This Is Your Life: Lord Lovat

Lord LOVAT DSO MC TD JP DL (1911-1995)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Lord Lovat, former British Army officer, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews outside Thames Television's Euston Road Studios, having been led to believe he was there to be interviewed about his new book.

Born Simon Fraser, at his ancestral home of Beaufort Castle near Beauly, Inverness-shire, the 24th Chief of the Clan Fraser and 17th Baron was educated at Ampleforth College and Magdalen College, Oxford. He joined the Scots Guards in 1932, but after war broke out, he formed and trained a new, unorthodox group of fighters, known as the Commandos, in 1941. Leading No. 4 Commando, Lord Lovat was awarded the Military Cross for action in Boulogne and later the Distinguished Service Order for the operation known as the Dieppe Raid.

During the planning of Operation Overlord in 1944, Lord Lovat, promoted to brigadier, was appointed the Commander of the newly formed 1st Special Service Brigade. As the first commando brigade to reach the Normandy beaches on D-Day, Lord Lovat led the invasion of Europe. Despite being seriously wounded in the Battle of Breville several days later, he made a full recovery. After the war, he was awarded the Légion d'honneur and the Croix de Guerre by the French and later appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

"Oh wonderful! I didn't realise this was a programme!"

programme details...