Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.

Today, the 6th of June, marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day. And so we've got a special bonus episode on D-Day for you.

The Allied assault of Nazi-occupied Normandy has become one of the most famous episodes

of the Second World War. But its outcome was never guaranteed. And there's long been speculation

that Prime Minister Winston Churchill was far from enthused about the plan.

A new book, Churchill's D-Day, The Inside Story, explores the Prime Minister's role in the operation.

Matt Elton spoke to its authors Alan Packwood, director of the Churchill Archive Centre,

and Richard Dannett, former head of the British Army.

Matt began by asking what had inspired their collaboration on the book, and the first

voice that you'll hear is Alan.

I'm lucky enough to be in the Churchill Archive Centre at Churchill College, looking after

Sir Winston Churchill's papers.

And one of my predecessors was the very distinguished historian,

Corelli Barnett, Bill Barnett, to his friends. And he sadly died, and we had a memorial

service to him here at Churchill. And Richard knew Bill, had worked with Bill, and I invited him

along to speak at that memorial service. And on the way out,

we got talking. And I mentioned that I'd been giving some lectures about Churchill and D-Day,

and I was wondering whether this might be developed into a book and whether this is the sort of

thing that Bill might have

liked. And then at that point, Richard, of course, you declared an interest.

Well, absolutely. I think in that conversation, I said, well, gosh, Winston Churchill has always

been my number one hero as a young man hugely interested by Churchill's career. And then, of course, someone who spent

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