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The year 2020 also marks the 130th anniversary of de Gaulle's birth (22 November 1890, Lille France) and 50 years after his death
​ (9 November 1970, Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, France).

A certain idea of France by Julian Jackson

Julian Jackson is Professor of History at Queen Mary, University of London and one of the foremost British experts on twentieth-century France. His previous books include France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944, which was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times History Book Award, and his celebrated The Fall of France, which won the Wolfson History Prize in 2004. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.
Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize for History, the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography, the American Library in Paris Award and the Franco-British Society Literary Prize.
A SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR, FINANCIAL TIMES, TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR
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"L’appel du 18 juin 1940", La France à l'UNESCO
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A certain idea of France by Julian Jackson
In six weeks in the early summer of 1940, France was over-run by German troops and quickly surrendered. The French government of Marshal Pétain sued for peace and signed an armistice. One little-known junior French general, refusing to accept defeat, made his way to England. On 18 June he spoke to his compatriots over the BBC, urging them to rally to him in London. 'Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.' At that moment, Charles de Gaulle entered into history.
For the rest of the war, de Gaulle frequently bit the hand that fed him. He insisted on being treated as the true embodiment of France, and quarrelled violently with Churchill and Roosevelt. 
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L’appel du 18 juin… c’est aussi l’appel de Churchill aux Européens

​Prof John Charmley joined St Mary’s University as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic Strategy in September 2016.
​He was previously at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, where he served from 1979-2016. John was educated at Pembroke College Oxford, where he held a scholarship from 1974 to 1977. After achieving a First Class Honours degree in Modern History, he studied for a D.Phil. there from 1977 to 1981. He was appointed as a lecturer in English history at the University of East Anglia in 1979. He was UEA’s Director of Admissions from 1996 to 1999, and Dean of the School of History from 2002 until 2012. He was Head of the School of Music there from 2009 until 2014, and founding Head of the Interdisciplinary Institute for the Humanities. John has written extensively (eight books) on modern diplomatic and political history, including award-winning biographies of Duff Cooper (1986) and a series of controversial studies of the appeasement era and Churchill (Chamberlain and the Lost Peace, 1989; Churchill: the end of glory(1993); Churchill’s Grand Alliance (1997), as well as studies of British diplomacy in the nineteenth century, and a history of the Conservative Party. John has served in a wide variety of other roles, having been editor-in-chief of History, the Journal of the Historical Association from 2010 to 2014, and a Director of the Norwich Heritage, Economic & Regeneration Trust, from 2005 to 2015. He is a member of the catechetical commission of the Diocese of East Anglia, and a regular contributor to the Catholic Herald, as well as being a prolific tweeter. As Pro Vice-Chancellor of Academic Strategy, John is responsible for leading on the development and delivery of St Mary’s education strategy, which is centred around providing a portfolio of programmes which reflect our Catholic ethos and which will provide our students with a first-rate educational experience to prepare them to take their place as good citizens in our society.