Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom before World War II. When Nazi Germany occuped Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain attended a conference in Munich intended to solve the crisis in a peaceful manner. However, George Limb opined that Chamberlain and the rest of the Allies allowed Adolf Hitler to step all over them which exemplified their lack of resolve. After the conference, Chamerlain returned to Britain where he made the announcement, "I have in my hand a piece of paper..." (PROSE: Illegal Alien [+]Loading...["Illegal Alien (novel)"]) which promised that there would be "peace in our time." (PROSE: One Wednesday Afternoon [+]Loading...["One Wednesday Afternoon (short story)"])
However, Chamberlain's attempts to keep the peace in Europe were unsuccessful. Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, triggering World War II. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Exodus (novel)"], Just War [+]Loading...["Just War (novel)"], AUDIO: Neverland [+]Loading...["Neverland (audio story)"], Just War [+]Loading...["Just War (audio story)"]) Chamberlain had some oversight over the Torchwood Institute, and notably signed off on the idea a training base that used animated mannequins as targets. (PROSE: Risk Assessment [+]Loading...["Risk Assessment (novel)"])
Chamberlain was succeeded as Prime Minster by Winston Churchill who led Britain during the war. (TV: The Beast Below [+]Loading...["The Beast Below (TV story)"], Victory of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Victory of the Daleks (TV story)"], The Pandorica Opens [+]Loading...["The Pandorica Opens (TV story)"], PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass [+]Loading...["The Shadow in the Glass (novel)"], Magic of the Angels [+]Loading...["Magic of the Angels (novel)"], COMIC: The Instruments of War [+]Loading...["The Instruments of War (comic story)"], AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure [+]Loading...["The Ultimate Adventure (audio story)"], Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"])
The Fifth Doctor opined that Chamberlain was ultimately wrong in the Munich decisions but, as he was trying to maintain peace, he was wrong for the right reasons, and for that the Doctor sympathised with him. Stan and Peggy Garratt named their son after Chamberlain. (PROSE: One Wednesday Afternoon [+]Loading...["One Wednesday Afternoon (short story)"])
Behind the scenes
- He was played by Roger Brierley in the miniseries Mosley, Christopher Good in Dunkirk, Roger Parrott in The King's Speech and Ronald Pickup in Darkest Hour.
- The voice of the character Atrias was based on that of Neville Chamberlain by voice actor Ian Crowe. Despite Atrias' non-exemplary leadership, Crowe did not intent to imply that Chamberlain was a coward. (BFX: Daughter of the Gods [+]Loading...["Daughter of the Gods (audio story)"])
- Timewyrm: Exodus [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Exodus (novel)"] references real-world Nazi plans, discovered after World War II, to arrest many significant British figures during Operation Sealion. Known as The Black Book in real life, Chamberlain was on that list. However, he died in November 1940.
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