Carey Mulligan Learns About Her Grandfather’s 21st Birthday

- Jo, I've got this.

This is an invitation to my grandfather's 21st birthday party.

That's Indefatigable.

And I've learned a little bit about their time in Australia but I wondered if you knew anything else.

- Sydney was such an important port for the Pacific war.

British ships could come to refuel, refit, restock, and in Sydney itself, there was the British Center and that was a place where your grandfather and all these servicemen could go and relax.

(upbeat music) The British Center was supposed to be a home from home, but of course, a center like that couldn't really give that personal experience and 12,500 New South Wales families opened their doors to what were effectively strangers, taking them on board, looking after them.

And of course, you know broadly where your grandfather was residing and that was in Bellevue Hill in Sydney.

And I've been looking a little bit at that area and it's quite an affluent area.

- Oh, really?

- We found some images of Bellevue in this period.

Yeah, it's beautiful.

- The water, and so green and looks like a peaceful place to be.

- [Jo] Yeah.

And we found some pictures of the family he lived with.

Here's David, here's Doris.

These are their daughters.

This is Joy and this is Elaine.

- Oh goodness.

- [Jo] So this is your grandfather's adopted family.

- [Carey] That's amazing.

- [Jo] And Joy's still alive.

- [Carey] Oh, wow.

- And we've managed to get in touch with her and she's written you a letter.

- Oh no!

- I wonder whether you'd like to read it.

- Yeah.

Gosh, okay.

Get it together, okay.

Dear Carey, Doris and David Williams were my parents.

I remember Denzil staying with us.

I very much appreciated that he treated me as an adult, rather than a child and we all enjoyed having him around.

Occasionally went to the cinema.

A few times he took me with him.

If I remember rightly Denzil was Welsh, as was my grandfather.

When my father was in France during World War One, he was befriended by an English family and spent all his leaves with them.

My father wanted to enable a British soldier to have the same experience during World War Two.

And have somewhere he could call home.

Yours sincerely, Joy Harris Williams.

Oh my goodness, that's amazing.

That's lovely.

He took her to the cinema with him.

It's just so sweet.

Wow.

(melancholy music)