Touching history.

72 years ago on Tuesday the Nazis forcibly annexed Czechoslovakia thereby proving to the world that Hitler could not be trusted. It was a major step on the road that would eventually lead to the Second World War. On the same day (March 15th 1939) in Flintshire my Mum was born.

Just 5 months earlier in Flint my Dad was born; on the day of his birth in Germany the dreadful events of Kristallnacht were unfolding.

Germany and Europe were about to enter a new dark age of barbarism. My parents were born on days that proved Hitler's perfidy and took the nation closer to war. Yet they survived the war years and both must view the images of German tanks and strutting Nazi soldiers with the same disbelief as I do that a civilised people could turn to such barbarism.

The fact my parents were born on these key dates reminds me that Hitler's war is still comparatively recent history.

March 15th 1939: Hitler accepts the surrender of the Czech leaders; in Flintshire at the same time my Mum was born.