Tragic Heroes: The Burney Brothers of Hay at War with Hugh Purcell and Margaret Percy
The Burney brothers from Hay-on-Wye fought extraordinary wars against
Nazism that have been forgotten. Christopher was a secret agent,
captured, tortured and incarcerated for 18 months alone, followed by 15
months in Buchenwald concentration camp. Afterwards he wrote Solitary Confinement, which
became a classic. What does it tell us about the human character? Roger
drowned in a mysterious submarine disaster and Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem is dedicated to him, but that is another story…