This Is Your Life: Robert Oldfield

Robert OLDFIELD

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Robert Oldfield, former Royal Navy stoker, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the foyer of the BBC Television Theatre, having been led to believe he was heading to a conference with his publisher Bill Holden to discuss his forthcoming book, The Man They Couldn't Kill.

As a stoker in the Royal Navy, Bob escaped several serious and life-threatening incidents during the Second World War, including the German attack on HMS Ajax during the Battle of the River Plate. He then volunteered for submarines, and when HMS Saracen was sunk, he was taken prisoner by the Italians.

Bob escaped from the prisoner-of-war camp and joined the Italian partisans, only to be re-captured by the Germans, who believed him to be a spy and sentenced him to death by firing squad. Fate intervened, and he was spared, only to spend more time in a concentration camp. After the war, Bob settled in Wembley with his wife Rita.

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