Aberfan: A Village Forever Changed Rainbow Valley — telling the stories from the decade that shook the world On the morning of Friday 21 October 1966, children in the Welsh mining village of Aberfan arrived at Pantglas Junior School for the last day before half term. At around 9.15am, a colliery spoil tip collapsed on the hillside above them. A torrent of coal waste swept through the school and neighbouring homes, claiming 144 lives, including those of 116 children. In this episode of Rainbow Valley, we return to one of the darkest days of the decade, remembering the people whose lives were lost and the community left to carry an unimaginable burden. We follow the desperate rescue effort, as miners, parents and volunteers searched the wreckage, and consider the grief that reached far beyond this small village in South Wales. We also examine how such a catastrophe could happen, the questions of responsibility that followed, and the struggle to ensure that Aberfan’s suffering would never be forgotten. Above all, this is an episode about people: children with their futures ahead of them, teachers and neighbours, bereaved families, and those who survived. It is a story that deserves to be told with care, compassion and a lasting commitment to remembrance. This and all episodes of Rainbow Valley are available at: directory.libsyn.com/shows/v… #RainbowValley #Aberfan #RememberingAberfan #WelshHistory #1960s #SocialHistory #HistoryPodcast

The night the mail train stopped — and £2.6 million disappeared into the Buckinghamshire darkness. Rainbow Valley – bringing you the stories from the decade that shook the world. In the early hours of 8 August 1963, a Royal Mail train travelling overnight from Glasgow to London approached a red signal in the Buckinghamshire countryside. The signal was false. Waiting in the darkness was a gang of men about to carry out one of the most audacious crimes in British history. This episode of Rainbow Valley tells the extraordinary story of The Great Train Robbery — the meticulously planned raid that netted the thieves around £2.6 million, an almost unimaginable sum at the time, and immediately became front-page news around the world. We follow the story from the tampering of the railway signals and the stopping of the train at Sears Crossing to the violent attack on driver Jack Mills, the removal of the money at Bridego Bridge, and the gang's hurried retreat to Leatherslade Farm. It was there that an operation which had depended upon careful planning began to unravel rather spectacularly. We look at the men behind the robbery, including Bruce Reynolds and the soon-to-be-notorious Ronnie Biggs, the enormous police investigation that followed, the clues the gang left behind and the arrests, trials, prison sentences and extraordinary escapes that ensured the story continued long after the stolen cash had vanished. And we also consider how the Great Train Robbery became part of British folklore. Over the years the thieves were sometimes portrayed as cheeky, almost romantic rogues pulling off the crime of the century. The reality — particularly the brutal treatment of Jack Mills — was considerably less glamorous. It is a story of planning, nerve, greed, mistakes, manhunts and myth-making, played out against the unmistakable backdrop of Britain in the summer of 1963. Rainbow Valley – bringing you the stories from the decade that shook the world. All episodes of Rainbow Valley are available wherever you download your podcasts and at: directory.libsyn.com/shows/v… #RainbowValley #GreatTrainRobbery #GreatTrainRobbery1963 #BritishHistory #SixtiesBritain #1960s #CrimeHistory #TrueCrime #RonnieBiggs #BruceReynolds #RoyalMail

"Just remember this - in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road" In 1969, British cinema delivered one of its most enduringly cheerful acts of grand larceny. The Italian Job had Michael Caine, three Mini Coopers, a coach balanced rather inconveniently above a precipice and a plan that looked perfectly sensible provided nobody examined it too closely. In this episode of Rainbow Valley, we go behind the scenes to explore how this much-loved crime caper found its way onto the screen. Written by Troy Kennedy Martin, directed by Peter Collinson and produced by Michael Deeley, the film followed recently released criminal Charlie Croker as he assembled an unlikely team to relieve Turin of several million pounds in gold. The authorities, the Mafia and the Italian traffic system all had other ideas. We discover how Michael Caine came to play the immaculately dressed Croker, alongside Noël Coward as the wonderfully imperious Mr Bridger and Benny Hill as Professor Simon Peach, a computer expert whose enthusiasm for large ladies required rather more explanation than most job interviews would allow. Behind the camera, meanwhile, French stunt coordinator Rémy Julienne and his team set about turning the streets, rooftops and staircases of Turin into an obstacle course for three small British cars. There is also the film’s distinctive musical world, created by Quincy Jones and crowned by “On Days Like These” and “Getta Bloomin’ Move On”, better known to generations of viewers as “The Self-Preservation Society”. It was a soundtrack that somehow made traffic jams, bullion robbery and municipal vandalism feel positively uplifting. The making of The Italian Job captures Britain at the end of the 1960s: confident, stylish and slightly cheeky, yet already looking back at a decade whose optimism was beginning to wobble. It is a story of inspired casting, audacious stunt work, nervous studios and a famously unresolved ending that has kept viewers arguing ever since. So settle into the passenger seat and join us for a journey from London to Turin, accompanied by Minis, gold bars and one very precariously parked coach. Rainbow Valley – bringing you the stories from the decade that shook the world. This episode, along with all previous episodes of Rainbow Valley, is available wherever you get your podcasts and at: directory.libsyn.com/shows/v… #RainbowValleyPodcast #RainbowValley #TheSixties #1960s #HistoryPodcast #TheItalianJob #MichaelCaine #BritishCinema #ClassicFilm #MiniCooper #Turin

"Just remember this - in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road" In 1969, British cinema delivered one of its most enduringly cheerful acts of grand larceny. The Italian Job had Michael Caine, three Mini Coopers, a coach balanced rather inconveniently above a precipice and a plan that looked perfectly sensible provided nobody examined it too closely. In this episode of Rainbow Valley, we go behind the scenes to explore how this much-loved crime caper found its way onto the screen. Written by Troy Kennedy Martin, directed by Peter Collinson and produced by Michael Deeley, the film followed recently released criminal Charlie Croker as he assembled an unlikely team to relieve Turin of several million pounds in gold. The authorities, the Mafia and the Italian traffic system all had other ideas. We discover how Michael Caine came to play the immaculately dressed Croker, alongside Noël Coward as the wonderfully imperious Mr Bridger and Benny Hill as Professor Simon Peach, a computer expert whose enthusiasm for large ladies required rather more explanation than most job interviews would allow. Behind the camera, meanwhile, French stunt coordinator Rémy Julienne and his team set about turning the streets, rooftops and staircases of Turin into an obstacle course for three small British cars. There is also the film’s distinctive musical world, created by Quincy Jones and crowned by “On Days Like These” and “Getta Bloomin’ Move On”, better known to generations of viewers as “The Self-Preservation Society”. It was a soundtrack that somehow made traffic jams, bullion robbery and municipal vandalism feel positively uplifting. The making of The Italian Job captures Britain at the end of the 1960s: confident, stylish and slightly cheeky, yet already looking back at a decade whose optimism was beginning to wobble. It is a story of inspired casting, audacious stunt work, nervous studios and a famously unresolved ending that has kept viewers arguing ever since. So settle into the passenger seat and join us for a journey from London to Turin, accompanied by Minis, gold bars and one very precariously parked coach. Rainbow Valley – bringing you the stories from the decade that shook the world. This episode, along with all previous episodes of Rainbow Valley, is available wherever you get your podcasts and at: directory.libsyn.com/shows/v… #RainbowValleyPodcast #RainbowValley #TheSixties #1960s #HistoryPodcast #TheItalianJob #MichaelCaine #BritishCinema #ClassicFilm #MiniCooper #Turin