Do you know who the original scarlet pimpernel was? The scarlet pimpernel featured in the famous novel set at the time of the French revolution, in the novel English aristocrat Percy Blakeney, often aided by his League of friends, secretly undertook various daring, life-threatening missions as the Scarlet Pimpernel. He rescued aristocrats from the menacing blade of the guillotine.
Whilst this is a very interesting tale, this piece is about a real-life Pimpernel, who, due to her courageous acts of bravery was given the same nickname as this French hero.
The name of our French hero was Clare Hollingworth, a rebellious defiant young woman who scored one of the greatest scoops of the 20th century. Next month on January 10th is the anniversary of her death so as an aspiring journalist myself, I decided to try and share her fascinating story with as many people as possible.
At a period of political instability between the two world wars, she showed a rebellious spark, breaking off an engagement and going to work for the League of Nations. From there, she jumped to work for a British refugee organization. they sent her to Poland after the Allies sanctioned Hitler's seizure of Czechoslovakia. Thanks to an old but still valid German visa she'd gotten for a ski vacation, she was able to enter Germany and shepherd refugees to Poland and then on to safety. Right from the very start, we can see how eager she was to do any task put in front of her if it meant getting a good story.
Throughout these acts of brilliance, she arranged the evacuation of more than 3,500 Jews and dissidents at any point she could have been caught or sent to prison, but luckily, she got away with it. This was clearly an incredibly brave act that many would not dare to try and carry out.
Unfortunately, unlike me, not everyone viewed her brilliance as bravery and she was abruptly sacked in July 1939, apparently because British intelligence felt she was granting visas to too many people who in their eyes were either politically or ethnically "undesirable."
Soon after this, she returned to the U.K. and got her first job in journalism. She was employed by The Daily Telegraph. She couldn't stay away and quickly returned to Poland – in my eyes a risky but courageous act of rebellion.
Back in the field in August of that year, she borrowed a car from an ex-boyfriend who was serving in the British Foreign Service, taking the gamble that the Union Jack on the vehicle would get her into Germany without trouble. Clare Hollingsworth said herself that taking risks was like "a game, an uncertain kind of game." She did take the gamble and it paid off – soon she was driving over the German border.
What followed next was a crucial part of her success with this story.
Whilst driving along a valley Clare observed a massive buildup of German troops, tanks and armoured cars facing Poland after Hessian screens concealing them were disturbed by the wind.
Three days later, the invasion began. Clare called both her editor and the British Embassy to alert them. At first, the Embassy didn't believe her but Clare being her quick-witted self, held the phone out of the window so they could hear the attack for themselves.
The headline which broke this story stated: "1,000 tanks massed on Polish frontier; 10 divisions reported ready for swift stroke; from our own correspondent."
There were actually only nine divisions, but not bad for her first week on the job.
It was a stunning start to an extraordinary career. Clare continued to report for seven decades. She inspired the nation and changed world history as we know it. Something I would definitely aspire to do!
