Britain's Greatest Generation

In association with the flagship BBC2 series, Britain's Greatest Generation celebrates the achievements of the exceptional generation of men and women born in the early twentieth century.

Wonderful... Each account is colourful, touching and unique, each individual shining a fresh light on our shared past. This is a rich, heart-warming record of a generation to whom we owe so much, and a physical reminder of the importance of talking to our relatives about their lives, for the benefit of those who come after us.

Sue Elliott is the author of the bestselling memoir and history of adoption Love Child (Vermilion 2005) and The Children Who Fought Hitler (John Murray 2009) about the WW2 exploits of former pupils of the British Memorial School in Ypres and was a Researcher on the BBC4 documentary of the same name made by Testimony. 
 
Steve Humphries, described by Broadcast magazine as 'the king of oral history', is a former history and sociology lecturer at the University of Essex. After working as a producer at London Weekend Television where he made landmark series such as The Making of Modern London (for which he also co-wrote the accompanying four books), he set up Testimony Films in Bristol in 1992. Since then, Testimony has made over 60 single documentaries and series for all the public service broadcasters and for specialist digital channels.

In association with the flagship BBC2 series. 
 
This is the story of the men and women of a truly remarkable generation. Born into a world still reeling from the earth-shattering events of the Great War, they grew up during the appalling economic depression of the 1930s, witnessed the globe tear itself apart again during the Second World War, and emerged from post-war austerity determined to create a new society for their children. 
 
It is the story of people who raised their families during the immense social upheaval of the Fifties and Sixties, as the world in which they had grown up changed inexorably. It is the story of the people who shaped the way we live now. 
 
Britain's Greatest Generation tells this multi-faceted story through the eye-witness accounts of those who were there, from Japanese prisoner of war Fergus Anckorn to Dame Vera Lynn, from Bletchley Park veteran Jean Valentine to Dad's Army creator Jimmy Perry, and from fighter pilot Tom Neil to the Queen's cousin Margaret Rhodes. Together their testimony creates a vivid, often deeply moving picture of an extraordinary epoch – and the extraordinary people who lived through it.

Love Child

Updated edition of this moving memoir of one woman's search for her birth mother, with a fascinating history of adoption in the UK weaved throughout

This true story of loss, guilt, identity, family feuds, reunion and redemption is one that will move all who read it

A book of family secrets, thwarted love and unexpected reunions ... A marvellous book.

Sue Elliot is a television executive and speechwriter, whose writing appears regularly in national newspapers such as The Guardian. She has a special interest in social policy and adoption, and has sat on adoption boards.

Adoption is one of the great, untold stories of our recent past. It is a truly epic tale of loss, guilt, identity, family feuds, reunion and redemption. It is a subject, until very recently, surrounded by secrecy and taboos. 
 
This is the heart-warming true story of a little girl's adoption in the 1950s and her search, nearly forty years later, for her birth mother. When mother and daughter meet, Sue thinks she has finally reached the end of her journey. Then Sue discovers she wasn't the only baby her mother gave away ... 
 
Weaved throughout is the vivid, emotional history of adoption in the UK. Drawing on a wide range of intimate personal experiences, it outlines the forces that shaped 20th century adoption practice, from baby-farming, the stigma of illegitimacy, incest and the bastardy laws, to children taken by force, the Magdalene laundries, mass emigration schemes without parental consent, to modern day adoption practices, buying babies from abroad, sperm donor fathers and tearful reunions on Trisha.

Sue Elliott

Praise for Voices of World War Two

Wonderful... Each account is colourful, touching and unique, each individual shining a fresh light on our shared past. This is a rich, heart-warming record of a generation to whom we owe so much, and a physical remi ...

Books by Sue Elliott

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