“End of Empire” cameraman Humphry Trevelyan gave three interviews to Coup 53 between June and October 2018 in which he talked about his memory of filming MI6 officer Norman Darbyshire at the Savoy Hotel. The reason he remembered this event was because Darbyshire’s interview “had a big impact when we did the interview”. According to Trevelyan, Darbyshire’s account of running the 1953 coup in Iran was “astonishing”. A year later in October 2019, Trevelyan attended the European premiere of Coup 53 at the BFI London Film Festival followed by a celebratory tea party at The Savoy. In August 2020 Trevelyan was sent a VIP link for the digital release of Coup 53. He congratulated the filmmakers.
However, in September 2020, almost two years after his initial interview with Coup 53, he retracted his testimony stating that after discussions with the producers of End of Empire, he was persuaded that his memory of filming Darbyshire was false. He stated in writing that he had mistaken Darbyshire for Sam Fallle who was also filmed at The Savoy for End of Empire – Iran. He went further and stated that after examining evidence shown to him by End of Empire, Sir Sam Falle was the ONLY Iran interview he had filmed at The Savoy.
However, evidence proves this is false. Humphry Trevelyan also filmed Foreign Office official Sir Evelyn Shuckburgh for the Iran episode at The Savoy on 15 February 1983 as seen in these documents and photos.
