Weird Wednesday

It's been a weird couple of days, and a weird week of sorts really. I had delivery of my book, 'Spitfire Girls' which tells the story of about the women who flew planes during World War 2. I meant to buy it a few years ago, especially after Dan Snow's ill advised comments about lying (and yes I do mean lying) to his daughter that women flew combat missions for the RAF. Clue: they didn't. Now, I know that all parents commit sins of omission, certainly when there was a change of government in Bahrain and there was some uncertainty about whether British Expatriates would still be welcome in the country [a fact I did not know about for some 15 years] but that I can forgive; in circumstances like that I can understand my parents not telling me or James. It wouldn't have helped the situation.

However, I do think that it's very sad that he felt he had to do this and it negates the very real contribution that women did make during the Second World War. Some indeed flew aeroplanes, not just Spitfires, but also Lancasters, Hurricanes and Transport planes to bases; while others actually put aircrafts together in factories; still others worked in munitions factories and still others were part of the Land Army or were WRENs or were nurses. If he had really wanted to impress his daughter about women in combat he should have told her about the Russian 588th Night Bomber Regiment, which the Germans nicknamed Die Nachthexen - The Night Witches. This was because the w]omen had to put their plane engines into idle mode as they neared the target and glide to the release point which meant that there was only the noise of the wind to reveal their presence, the Germans likened this sound to that of broomsticks which is why they nicknamed them as they did.

A part of me attempts to understand why he did this, but as I wrote in the beginning of today's Blog, in the end I don't think it does anyone any favours. This to me would be a lie of commission which when discovered can lead to some resentment from the child to the parent. Perhaps he thought he was shielding her from the misogyny which will follow her all her life anyway, despite this untruth he spouted as gospel. And he should know better anyway. I know that it's me nitpicking, and it seems that everyone is willling to give him 'a pass' for lying to his daughter. I, however, am not. It smacks of something sneaky and underhanded which considering I used to like Dan Snow has finally put me off him totally. To be honest I went off him when he did a television programme about The Crusades and instead of pronouncing Saladin, S-al-a-din he pronounced it like 'Aladdin' but with an 'S' at the beginning, I wondered if he was doing it for American audiences but this mangling of Saladin's name has put me off watching him ever since.

All right, vent over. As this is a midweek(ish) blog it probably doesn't matter that much. But since I get (and expect to get) pulled up for inaccuracies in my writing - and all of us are quick to point out errors in others' writing, why should Dan Snow get away with this inaccuracy? I know the answer, 'Because he's famous and we can give famous people a pass.' Now if someone will tell me why.