Eighty Years Ago This Week

      22,000 servicemen and women and 500 military vehicles participated in the London Victory day parade which stretched for four miles.  There was a fly-past of 300 aircraft. Practically Britain's allies except for the Soviet Union were represented although the Polish involvement was held at a minimal level to appease Stalin.  The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem fled from France where he was being  kept under  surveillance. He was a leading opponent of Jewish settlement in Palestine and had been based in Germany throughout the war where he was highly paid to broadcast propaganda. He gave support to the Nazi recruitment of Muslims into the SS. He met Himmler and encouraged the killing of Jews. The British had requested his extradition from France as he was notionally a British subject but France had refused. He left France with the connivance of the government which hoped to curry favour with Arab nations. The young King of Thailand was shot dead. To this da...