On this day in 1959, four young paratroopers set off on a 2,000 mile hitch-hike home from Cyprus.
They were Cpl, Ash 23, of Hallaten, Market Hanborough, Pt Phil Purkiss, 22, of South Norwood London, Cpl Brian Joyner, 20, of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire and Pt Peter Kingman, 20, of Gillingham, Kent, all regulars serving with the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment.
At dawn, they took off in a RAF Beverly for Malta.
From there, Ash and Purkiss hoped to be ferried to the mainland in a fishing boat to walk across Europe and work their way to London on a cargo boat from Le Havre.
Meanwhile, over at Nicosia airport, Chris Chataway, the BBC television commentator or and former Olympic athlete, who has been visiting Cyprus, left by Cyprus Airways Viscount.
During his trip, Chataway gathered material for a special feature on Cyprus for the BBC TV Programme “Panorama”.
This was Chataway’s second trip to the Island.