US win the war in the Pacific. But you'll never hear them mentioning that in the movies
Makes sense as many of the US troops were green, with no battle experience at the start of the campaign.
There is no letter a in the word secrecy. That is not a secret.
@@speleokeir It was a deliberate choice to use green troops for the D-Day landings. Anyone of the veteran units knowing how bad attacking into the teeth of the German defences is going to be. Green formations do not have a metrestick to truly measure how bad it can be.
Some other "Out of the Box" thinking from the British. Research the exploits of the magician Jasper Maskelyne, during WWII.
Tim Minchin on there possibly pre his superstardom. I recommend his beautifully thought provoking song "White Wine In The Sun"
Stalin said the war was won by British brains, American muscle (by which he meant industrial muscle) and Soviet blood. Hard to argue, with estimates of Soviet military and civilian death tolls at around 25 million.
Indeed. Stains purges of the military in the 1930's cost the Soviets dearly. Stalin was a megalomaniac whose actions doomed Russia. He was, like all dictators, a fundamentally weak man whose insecurities led him to purposeful and unpurposeful genocide.
Cunningham was a night fighter ace, not a bomber pilot. British Radar was very advanced because we had invented the cavity magnetron (the device which makes your microwave oven work) which allowed the radar to fit into an aeroplane. So German bombers over Britain could be intercepted at night by the radar equipped night fighters. This radar was so advanced for its time that when the Germans finally were able to capture a working example, they still didn't recognise what it really was. It was, in effect, alien technology.
As for "Hitler disliking Jazz": The story is much, much worse.
In January 1942, at Himmler's instigation, more than 300 youngsters were imprisoned in Germany in a measure targeting the so-called "Swing Youth".
Among other brutal forms of repression, many of them were sent to concentration camps: the girls to Ravensbrück and Uckermark, the boys to Moringen and Sachsenhausen. All that for for disobeying the regime by meeting to listen and dance to "anglophile music".
There is a place of remembrance for the "Swing Youth" close to where I live, at the site of the former concentration camp Moringen.
Thank you, "Swing Youth" is something I've not heard of before.
'Swing Kids' they were young Germans opposed to the Nazi's and being forced to join the Hitler Youth which was a big part of the Nazi's indocrinating the next generation.
There's a film about this. Here's the trailer:
ruclips.net/video/YibBVIYwQWs/видео.html
Frys family was Hungarian, and Hungary was obviously part of the Austro-Hungarian empire who actually started World War one and fought on the same side as Germany, Hitler himself being Austrian and not German. However in this instance Stephen was just using comic licence to call Hitlers mate his "great uncle" because of his surname (Fry being a stage name for Stephen).
Fry's family ... (Possessive apostrophes are not optional in English!)
Hitler's mate ... (Same again!)
Operation Mincemeat - definitely worth a watch
But nothing to do with D-Day.
Qi is a fantastic format. They are currently on Series V which is the 22nd year it's been running. The clips compilations are fun- but there's a lot to be said for watching a whole episode as there are lots of in-jokes and call-backs that build over the course of the show.
I was lucky enough to go to a recording many years ago, and they just ran continuously for about 2 hours with one pause of no more than 30 seconds while they reset some eqipment. How on Earth they edit down from 2 hours to 30 minutes (45 for the extended version) I have no idea!
One good one is that a comedian named Rhod Gilbert kept insisting to Sandi Toksvig, the new host, who is from Denmark, that Denmark was in the arctic circle and that it got dark there for weeks at a time during the winter (which it doesn't). A few series later when he was back the contestants all got handed periscopes for some reason and Sandi gave Rhod one with no mirrors in it "to simulate what you think it looks like in Denmark during the winter"
Hi KB, John "cats eyes" Cunningham wasn't a bomber pilot, his job as a night-fighter pilot was to destroy German bombers over Britain. There's been a more recent film since the 1950s film "The Man Who Never Was", released a couple of years ago, and titled "Operation Mincemeat".
The last lady was Cariad Lloyd, not Kathy Burke.
There were a lot of British shenanigans during WWII. Another name to look at is Jasper Maskelyne; he was a stage magician who got hired to pull off various illusions, disguising tanks, a battleship and in one case the entire city of Alexandria...
You commented on the amount of deception employed by the British during the war. One of my favourites was when they employed a stage magician, Jasper Maskelyne, to hide the Suez Canal from being seen by enemy aircraft. Now that's an impressive trick.
