Movie Night at the Museum - Escape to Victory

24/03/2026  -  3.55

Alex Alexandrou

The first Football and War Event of 2026, took place on the 17th March and was a collaboration with Charlton Athletic Museum and the Armed Forces Addicks who hosted a Movie Night at the Museum. The free event included a presentation by Clive Harris, Military Historian and Trustee of the Museum; a screening of the 1981 classic movie, Escape to Victory; followed by a post screening Q&A with John Smith, author of the critically acclaimed book, Escape: A Love Letter to a Cult Football Classic.

Charlton Athletic Museum. Source: Author's Collection

The event was packed out and the audience not only had an opportunity to view the Museum’s wonderful collection but were also treated to ice cream and a themed cookie! 

Escape to Victory Themed Cookie. Source: Author's Collection

Additionally, Kieran O’Connor from Stanchion Books set up a book stall and John Smith signed copies of his books.

Kieran O'Connor of Stanchion Books. Source: Author's Collection

The main collection was supported on the evening with a temporary exhibition of World War Two Prisoner of War artefacts and medals from Europe and the Far East, curated by lifelong Charlton Athletic fans Martin Carey and Geoff Mason. Martin has a lifelong passion for collecting militaria. He first attended a Charlton match in the 1978/79 season, with Sunderland being the opponents. Whilst Geoff, whose father’s artefacts were on display explained that his father, Lawrence Mason, signed up with the 24th Lancers who were part of the 11th Army. He signed up at the Yorkshire Grey pub in Eltham and an interesting fact that Geoff imparted was that the 24th Lancers signed up many men over the age of 30 from South East London. Lawrence was involved in D-Day and fought at Antwerp, Eindhoven and Tillet.

Martin Carey and the World War Two Prisoner of War Collection. Source: Author's Collection

The event began with a short introduction by myself on behalf of the Football and War Network that included paying tribute to the trustees and volunteers of the Museum, who do a fantastic job in not only maintaining and enhancing the collection but continually seek to improve the Museum. It is fair to say that they have helped to make it one of the foremost football club museums in the country.

Alex Alexandrou. Author's Collection

Clive Harris then kicked-off proceedings with a First World War themed presentation entitled – The Kaiser’s Colditz: Holzminden 1918 - A Great War Escape to Victory. Holzminden was a Prisoner of War camp whose Commandant was Hauptman Kurt Niemeyer, known as Milwaukee Bill by the inmates, who let us say did not take too kindly to him! The majority of inmates were officers and there were regular escape attempts. As one would expect, that they did not make administrating and guarding the camp easy for their German hosts. Clive explained in great detail how the camp was organised and set out, as well as how the escapes were planned and undertaken. This led to a real-life Great Escape in July 1918, with almost 30 prisoners escaping, leaving their captors with the proverbial egg on face, leading to then phenomenal £250 reward offered by German authorities for every prisoner recaptured. Some such as 2/Lt Arthur Morris MC were recaptured and others Lt Colonel Rathbone were not.

Clive Harris. Source: Author's Collection

Clive went on to talk about the football played in the camp, that was organised by Major J W Shaw, who was the Honorary Secretary of the camp football competitions. As Clive explained, due to the lack of space, matches were nine-a-side and Milwaukee Bill, as was his wont as Commandant, stopped or prevented matches being played. However, when football was played it was good for morale and kept the prisoners active and fit.

Clive’s presentation was followed by the showing of Escape to Victory which was very much enjoyed by the audience, as was the Q&A with John Smith who has written what can be regarded as a love letter to this cult football film classic. I hosted this part of the event and asked John why he loves the film so much, why he wrote the book, his perspective on the match in the film and the dynamic between the actors and the professional footballers. Particularly, through Michael Caine, one of the principal stars of the film, who also served as a National Serviceman in Germany and Korea. There then followed a fascinating discussion with the audience that took everyone’s love of the film in many directions.

John Smith - Author of Escape: A Love Letter to a Cult Football Classic. Source: Author's Collection

This was a wonderful evening and the Museum and the Armed Forces Addicks plan more of these Movie Nights. Keep an eye out for future events on the following social media platforms:

Charlton Athletic Museum

Twitter/X - @CHATHMuseum
Bluesky - @chathmuseum.bsky.social

Football and War Network

Twitter/X - @footballandwar
Bluesky - @footballandwar.bsky.social

Biography

Alex Alexandrou is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Football and War Network.