Escape from France!
Toby Jones’ grandmother was entertaining the troops in northern France when the Nazis invaded…
Sherlock and Detectorists star Toby Jones has acting in his blood. His maternal grandmother, Doreen, known as Dorky, was an actor – and during World War Two, she travelled into war zones to entertain the troops.
In this week’s fourth and final episode of My Grandparents’ War, Toby discovers how she had to be rescued from northern France by the Royal Navy when the Nazis invaded.
‘My grandmother decided to devote her acting talents to the war effort and joined the Entertainments National Service Association [ENSA],’ explains Toby. ‘She then went to France in 1940 with a company of
ENSA actors to raise the spirits of the British soldiers.’
Dorky performed in 11 French towns in a month, but her life was thrown into danger when Germany invaded. As the Nazis neared, Dorky and her fellow actors then made a desperate retreat to the Channel ports, covering 150 miles by night.
Dorky was evacuated on 22 May 1940 from Boulogne, as German bombers soared overhead. Just two weeks later, she married Toby’s grandfather, Reggie, having only known him for a few months.
Danger
‘Around 5,000 British soldiers and hundreds of ENSA performers were evacuated by the Royal Navy before Boulogne fell under Nazi control,’ says Toby.
‘It seems so critical to her life story that she took flight from France and was then married within two weeks. Yet it’s extraordinary that nobody in my family seems to know about it. ‘Dorky’s experiences in France would have made her realise what she valued and loved.’