In May 1943 , the actor Leslie Howard came to Madrid to present a lecture on '' Hamlet '' in which he showed similarities between the play and the actions of Hitler . On his return trip to London from Lisbon the plane on which he was travelling , BOAC Flight 777 , was shot down over the Bay of Biscay . Among the 4 crew and 13 passengers who perished was the prominent Jewish activist Wilfrid Israel , Francis German Cowlrick and Gordon Thomas MacLean who had lunched together at the Madrid British Institute
BOAC Flight 777
BOAC Flight 777
Walter Starkie