New film looks at life of canny Lothian meteorologist who changed the date of D-Day
The story of Captain James Stagg, who delayed the launch of the D-Day landings by 24 hours, is told in new film Pressure
He was the extraordinarily gifted yet unassuming meteorologist who held his ground in the face of one of the greatest decisions of World WarTwo.
Now, the story of Captain James Stagg, who was raised in Dalkeith, is being told in new film Pressure, which charts the Scot’s role in helping secure the path to allied victory after quietly convincing Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower to postone launching the D-Day landings for 24 hours
It was Stagg’s last-minute intervention - and his observation of a break in the incoming low pressure system - that was to change the course of history on June 6, 1944.
Stagg, who was highly decorated for his role in executing the largest seaborne invasion the world has ever seen, is played by Andrew Scott, who described the meteorologist as a “singular character”.
Scott said: “He is quite differenrt to any I’ve played before. He’s not particularly charming or likeable – but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t extraordinarily gifted. Our attitude towards him changes as the movie progresses, and we start to show interest in what he knows, rather than what he shows.
“He’s a great intellect, and deeply passionate and deeply humane, actually – but that’s not something that he shows people right from the beginning.
“I suppose it’s a film about what we reveal, and who we are at heart.”
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Pressure is based on the acclaimed 2014 play by David Haig, who met with Stagg’s surviving family to guide the character of the meteorologist.
Stagg’s son Peter, a former rugby player who played for Scotland and the British Lions between 1965 and 1970, was among those consulted.
Haig said: “I’ve been fascinated by James Stagg, his family and his achievements for the last 12 years. I was so convinced that it would also be a good film that I wrote the first draft of the screenplay in parallel with the stage play.”
Stagg was born at 122 New Street, Musselburgh, in 1900, with his mother and father, a plumber, moving shortly thereafter to Dalkeith. On his childhood home , a plaque can now be found after a successful local campaign to honour the roots and achievements of the meteorologist, with Peter Stagg attending the unveiling in 2019.
Stagg attended Dalkeith High School before going to Edinburgh University and then taking a job as a science teacher at George Heriot’s. Later, he became an assistant in the British Meteorological Office and went on to lead the British Polar Expedition of Arctic Canada in 1933.
Appointed as the chief meteorological officer or Operation Overlord in 1943, he was awarded an emergency commission with the RAF to give him the necessary authority during the planning of the military operation.
Stagg’s decision to stall D-Day was arguably one of the most pivotal of the war. Had the invasion taken place as originally planned by Eisenhower on June 5, the strong winds on the Normandy beaches and full and low cloud cover would have threatened complete disaster. Had the allies waited for two weeks until the low pressure system passed and the necessary high tides returned, there was every chance the Axis countries would have got wise to the plans.
When Dwight D Eisenhower was asked by John F Kennedy in 1961 what had given him the advantage over the Nazis on D-Day, he simply recalled: "We had better meteorologists than the Germans."
-Pressure is in cinemas on September 9