The Truth of Fiction

London in 1940 under the Blitz had its grim moments, but in the main it kept its sense of humour. One joke that ran around the capital told of an officer in a smart Guards regiment, recently returned from Dunkirk, who was asked at a cocktail party what the experience had been, well, like?

“My dear,” he said, raising his hands to indicate distress. “The noise! And the people!”

Those who have seen recent the Hollywood movie Dunkirk, from the director Christopher Nolan, can confirm the officer’s complaint about the noise (as, indeed, several of the few remaining veterans have done). But the film has a higher view than the Guards officer of the people there.

Dunkirk belongs to that category of story that has not one hero but several heroes who represent in different ways the heroism of the British people as they queue up on the beaches (as they were to do for many years of rationing at home) to be rescued by the Royal Navy and a flotilla of small boats manned by the…