The Club was privileged to host member & Stalag Luft III POW Air Cdre Charles Clarke OBE & actor John Leyton ‘Willie The Tunnel King’ from the classic 1963 film The Great Escape yesterday, ahead of the official 75th anniversary screening & event on 24/03. Charles even brought his original standard issue cutlery set from the camp with him and, even more poignantly, his battered POW tag, still intact all these years later.

The Club was also saddened to learn this week of the passing of treasured member and another former Stalag Luft III POW, Jack ‘Tiger’ Lyon, aged 101. A friend of Charles's and a member for over 50 years, Jack was most recently in the Club to share our centenary celebrations in October 2018, meeting Her Majesty The Queen. Jack acted as a lookout in The Great Escape of March 1944, enduring the Long March before finally arriving back in London in May 1945. Charles recalled many fond memories of his friend Jack, both truly remarkable men, modest and understated in their achievements.