BBC Radio 2 ‘Jeremy Vine Show’ 10.09.2012

Jeremy Vine   30 years ago one of the highest profile terrorist attacks of the IRA’s campaign shocked the nation. The victim was Lord Mountbatten. He was a Supreme Allied Commander in south east Asia in World War Two, the last Viceroy of India and great uncle and mentor to Price Charles. He was killed at […]


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BBC Radio Four ‘Midweek’ 30.09.2009

Libby Purves Tim Knatchbull and his family have needed every ounce of determination to live. It’s thirty years since he was blown up on the fishing boat off Ireland in the IRA atrocity which killed Earl Mountbatten, his grandfather, his grandmother Lady Brabourne and the young Irish boat boy, Paul Maxwell and most savage of […]


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TODAY fm ‘The Last Word’ 02.09.09

Matt Cooper   A dreadful event in Irish history from thirty years ago, August 1979. There were survivors from the IRA bomb that killed Lord Mountbatten. One of those survivors has written a book thirty years on. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Can I ask if it is difficult for you to […]


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Readers’ Letters

A powerful message I was struck by the absence of hate or indeed a desire for revenge. The underlying theme is a powerful message of forgiveness. T Hutchings. August 2022   Humanity thrums from every page A mix of investigative journalism, psychological study and narrative non-fiction I’ve not read before. Humanity thrums from every page. […]


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Readers Comments

A compelling read… …especially if you remember! Tim shares his journey of pain, loss, searching and seeking understanding as he tells his own story of this remarkable family and this terrible event. Anon Kindle Reader   A superb book Beautifully written. Meticulous in its research. Painfully honest without being maudlin. Can’t recommend it enough. HD […]


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Extracts of ‘From a Clear Blue Sky’

‘Twins’               The heart of a human foetus starts to beat three weeks after conception. Mine started beating in the middle of March 1964. A few millimeters away another heart was beating alongside mine. It belonged to my identical twin. Our hearts beat in loose synchronicity over seven hundred million times until he was killed, […]


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Irish History

1169 Henry II oversees an Anglo Norman invasion of Ireland, establishing an English presence for the first time 1689 James II lands in Ireland and supported by a catholic army reigns from Dublin 1801 The Act of Union creates the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1813 First recorded sectarian riots in Belfast 1836 […]


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Classiebawn Castle

1694 10,000 acres of land in Sligo comes into the possession of Sir John Temple of East Sheen, Attorney General of Ireland 1704 Sir John Temple dies, his son Henry inherits his estate 1723 Henry Temple is created the first Viscount Palmerston of Palmerston in County Dublin 1757 1st Viscount Palmerston dies and is succeeded […]


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Q&A

What was your relationship to Earl Mountbatten of Burma? Lord Mountbatten was my maternal grandfather. His eldest daughter, Patricia, is my mother. After his wife, Edwina Mountbatten, died he devoted himself to his family. He was great fun and shared his grandchildren’s passion for toys and was a great storyteller. I learnt of his connections […]


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  • 'It is one of the most intensely moving stories I have ever read, and I was gripped from the first page.'

    Barbara Taylor Bradford


    'Testament to a remarkable, benevolent soul...With this public love letter he has found a way to say goodbye’. Sunday Times


    ‘It is one of the most penetrating and humane books to have emerged from the Troubles.’

    Irish Independent


    'This amazingly clear-headed and mature book...Intelligent, honest, tender and so moving that it should come with a warning to read this in private because you're going to be in a tear-stained mess.’ Daily Mail


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