One of the daredevils whose exploits were the inspiration for the classic war film The Great Escape has died at the age of 81.

Flying ace Marcel Zillessen spent much of his life in Bradford, and it was his work in the city's legendary textile industry which helped him mastermind the breakout of 76 men from the Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp in 1944. Fifty of the men were later shot by the Gestapo.

Their exploits were captured in the 1963 John Sturges film starring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough and Charles Bronson.

Mr Zillessen was born in 1917 to a German father and Irish mother. He grew up in Eldwick and became sales director at the family textile business E & T Zillessen, on Sunbridge Road, Bradford.

And it was his work promoting the city's wool industry to foreign buyers in Berlin that proved vital to the escape plans.

One of his four sons, Tim, who lives in Malham Moor, explained that his father impressed his captors with his elegant command of German. "They were amazed by his elegant high society Berlinese. He was sent to Germany by my grandfather to promote the wool business and picked the language up." he said.

"I suppose you could say that The Great Escape was basically all down to the Bradford wool industry."

Mr Zillessen - played in the film by actor James Garner - agreed to write love letters on behalf of the Germans to woo their frauleins. After securing the necessary supplies of paper and ink, he deftly began producing the forged documents.

He was one of the last prisoners out of the tunnels which offered them a glimpse of freedom, and was arrested by guards.

After the war, Mr Zillessen returned to Bradford. He married his Bradford-born wife Lyn, 72, in May 1951 after the couple met at the Lido Baths in Lister Park.

In 1959 the couple moved to Darlington Co Durham before setting up a guesthouse Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire in 1970.

Tim Zillessen said: "Despite moving away, my dad retained his strong links with Bradford."

His sister-in-law lives in Haworth and his cousins still live in Shipley. A funeral service for Mr Zillessen will take place on Friday in Robin Hood's Bay.

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