You should look up more of "Major Martin"- the man who never was. They went to astonishing lengths tro make the body convincing, down to laundry stubs, theatre tickets, everything a normal person would be carrying. A film was made of it which suggested (which was missing from the originally released information) that German agents in the UK went to double check on the background info - the place the receipts were for etc - to see if "Major Martin" was a customer and everything checked out because the secret service were so thorough.
Just 1 thing, you didn't mention it had nothing to do with d- day
@@tobytaylor2154 It didn't indeed - it was about the invasion of Sicily. I also didn't mention it was nothing to do with Hannibal crossing the Alps, and for the same reason.
I love the Mincemeat story, didn’t they select that body because a homeless man who had frozen to death in the street would likely have fluid in his lungs (pneumonia) therefore would go some way to fooling a doctor conducting a post mortem that the victim had really drowned?
@@finncullen but that's not the reason I mentioned it old boy, Stephen Fry said it was about dday. With your fairly indepth explanation of that operation I would've thought you would've started with that. 😉
During the war the Germans built wooden dummy planes to fool the British as to the amount of aircraft they had. The British flew over and dropped a wooden bomb on them lol.
8:00 After my nan died, me and my family were sorting out her stuff. My dad lost his phone and had to phone my uncle (my nan's son), so he used my nan's phone to call him. My uncle said it was the most horrible feeling he ever had, looking at your phone which says your dead mother is phoning you.
... my family and I ...
Many places in the UK were also renamed to confuse the Germans, but it also confused the British evacuees some of whom travelled with their buckets and spades only to find themselves in an English town in the middle of the country. They also created decoy towns to draw bombers away from the real ones.
Yep, they also removed station names which also confused a lot people.
The decoy sites for towns and cities were called "starfish" sites and were basically a bunker with remotely lit bonfires scattered around several adjacent fields. At night these could be lit up - the more advanced ones had moving lights to simulate cars and pedestrians, and pyrotechnics which simulated the sparks made by trams making contact with their overhead electric cables.
If the town or city was bombed, the idea was that they would put the fires out as quickly as possible in the town or city, and would set off fires in the starfish site to attract the bombers to bomb the starfish site instead of the town or city. Unfortunately they were never much good at stopping the bombers but they were inventive.
My Grandad wasn't a BIGOT, They sent him everywhere but Britain!
During WW2 the UK had the "twenty committee" - so named because written out in Roman numerals it was "XX Committee", or "double cross"!
Deception was key to D-day.
We had a decoy army build up to make the Germans think we were going to land at Calais instead of Normandy.
This involved inflatable & cardboard tanks & trucks. They even had guys dig artificial track marks into the grass.
hundreds of mainly American troupes stationed there who walked about, but were none combatant staff so that when German recon planes took photos it would give them a false impression.
Not to forget all the false radio communications.
When you don't have a big army you have to use one of Baldrics cunning plans.
There was also a third army which was also a deception - it was targeted at Norway so that Hitler couldn't pull his troops out of there to reinforce either of the French landing possibilities.
There was a popular German radio show which the Germans thought was broadcast from France, but was actually broadcast from Kent, England. It was subtly demoralizing the German army.
Stephen is of jewish descent on his mother’s side. The family hailed from Eastern Europe. His mother came to Britain as a child with her family just prior to WW2.
Well, Hitler definitely made that tash fall out of fashion 😂
Your mic makes it look like Stephen is wearing a bowler hat at times.
The story about the dead bodies was called Operation Mincemeat and is bloody interesting. Well worth having a look at. There was a very good documentary done by a historian who wrote a book about it and it was also made into a film starring Colin Firth. Both are well worth a watch and maybe a react. I think the documentary is available on RUclips but I could be wrong
There is also a film from 1956 which is very good
If you research 'Operation Mincemeat' I recommend the original film 'The Man Who Never Was' from 1956, not the crappy remake from 2021.
The dead body in the sea had nothing to do with d-day, it was for the invasion scilla
Yes, from memory it suggested further east in the Med.
@jimb9063 it was dropped off the coast of Spain where the known tides would carry the body to shore, as long as the Spanish authorities got hold of the body they knew, coz Spain was riddled with spies that a German would get access, a hair was put in the envelope so we could tell if it had been opened when it was returned.
@tobytaylor2154 That was the point- diversionary.
