Julie Summers

The author of ten books, Julie's first biography Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine appeared to great critical acclaim in November 2000. The Colonel of Tamarkan, Philip Toosey and the Bridge on the River Kwai (2005), in which Julie explores the true story of the man behind the legend has been described by one former prisoner of war as the best book ever written on the Thailand Burma railway. Stranger in the House (2008), When the Children Came Home (2010) and Jambusters: Stories from the Women's Institute in the Second World War (2013), all deal with women's stories and the fallout from the war. Julie has also written a history of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and a short history of rowing. Julie has made appearances on radio, film and television, including After The War Was Won Yesterday / UKTV, A Century Of Fatherhood BBC4 and she had a role in National Geographic's film about George Mallory The Wildest Dream. She contributes regularly to Woman's Hour and has appeared on Making History, Excess Baggage and the Jeremy Vine show. She is the current chairman of the Mountain Heritage Trust and appears every year at the Kendal Mountain Festival, interviewing climbers and mountaineers. Recently she has worked on The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death (release 2015) as an historical advisor for Angelfish Films and is now working on a book to appear in conjunction with an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in March 2015 entitled Fashion on the Ration about clothing in the Second World War.