[Afamilyatwar-list] John Finch and a final family photo

[Allan Reeves]

Many thanks, Gert, for all the terrific photos, letters and info.

On Sun, 13 Apr 2025, 12:41 Christine Kendell via Afamilyatwar-list, <
afamilyatwar-list at baylor.edu> wrote:

>
>
> Thank you for all the photos and documents, Gert. It’s fascinating, and I
> think the series had an impact on us all. My parents lived through the war
> and often used to talk about life on the Home Front, though my father was
> in the army for part of the time.
>
> Christine
>
>
>
> *From:* Afamilyatwar-list <afamilyatwar-list-bounces at baylor.edu> *On
> Behalf Of *Gert Bak Pedersen via Afamilyatwar-list
> *Sent:* 13 April 2025 09:21
> *To:* afamilyatwar-list at baylor.edu
> *Cc:* Gert Bak Pedersen <gertbak58 at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* [Afamilyatwar-list] John Finch and a final family photo
>
>
>
> And so this is the last email with signed phots etc.
>
>
>
> Before I was in contact with any of the actors from AFAW I corresponded
> with author John Finch (starting in 2002). The aim was to get some
> information about two things:
>
> I am a historian and since University in the 1970s one of my main
> interests has been life on the homefront in England 1939 to 1945. So in
> connection with writing about the subject I was interested in knowing what
> litterature John Finch might had used while researching for AFAW. That's
> why there are some references to history books in his emails/letters.
>
> The other thing I asked him about was related to his AFAW writing proces,
> if the actors had any influence on the development of the character, the
> Vaughan Williams theme etc. I hope you will find some interesting
> information in his answers attached below.
>
> As he writes he surprisingly had a copy of a Danish edition of one of the
> books ghosted from the scripts (and which he really did not like). He
> signed the book and sent it to me together with some photocopies of
> newspaper articles about AFAW from 1970-72.
>
>
>
> I have also included one last photo signed by six of the actors. It's an
> Ashton family photo and that is why it actually crossed the North Sea from
> Denmark to England six times (and back again, of course). I must admit that
> the more signatures that were added to the photo the more difficult it was
> for me to send it again. I was afraid it would disappear somewhere on its
> 'journey' but luckily it arrived 'safe and sound' all six times😊.
>
>
>
> I am not interested in actors' autographs in general and I have never
> asked any actor for a signature - except for those starring in "A Family At
> War". The series had a huge impact on me when I watched it in the early
> seventies. It made me interested in life in England during WW2 - not
> military history but everyday life. And years later I brought this
> fascination into my professional life. So this is why I found it funny to
> try and get in touch with the Ashtons about twenty years ago. It might seem
> silly but it was a cosy little activity.
>
>
>
> All the best,
>
>
>
> Gert
> _______________________________________________
> Afamilyatwar-list mailing list
> Afamilyatwar-list at baylor.edu
> https://mailman.baylor.edu/mailman/listinfo/afamilyatwar-list
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/afamilyatwar-list/attachments/20250413/aa972a6d/attachment.htm>