Editing Ronald Howard (British actor) (section)

==''In Search of My Father''==
In the 1980s he wrote ''In Search of My Father: A Portrait of Leslie Howard'', a biography covering the career and mysterious death of his father, whose [[BOAC Flight 777|plane was shot down over the Bay of Biscay]] on 1 June 1943. His conclusion (which remains in dispute) was that the Germans' goal in shooting down the plane was to kill his father, who was Jewish and who had been travelling through Spain and Portugal, ostensibly lecturing on film, but also meeting with local activists and shoring up support for the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] cause.<ref name="ron">Howard, Ronald. In Search of My Father: A Portrait of Leslie Howard. London: St. Martin's Press, 1984; {{ISBN|0-312-41161-8}}.</ref>

The Nazis suspected surreptitious activities since German agents were active throughout Spain and Portugal, which, like Switzerland, was a crossroads for persons from both sides of the conflict, but even more accessible to Allied citizens.<ref>[http://lesliehowardsociety.multiply.com "Leslie Howard."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024013919/http://lesliehowardsociety.multiply.com/ |date=24 October 2010 }} ''lesliehowardsociety.multiply.com''; Retrieved 22 July 2010.</ref>

The book explores in detail written German orders to the Ju 88 ''Staffel'' based in France which was assigned to intercept the aircraft, as well as communiqués on the British side that verify intelligence reports of the time indicating a deliberate attack on Howard.<ref name="ron"/> Ronald Howard was convinced that the order to shoot down the airliner came directly from [[Joseph Goebbels]], the [[Nazi]] [[Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Minister of Propaganda]], who had been ridiculed in one of Leslie Howard's films, and who believed him to be the most dangerous British propagandist.<ref name="ron"/>