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Margaret Percy and Hugh Purcell

Tragic Heroes: The Burney Brothers of Hay at War

 
Hay Festival 2022, 

The Burney brothers from Hay-on-Wye fought extraordinary wars against Nazism that have been forgotten. Christopher was a secret agent, captured, tortured and incarcerated for 18 months alone, followed by 15 months in Buchenwald concentration camp. Afterwards he wrote Solitary Confinement, which became a classic. What does it tell us about the human character? Roger drowned in a mysterious submarine disaster and Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem is dedicated to him, but that is another story…

Margaret Percy and Hugh Purcell