Mayday - Ep 1. On the Ledge
Intrigue
BBC
4.6 • 4.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2020
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“The story sounds like a purely English murder.” The rumour mill starts over who or what killed James Le Mesurier.
When he fell to his death in Turkey in 2019 James Le Mesurier left behind a tangle of truths and lies. Mayday tells the extraordinary real story of the man who organised the White Helmets – rescuers who film themselves pulling survivors from bombed out buildings in rebel-held areas of Syria – and investigates claims that, far from being heroes, they are part of a very elaborate hoax. James Le Mesurier – his detractors say – was a British secret agent, pulling the strings. So when his body was found by worshippers on their way to morning prayers, there were a lot questions.
Produced, written and presented by: Chloe Hadjimatheou Editor: Emma Rippon Researcher: Tom Wright Mixed by: Neil Churchill Arabic translation and additional research: Vanessa Bowles, Abdul Kader Habak Turkish researcher: Nevin Sungur Narrative Consultant: John Yorke Original music: Nick Mundy and Bu Kolthoum Production Coordinator - Gemma Ashman
REFERENCES:
Wedding video provided by Emma Le Mesurier
Report of the death of James Le Mesurier - BBC Outside Source , 11 November 2019
“Investigation into death of White Helmets co-founder” - CBC News: The National, 11 November 2019, from “New York Al Jazeera” footage
“James Le Mesurier: Brit who helped found White Helmets discovered dead in Istanbul” - ITV News, 11 November 2019
“Mysterious death of White Helmets co-founder spotlights toxic propaganda” – PBS NewsHour
“Brandpunt - Witte helmen” (Focal point - Season 1 - White helmets) - KRO-NCRV, 08 Nov 2016. Reporter Piet De Blaauw
“Смерть Джеймса ле Мезюрье: он слишком много знал - Россия 24” (The death of James le Mesurier: he knew too much) - Russia 24 Russia 24, 17 Nov 2019
“تركيا - مؤسس "الخوذ البيضاء" الإرهابية مقتولاً في اسطنبول “(Turkey - founder of the terrorist "White Helmets" was killed in Istanbul) Syrian Channel – News, 11 November 2019
“Assad on deaths of Epstein, White Helmets' founder, bin Laden & al-Baghdadi” RT News, 16 Nov 2019
“Eski İngiliz istihbarat subayı neden öldü? Uzman isim yorumladı” (Why did the former British intelligence officer die? Expert name commented) - CNN Türk
“White Helmets Co-founder Dies: Interview with Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Le Mesurier’s friend” - TRT World Now, 12 Nov 2019
“Hamish de Bretton-Gordon: James Le Mesurier A 'Special Kind Of Person'” 12 November 2019 - forces.net
“Mysterious death of White Helmets co-founder spotlights toxic propaganda” - PBS NewsHour, 24 Dec 2019
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
| 0:06.8 | searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the |
| 0:11.8 | telly we share what we've been watching |
| 0:14.0 | Fladiated. |
| 0:16.0 | Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming. |
| 0:19.0 | Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige. |
| 0:21.0 | And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less |
| 0:25.0 | searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.0 | BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.0 | BBC Sounds Music music radio podcasts. |
| 0:34.4 | I'm at James in March 2016. |
| 0:39.7 | It was all very quick and immediate and well-wind and a second date. |
| 0:46.0 | We went out to see some friends who lived in this beautiful house who told us that they were leaving and asked us if we were |
| 0:54.3 | interested in taking over the lease and we said yes. So by your second date you were |
| 0:58.0 | planning to move in together? Yeah, yeah it was really quick. About a month later |
| 1:02.4 | James had asked my father for my handed marriage. |
| 1:08.0 | James Lemezurer was traditional in that way, the son of a royal marine and a former decorated army officer, he liked to do these things properly. |
| 1:17.0 | He and Emma Wimburg planned to marry at home at their large white wooden house on Buchada Island just off the coast of Istanbul in Turkey. |
| 1:26.4 | It was such a strange beautiful magical place. |
| 1:30.4 | It was horse and carriage. There were no cars really. |
| 1:34.0 | Party was great. |
| 1:38.0 | Plenty of lanterns. We had a little tent dancing outside right on the sea front at the bottom of the garden and it was |
... |
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