Sir Nicholas Winton was a war hero who saved 669 children from the Nazis. And now, the man dubbed the ‘British Schindler’ will be played by the two-time Oscar winner and Welsh acting legend Anthony Hopkins.
Based on the book 'If it’s not impossible… The life of Sir Nicholas Winton' by Barbara Winton, James Hawes’ film One Life, which will receive its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as a special presentation in September.
The film tells the true story of Sir Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton, a young London banker who, on the eve of World War II, saved 669 children from the Nazis – more than the number of children who survived the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia.
After the war, Nicholas Winton's rescue efforts remained virtually unknown. He was haunted by the thought of all those he was not able to help and, as a result, never talked about his efforts. It was not until 1988, when his wife Grete found a scrapbook in their attic with all the children's names, that Winton's rescue efforts became known.
The general public found out that year when Winton’s story featured on the live BBC television show, That’s Life!. During the show, presenter Esther Rantzen asked the studio audience if "anyone here tonight owes their life to Nicholas Winton?"
He was surprised when surviving children – now adults – were seated all around him and began to stand up.
The emotional clip of this moment has been immortalised on YouTube.
Who was Sir Nicholas Winton, the subject of 'One Life' starring Anthony Hopkins?
Almost a Quarter of the World Feels Lonely
Nearly one in four people worldwide — which translates into more than a billion people — feel very or fairly lonely, according to a recent Meta-Gallup survey of more than 140 countries. Notably, these numbers could be even higher.
The survey represents approximately 77% of the world’s adults because it was not asked in the second-most populous country in the world, China. With the World Health Organization and many others — including the U.S. surgeon general — calling attention to the dangers of loneliness, these data, collected in partnership between Gallup and Meta, provide a much-needed global perspective of social wellbeing.
The Global State of Social Connections report, which launches Nov. 1, 2023, will detail these and other country-level findings based on the first global study of loneliness, which entails nationally representative surveys conducted in 142 countries and areas worldwide.”