Jeremy Paxman - The World at War TV - World War: The Complete History TV - Winston Churchill - The Fall of Singapore TV - Singapore 1942: End of Empire TV - Anthony Bourdain - Josephine Teo -
Modern Singapore is a creation of empire. It was founded by Britain as a trading post in 1819. Jeremy Paxman, Empire II: Making Ourselves at Homes, BBC 2012
The Japanese had first bombed Singapore on the same morning as Pearl Harbor. The World at War 6/26: Banzai, ITV 1973
Singapore was the mythology of the British empire built into reality. A trading city where Europeans could amass fortunes quickly. It was the centre for maritime trade, a conduit for wealth, a huge naval base. World War II: The Complete History: Six Months to Run Wild, 2000
130,000 did surrender. The Japanese had cut water supplies and subjected the city to constant air bombardment. The lives of one million civilians were at risk. ibid.
Battle must be fought to the bitter end. Commander and senior officers should die with the troops. The honour of the British Empire is at stake. Winston Churchill, to troops in Singapore
On this shore just after midnight on 7th December 1941 Japanese troops invaded the British colony of Malaysia. The Pacific War had begun. The Fall of Singapore: The Great Betrayal, BBC 2012
Japan’s crowning victory – the fall of Singapore, symbol of British power in the East. ibid.
It was the British who gave the Japanese the know-how to take out Pearl Harbor and capture Singapore ... through a mole who was a peer of the realm known to Churchill himself. ibid.
Within two years [William] Sempill and his military missionaries had given Japan’s naval air service a potentially world-wide reach. ibid.
Rutland’s paymasters then revealed they had a much more important job for him: they would increase his salary if he agreed how to show their pilots how to fly off and on to the decks of carriers. ibid.
Sempill was passing on a whole range of secret information. ibid.
MI5 was appalled by Sempill’s behaviour. ibid.
Japan now had the means to realise her imperial ambitions. She set her sights on South East Asia. The ultimate prize was Singapore. ibid.
Sempill maintained his secret links with the Japanese. ibid.
Sempill was never prosecuted. ibid.
Rutland was deported to Britain where he was interned for two years. ibid.
A history of foreign invasion, smouldering racial tension and violent struggle against imperial power. After more than a hundred years of colonial rule in 1941 the flames of independence were lit when Japan bombed Singapore. Singapore 1942: End of Empire I, BBC 2012
It was a call to arms that echoed within the ranks of the British army, causing 20,000 British Indian army soldiers to switch sides and fight for the Japanese. ibid.
Singapore, the bastion of the British empire, fell in just 70 days. It was Japan’s greatest victory and Britain’s most humiliating defeat of World War II. The fall of Singapore changed the face of south-east Asia for ever, and heralded the beginning of the end for the British empire. ibid.
On 8th December 1941 with World War II raging in Europe, Japan seized the opportunity to launch a brutal campaign to expand its empire and expel the white colonials from Asia. Singapore 1942: End of Empire II
Many deserted under fire. The so-called impregnable fortress had been breached. ibid.
The fanaticism of the Japanese soldiers shocked the empire troops. ibid.
Those left stranded on the wharf were left to face the fearsome occupying force now at the gates of their city. ibid.
Over 3 years in captivity. 30,000 British, 15,000 Australian and 40,000 India troops joined 30,000 POWs already taken in Malaysia. ibid.
Among the local Singaporeans, what little respect remained for the empire forces would quickly be dispelled. ibid.
An estimated 50,000 Chinese-Singaporeans were executed by the Japanese. ibid.
On 12th September 1945 the British returned to Singapore. It was the Japanese’ turn to be marched through in the streets in front of the locals. ibid.
For the people of South-East Asia things had changed. ibid.
Nobody in Singapore drinks Singapore Slings. It’s one of the first things you find out there. What you do in Singapore is eat. It’s a really food-crazy culture, where all of this great food is available in a kind of hawker-stand environment. Anthony Bourdain
Our maritime cluster today is vibrant, comprising more than 130 international ship groups and more than 5000 maritime companies across the full range of industry. We are well positioned to serve as a gateway to Asia, and provide a platform for businesses to benefit from the shifting of centre of gravity to this region. Ms Josephine Teo