Jersey siblings see great-uncle's story brought to life on-screen

A pair of siblings in Jersey say it has been fascinating to see how the life of their great-uncle has been immortalised on the silver screen.

Eleanor and Gareth Colley are related to investigative journalist Gareth Jones who broke the story of famines in the Soviet Union in the 1930s.

That story is now being told in new film Mr Jones, which features English actor James Norton in the title role.

A multilingual Cambridge University graduate, Jones is believed to have been the first foreign journalist to fly with Hitler and Goebbels during the 1930s.

He originally went to Russia to try to gather an interview with the then-Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. When it did not materialise, he went to the Ukraine where he witnessed the horrors of the Holodomor - a man-made famine which killed millions of people.

He was killed in Manchuria, modern-day China, in 1935. At the time, it was under Japanese rule.

Eleanor and Gareth saw the film when it opened in Berlin in 2019, but will also attend the UK premiere on Friday 7 February 2020.

Eleanor studied the same subject at Cambridge University as her great-uncle. She says it is an important story for the modern day.

Gareth's great-nephew shares his name with his great-uncle. He says the film is a fitting tribute to his life.