Mark Felton

Mark Felton FRHistS FRSA (born 1974) is a British author, historian, and filmmaker. Felton has written over a dozen nonfiction books. He also runs several channels on YouTube covering different historical subjects of the 20th and 21st century, mainly covering topics related to World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. He is an alumnus of the University of Essex and has also served as a lecturer at that institution.

Mark Felton

FRHistS FRSA
Born1974 (age 48–49)
Colchester, Essex, England
EducationUniversity of Essex (PhD, MA, PGCert)
Anglia Polytechnic University (BA)
Occupation(s)Author, historian and YouTuber
Years active2005–present
OrganizationRoyal British Legion (2010–2014)
Notable workZero Night
Television
  • Combat Trains
  • Top Tens of Warfare
  • Evolution of Evil
Awards
YouTube information
Channels
Years active2017–present
GenreHistory
Subscribers2 million[2]
Total views764 million[2]
Last updated: 20 Oct 2023
Websitemarkfelton.co.uk

In 2019, he published Operation Swallow: American Soldiers' Remarkable Escape From Berga Concentration Camp, which details the illegal mistreatment of U.S. prisoners of war under Nazi captivity and their struggles.

Early life and education

Felton was born in 1974 in Colchester, Essex.[3] He received his education at Hamilton Primary School and the secondary Philip Morant School.[4] Felton sat for a BA in history and English at Anglia Polytechnic University; he also holds a postgraduate certificate in political science, an MA in Native American studies, and a PhD in history, all from the University of Essex.[5]

Career

Felton lectured in Shanghai, China, between 2005 and 2014 at several universities, including Fudan University. He also worked as a volunteer for the Royal British Legion, organising the annual Poppy Appeal in Eastern China, 2010–2014.[6] Following a request from Prime Minister David Cameron, he assisted the British Consulate Shanghai in the rediscovery of the graves of four British soldiers killed by the Japanese in 1937,[7][8][9] and was awarded a Royal British Legion Certificate of Appreciation.[10][11]

Felton has appeared on television as a military history expert, including in the series Combat Trains (The History Channel), Top Tens of Warfare (Quest TV), and Evolution of Evil (American Heroes Channel).[12][13] His book Zero Night, about an escape from a German prison camp, received much critical attention,[14][15][16] and was the subject of the BBC Radio documentary Three Minutes of Mayhem.[17] Zero Night has been highlighted to Essential Media for feature film development.[18][4]

In 2016, Felton's book Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini's Colditz, which concerns the escape of British generals from Vincigliata Castle near Florence in 1943, was identified for feature film development by Entertainment One.[19] Also in 2017, he was made a Companion of the Naval Order of the United States.[20][21]

In October 2017, Felton started his first YouTube channel, titled Mark Felton Productions, which explores a variety of historical subjects in terms of the 20th century (including material outside of the First World War and Second World War context, such as releases about the Cold War).[22] For example, he has covered the German Wehrmacht's use of captured U.S. M4 Sherman tanks during the Second World War.[23] In April 2022, Felton published a video identifying an abandoned tank found in an English field as a rare Canadian Ram tank, designed and built during WWII.[24]

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).[25]

In 2022, Felton announced that he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.[26][27][28]

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 U.S. prisoners of war under Nazi captivity and their struggles. The company Center Street of the Hachette Book Group published the book.

In a 2022 YouTube video, Felton claimed that the German Tank Museum "sold a Tiger I to a private collector and replaced it with a 1:1 plastic model". The German Tank Museum responded in an open letter, denying Felton's claims and criticising Felton for "sensationalism". According to the Museum, "the Tiger was a loan and...the owner took the Tiger back after the agreed time was over."[29] The museum then replaced the Tiger with the aforementioned 1:1 plastic model. The video in question has since been removed.[30]

Personal life

Felton lives in Norwich with his wife and son.[31]

Bibliography
  • Yanagi: The Secret Underwater Trade between Germany and Japan 1942–1945 (Pen & Sword: 2005)[32]
  • The Fujita Plan: Japanese Attacks on the United States and Australia during the Second World War (Pen & Sword: 2006)[33]
  • 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)[34][35][36]
  • Today is a Good Day to Fight: The Indian Wars and the Conquest of the West (The History Press, 2009)[37]
  • The Real Tenko: Extraordinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the Japanese (Pen & Sword: 2009)[38]
  • The Final Betrayal: Mountbatten, MacArthur and the Tragedy of Japanese POWs (Pen & Sword: 2010)[39]
  • 21st Century Courage: Stirring Stories of Modern British Heroes (Pen & Sword, 2010)[40]
  • Children of the Camps: Japan's Last Forgotten Victims (Pen & Sword: 2011)[41]
  • The Last Nazis: The Hunt for Hitler's Henchmen (Pen & Sword: 2011)[42]
  • The Devil's Doctors: Japanese Human Experiments on Allied Prisoners-of-War (Pen & Sword: 2012)[43]
  • Never Surrender: Dramatic Escapes from Japanese Prison Camps (Pen & Sword: 2013)[44]
  • China Station: The British Military in the Middle Kingdom 1839–1997 (Pen & Sword: 2013)[45]
  • Guarding Hitler: The Secret World of the Fuhrer (Pen & Sword: 2014)[46]
  • Zero Night: The Untold Story of World War Two's Most Daring Great Escape (Icon Books: 2014)[47][48]
  • The Sea Devils: Operation Struggle and the Last Great Raid of World War Two (Icon Books: 2015)[49][50][51]
  • Holocaust Heroes: Resistance to Hitler's Final Solution (Pen & Sword: 2016)[52]
  • Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini's Colditz (Icon Books: 2017)[53]
  • 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)[54]
  • Operation Swallow: American Soldiers Remarkable Escape from Berga Concentration Camp (Center Street: 2019)[55]
  • Chapter 8: The Perfect Storm: Japanese Military Brutality in World War II, Routledge History of Genocide, Ed. C. Carmichael & R. Maguire, (Routledge, 2015)[56]

