Literature

SIR MAX HASTINGS AT THE SHERBORNE LITERARY SOCIETY

Richard Hopton, Sherborne Literary Society

Sir Max Hastings is one of Britain’s leading military historians with a string of best-selling books to his credit. He will be talking about his latest, Operation Pedestal, to the Sherborne Literary Society on Friday 3rd December. Operation Pedestal was the codename for the convoy which sailed under intense attack to resupply Malta in August 1942. It is a departure for Hastings as it is the first of his books to cover the war at sea.

Hastings is now a renowned military historian but he enjoyed a distinguished career as a journalist, serving between 1986 and 2002 as editorin-chief of the Daily Telegraph, then as editor of the Evening Standard. In his early years as a journalist Hastings was a war reporter, covering conflicts all over the globe, from the streets of Belfast to the jungles of Vietnam. He was present at the fall of Saigon in April 1975. He reported on the Yom Kippur war of 1973, on the Biafra civil war in the late ‘60s, and on the conflicts in Cyprus and Rhodesia. In 1982 he sailed to the Falkland Islands with the British Task Force and was the first man into Port Stanley when the town was recaptured, his scoop appearing on the front page of the Evening Standard. His extensive, first-hand experience of soldiers, fighting and the terrible cost of war has given his military history a humanity and an immediacy it sometimes lacks in other hands. Likewise, his journalist’s instinct for a story and his facility with words make his books entertaining and readable.

By the end of June 1942, Malta was in dire straits, desperately short of food and fuel and under relentless attack. As the Axis, having advanced to within 60 miles of Alexandria, controlled almost the entire North African littoral as well as the naval and air bases in Sicily and southern Italy, it was able to launch wave after wave of attacks on the island and prevent any convoys from resupplying the garrison. Several attempts to get vital supplies to Malta had failed and it was obvious that the island could not hold out much longer. It was against this background that Operation Pedestal was launched. Between 11th and 15th August 1942 a supply convoy of 14 fast merchantmen escorted by a fleet of four aircraft-carriers, two battleships, seven cruisers, and scores of destroyers and smaller craft fought its way across a thousand miles of sea under constant attack by 600 enemy aircraft and packs of U-Boats and torpedo boats. It is a gripping story of heroism, stoicism and determination, of admirals and ordinary seamen, of pilots and merchantship masters, of stricken ships and desperate measures. Sir Max is a fine speaker so it promises to be an enjoyable evening.

sherborneliterarysociety.com

___________________________________________ Friday 3rd December 7pm–9.30pm Sir Max Hastings - Operation Pedestal The Digby Hall, Hound Street, Sherborne DT9 3AA Tickets £10 (£9 Sherborne Literary Society members) sherborneliterarysociety.com/events