Iain Overton
| Iain Overton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 August 1973 |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Downing College, Cambridge, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Writer and Human Rights Activist |
| Years active | 1995–present |
Iain Overton (born 3 August 1973) is the author of Gun Baby Gun: a bloody journey into the world of the gun.
He also runs the London-based Charity Action on Armed Violence. As well as being a writer, Overton is also an investigative journalist and documentary maker who has won a number of awards, including two Amnesty Media Awards, a Peabody award and a BAFTA Scotland.
His profile on his charity website states that Overton has reported on armed violence in Ukraine, Syria/Jordan, Pakistan, Philippines, Kosovo, Nagorno Karabakh, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Iraq, Solomon Islands, Mexico, the West Bank, Somalia and Liberia.
He was described by Roy Greenslade of the Guardian as 'one of journalism's nice guys'
Educated at Downing College, Cambridge, from 1997-1998 he took an MPhil in International Relations at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.
The Crucified Soldier refers to the widespread story of an Allied soldier serving in the Canadian Corps who may have been crucified with bayonets on a barn door or a tree. During World War II the story was used by the Nazis as an example of British propaganda.
Iain Overton investigated the story of the Crucified Soldier as well as other myths of World War I in his MPhil dissertation and developed them into a television documentary, which was transmitted in 2002 as part of UK Channel 4's Secret History series. Overton uncovered new historical evidence which identified the crucified soldier as Sergeant Harry Band of the Central Ontario Regiment of the Canadian Infantry, who was reported missing in action on 24 April 1915 near Ypres. Other soldiers in his unit wrote to Band's sister Elizabeth Petrie to express their condolences; a year later, one of them finally confirmed in a letter to her that her suspicions her brother had been "the crucified soldier" were true. Band's body was never recovered, and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate memorial.
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