The Recluse

The Real Story: 89 year old Torquay resident Eileen Nearne dies alone, only for family to discover she was a radio operator for the Special Operations Executive who endured Nazi imprisonment and torture without ever caving in.

Movie Version: A history-straddling weepie, contrasting young Eileen's daring exploits with her elderly version's quiet, secretive life by the seaside.

Directed By: Danny Boyle

Starring: Ka🀅te Winslet and Judi Dench reprising their young/ol🐲d Iris Murdoch role.

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Movie Version: An R-rated Disney movie, in which the bear necessities turn out to be smoking, drinking beer and beating the crap out of Nazis.

Directed By: Terry Zwigoff.

Starring: A bear, possibly with Paul Giamatti as his human hand𓃲ler.

The Leg

The Real Story: King Charles 1's loyal soldier Sir Arthur Aston, captured by Cromwell's forces after the King's execution in 1649 and beaten to death with his own wooden leg.

Movie Version: A blood 'n' guts take on the English Civil War, from the viewpoint of the losing side, with a surreal, gory ending.

Directed By: Neil Marshall.

Starring: Sean Bean.

The Survivor

The Real Story: Maja Kazazic, a refugee who lost her leg after a m💟ortar bomb during the Bosnian war, before being a successf꧟ul businesswoman in America.

Movie Version: The Bosnian conflict has largely been ignored by Hollywood, so here's an inspirational, unusual take - especially as the recovering Kazazic learnt English from scratch watching Cosby Show reruns.

Directed By: Sam Mendes.

Starring: Natalie Portman

, who kept a diary of his three-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war building the Burmese railway.

Movie Version: A realistic, Corporal's-eye-view of the events depicted in The Bridge Over the River Kwai.

Directed By: Terence Malick.

Starring: Andrew Garfield as Bailey.

The Defence

The Real Story: During the Battle of Stalingrad, four Russian survivors of a raid 🐻on a strategically 🔯vital apartment building not only held off the Nazis but killed hundreds from ideal sniping positions.

Movie Version: Sergeant Yakov Pavlov turns his troops into a killing machine, in a true-life Inglourious Basterds .

Directed By: Kathryn Bigelow.

Starring: Tom Hardy as Pavlov.

The Traveller

The Real Story: English soldier Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Fremantle's trip to America during the Civil War, based on his memoir, Three Months in the Southern States .

Movie Version: An outsider's eye-witness view of the war, including the Battle of Gettysburg, with plenty of twists as he continually switches allegiance based on his experiences.

Directed By: Ron Howard

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe as Fremantle.