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Reviews (5)
06 Oct, 2006
BRITISH BATTALIONS IN FRANCE & BELGIUM 1914
As the less than snappy title suggests this is not a book for someone with a passing interest in the opening months of the First World War, this is a book for the serious obsessive ("anorak" in English, "nerd" if your are from the US).
It is one of Ray Westlake's excellent series based on a number of sources, but primarily on the war diaries and unit histories held in the National Archives at Kew, London. This book represents the distillation of over 250 volumes and will save you a lot of trips to Kew and a great deal of time.
It is a must for anyone who collects medals (the 1914 "Mons" Star in particular) or who wants to study the part played by the British Expeditionary Force during the months Aug. - Dec. 1914, that mobile fast moving but very bloody phase of the war.
It may also be of interest to someone interested in the history of a particular regiment or who wishes to trace the service of an ancestor who participated in the events outlined. With the loss of most of the individual soldiers records when the old Public Records Office was destroyed during the London Blitz the war diaries and regimental records are the main source of genealogical research. Whilst they mention few ordinary soldiers by name they at least give researchers some idea of where individuals fought and died. If your ancestor was an officer on the other hand you are likely to have more luck since many are mentioned by name.
The text gives a detailed but brief account of troop movements. As an example the 1/9th Glasgow Highlanders; November - "Entrained for Southampton(2nd).War diary records 320 men from reserve battalion (2/9th)at Glasgow were to replace those under 19 years of age or unable to volunteer for overseas service. Arrived 11am and to rest camp. Embarked on SS Novia (4th) and sailed for France."
Tedious detail to many people but this brief extract tells us that at that stage in the war the battalion were scrupulous at sticking to the rule that soldiers under 19 were not to serve overseas and that volunteers in Territorial units, such as this could elect for overseas or home service. Things were to change as casualties increased and the war dragged on.
To these dry facts are added the occasional glimpse of the conditions these men faced. When the Glasgow Highlanders first took their place in a front line trench they found it too shallow to give much protection because it had been used to bury dead French soldiers who were only covered with a few inches of soil. It's enough to make you shudder even now.
The text is punctuated by a few photographs that seem to have been added for light relief and there are about a dozen excellent maps taken from Arthur Banks "A Military Atlas of the First World War", but it is really 350 pages of solid print.
My only disappointments (and by now you will have realised that I'm a total anorak) are that the volume only covers infantry units and does not mention the cavalry, naval and marine battalions, artillery, engineer units or any of the support troops. However the work as it stands represents an immense labour and to demand more is to ask the near impossible.
If you are looking for a light read or a brief introduction to the First World War don't touch this book with a barge pole.
16 Feb, 2007
IN SEARCH OF SHAKESPEARE (DVD 2003)
There are myths that William Shakespeare never existed, that this was just a pen name for some nobleman who wrote plays and poems as a hobby. Michael Wood's excellent exploration comprehensively demolishes these as he strides across the English landscape to trace the life history of a stage struck Warwickshire lad who conquered the London stage scene.
However there is far more to this tale than Shakespeare himself, not just his life but his times, his very troubled times. England was in transition from a medieval catholic society to a renaissance protestant state, a state in which what you said or wrote could end in horrific execution - as was the fate of some of young William's close relatives.
It is the tale of a boy brought up in the old faith coming to terms with the new order. In this respect he comes to stand for all those of our ancestors who lived through that time and helps us to understand how this painful transformation came about.
As for Michael Wood he is clearly as at home in the English landscape following in the footsteps of a literary hero as he is amongst the ruins of Troy or the mountains of Iran or Afghanistan in search of historic military leaders. His enthusiasm is as ever boundless and his understated humour as winning as ever.
Then there are the exuberant "lovies" of the Royal Shakespeare Company, on tour at many of the locations where Elizabethan plays were acted out, performing not only the Bard's plays but giving us an insight into the pre- Shakespearian theatre and the works of his contemporaries and rivals.
You only have to see the faces of the modern audience to see that the magic still works and it still has the power to move.
We meeting "The Queen's Men", young Will's first performing company employed to put over the government's message and whip-up patriotic fervour ready to fight the Spanish Armada. We meet Christopher Marlow "hip,gay,iconoclastic " Shakespeare's greatest rival, who met his end knifed to death in a small room in Deptford. "In 1593 there were worse things than a bad review" as Wood reminds us.
All this is under-pinned by documentary research and Wood takes obvious delight in showing us the original records, from school registers to court and parish records, theatre takings, critics reviews, inquest findings, rolls, lists, receipts. The mundane becomes fascinating and it is as if he has found a gold nugget amongst the silt.
Then there are the locations. To anyone born in England they too are often mundane, but take on a magical quality when we are told that on this spot there once stood a house,an inn, a theatre. More amazing is what remains, not just in picturesque Stratford-on-Avon and the countryside of Arden, but even in London. A workshop or store room that was once a theatre, the Church where Shakespeare worshiped, now in the shadow of "The Gherkin" and other glass and steel edifices. There is even the room - perhaps - where Marlow died (if you will indulge the presenter's imagination a little). We must acknowledge the camera work and lighting, which lend atmosphere.
There has been so much written concerning Shakespeare over the years, so much speculation, some of it sensationalised some of it highly academic. This exploration gets back to basics and if it can interest the likes of me in Shakespeare then it can interest anyone. As a great fan of all of Michael Wood's work I think that this is the best thing he has yet done, and it surprises me to say so.
27 May, 2016
A BBC CLASSIC
1 of 1 found this helpful Long over due to be made available on DVD this was one of the classic BBC drama series of the late 1970s. Based on the personal journals and letters of the crew of HMS Beagle during its voyage under Capt Robert Fitzroy with Charles Darwin as unofficial ship's naturalist. This voyage lead to Darwin developing his theories of evolution and to the publication of "On the Origin of Species" in 1859. However the story covers much more Darwin's observations of natural history - it deals with his interactions with the wider world and the events and relationships that shaped his thinking. In particular his relationship with Fitzroy, the mercurial, generous, ultra-conservative, perfectionist naval officer who would go on to be recognized as the father of weather forecasting, but who is ultimately a tragic figure.
The performances are excellent; Malcolm Stoddard is the definitive Darwin (includes a strong physical resemblance) and Andrew Burt is brilliant as Fitzroy. David Ashton gives excellent support as the loyal and amiable Lt. Wickham and Peter Settelen as Lt Sullivan. The wonder is that their acting careers did not take them to greater heights.
The locations and the recreation of the Beagle's voyage won a BAFTA for best cinematography and it won another as best factual series, but it works just as well as a drama and is no simple documentary.
The triumphs and tragedies of both Darwin's and Fitzroy's lives unfold as these two, who met as young men grow older as one develops new ways of seeing the world whilst the other holds tight to the traditional views of his youth. Through them we see the human impact of the theory of evolution. It took its toll on both men.
These series ranks with the best the BBC has ever produced. I first saw it as a young ecology graduate and found it a revelation.