Nagasaki: the forgotten prisoners

As audiences flock to see Oppenheimer, a renewed interest in the stories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki seems not just inevitable but a vital key to the sort of understanding required for societies to ensure such things never happen again. Much has been written about the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities in August 1945, but an integral part of the story has remained largely unexamined until now.

Distinguished broadcaster John Willis relays the stories of hundreds of British, Australian, American and Dutch prisoners who were working as forced labourers close to where the second bomb detonated in Nagasaki. In an upcoming talk at BRLSI he shares their eyewitness accounts of one of the most significant moments in history.

John Willis is one of the UK’s best-known television executives, having formerly been Director of Programmes at C4 and Director of Factual and Learning at the BBC. He is also a previous Chair of BAFTA. He is currently Chairman of Mentorn Productions, which produces Question Time for the BBC. His previous books include Churchill’s Few (2020) and Secret Letters: a Battle of Britain Love Story (2020).