References
  1. "Historical Journal" (PDF). Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. 78 (2): 2. 2021.
  2. "About Mark Felton Productions". YouTube.
  3. "About Mark". 3 September 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2023. Born in Colchester in 1974, Mark gained his PhD at the University of Essex where he lectured in history before spending nearly a decade teaching in Shanghai, latterly at one of China's most prestigious colleges, Fudan University. He also organised the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal for Eastern China, and was an education instructor for the Peoples' Liberation Army.
  4. "Silver screen comes calling for Colchester author". Gazette. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  5. "Dr Mark Felton: Biography". Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  6. "Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal Shanghai 2013 launches". That's Online. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  7. "Lost graves of four Ulster heroes who fell in China found". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  8. "HMS Daring – British Graves found in Shanghai". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  9. "British soldiers' graves honoured in Shanghai cemetery". BBC News. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  10. "Mark Felton – Writer". LinkedIn. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  11. "Mark Felton". Andrew Lownie Literary Agency. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  12. "Combat Trains". RadioTimes. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  13. "Tojo Fuels the Fire of Hatred and Savagery". American Heroes Channel. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  14. Schneider, Edward (28 August 2015). "An Over-the-Top Escape Plan". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  15. "El piloto británico sin piernas que causaba pavor a los cazas nazis". ABC (in Spanish). 7 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  16. Bandyopadhyay, Somshankar (23 September 2015). "Zero Night review: Flight to freedom". Gulf News. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  17. "BBC Radio Cambridgeshire – BBC Radio Cambridgeshire Special, Three Minutes Of Mayhem". BBC. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  18. "Hollywood To Tell Tale of Annbspeven Greater Escape by Allied POW's". The Australian. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  19. Author is 'bowled over' by a second Hollywood deal, East Anglian Daily Times, 28 October 2016
  20. "Naval Order of the United States = 2017 Spring Edition" (PDF).
  21. "Spring 2017". Naval Order.
  22. "Mark Felton Productions". YouTube.com. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  23. "How Nazi Germany Used Stolen American Tanks In World War II". Jalopnik. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  24. Tattrie, Jon (4 April 2022). "Hikers find rare WW II Canadian tank 'rusting peacefully' in English field". CBC News. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  25. "War Stories with Mark Felton – YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  26. "Mark Felton Productions - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  27. "Mark Felton Productions". www.youtube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  28. "Society elects 333 new Fellows, Associate Fellows, Members and Postgraduate Members". Royal Historical Society. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  29. "Regarding Mark Feltons "King Tiger Still In Lake?" video – Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster" (in German). Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  30. "Regarding Mark Feltons "King Tiger Still In Lake?" video – Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster" (in German). Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  31. City author's history books transfer to the big screen, Norwich Evening News, 4 November 2016
  32. "Nazi U-Boat Imperils Norwegians Decades After the War". The New York Times. 11 January 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  33. Felton, Mark (August 2007). Pen and Sword Books: The Fujita Plan – Hardback. Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 9781844154807. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  34. "Stephen Mansfield: Best books of 2009". The Japan Times. 20 December 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  35. Nigel Blundell (2 August 2009). "Demons of depravity: the Japanese Gestapo". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  36. "War Zone – City of Terror: the Japanese takeover of Shanghai". Military History Monthly. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  37. "The History Press – Today is a Good Day to Fight". thehistorypress.co.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  38. "The Real Tenko, Mark Felton". historyofwar.org. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  39. "Vol. 75 No. 3 – The Society for Military History". smh-hq.org. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  40. Felton, Mark (29 November 2010). Pen and Sword Books: 21st Century Courage – Hardback. Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 9781848840737. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  41. "Cofepow – Books". cofepow.org.uk. Archived from the original on 9 June 2002. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  42. The Last Nazis: The Hunt for Hitler's Henchmen: Amazon.co.uk: Mark Felton: 9781848842861: Books. ASIN 1848842864.
  43. Schmidt, Ulf (9 July 2015). Secret Science. OUP Oxford. ISBN 9780191062971. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  44. Felton, Mark (5 June 2013). Pen and Sword Books: Never Surrender – Hardback. Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 9781781590225. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  45. "Pen and Sword Books: China Station – Hardback". Pen and Sword Books. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  46. "Guarding Hitler – Review by Phil Hodges". War History Online. October 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  47. Richard Smith (31 October 2014). "The crate escape: British prisoners of war climbed out of Nazi camp on ladders disguised as bookshelves". mirror. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  48. "Kiwis' over-the-top World War II great escape immortalised". The New Zealand Herald. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  49. "Short reviews of non-fiction from Australia and overseas". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  50. "Maritime Books". submarinersassociation.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  51. Will Lodge (29 August 2015). "Colchester author noticed by Hollywood releases new book". East Anglian Daily Times. Archived from the original on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  52. Felton, Mark (2016). Holocaust Heroes (Hardback). Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 9781783400577. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  53. "Icon Books » Castle of the Eagles". iconbooks.com. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  54. Norwich writer nabs second Hollywood adaptation deal, Norwich Evening News, 3 November 2016
  55. Felton, Mark (5 March 2019). Operation Swallow. Center Street. ISBN 9781546076438 – via www.centerstreet.com.
  56. Carmichael, Cathie (2015). The Routledge History of Genocide. doi:10.4324/9781315719054. ISBN 9781315719054.
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