Mark Felton (born 1974) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and author of more than twenty books. His most recently published work is 2019's ''Operation Swallow: American Soldiers' Remarkable Escape From Berga Concentration Camp'', which details the illegal mistreatment of

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

under Nazi captivity and their struggles. He has additionally created a variety of informational online videos available on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

covering different historical subjects of the 20th century (including material outside of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

and second world conflict context, such as releases about the Cold War).

Early life and education

Felton was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colc ...

, Essex, and received his education at the Philip Morant School. Felton sat for a BA in history with English at

Anglia Polytechnic University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...

, holds a postgraduate certificate in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

, an MA in Native American studies, and a PhD in history, all from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

Career

Felton lectured in Shanghai, China, between 2005 and 2014, latterly at

Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is ...

. He also worked as a volunteer for the

Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in n ...

, organising the annual

Poppy Appeal A remembrance poppy is an artificial flower worn in some countries to commemorate their military personnel who died in war. Remembrance poppies are produced by veterans' associations, who exchange the poppies for charitable donations used to gi ...

in Eastern China, 2010–2014. Following a request from Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

, he assisted the British Consulate Shanghai in the rediscovery of the graves of four British soldiers killed by the Japanese in 1937, and was awarded a Royal British Legion Certificate of Appreciation. Felton has appeared on television as a military history expert, including in the series ''Combat Trains'' (

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Dis ...

), ''Top Tens of Warfare'' (Quest TV), and ''Evolution of Evil'' (

American Heroes Channel American Heroes Channel (formerly Military Channel and originally Discovery Wings Channel) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The network carries prog ...

). His book ''

Zero Night ''Zero Night: The Untold Story of the Second World War's Most Daring Great Escape'' is a 2014 book by Mark Felton. It is about the 1942 mass allied escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp Oflag VI-B. Reception ''Zero Night'' has generally ...

'', about an escape from a German prison camp, received much critical attention, and was the subject of the BBC Radio documentary ''Three Minutes of Mayhem''. ''Zero Night'' has been highlighted to Essential Media for feature film development. In 2016, Felton's book ''Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini's Colditz'', which concerns the escape of British generals from

Vincigliata Castle Vincigliata Castle (Italian: ''Castello di Vincigliata'') is a medieval castle which stands on a rocky hill to the east of Fiesole in the Italian region of Tuscany. In the mid-nineteenth century the building, which had fallen into a ruinous state ...

near Florence in 1943, was identified for feature film development by

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television s ...

. Also in 2017, he was made a Companion of the Naval Order of the United States. In October 2017, Felton started his first

channel, titled ''Mark Felton Productions'', which explores a variety of historical subjects in terms of the 20th century (including material outside of the

and second world conflict context, such as releases about the Cold War). For example, a July 2022 production discussed the use of 'Iron Cross' type decorations by Colombia during the nation's involvement within the United Nations' allied effort fighting during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

. As well, a March 2022 production detailed the Hungarian Uprising and the results of

anticommunist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

militant forces failing to overcome the occupying Soviet administration of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

in late 1956. As of February 2023, this channel has picked up 1.82 million subscribers. On 26 November 2019, Felton created a second channel, titled ''War Stories with Mark Felton'', on which he posts recordings of himself reading various books that he has written (usually in parts). As of February 2023, his second channel has accumulated over 300,000 subscribers. In 2022, Felton announced that he had been elected a Fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

. Felton's most recently published work is 2019's ''Operation Swallow: American Soldiers' Remarkable Escape From Berga Concentration Camp'', which details the illegal mistreatment of

under Nazi captivity and their struggles. The company Center Street (of the

Hachette Book Group Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère G ...

) published the book.

Personal life

Felton lives in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

with his wife and son.

Bibliography

* ''Yanagi: The Secret Underwater Trade between Germany and Japan 1942–1945'' (

Pen & Sword Pen and Sword Books, also stylised as Pen & Sword, is a British publisher which specialises in printing and distributing books in both hardback and softback on military history, militaria and other niche subjects; factual non-fiction, primarily ...

: 2005) * ''The Fujita Plan: Japanese Attacks on the United States and Australia during the Second World War'' (Pen & Sword: 2006) * ''The Coolie Generals: Britain's Far Eastern Military Leaders in Japanese Captivity'' (Pen & Sword: 2008) * ''Japan's Gestapo: Murder, Mayhem & Torture in Wartime Asia'' (Pen & Sword, 2009) * ''Today is a Good Day to Fight: The Indian Wars and the Conquest of the West'' (The History Press, 2009) * ''The Real Tenko: Extraordinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the Japanese'' (Pen & Sword: 2009) * ''The Final Betrayal: Mountbatten, MacArthur and the Tragedy of Japanese POWs'' (Pen & Sword: 2010) * ''21st Century Courage: Stirring Stories of Modern British Heroes'' (Pen & Sword, 2010) * ''Children of the Camps: Japan's Last Forgotten Victims'' (Pen & Sword: 2011) * ''The Last Nazis: The Hunt for Hitler's Henchmen'' (Pen & Sword: 2011) * ''The Devil's Doctors: Japanese Human Experiments on Allied Prisoners-of-War'' (Pen & Sword: 2012) * ''Never Surrender: Dramatic Escapes from Japanese Prison Camps'' (Pen & Sword: 2013) * ''China Station: The British Military in the Middle Kingdom 1839–1997'' (Pen & Sword: 2013) * ''Guarding Hitler: The Secret World of the Fuhrer'' (Pen & Sword: 2014) * '' Zero Night: The Untold Story of World War Two's Most Daring Great Escape'' (Icon Books: 2014) * ''The Sea Devils: Operation Struggle and the Last Great Raid of World War Two'' (Icon Books: 2015) * ''Holocaust Heroes: Resistance to Hitler's Final Solution'' (Pen & Sword: 2016) * ''Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini's Colditz'' (Icon Books: 2017) * ''Ghost Riders: When US and German Soldiers Fought Together to Save the World's Most Famous Horses in the Last Desperate Days of World War II'', (Da Capo: 2018) * ''Operation Swallow: American Soldiers Remarkable Escape from Berga Concentration Camp'' (Center Street: 2019) * Chapter 8: ''The Perfect Storm: Japanese Military Brutality in World War II'', Routledge History of Genocide, Ed. C. Carmichael & R. Maguire, (Routledge, 2015)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Felton, Mark 1974 births 21st-century English historians Alumni of the University of Essex English military historians English YouTubers Academic staff of Fudan University Historians of World War II Living people People from Colchester