If you like jazz then you need to check out jazz club from the fast show. Great.
Nice...
British were probably the most inventive, but thats because the country had its back to the wall. invasion was imminent and anyone and everyone with an idea would be listened to. Barnes Wallis has gone down as a genius for inventing the bouncing bomb that broke 3 dams. But he invented loads of other things that were rejected because they were pretty useless. All you need is one GOOD idea
brilliant vid boomah!
When I first watched QI, I had not heard of Tim Minchin. Only after watching this vid, I found that he was in the show.
QI... also stands for queef indicator. 👍
Respect! Keep doing what you do🤟You'r reactions lift my spirit after watching in news daily.
Try to watch the 1956 version of "The Man Who Never Was" not 100 % acurate but the aditional poetic licence is quite exciting and the rest of the story is a true story.
Check out the story of the flowering cherry trees in Japan being saved by Great Britain. Is there anything they can't do.
I thought Washington cut down a Tree rather famously
I believe that the US would cut down a gifted tree from Japan after Pearl Harbour, probably even tried to find a way to weaponise it knowing the US
I say that because during the American war for independence the colonial rebels melted doen statues of King George III to turn into bullets used against the British
Mills marauders took a battallion of argentines on in the falklands , until the British arrived 🙌
Mussolini is probably the most revered by people in his country out of all of them (still a minority of Italians thankfully)
There is also a more modern 2021 film made about it called ‘Operation Mincemeat’ that is worth a watch too if you’re interested in the story.
The dead man’s phone thing happened to me when I got a missed call which I tapped on the number merely to ask who it was and got no answer, a couple of days later a woman called me to ask if I knew her husband who had passed away months before as she had a missed call on his old phone. I assumed the No. had been reissued but she said no the phone is still active and has been sat in a drawer since his death. Weird.
Good stuff keeping up with QI, laugh n learn
6:35 wow I've never thought of it like that but yes. I've never deleted anyone's number who's died. I have them all in my phone...🤔💭
watching the Qi reaction's has made me go back and watch them all x
The chances of the "man that never was" being A) found and B) handed over to the Germans was small, but it worked, he had a complete back story inc family.
Na, we knew the tides would carry the body to shore and Spain was riddled with spies, we knew even if the Spanish had the body the German intelligence would get access to the body. A hair was used to know for certain if the letter was opened.
Victoria's grandmother quote is maybe not true, but likely based on something she had said.
Coren is an altered Cohen, as many Jews, when fleeing persecution, would alter their names in an attempt to not draw unwaned attention.
Operation Mincemeat is a great film. You should react to it.
❤ great review
Try reviewing " what have the British ever done for us "
Cheers KB, love a bit of George Carlin and jazz too, nice.
Perfidious Albion, always been at it dear boy. Makes up for a small population and islands.
The UK and Soviets probably most adept and keen on deception in WW2. No surprise as both been playing The Great Game for a while. The Us learned they'd have to study the dark arts too when taking a more active global role during and then a couple of years after WW2.
Especially love the back story created for Mincemeat, just in case an agent was sent to Britain to check. It was also thought to be too obvious if the German forces found the body directly, so Spain was chosen with the knowledge the information would be passed on.
Theres a documentary about the dead homeless man they dropped. I believe he was given an (obviously posthumous) award. (That wasn't meant to sound funny if it did).
I like how the position of your mic keeps looking like someones wearing a bowler hat when in the middle of the screen lol
I have a relative on my maternal grandfather's side whose middle name is Adolph. I really wish I could say he was born back when Adolph was just another ordinary German name but no, he was born in 1945. What the hell were his parents thinking? 🙄
If you can find the BBC documentary 'Operation Mincemeat' it's excellent.
The man who never was is a fascinating watch , we are pretty good at confusing others as you are finding out KB.
Apropos of nothing... Graham Linehan has just announced he's moving to Arizona and hoping to shoot a new sitcom finally (since he can't get work here due to the cowardice of the industry). Apparently a new production company with Andrew Doyle and Rob Schneider.
Trans Atlantic!
Cowardice of the industry?
Fry's family is Austrian , so was Hitler , they spoke German 👍🏼
WWII espionage, the Germans bested the SOE in The Radio Game, but other than that the English were all over the Germans in M.I.
