Guy Walters
Verified- Freelance Journalist, Daily Mail
- Author, Journalist, Broadcaster, Presenter, Public Speaker and Media Adviser, Freelance
London, Prague
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Historian, journalist, TV presenter, tour guide, runner
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Articles by Guy Walters
Let girls go to Eton, boys’ boarding schools have had their time
Prince George's arrival at Eton this week will inevitably be presented as an affirmation of continuity. The heir will follow his father and uncle through School Yard, dressed in tailcoat and pinstriped trousers, at an institution founded by Henry VI in 1440. Six centuries of tradition will appear reassuringly intact. But George's arrival ought to prompt Eton to reconsider a tradition it has preserved for far too long. It is time the school admitted girls. I was at Eton from 1984 to 1989.
Rasputin: Untangling the man from the wild and complicated myth
Rasputin’s pale face, long hair and penetrating eyes gave him an almost hypnotic quality (Public Domain) Grigory Rasputin has long occupied a peculiar corner of the historical imagination. In popular culture he appears as a kind of pantomime villain: a hypnotic monk with burning eyes, drunkenly staggering through the palaces of St Petersburg while manipulating a feeble Tsar and seducing half the Russian aristocracy.
Churchill understood the terrible cost of war. Trump clearly does not
Guy Walters When Donald Trump sneered that Keir Starmer is “not Winston Churchill”, the remark was meant to imply weakness. Churchill , in Trump's telling, represents uncompromising wartime resolve . Starmer, by contrast, supposedly does not. Yet the comparison reveals something rather different from what Trump intended. If there is one lesson from Churchill's career, it is that he regarded war not as a stage for theatrical bravado, but as the gravest responsibility a leader could bear.
Desde los eslóganes hasta el uniforme de Greg Bovino: no hay que subestimar la nazificación de ICE
Desde los eslóganes hasta el uniforme de Greg Bovino: no hay que subestimar la nazificación de ICE Primero la estética y luego la política: es uno de los trucos más viejos del manual autoritario. Antes de las detenciones masivas, de la violencia callejera o de que la burocracia se solidifique como una máquina, se prepara el terreno con imágenes que hacen que las medidas represivas que se avecinan parezcan justas, necesarias, inevitables incluso.
From slogans to Greg Bovino’s uniforms: The Nazification of ICE feels deliberate
In focus History may not repeat itself, but it echoes, and the 1930s taught us why symbolism matters. Fascism did not arrive with a single marching column, says historian Guy Walters, it arrived by making brutality feel normal, even noble.
October 7: The day horror came to the kibbutz
October 7, 2024 at 6:03 AM A woman observes a memorial put up for the innocent people killed by Hamas on October 07 (EPA) We all know what happened a year ago in Israel – or at least we think we do. When we recall the multi-pronged Hamas attacks on 7 October, a horrific collage of gruesome images comes to mind. The idea of listing them seems lurid, almost grotesque – there is surely no need to endlessly replay them. But then perhaps there is.
The Great Escape, ‘pathetic’ collaborators and the British men who fought for Hitler
BFC traitors Alfred Minchin (second right) and Kenneth Berry (second left) with SS officers in 1944 The atmosphere inside the prisoner-of-war camp was electric. Packed into a wooden theatre were several hundred Allied prisoners of war watched over by their German guards. Suddenly, heads turned and a hush fell. Two men, dressed in the uniform of the dreaded Waffen-SS, entered the room and walked down the aisle. Some noticed that there was something strange about their SS uniforms.
Fergie goes to Burnley on a weight-loss mission
Fergie goes to Burnley on a weight-loss mission Sarah Ferguson has visited Burnley in a bid to tackle the town’s obesity problems. 75 per cent of Burnley’s residents are overweight or obese, making the town the 10th fattest place in the UK. The Duchess of York spent a day at a school, mosque and Turf Moor football stadium meeting local leaders and forging links with medical professionals. Speaking to Independent TV she said that battled an eating disorder “from the age of 12 through to 35”.
