BERGERAC star John Nettles is to be a headline speaker at the Jersey Festival of Words this autumn, it has been announced.
The historian, author, and actor will be discussing his latest Occupation-related project Gentle Violence – a new edition of the diaries of Baron Hans Max von Aufsess, the commanding officer of the civil administration of the Channel Islands under German rule from 1943 until 1945.
His illustrated talk on Friday 27 September at 7pm, sponsored by Oakglen Wealth, will be one of many events taking place at the Freedom Centre between 20 and 29 September.
Organisers have this week released the full line-up for the biggest iteration of the festival.
Mr Nettles joins other headline guests which include former Scottish poet laureate Jackie Kay; children’s writer and author of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen; and acclaimed novelist Kathy Lette.
The festival schedule also features Jersey writers such as the Story Beast, new works in Jèrriais and special schools events.
As well as the Freedom Centre, venues include Jersey Library, the Arts Centre, Millennium Town Park, Blue Note Bar, Jersey Lido, the Val de la Mare arboretum and artist Jason Butler’s studio at Commercial Buildings.
Mr Nettles is best known for his starring roles as detectives in the 80s crime drama television series set in Jersey, Bergerac, as well as Midsomer Murders.
Having long been fascinated by the history of the German Occupation, he is also the author of Jewels and Jackboots: Hitler’s British Channel Islands, and editor of Douglas Ord’s Guernsey Occupation Diaries 1940-1945.
His latest work – Gentle Violence – is the first unabridged and uncensored English translation of Baron Von Aufsess’s journal, documenting his innermost thoughts about his contemporaries and offering a unique insight into life behind the scenes of the German command, especially as food began to run out after D-Day.
The journals also reveal that Baron Von Aufsess was a multi-lingual aspiring intellectual, as well as a notorious womaniser.
For more information and tickets visit jerseyfestivalofwords.org.
Tickets for the John Nettles event, and other Freedom Centre events, are available via the Opera House website at jerseyoperahouse.co.uk.
