When your wife leaves you... (Part 3)

Thanks for revisiting my series of blogs about what I got up to when my wife went off on a 3-week holiday without me.

Last time I recounted days two, three, and four, my two walks in the countryside, and my day as a photographer at my town's Medieval Festival. This latest instalment is about which films I watched in the evenings of days two, three, and four.

First, a bit of background. My wife and I tend to like the same sorts of TV programmes: police-based drama (Happy Valley); historical drama (Wolf Hall); the quirky (Professor T); the disturbing (A Handmaid's Tale). We have catholic tastes, but she hates watching anything about the world wars, which I do. In the run-up to her leaving me, we were almost at the end of Handmaid's Tale, we therefore agreed that I wouldn't watch it until she returned so we could watch it together. This left me with having to find new material and an opportunity to watch those things I knew she wouldn't watch. 

Have you watched 'The Imitation Game'? You should. It's about the Second World War code breakers at Bletchley, but in particular about Alan Turing, brilliantly played by Dominic Cumberbatch. If you know anything about Enigma then you know how the story ends. The plot of the film isn't so much about cracking the codes, it's about how they got there. The film actually has three intertwined storylines: Alan Turing breaking the codes: Alan Turing's backstory; and how Alan Turing was treated after the war. This film was day two's movie night in viewing. 

Carrying on the Second World War theme, the next night I watched 'Operation Mincemeat'. A strange title, but bear with me. The background to this was as follows. 

Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation during the Second World War, whose objective was to mislead Nazi Germany about the Allied invasion of Southern Europe in Spring 1943. Originally called Operation Trojan Horse (a codename so obvious if the Germans ever discovered the deception plan) British intelligence had to convince the Germans that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia, rather than the actual target of Sicily. The strategy was to use a dead body carrying fake documents to fool German intelligence. Having got their suitable corpse, an intricate plot was developed to create a convincing new identity for him, then to drop him off the Spanish coast carrying fake documents. The Axis-leaning Spanish passed the docunts on to German intelligence, who swallowed the bait. Hitler was so convinced that he ordered that troops were moved from Sicily to Greece and Sardinia. Sicily was invaded on July 9, 1943, with much less resistance, partly due to the success of the deception.

The film stars Colin Firth, and is an intriguing insight into the lengths British intelligence went to, aided by the Bletchley code breakers, to deceive the Germans. An interesting character in the film is a certain Ian Fleming. Ring any bells? 

The following afternoon, with nothing to do, I sat down and watched the truly epic blockbuster, 'Lawrence of Arabia', a film of over three hours in length; a test of endurance for any cinema goer. Released in 1962, it is an account of the Arab uprising against The Ottoman Empire during the First World War. T. E. Lawrence, a British military intelligence officer played a major role in these events. I was left with the distinct impression that the British played a big part in creating many of the problems that still exist in the Middle East today. 

That was my weekend of film viewing. I know my wife wouldn't have wanted to watch any of them, so for me it was an opportunity to kick back, relax, and watch something for me.

This blog isn't intended to be a film review, so I am sorry if you feel I have somehow sold you short.

The final installment of 'When your wife leaves you...' is about my three day trips to three places that really encapsulate the many sides of Yorkshire.

You can follow me on Threads and Instagram @smart_phone_photographer_53. I also have a Facebook page titled Words and Frames, where I chat about my writing and my photography.

© Mike Young 2025.