Thoroughly Modern History with Robb Coles

Join Host, Producer, and Modern History Enthusiast Robb Coles to revisit and walk through the big news stories that were breaking in the background of millennial childhood. For Season One: we take a trip back to 1990, to the first Gulf War and Desert Storm. We follow the strange and terrifying tale of a British family and many others, who were working or vacationing in the middle east at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and how these westerners became an unlikely but official part of Saddam Hussein's military strategy.

For Season One: we take a trip back to 1990, to the first Gulf War and Desert Storm. We follow the frightening and unlikely tale of a British family and many others, who were working or vacationing in the middle east at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and how these unlikely westerners became an official part of Saddam Hussein's military strategy. Join Host, Producer, and Modern History Enthusiast Robb Coles to revisit and walk through the big news stories that were breaking in the background of millennial childhood.Sources: Diary of a Human Shield by Glenda LockwoodWith It or In It: Desert Shield and Storm from Loader's Hatch By Bacil Donovan Warren Interviews: Bacil Donovan Warren, Matthew Gailani

After spending a week confined to their house on their expat housing compound, Glenda Lockwood, her sons, and their neighbors check into the International Hotel in Kuwait City. The Iraqi security guards might be keeping danger out, but they're also keeping the expats in. We also hear the story of BA flight 149. For Season One: we take a trip back to 1990, to the first Gulf War and Desert Storm. We follow the frightening and unlikely tale of a British family and many others, who were working or vacationing in the middle east at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and how these unlikely westerners became an official part of Saddam Hussein's military strategy. Join Host, Producer, and Modern History Enthusiast Robb Coles to revisit and walk through the big news stories that were breaking in the background of millennial childhood.Sources: Diary of a Human Shield by Glenda LockwoodWith It or In It: Desert Shield and Storm from the Loader's Hatch by Bacil Donovan WarrenThe Last Flight to Kuwait: BBC Interviews: Bacil Donovan Warren, Matthew Gailani

The Lockwood family has just experienced a joyous reunion, when Glenda, Craig and Stuart are reunited with Derek Lockwood after spending 2 stressful weeks apart. But they are quickly moved out of the Mansour Melia Hotel, and taken to a new location for housing that reveals the true reason for their stay in Iraq. We also learn the ultimate plan Iraq has for the Chappell family, after they were taken off British Airways flight 149. For Season One: we take a trip back to 1990, to the first Gulf War and Desert Storm. We follow the frightening and unlikely tale of a British family and many others, who were working or vacationing in the middle east at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and how these unlikely westerners became an official part of Saddam Hussein's military strategy. Join Host, Producer, and Modern History Enthusiast Robb Coles to revisit and walk through the big news stories that were breaking in the background of millennial childhood.Sources: Diary of a Human Shield by Glenda LockwoodWith It or In It: Desert Shield and Storm from the Loader's Hatch by Bacil Donovan WarrenThe Last Flight to Kuwait: BBC Saddam’s Shields: The United States and Hostage-Taking During the First Gulf War by Matthew Gailani Interviews: Bacil Donovan Warren, Matthew Gailani

The Lockwood family has been moved out of the 5 star hotel where they were being held hostage by the Iraqi government in Baghdad. Their new location is an office building in the middle of an industrial section of Baghdad. The Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament made a public statement, defining why the hostages are being housed at certain locations around Iraq. Iraq is using them as human shields, and providing them accommodations at power plants, chemical factories, ports and government buildings to deter the US, Britain and their allies from bombing these locations if they decide to intervene militarily. And it’s not just in Iraq, the Chappell family from BA Flight 149 is being kept next to a chemical factory in newly acquired Kuwait, for the same purpose, but their conditions are much worse. For Season One: we take a trip back to 1990, to the first Gulf War and Desert Storm. We follow the frightening and unlikely tale of a British family and many others, who were working or vacationing in the middle east at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and how these unlikely westerners became an official part of Saddam Hussein's military strategy. Join Host, Producer, and Modern History Enthusiast Robb Coles to revisit and walk through the big news stories that were breaking in the background of millennial childhood.Sources: Diary of a Human Shield by Glenda LockwoodWith It or In It: Desert Shield and Storm from the Loader's Hatch by Bacil Donovan WarrenThe Last Flight to Kuwait: BBC Saddam’s Shields: The United States and Hostage-Taking During the First Gulf War by Matthew Gailani Live from Baghdad Book: Robert Wiener Live from Baghdad Film: HBOInterviews: Bacil Donovan Warren, Matthew Gailani

The Lockwood Family has been confined to a make shift hotel in the center of an industrial area in Baghdad. They are part of Saddam Hussein’s human shield program, the Iraqi policy to take foreigners in Iraq and Kuwait hostage, and house them near important buildings as a way of deterring military intervention from the US, Britain, and their allies. After a surprise visit from Saddam Hussein himself, Iraqi TV released footage of Hussein meeting 5 year old Stuart Lockwood, and it becomes a viral news story, long before that term existed. After the meeting, the Lockwood’s get some amazing news, Hussein has agreed to let hostages go, but not all of them, only the women and children. The Chappell family in Kuwait gets the same message, but somehow, the part about only women and children, get’s lost along the way, and John Chappell is told at the very last minute that he has to stay. For Season One: we take a trip back to 1990, to the first Gulf War and Desert Storm. We follow the frightening and unlikely tale of a British family and many others, who were working or vacationing in the middle east at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and how these unlikely westerners became an official part of Saddam Hussein's military strategy. Join Host, Producer, and Modern History Enthusiast Robb Coles to revisit and walk through the big news stories that were breaking in the background of millennial childhood.Sources: Diary of a Human Shield by Glenda LockwoodWith It or In It: Desert Shield and Storm from the Loader's Hatch by Bacil Donovan WarrenThe Last Flight to Kuwait: BBC Saddam’s Shields: The United States and Hostage-Taking During the First Gulf War by Matthew Gailani Live from Baghdad Book: Robert Wiener Live from Baghdad Film: HBOInterviews: Bacil Donovan Warren, Matthew Gailani

After spending close to a month being held hostage, at different locations throughout Iraq and Kuwait, three members of the Lockwood family finally set foot on British soil. Saddam Hussein agreed to release the women and children, but the father’s and all the adult men, are required to stay on as hostages. Glenda, Craig, and Stuart Lockwood are returning to their home country, but it’s a country where they haven’t lived or worked in almost 4 years. After TV footage airs of Stuart Lockwood meeting Saddam Hussein and snubbing him a bit, he becomes an International news story, and is greeted back in the UK as an unlikely hero, the press dubbed, The British Bulldog. Members of the Chappell family return to the UK, but their father is also still being held hostage, in Kuwait. For Season One: we take a trip back to 1990, to the first Gulf War and Desert Storm. We follow the frightening and unlikely tale of a British family and many others, who were working or vacationing in the middle east at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and how these unlikely westerners became an official part of Saddam Hussein's military strategy. Join Host, Producer, and Modern History Enthusiast Robb Coles to revisit and walk through the big news stories that were breaking in the background of millennial childhood.Sources: Diary of a Human Shield by Glenda LockwoodWith It or In It: Desert Shield and Storm from the Loader's Hatch by Bacil Donovan WarrenThe Last Flight to Kuwait: BBC Saddam’s Shields: The United States and Hostage-Taking During the First Gulf War by Matthew Gailani Live from Baghdad Book: Robert Wiener Live from Baghdad Film: HBOInterviews: Bacil Donovan Warren, Matthew Gailani