FORMER MP turned TV presenter Michael Portillo visited Weymouth and Portland to learn more about the borough’s war-time past for his new TV series.

As part of the new series of Great British Railway Journeys presenter Mr Portillo and his TV crew visited landmarks connected with the borough’s involvement in D-Day.

The former MP for Enfield Southgate started the day at the Nothe Fort and met with Weymouth resident Ken Warren who shared his childhood memories of the Second World War.

The pair then walked around the town visiting the sites that Mr Warren vividly remembered from the war.

Mr Portillo said he was ‘delighted’ to be in the borough. He said: “I’m delighted to be in the fort, I’m just sorry I didn’t have enough time to look round the museum. The fort makes a wonderful location.

“On this railway journey we have come from Windsor to Weymouth and we are looking at the history of Weymouth and Portland in the Second World War. Mr Warren gave us his fantastic childhood memories.

“I think it will make a really nice piece in this railway journey.”

He added: “I used a 19th-century book called Bradshaw’s Railway Guide Book and in it he says ‘No place is more salubrious then Weymouth,’ he has lots of praise for the area and it was certainly looking its best for us.”

Park Street resident Ken Warren, 78, was seven years old when the war started and 12 when it finished. Mr Warren said he had really enjoyed the filming. He said: “It was an experience, wow, it was defiantly something. I didn’t expect all the filming, I thought it would be really quick.

“Mr Portillo was very nice, he was a very easy gentleman to talk to and made me feel at home.”

Mr Warren shared his memories of his childhood in wartime and playing on the anti-aircraft guns. He said: “Childhood today is so restrictive, I played with rifles and blank ammunition.

“I dug incendiary bombs out of Weymouth Harbour. The police used to wait on the quay side and say ‘Wait son, you can’t take those home’ and take them off us.”

He added: “My most vivid memory was when a bomb dropped in my back garden. Me and mum were under the stairs as the air-raid sirens had gone off. The bomb dropped and part of the upstairs collapsed and we were trapped under the stairs. We shouted for help and the ARP wardens heard and got us out.”

Mr Warren said that the experience was not frightening as war was all he had known and he didn’t remember much before seven years old.

He said: “I knew nothing else but bombs and shrapnel. I knew the sounds of the German planes. As children we used to pick up the shrapnel left by the anti-aircraft guns and take it to school and swap it.”

The new series of Great British Railway Journeys will be screened early next year.

The Nothe Fort at war

NOTHE Fort workers said they were delighted that the location had been used for filming.

Administration manager Steven Booth said: “We’re delighted that they chose the fort for filming because of its links with the Second World War and the role that Weymouth and Portland played in the D-Day invasion.

“This can only heighten our profile and it’s particularly welcome in light of the 2012 Olympics.”

The fort was used an anti-aircraft gun emplacement when a garrison was stationed at the vantage point.