Page 94 - The Wish Stream Year of 2020 Crest

Calais, delaying the German advance towards Dunkirk. Rolt was awarded an immediate Mili- tary Cross but was captured during the fighting.
Always a difficult prisoner, Tony Rolt escaped from a POW camp no fewer than seven times before being sent to the maximum-security prison, Oflag IV-C in Colditz Castle. There he masterminded an audacious escape plan build- ing a glider in a concealed attic, to be launched from the roof carrying two prisoners over the walls. Over 6,000 pieces of wood had to be purloined from under the noses of the guards and machined with primitive tools. The libera- tion of the camp by the Russians prevented the attempt, although a reconstruction in 2012 proved that the design was sound, and the rep- lica was successfully flown from the castle. Rolt was awarded a bar to his MC for his persistent escape attempts.
Demobbed as a Major, Rolt returned to motor racing and competed in three of the early For- mula One races, including the British Grand Prix in 1950, the first race of the modern era. How- ever, his real talent lay as an endurance driver, and partnered by the extrovert Duncan Hamil- ton, a wartime pilot, was 6th in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in 1951, 4th in 1950, 2nd in 1954 and, driving a C-Type Jaguar, winners in 1953. Both drivers had initially been disqualified during practice and so retired to the bar to drown their sorrows. Their team manager denied they were drunk, saying: “Of course I would never have let them race under the influence, I had enough trouble when they were sober!” Nevertheless, attempts to assist Hamilton’s performance with coffee failed, so he was plied with brandy instead and he continued driving with a broken nose after hitting a bird at 130mph.
After witnessing the 1955 Le Mans accident, which claimed 80 lives, Rolt retired from racing
to concentrate on engineering. He became one of the early pioneers of four-wheel-drive, firstly for racing cars and then later for road cars. The current Audi 4WD sports cars use a transmis- sion developed by Rolt’s company. An intensely private man, Rolt rarely spoke of his wartime exploits: “Escaping was not fun, nor was it a game. It was a duty.” Tony Rolt, MC and Bar, died in 2008.
DESMOND LLEWELLYN Royal Welsh Fusiliers 1940
The son of a mining engineer, Desmond Wilkin- son Llewelyn was born in Newport, Wales on 12th September 1914. Educated at Radley Col- lege, he worked on school drama productions with small acting roles and, forsaking the chance of studying for ordination, secured a small part in the 1939 comedy, ‘Ask a Policeman’. However, the war intervened, and he was commissioned from one of the first wartime courses at Sand- hurst into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Serving with the 1st Battalion, Llewelyn was cap- tured during the retreat to Dunkirk and became a prisoner of war. A troublesome inmate, he was eventually transferred to the notorious Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle where he was incarcer- ated alongside such notables as RAF fighter ace Douglas Bader, Charles Upham VC and Bar and David Stirling, founder of the SAS. After the war Llewelyn worked on the stage and secured occasional roles in the burgeoning British film industry. In 1950, fellow Sandhurst alumnus Ter- ence Young directed the semi auto-biograph- ical film about the Guards Armoured Division, ‘They Were Not Divided’. Seeking actors with military experience, he cast Llewelyn as a tank
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