The British should be flattered that so many refugees and immigrants want to settle in the UK. That is the view of one of the country’s best-loved children’s authors, seven decades after she herself found refuge from the Nazis in London.

An artist whose giant sculpture of an upside-down figure was erected in central London this week, says the work was inspired by his grandfather’s experience as a Jewish refugee to the UK.

Campaigners are urging the Nobel Prize Committee to bestow its most important award on a British hero of the Holocaust who saved hundreds of children from almost certain death.

A petition to honour Sir Nicholas Winton , now aged 103, with the Nobel Peace Prize was launched earlier this year by pupils at a school in Prague, and has already attracted more than 173,000 signatures.

DR ELA SMILJANIC-HURLEY, 32,WAS 12 WHEN SHE WAS BROUGHT OUT OF MOSTAR. SHE GAINED A PHD IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY FROM UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON AND NOW WORKS AT A MEDICAL RESEARCH CENTRE IN MILL HILL.

DRAGAN UNGAR, 65, LEFT SARAJEVO IN 1992. A BANK CLERK IN BOSNIA, HE STARTED WORK IN LONDON AS A CARETAKER AT JEWISH CARE, LATER BECOMING ADMINISTRATOR AT THE HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS CENTRE IN HENDON. HIS WIFE VERA IS ALSO A JEWISH CARE ADMINISTRATOR AND THEY HAVE TWO ADULT SONS.

Former members of the Bosnian Jewish community brought to Britain from the war-ravaged country 20 years ago marked the anniversary with an emotional reunion at Jewish Care’s Wohl campus in Golders Green.

Along with World Jewish Relief and the American Joint Distribution Committee, Jewish Care was instrumental in assisting the Bosnians to escape and helped them adjust to life in the UK.