Fergie goes to Burnley on a weight-loss mission
Sarah Ferguson has visited Burnley in a bid to tackle the town’s obesity problems. 75 per cent of Burnley’s residents are overweight or obese, making the town the 10th fattest place in the UK. The Duchess of York spent a day at a school, mosque and Turf Moor football stadium meeting local leaders and forging links with medical professionals. Speaking to Independent TV she said that battled an eating disorder “from the age of 12 through to 35”.
The forgotten day in 1938 when a boat load of German veterans sailed up the Thames led by an Old Etonian Obergruppenführer
IN LATE SEPTEMBER 1938, the Munich Crisis was at its height, with Adolf Hitler making increasingly shrill demands on Czechoslovakia to hand over the Sudetenland. The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, had already flown to Germany to negotiate with the dictator, but the meeting hadn’t gone that well.
Boosting her assets
IT HAS emphatically not been a great year for Baroness Mone, of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, better known to the tabloids as ‘Baroness Bra’ because of her former career as a lingerie tycoon, in which she apparently netted millions from her supposedly massively successful Ultimo range of lingerie.
In praise of second cities
THIS year I’ve been lucky enough to have enjoyed quite a bit of travelling, during which I have got to know two new cities – well, cities that are new for me, anyway – Brno in the Czech Republic, and Aarhus in Denmark. Both are picturesque, welcoming and vibrant, with plenty of good places to eat and drink, as well as enough museums, churches and galleries to satisfy the hungriest of culture vultures. In short, both cities are well worth visiting.
Should this memorial to the Danes who died fighting for Hitler be allowed to stand?
GREETINGS from Denmark, where I have spent the best part of a week being kindly hosted by the legendary TV presenter Peter Ingemann and his wife, Trine. My reason for visiting was to celebrate the launch of a fantastic new series presented by Peter about Hitler, Stalin, and Churchill, for which I had oh-so-reluctantly travelled to Bavaria to help with the sections about Hitler. This largely seemed to involve drinking large amounts of beer and eating vast, pale sausages, but there it is.
"I think about him every day - I suppose in a way I loved him."
IT IS early Saturday evening in Paris, and the light is turning golden. It is warm for mid October, and the boulevards and cafés are thronging with people. The mood of the city feels happy, relaxed, and fun. But in a small flat on the top floor of an apartment block in the Montparnasse district, an 85-year-old man is close to tears. “I think about him every day,” he says. “I suppose in a way I loved him. Not in a romantic way, but more like a father and son relationship.
130ft luxury yacht linked to 'Baroness Bra' and Tory Peer Michelle Mone on sale for £10.25million
A yacht linked to former bra tycoon and Tory peer Michelle Mone has been put up for sale for £10.25 million – months after a multi-million-pound refit. The 130ft vessel, Lady M, featured regularly as a glamorous backdrop on her Instagram page. It has four guest cabins and room for six crew. Everything from the cream interiors and teak decking to the hull and navigational equipment was refurbished in May.
The problem with memories
IT SEEMS that not a week goes by without my wife looking up from her newspaper to inform me that another prisoner of war connected to the Great Escape has died. The most recent example is the late Vyvyan Howard, who has passed away at the age of 102, and who helped to provide security and distraction for both the Great Escape and the Wooden Horse escape.
We will all miss Her Majesty
When the 25-year-old Princess Elizabeth became Queen in February 1952, the average age at which her subjects died was, at 69, a year shorter than the number of years for which she was to reign over them. Had she herself died at that age, then her reign would still have lasted for 44 years, making her Britain’s eighth-longest reigning monarch, beating her namesake into ninth place by just under a year.
Escape with me to Colditz - and Stalag Luft III!
I’M REALLY thrilled that people have been kindly booking to come on my forthcoming tour of Colditz and Stalag Luft III, which is going to be great fun – I promise! I’m now delighted to announce that the generous folk at Tripsmiths have agreed to a last-minute offer for the last few places on the tour: Subscribers to Walt’s World now get £150 off the RRP of £1799! The previous discount was £75.
Why the Tories should make Kemi Badenoch the next Prime Minister
IDEALLY, electability should be all about policy and not optics, but let’s face it, we don’t live in such a world. When party members chose their leaders, very few scrutinise the candidates’ manifestos, and instead vote for the person who ‘feels’ right – in other words, the person who is going to get their party into power.
