About Tony

Hi,

I’m Tony or BigT! I have been reading, watching films and documentaries, listening to podcasts, and studying and teaching about the Second World War for as long as I can remember.

Here’s a bit of background on who I am and what my story is.

The Second World War has fascinated me since watching my first war film.

To tell you the truth, I cannot remember which film it was, I’d like to think that it was ‘A Bridge Too Far’, but it could have been anything from ‘The Dam Busters’, ‘Where Eagles Dare’, ‘The Great Escape’, or so many other films that would be on in the holidays or on a Sunday afternoon in the UK in the Eighties. What I did do, as a result of watching ‘A Bridge Too Far’, is that I brought a red beret and a Parachute Regiment cap badge (which I still own today). As I grew older, reading books about the war began to take over from just watching films. However, ‘A Bridge Too Far’ was never too far away from my thoughts, as you will find out when you read on.

Whilst at school, the Falklands Conflict broke out, which kept the Parachute Regiment at the forefront of my thoughts and reading material. I also began learning more about the SAS in the Falklands and its history. Several years later, my A-Level coursework was on the history of the Parachute Regiment. I proceeded to study history for my degree and my dissertation was on Operation Market Garden. I continued my studies with an MA in Military Studies and studied Second World War Films for my thesis. Saving Private Ryan was released the year I began my MA, and this spurred me to study more films in depth.

After several years in the wilderness of forging a career in the pub industry, I bit the bullet and qualified as a history teacher. For ten years, I led tours for pupils and parents to the battlefields of the First World War and taught some aspects of the Second World War, whenever I got the opportunity, syllabuses permitting.

After fifteen years, I gave up teaching to follow a long-held dream of furthering my historical research. Initially, this involved the First World War but I have now come back to my first love of the Second World War.

I’m on a mission to spread knowledge and understanding of the Second World War.

This will be done by sharing the books I like, reviewing other books and creating an extensive bibliography about the Second World War. This will not just be about the books though but any media that has been produced about the war. I enjoy healthy discussions, so you can get involved with your reviews and recommendations. I like to reconsider the themes of the war and will actively include those books which have created myths about the war, those books which have perpetrated those myths and those that have tried to destroy them. Lest we forget has always been the mantra I have adopted when dealing with wars and will be so here.

My goal is to further the debate about everything to do with the Second World War

Ultimately, my goal is to further the discussions about the war by sharing the literature I have read and to help you discover what else is out there. As arguably the most significant event in human history, everyone, no matter what their interests, should be able to find something relevant to them within its story. As Ben Macintyre writes in his recent book about Colditz, the war is a story of, “how ordinary people, responded to dramatic and demanding circumstances, not of their making. It asks a simple question: what would you have done?” Initially, to aid me in this quest, I will discuss reviews made on Amazon and other book-selling websites and I will discuss films and TV Series about the war too.

So next up will be a bit more about me, in this case, my favourite Second World War Books. One of them will be no surprise though!

Tony Wilson

w. worldwariiwaffle.com

e. tony@worldwariiwaffle.com