100 YEARS AGO IN LONDON’S LITTLE ITALY

100 YEARS AGO IN LONDON’S LITTLE ITALY. A GUIDED TOUR AROUND SOHO TRACING THE HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN COMMUNITY FROM THE BIRTH OF THE LONDON FASCIO IN JUNE 1921 TO THE TRAGEDY OF THE ARANDORA STAR IN JULY 1940. It was on 12 June 1921 that a group of Italian fascists set up the "Fascio Italiano di Combattimento a Londra" (The Italian fighting fascio in London) and planted the first seed of fascism in the UK. The London fascio was the first branch of Mussolini's organization abroad. It was the start of an almost two-decade long unhindered activity in the UK of the Italian Partito Nazionale Fascista that was for a time a sponsor of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists. Throughout this period Italian and British antifascists worked together to debunk fascist propaganda and warn Britons on the dangers of fascism and the impending threat of a war. On 10 June 1940 Mussolini's regime declared war against the UK. Within weeks nearly 4,500 Italian were arrested and interned as “enemy aliens”. On 2nd July 1940, the Arandora Star that was taking internees and POWs to Canada was torpedoed by a German U-boat. 476 Italian civilians lost their lives. Alfio Bernabei, author of "Esuli ed emigrati italiani nel Regno Unito" and director of the Channel 4 documentary "Dangerous Characters", guides us through some of the places which witnessed the most significant events of this period. Recorded on 28th June 2021