Some of you may have seen the cover of Radio Times this week. The little boy in the bottom corner is none other than Jemima Wilson (Second Form)’s grandfather. Jemima had a chat with him about VE Day, which you can read below.

“My grandpa, Robert Wilson, was four years old at the end of World War Two, so he doesn’t have a lot of memories, but a couple of things he does remember are on the evening of VE Day, going down to the the ‘village centre’, where there was a big bonfire celebration (with an effigy of Hitler burning on top). His other favourite memory was that the sweet rationing was lifted and his mum coming home with a big bag of sweets.

In the early 1930s, Robert’s father was travelling in Germany and fell in love with a German lady. They were married in 1936 and she became a British citizen. At the beginning of the war, they had to evacuate to Sussex but were eventually allowed to move back home to Hampstead Garden Suburb, North London.

There were quite a lot of refugees in this area whom Robert’s parents were very kind. 

The photographer was Kurt Hutton, who worked for Picture Post and he was a German refugee. 

The photo was taken on the porch of their house, showing my grandfather, his mother and his twin brother David putting up some celebratory bunting!”