It will now close the division with the loss of 40 jobs They showed that Britain, and especially London, would shortly come under attack from a generation of appalling new weapons, codenamed by the Germans Vergeltungswaffen, or "revenge weapons".The British reacted rapidly. They showed a launch site under construction in northern France that had, as its centrepiece, an inclined runway with guide rails that pointed directly at the British capital.For six months, the British authorities had received vague information about a secret weapon that the Nazis were developing at Peenem? in northern Germany. They had also received reports - from Michel Hollard - about mysterious sites under construction in north- western France.The bundle of sketches, brought by Hollard across the Franco-Swiss border to the British embassy in Berne, were the last piece in an alarming jigsaw. The French and British governments are under pressure to salute Hollard in some appropriate way during the centenary celebrations.And rightly so. According to the late Lt-Gen Sir Brian Horrocks - a D-Day commander and later one of the first TV historians - Michel Hollard was "literally the man who saved London".The sketches that reached MI6 in November 1943 showed a launch-pad for the world's first unmanned weapon, the V-1 flying bomb. For the 60th anniversary of his most significant exploit, and the 100th anniversary next year of the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale, his sons and a French historian are pushing for Hollard's achievements to be rediscovered and recognised.A French, British and Swiss television film is under development. A For Sale sign was put up a while ago at the house and we thought something might be wrong, but we don't know.". Almost exactly 60 years ago, in November 1943, a bundle of rough sketches reached the British intelligence service MI6 that were to rescue London from destruction and change the course of the Second World War. They had been smuggled across the Franco-Swiss border by a French businessman with no espionage training, who was the single most enterprising, successful and courageous spy of the war - Michel Hollard.Although Hollard was decorated in the late 1940s by both the British and French governments, his story has been largely forgotten in recent years - partly because he operated outside the recognised French resistance networks. It will now close the division with the loss of 40 jobs.Dr Ando said the proteomics division redundancies could be met out of cash already in the group. The Seattle closure will cost £5.5m, and will free £11.5m of annual spending.. Elliott Bernerd called for more time yesterday to organise his £860m bid for Chelsfield, the property company which he founded and currently chairs. The laboratory was acquired in 1999 through the merger with ChiroScience. Its work with Amgen, the US biotech giant, to find an osteoporosis treatment will be shifted to Slough.Celltech said yesterday that two potential bidders for the OGS proteomics business - which is employed by other drug firms to look for human proteins associated with disease - had walked away.
We believe by focusing resources on research and early development we will maximise the future returns for shareholders."The US site to be closed is in Seattle and employs 90 people. Scientists there have been looking for genes, proteins and chemicals in the body that might be linked to disease, and which could be targeted by potential new drugs. Celltech is to shed 130 jobs as it gives up on very early-stage drug research. The UK's largest biotechnology group is shutting a science laboratory in the United States, as well as the proteomics business it acquired as part of Oxford GlycoSciences and has since failed to sell.Goran Ando, the chief executive, said the closures would free resources for development work on potential new drugs. "Our early stage pipeline is looking very exciting," he said. "We will have entered four products into clinical development during 2003. |
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