Should centenarian former concentration camp guards really be put on trial?
WHILE many eyes this week have been trained on the twenty-year sentence given to the 60-year-old Ghislaine Maxwell in a court in the United States, relatively few have noticed the five-year sentence given to the 101-year-old Josef Schütz in a court in Germany. While Maxwell was convicted largely of sex trafficking, the crimes of Schütz were far worse, for he was found guilty of being an accessory to the murders of 3,518 people.
Johnson's Eton problem
IT REALLY wasn’t my intention to post about Eton again, but what with Britain’s twentieth Old Etonian prime minister looking like he will soon be out of a job, I thought I would correct a few misconceptions about how Johnson is viewed by the 16,000 men who happened to go to the same school as him. The truth is that they don’t like him very much.
Posh criminals shouldn't get obituaries in The Times
Why does The Times think a convicted fraudster and swindler is worthy of an obituary? I’m well aware – and agree – that the obituaries page should not be reserved for the good and the worthy, but the decision to include the late Mark Sykes is a poor one. This was a man who made people’s lives a misery by attempting to swindle and blackmail them out of tens of thousands of pounds. This was also a man who abandoned his family by merely leaving a note on the kitchen table, and was also made bankrupt.
Some thoughts about the new 'find' of Nazi gold...
WHENEVER a story breaks about the discovery of some Nazi gold, I always get very excited indeed. It’s not because I’m swept up in the romance of treasure hunting, but it’s because I know that I’m about to make some money by writing and broadcasting about hidden Nazi treasure. In fact, I can confidently state I’ve made more money writing about Nazi gold than the the worth of all the Nazi gold ever found. Remember the Nazi treasure train, anyone?
2. A Drink with Walt: Nick Wharmby
WHEN we think of iconic aircraft, we tend to think of machines such as the Spitfire and the Hurricane. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Because for my money, the Apache attack helicopter is right up there. Unlike those old WW2 aircraft, the Apache has been around for ages and it’s STILL going strong – very strong indeed. It’s been around for forty years, has served in numerous wars, and is – in all its beautiful ugliness – a design classic.
A Short History of a Welshman in Ukraine
AS THE world watches Russia and Ukraine fight for the future of Donetsk in the Donbas region, very few will be aware that this mighty industrial city – with its million inhabitants and huge smokestacks – was in fact founded by an engineer and businessman from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. His name was John James Hughes, who was born in 1814 and would transform a barren piece of steppe in what was then part of Russia into one of the richest cities in the whole country.
Why I'm delighted that 9 in 10 adults under the age of 30 don't know about Mary Seacole
SURVEYS that reveal widespread historical ignorance normally have me harrumphing over my black pudding, but this morning I was delighted to learn that 91 percent of adult Britons under the age of thirty were unsure as to who Mary Seacole was or what she achieved. I was even more thrilled to see that Seacole even headed the list of ‘Top 10 Lost Icons’ – triumphing over even Frida Kahlo. Why am I so ecstatic? The simple reason is that the veneration of Seacole has got way out of hand.
Subscriber offer: 5% off your bill at Wilding restaurants!
I HAVE just come back from a great evening with my friend Nick Barker, who owns the excellent Wilding restaurant group. Because he’s such a fool nice man, he has kindly offered 5% off the bills of all those who mention Walt’s World when they book! To take advantage, simply enter 'Walt's World’ in the notes when booking. Current locations are in Oxford, Salisbury, and Frome – but do look out for more openings in the very near future.
Subscribe to Walt's World and help Ukraine!
THIS WEEK, my wife Annabel Venning will be part of a convoy that will be driving urgently-needed medical supplies from Britain to Ukraine.
The rise of the professional talking head
ON WEDNESDAY I’ll be filming some more contributions as a talking head for the latest season of What On Earth, which appears on the Science Channel. For those who aren’t precisely sure what a talking head is, it’s a person – usually some form of expert – who is interviewed for a TV programme and who doesn’t usually talk to the camera, but instead talks slightly off-camera. This distinction is important for reasons that will shortly be explained.
