TV historian gets virtual tour of life in Government House during Occupation

TV historian Dan Snow called up the Lt-Governor's chief of staff Major Marco Ciotti on Facetime and was offered a virtual tour of Government House.

Fascinated by the occupation, Mr Snow questioned who was in the house during the five long years of the war.

Major Ciotti explained that there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with various Lt-Governors in office for short periods of time before being called back to England for military duties.

Mr Snow was shown pictures that the house still has of previous residents during the Occupation relaxing in the drawing room with some of the same furniture that remains in the house today.

Mr Snow questioned: 'What about the first Lt-Governor to arrive back in Guernsey in 1945?'

Major Ciotti said Lt General Phillip Neame was a very interesting man and arrived in August 1945.

He won a VC very early on in the war in recognition of his single-handed defence, holding back the enemy for 45 minutes using improvised hand grenades made out of empty jam tins stuffed with pieces of metal.

'Neame did a lot of work behind the scenes to restore Guernsey's economy and get them financial assistance,' Major Ciotti explained.

'One of the things he did was get the UK government to write off the £1m. that Guernsey owed for the evacuation, as well as some of the money for the cost of the evacuees when they were in mainland Britain.'

Mr Snow said Guernsey has well and truly bounced back from the war and Occupation and was delighted to have the opportunity to be taken on the tour and not miss out on the Liberation Day celebrations.

Read more in Monday's Guernsey Press.

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