Felicity Goodall

“I am a freelance writer with a background in newspapers and radio and a passion for history

“My most recent book is Exodus Burma (The History Press – now out in paperback) which is the story of the British escape from Burma as the Japanese invaded in 1941-2. I appeared on  BBC Radio 4’s  Today Programme and Radio 4’s Excess Baggage talking about this forgotten episode from World War II, in which thousands died in the Burmese jungles of starvation and disease.

“My first book, A Question of Conscience, was republished in paperback as We Will Not Go to War (History Press). It is a collection of stories of Conscientious Objectors from the First and Second World Wars told in their own words. I researched and collected much of the material myself as well as drawing on the sound archives at the Imperial War Museum. As well as interviewing two Conchies from World War I, I also met and interviewed many from World War II, and used  extracts from letters and diaries.

“My second book, Voices From The Home Front, (David and Charles), was in a similar documentary style although 95% of the material was drawn from contemporary sources in archives such as the Imperial War Museum. This book has been added to and republished by Readers Digest as The People’s War.

“I also drew on the Imperial War Museum archives for source material for a play for Radio 4 about pioneering journalist and writer Mea Allan – Change of Heart, which was first broadcast in 1999 and has been repeated many times since.

“After moving to Devon in 2003, I became enthralled by the county’s history, writing Lost Devon (Birlinn) and Lost Plymouth (Birlinn), which highlight forgotten stories from the country’s past.  Both books have gone into paperback.

“I am an experienced public speaker, giving talks on Conscientious Objection to my local community college as part of the GCSE Religious Studies curriculum. I also give talks about all my books to groups such as the Devonshire Association, Women’s Institute, U3A and numerous local history groups.

“I have written for The Listener, The Guardian, International Herald Tribune and the Times and Sunday Times. I am an experienced interviewee on radio and television at local and national level and have researched, written and narrated material to promote the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. I was also a panellist at the Waterstone’s Mann Booker awards in Exeter.

“My career high has been writing, producing and appearing in several pantomimes for the Malborough Amateur Dramatic (MAD) group! My personal favourite was playing the giant’s evil henchwoman, Griselda, in Jack and the Beanstalk”

More background on Felicity Goodall :

A spell as a rebellious teenager led her to cast aside a place to read history at the University of Exeter, instead training to become a journalist on local papers in Worcestershire, before moving to London and then Oslo where she worked as a foreign correspondent and covered the oil and gas industry for an international wire service. 

There she worked for a number of leading publications including Business Week and The Sunday Times covering stories such as the shooting of Olof Palme, the scandal of heavy water sales to Israel, and the unmasking of two Cold War spies. In addition to learning Norwegian, Felicity took her first steps into broadcasting. She provided regular stories about Scandinavia for BBC Radio 2’s John Dunn show as well as features for Radio Deutsche Welle’s English service, including travelling to Lappland to discover the impact of Chernobyl fall-out on Norway’s Sami community. 

When she returned to the UK Felicity began working for BBC Radio 4, first as a researcher and presenter then as a producer on Age to Age. She specialised in historical documentaries including Lost Villages and two documentaries on conscientious objectors which led to her first book, A Question of Conscience.

She joined Radio 4’s literary unit working on programmes such as With Great Pleasure, Poetry Please!, A Good Read, Dear Diary and Fine Lines, as well as the Sony Award winning series Booked. She was also one of the writers and assistant producer on A Skirt Through History for BBC2. She helped develop the drama series Sirens of Fleet Street for Radio 4, writing one of the plays, A Change of Heart.

She has produced several series with historian Robert Lacey for Radio 4, including The Year 1000 and The Diaries of King George V. She also conceived and produced the series Gardening Gurus with Monty Don as well as working as a freelance researcher and specialist interviewer on programmes such as Radio 3’s docu-drama Soldiers in the Sun about PTSD.

In recent years she has concentrated on writing and was long-listed for the Society of Authors McKitterick Prize in 2021 for her first novel and has had several pieces of flash fiction published

Travelling round Myanmar to research Exodus Burma had a profound effect on her life: she was inspired to volunteer as an English teacher working with street kids and children whose access to education is restricted by poverty and conflict. Felicity has made three trips to work in monastery schools which offer free education to boys and girls from 4- 18.

She has also spoken at The National Army Museum on conscientious objection and is  an experienced broadcaster on television and radio at local and national level, including an appearance on The One Show.

– ‘She is unfazed, witty and on top of her material. A riveting speaker’.

Felicity is currently working on a biography of Mea Allan the first woman war correspondent to be permanently accredited to the British Forces and the first woman news editor in Fleet Street. She went on to become a pioneering writer of gardening books including the first guide to the gardens of the UK. Felicity was recently awarded a grant from the Society of Authors to follow in Mea’s footsteps in continental Europe as she reported on the closing stages of World War II. This included reporting on the Belsen War Crimes Trial in 1945.