Mayday - Ep 2. The Pizza in the Suitcase
Intrigue
BBC
4.6 • 4.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2020
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“I was naked having a strip search and I just know James was somewhere laughing his head off.” Who was 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
“Investigation into death of White Helmets co-founder” - CBC News: The National, 11 Nov 2019 – video from New York Al Jazeera
James Le Mesurier home video – family collection
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, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:35.0 | Do you want me to be muted and then just record locally or what would you like to do? |
| 0:39.0 | No, no, no, I just wanted you to be muted for a second just to work out what was going on with Justin's audio. |
| 0:43.6 | Okay, we are ready. My name's Harry Wynne Williams. I'm a strategic communications |
| 0:48.8 | consultant and I met James back in September 1993 when we both attended the Royal Academy Sandhurst. |
| 0:55.3 | My name is Justin Duhutie. I'm an advisor to a number of governments in the Middle East. |
| 1:01.2 | James and I were old friends. We were in the army together and careers |
| 1:08.4 | and lives overlapped on a number of occasions. |
| 1:21.0 | James Lemeurer had a lot of friends, but the lifestyle he led, living in the Middle East and in and around conflict zones, meant it wasn't always easy for him to keep up with them. |
| 1:24.0 | Justin and Harry were two of his oldest army buddies. |
| 1:28.0 | I think part of what made him such a strong army officer was the way he thought and his ability to think strategically as well |
| 1:36.6 | as master the detail. |
| 1:38.4 | And I remember beggling was one of the sports on offer at Santa. |
| 1:44.0 | Beagling, I had to look this up. |
| 1:46.0 | It's hunting with hounds mostly for hairs and rabbits, not foxes. |
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