On the 14th August 1969 the British Army deployed to Northern Ireland in response to sectarian riots on the streets of Londonderry and Belfast. Op Banner, as the Army came to call it, was the longest ever continuous operational deployment of troops in the history of the British Armed Forces.
In this programme, 50 years on, you'll hear from:
- Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence.
- General Sir Mike Jackson who served as a Captain with the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday and went on to become Chief of the General Staff.
- Baron Caine, a former government advisor to the Northern Ireland Office.
- Richard White, a former Royal Marine who served in Northern Ireland.
Presented by James Hirst with Christopher Lee