3 CHEERS...

...for Sir Nicholas Winton who 70 years ago took the lead in organising the escape of Czech Jewish children to Britain on the eve of the Second World War. On a visit to Prague Winton, then a 29-year-old London stockbroker, saw the plight of the children whose parents were destined for concentration camps. He raised funds, chartered trains and found homes for the children when they arrived in Britain. In what became known as the “Kinderstransport”, 669 children in eight trains made the journey from Prague to the Hook of Holland and from there to Harwich and Liverpool Street Station in London. On Friday a steam train made the same journey from Prague with 22 of the people saved as children on board; at Liverpool Street Station they were greeted by their 100-year-old benefactor. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this remarkable rescue story is that Nicholas Winton never spoke of his part in it until his wife discovered some documents about the Kindertransport project in 1988. Thereafter he received the freedom of the city of Prague and in 2002 was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.