The sinking of the Belgrano was not a war crime
EVER since that fateful afternoon on 2 May 1982, the sinking of the Belgrano by the British nuclear-powered submarine Conqueror has always been regarded as one of the most controversial events of the Falklands War. Many critics of the action, which resulted in the deaths of 323 Argentinian sailors, see the sinking as nothing less than a war crime, an unjustified act of butchery.
1. A Drink with Walt: Hamish de Bretton-Gordon
Hamish and I had our drink at the excellent Royal Oak in Swallowcliffe in Wiltshire, which attracts a lot of petrol heads because it is partly owned by James May. Although Hamish did have a pint of Peroni, he switched to white wine because he was about to go onto Channel 4 News. I stuck to English Lore from Gritchie. The noises in the background are people playing pétanque – my favourite sport! – which I’m delighted to see is getting more popular in Britain.
Investigating war crimes - then and now
THERE are no comforts to be drawn from the revelations of torture, systematic rape, child abuse, murder, and pillage that have emerged from Bucha. Doubtless we shall be hearing of more horrors in the weeks and years to come, and there will be many more reports such as that recently produced by the peerless Dan Rivers of ITN News, which I urge you to watch. Warning: It is graphic.
Mimi Reinhardt, the secretary who drew up Oskar Schindler's list, dies at 107
Had Adolf Hitler has his way, then Mimi Reinhardt would have died at 29 – the age at which she was sent to Auschwitz. Instead, she would live nearly another eight decades before she died in Israel this week. With her passing, we have lost a historical figure who actually typed up Oskar Schindler’s much feted list of some 1100 Jews who the industrialist recruited from the ghetto of the Polish city of Kraków to work in his factory.
High priestess of a new morality
This article is taken from the January/February 2021 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering three issue for just £5. If any period of British history can qualify as an illustration of Carlyle’s great man theory, then it is surely the nineteenth century.
Has Moscow been secretly microwaving our spies for years?
© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo There are many hardships facing Indian soldiers posted to the icy Himalayan hilltops along the disputed border with China. But no one expected this. One moment, they felt healthy and alert, eyes peeled for signs of their aggressive neighbour’s troops. Then, within less than a minute, they began to vomit almost simultaneously, as if struck down by a violent stomach bug.
Revisiting Nazi Myths
AP Photo/Bavarian State Library This is a strange book, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. More a collection of essays than a straight read-through, Richard Evans examines five issues concerning the Third Reich that continue to attract huge amounts of speculation. He starts by looking at whether the Holocaust was inspired byThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Then he considers whether the German army really was “stabbed in the back” by Jews and Socialists in 1918.
Sir Eric Anderson KT 1936-2020
Sir Eric Anderson was Head Master of Eton 1980-1994, then Provost, and teacher of three prime ministers. Guy Walters recalls a stern and awe-inspiring figure while we also asked colleagues, friends and former pupils, including Tony Blair, for their memories of a hugely influential educator
The disarming power of restraint
Sir Eric Anderson was Head Master of Eton 1980-1994, then Provost, and teacher of three prime ministers. Guy Walters recalls a stern and awe-inspiring figure while Graham Stewart asked colleagues, friends and former pupils, including Tony Blair, for their memories of a hugely influential educator I once attended a parents’ seminar at my children’s school where we discussed the challenges of educating teenagers.
Authoritative not Authoritarian
Sir Eric Anderson was Head Master of Eton 1980-1994, then Provost, and teacher of three prime ministers. Guy Walters recalls a stern and awe-inspiring figure while Graham Stewart asked colleagues, friends and former pupils, including Tony Blair, for their memories of a hugely influential educator He came from a generation and a tradition where he could have been authoritarian. Instead he was authoritative. That’s a big difference.
Trust that sustained a community
Sir Eric Anderson was Head Master of Eton 1980-1994, then Provost, and teacher of three prime ministers. Guy Walters recalls a stern and awe-inspiring figure while Graham Stewart asked colleagues, friends and former pupils, including Tony Blair, for their memories of a hugely influential educator Eric was the Provost who appointed me as Head Master. The main thing about him was integrity. Boys had a great sense of trust in him and this is what sustains any worthwhile community.