What they keep quiet about is the fact it's all deliberate, right down to the Germans capturing almost all SOE agents in44 all were tortured or killed themselves M I had given them plans regarding the British landings in the English Channel Not in Normandy it totally convinced the gestapo and German intelligence & it only cost the lives of tens of our best people ( +collateral casualties ) it saved tens of thousands of troops in Normandy
The carrot story is too absurd to believe, but...the Kumquat Kriminal is Pres again, sooo...wtf.
Interesting to see Tim Minchin out from behind a piano.
I forget. Have you been subjected to the Tim "Prejudice" challenge ?
If not, do it yourself, and then subject Mrs Boomer.
( It's music, but his live performance, & everyone else has reacted, so few copyright issues. ) Your brain will love you afterwards.
You can imagine winnie and a few pals in the bar coming up with half of this
Apparently Piglet was the real mastermind.🐷😁
I know a guy who claims the random dead guy faked up was a relative of his. That said, he didn't believe the moon landing...so yeah. Pinch of salt and all that! 😂
@kingboomer ..if you did a weekly reaction to one episode of QI and do it every week you will have around 20 years of content .. that show has been going on for over 20 years and they haven’t reached the letter Z yet .. every series is different letters of the alphabet
what an intro to a clip about WW2 lol
Saw you on Netflix Boomer!
Definitely an "Air" of Che !!
Do yourself a favor and try to find a DVD or see if anybody is streaming the 1956 film 'The Man Who Never Was' starring Clifton Webb & Gloria Graham. It's a fantastic film based on a true story of deception by the British as a (successful) attempt to save many allied lives during the invasion of southern Europe.
There was a remake called Operation mincemeat a couple of years ago, but personally I think the '56 film is better.
The Fry family is Greek, he is taking the piss with ref to, Great Uncle Fry serving in the German army.
The documentary about operation mincemeat is free on RUclips. I personally prefer it to the movie.
15:53 All war is based on deception
Sun Zsu, The Art of War
Adolf is still a popular name in Brazil
Monty had a double who was used to confuse the nazis to the whereabouts of monty
I was Monty's double staring Clifton Webb who was a clerk in the Pay Corp
As did Churchill. My grandad served as a bodyguard for the decoy Churchill. RIP Grandad, love you
The German relative was a joke! British dry humour at it's driest!
Look up Operation Mincemeat.
he didnt go far enough. i need to hear german everywhere, not just some places.
Did any of those 6 S.A.S. guys make it out alive?
Jazz!; so that's why the world is going to hell in a handbasket, shouldn't we at last put a stop to it?.
The man who never was great film tells the whole story
Haven't watched it for a while but I think that it had a number of Famous British Character Actors
Japan sneak attacked America? 2 years into a global war 😂😂
A Guy Richie film
Certainly nobody was more persistent than the British in war. ('Operation Mincemeat' is also a more recent film about the scheme, starring Colin Firth.)
Please react to Prejudice by Tim Minchin. Pretty, pretty please.
I prefer your "quite interesting" as being less cringe than some of your intros. Is there any chance of some new ones in the new location?
@King_Boomer Other people fill the screen and put themselves in a tiny square in the corner. With you I always have to massively zoom in to get your background out of the way. Can you change that? I think it would improve peoples XP. Also I don't know about you but the aspect ratio is completely broken on my end. All people become fat the way you stretch the vids. I'm sorry but I can't watch this vid like this, which is a shame because I like your content otherwise. Can you pleazzzze change that? 🙁
I stopped watching as soon as Sandi Toksvig appeared. Insufferable.
Would being nicer to the Germans after WWI made a difference ? Being nice to the Russians after the fall of the Soviet Union hasn't stopped another megalomaniac has it.
There is a difference between being nice and choosing not to financially ruin a country. As demonstrated by the fact that Russia in the 90s was an anarchic hellhole precisely because it was left to its own devices, whereas the two Germanies in the 1950s and 60s got a lot of help re-establishing their economies from their respective occupiers.
I rly liked the force awakens it was true Star wars it was perfect popcorn cinema and because people like you complained about it we got the garbage that was 8 and 9 so I blame you personally for the worst are wars movies xS
its partially true it wasn't a raid it was aircraft with radar used to target German submarines coming back to base ergo enigma code breakers told coastal command when the subs where coming back so the aircraft waited until they showed up on radar then at last minute illuminated them with Leigh lights at the last moment hence pilots having good night vision
Operation Mincemeat
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat
u should watch allo allo