The Last Para

Outnumbered and outgunned. The final firsthand account of the battle at Arnhem Bridge from former paratrooper John Humphreys, with best-selling author Stuart Tootal.

About the event

John Humphreys was the last living veteran to fight at the infamous ‘bridge too far’ at Arnhem in September 1944.

At the outbreak of Second World War, John was a 17-year-old lance corporal instructing Royal Engineer recruits. Desperate to fight in France, he got himself deliberately busted in rank so he could serve on the front line, which led to 18 months fighting in the Western Desert with the Eighth Army. Wounded and captured in Tobruk by Rommel’s Afrika Korps, he then spent a year as a prison of war (POW) in Italy, before escaping and reaching Allied lines in 1943.

On repatriation to the UK, he turned down the chance of becoming an officer so he could get back into the war straight away and volunteered for airborne forces. After jumping at Arnhem, and four days of desperate fighting against superior SS forces, he was captured again. However, he once again used his cunning and courage to escape from a POW camp in Germany and make his way back to his own lines.

Before John passed away in March 2024, Stuart Tootal captured his story. In this gripping talk, Stuart will take the audience through John’s remarkable wartime experiences.

About the speaker

Stuart Tootal spent 20 years as a soldier, where he was awarded an OBE and a DSO for leading 3 Para as the first UK battle group into Afghanistan in 2006. Stuart resigned as a full colonel in 2008 over the poor treatment of his wounded. He also deployed on multiple operational tours in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, took part in the Gulf War in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Stuart then spent ten years as a global head at Barclays bank before leaving to run a change management consultancy. ‘The Last Para’ is his fifth book. His other titles include ‘Danger Close’ and ‘SAS Sea King Down’, which were both Sunday Times bestsellers, and ‘Tank Action’, which was heralded as The Spectator’s best book of the year in 2021.