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Testament of Youth: Shirley Williams on mother Vera Brittain's role

Baroness Shirley Williams reflects on the portrayal of her mother in the film adapation of Testament of Youth, which she also penned.

"I did have doubts at the beginning...but after I had seen some of the early rushes...I became persuaded that the thing I had most feared, that it would become a kind-of Hollywood romance. They captured my mother rightly".

Testament of Youth, the memoir of author and pacifist Vera Brittain, charts the harsh realities of women during World War One.

Vera Brittain was an 18-year-old studying at Oxford University when war broke out in 1914 but left to become an auxiliary nurse in London.

"It does bring out so brilliantly how difficult she was to understand for an Edwardian or Victorian parent".

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6 minutes

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