JEREMY Paxman paid a visit to Hartlepool to hear about the town’s history in the First World War for a new BBC documentary.

The Newsnight and University Challenge presenter spent two days on the Headland on March 6 and 7.

He was researching and filming for ‘A History of Britain During World War One’ which will be shown on BBC 1 early next year.

His focus was the infamous bombardment of Hartlepool by the German Navy on December 16, 1914.

Mr Paxman interviewed Myra Docherty of the Headland History Group, whose ancestors were killed in the attack, on the exact spot where they were hit. Her grandmother’s leg was also blown off, but she survived.

Mark Simmons, Hartlepool Council’s museums manager, said: “It was a pleasure to work with Jeremy, the BBC and the local volunteers.

“The filming would not have gone so smoothly without all our organisations working together – something which we will continue to do as the centenary of the First World War approaches.”

A total of 119 civilians from Hartlepool were killed and more than 400 were wounded as 1,150 shells rained down in the raid.

The German ships also targeted Headland’s Heugh Gun Battery killing eight soldiers, including Theo Jones from West Hartlepool, who was the first British soldier to be killed on home soil in the Great War.

The BBC filmed in a number of locations including the Heugh Gun Battery Museum, next to the plaque commemorating Theo Jones, and in front of the famous ‘bombardment clock’ whose hands froze at three minutes past eight after being hit by shell fragments.