Old school reformer
Sir Eric Anderson was Head Master of Eton 1980-1994, then Provost, and teacher of three prime ministers.
Master of judgement
Sir Eric Anderson was Head Master of Eton 1980-1994, then Provost, and teacher of three prime ministers. Guy Walters recalls a stern and awe-inspiring figure while Graham Stewart asked colleagues, friends and former pupils, including Tony Blair, for their memories of a hugely influential educator During the 1987 general election, which was my last half at Eton, I was taking trips out to campaign in the marginal Slough constituency.
The best of Heads
Sir Eric Anderson was Head Master of Eton 1980-1994, then Provost, and teacher of three prime ministers. Guy Walters recalls a stern and awe-inspiring figure while Graham Stewart asked colleagues, friends and former pupils, including Tony Blair, for their memories of a hugely influential educator We used to call him “Big Balls”.
A living justification for the Union
Sir Eric Anderson was Head Master of Eton 1980-1994, then Provost, and teacher of three prime ministers. Guy Walters recalls a stern and awe-inspiring figure while Graham Stewart asked colleagues, friends and former pupils, including Tony Blair, for their memories of a hugely influential educator Eric’s Scottishness was important. It made him see primarily English institutions, notably Eton, with a slightly exterior eye. He became an Establishment figure, but an appropriately critical one.
Rescue specialist
Sir Eric Anderson was Head Master of Eton 1980-1994, then Provost, and teacher of three prime ministers. Guy Walters recalls a stern and awe-inspiring figure while Graham Stewart asked colleagues, friends and former pupils, including Tony Blair, for their memories of a hugely influential educator I first met Eric when he was Head Master. At that time Martin Charteris was an engaging and convivial Provost and Eric was clearly completely on top of the job. There was a terrific sense of confidence.
The Fascist Historian and Me
Earlier this week, the Daily Telegraph reported that Jeremy Clarkson, host of the hit motoring show Top Gear, has been accused of plagiarism by the pro-Nazi polemicist, historical falsifier, Holocaust denier, anti-Semite, racist, neo-fascist, convicted felon, and writer David Irving.
The Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and the Quest to Bring Them to Justice eBook: Guy Walters: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store
I have read three of the author's fictional works; The Traitor, The Leader and The Occupation, as well as, his nonfiction account, Berlin Games: How the Nazis Stole the Olympic Dream. Obviously he is deeply fascinated with Nazi Germany and its continued influence on history (and fiction). Hunting Evil updates work such as Blowback by Simpson, Unholy Trinity by Aarons, The Real Odessa by Goni, amongst others.
"A narwhal tusk is not a cheap weapon. One sold in auction for £36,000 a few years ago. Elizabeth I so valued the one presented to her by pri […]"
A narwhal tusk is not a cheap weapon. One sold in auction for £36,000 a few years ago. Elizabeth I so valued the one presented to her by privateer Martin Frobisher that she placed it in the Royal Wardrobe & Treasury. It was valued at £10,000 in 1598 -- some £2 million today. The heroic chef 'Luckasz' who used the narwhal tusk yesterday was not the first to wield such a tusk as a weapon. In Greenland, narwhal tusks had wooden handles attached to them to make a weapon called a 'nuguit'.
Deep waters | Guy Walters | Standpoint
David Laws demolishes a conspiracy theory about the death of Lord Kitchener and does it very classily indeed Lord Kitchener: Gruff and enigmatic national hero One picks up a book written by a former leading Liberal Democrat about a conspiracy theory with a certain amount of wariness.
Hero in war, victim in peace
Airey Neave: Life in the shadows (©NEAVE FAMILY) One of the pithiest letters ever written to The Times was published on January 6, 1974. Written by one Michael Hall, it consisted of the single question, “Sir, Is there no escape from Colditz?” Mr Hall had a point. At the time of writing, the whole of Britain really did feel imprisoned in the iconic German prisoner-of-war camp.
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