Think you know the true story behind the birth of the SAS? Think again.
In this extraordinary live episode, recorded on location at the Imperial War Museum History Festival, host Paul Bavill fires up the blue touch paper with best-selling military historian and filmmaker Damien Lewis. Together, they take dead aim at the cheap Hollywood tropes and television distortions that have rewritten the legacy of Britain's most decorated wartime icons.
Damien unleashes a masterclass of historical rage against the BBC’s SAS Rogue Heroes portrayal of Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Mayne. Far from the foul-mouthed, unhinged, drunken stereotype broadcast to millions, the real Paddy Mayne was a qualified solicitor, an Irish rugby international, a devotee of poetry, and the elite unit's hand-picked Discipline Officer who led his men through fraternal brotherhood and transformational command. You will discover the breathtaking truth behind his four Distinguished Service Orders (DSOs), his unmatched record of destroying enemy warplanes on the ground, and the clerical errors that unjustly denied him the Victoria Cross.
But the rage doesn't stop in 1945. Damien connects history directly to the modern day, sharing a raw, unfiltered look at the shocking state of modern British defence funding. From frontline special operations to deep post-war psychological trauma, this episode peels back the curtain on the heavy cost paid by the \"raiders of the thug variety\" who fought to save Western civilization.
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