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The Last Tommy (documentary)
''The Last Tommy'' is a three episode documentary series about some of Britain's last veterans of the First World War. It was produced by Quickfire Media, narrated by Bernard Hill and commissioned by the BBC. The main theme from '' Schindler's List'' was used as the series' background score. Production When filming began in 2003, only 27 British veterans of the First World War were known to be still alive, 12 of whom were featured in the series, along with German veteran Charles Kuentz. Those interviewed were: Harry Patch, Claude Choules, Bill Stone, Alfred Anderson, Sandy Young, Alfred Finnigan, Arthur Halestrap, Jim Lovell, Arthur Barraclough, Charles Watson, Percy Wilson and Jonas Hart. Fred Lloyd and John Ross were also interviewed by Quickfire Media about their wartime experiences, but were not featured in any of the series' episodes. In addition to interviews with the veterans, the series also contained footage of Arthur Halestrap's 2003 visit to the Western Front, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Documentary Film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in terms of "a filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception hat remainsa practice without clear boundaries". Early documentary films, originally called " actuality films", lasted one minute or less. Over time, documentaries have evolved to become longer in length, and to include more categories. Some examples are educational, observational and docufiction. Documentaries are very informative, and are often used within schools as a resource to teach various principles. Documentary filmmakers have a responsibility to be truthful to their vision of the world without intentionally misrepresenting a topic. Social-media platforms (such as YouTube) have provided an avenue for the growth of the documentary- film genre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Finnigan
Alfred Benjamin Finnigan (18 September 1896 – 11 May 2005) was a United Kingdom soldier who fought in World War I and gained fame because of his longevity. At the time of his death at age 108, he had been one of only 14 known British survivors of that war. Early life Finnigan's family emigrated to Australia when he was a boy, where he gained experience with horses that was to stand him in good stead when he joined the Army in 1914. He was posted to France in 1916 as the driver of a team of six horses pulling an 18-pounder gun with the 15th Brigade Royal Field Artillery. National service After witnessing the carnage of the Somme offensive of 1916, Finnigan's battery was one of those sent to assist the Italians after their reverses at Caporetto. By 1918, however, the battery had returned to Northern France to help stall the last great German offensive of the war. Finnigan also fought at the battle of Vimy Ridge, and was gassed in Passchendaele. In much later life, Alfre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, primetime drama and entertainment, and live BBC Sport events. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service and was the world's first Television in the United Kingdom, regular television service with a high level of image resolution. It was renamed BBC TV in 1960 and used this name until the launch of the second BBC channel, BBC Two, BBC2, in 1964. The main channel then became known as BBC1. The channel adopted the current spelling of BBC One in 1997. The channel's annual budget for 2012–2013 was £1.14 billion. It is funded by the television licence fee together with the BBC's List of BBC television channels and radio stations, other domestic television stations and shows uninterrupted pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, massa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, and Felixstowe which has one of the largest container ports in Europe. The county is low-lying but can be quite hilly, especially towards the west. It is also known for its extensive farming and has largely arable land with the wetlands of the Broads in the north. The Suffolk Coast & Heaths and Dedham Vale are both nationally designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. History Administration The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Suffolk, and East Anglia generally, occurred on a large scale, possibly following a period of depopulation by the previous inhabitants, the Romanised descendants of the Iceni. By the fifth century, they had established control of the region. The Anglo-Saxon inhabitant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in what is now Northern Germany. Area Definitions of what constitutes East Anglia vary. The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia, established in the 6th century, originally consisted of the modern counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and expanded west into at least part of Cambridgeshire, typically the northernmost parts known as The Fens. The modern NUTS 3 statistical unit of East Anglia comprises Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire (including the City of Peterborough unitary authority). Those three counties have formed the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia since 1976, and were the subject of a possible government devolution package in 2016. Essex has sometimes been included in definitions of East Anglia, including by the London Societ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Front (World War I)
The Western Front was one of the main theatres of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The German advance was halted with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, which changed little except during early 1917 and in 1918. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties during attacks and counter-attacks and no significant advances were made. Among the most costly of these offensives were the Battle of Verdun, in 1916, with a combined 700 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Lovell (British Army Soldier)
James Lovell MM (10 February 1899 – 27 January 2004), known as Jim Lovell, was one of the last British veterans of the First World War and the last surviving decorated "Tommy". He joined the army in September 1916, but was not sent to the Western Front until April 1918, due to his age. At the time of his enlistment, two of his brothers were already in the army, one of whom had been wounded at Mons, whilst one of his sisters was in the Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations .... Lovell served as a scout in the 8th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment, and was awarded the Military Medal for protecting a lieutenant from enemy fire by flanking him as he traveled along battlefield lines at the Somme to his base. He died just two weeks shy of his 105th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Halestrap
Arthur Halestrap MBE (8 September 1898 – 1 April 2004) was one of the last surviving British soldiers of World War I. He was born in Southampton, Hampshire. In his youth he walked the decks of the ''Titanic'' before she sailed. He tried to enlist in the British armed forces shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. His request was refused on account of his youth. However, in September 1916, he joined the Royal Engineers Signal Division and was sent to France in January 1918. After the First World War, Halestrap was employed by Marconi and worked with Cyril Evans, who had been the ''Californian's'' wireless operator on the night of the Titanic disaster. At this time he was living in Black Notley in Essex with his wife Gladys Gwendoline. In the Second World War, he was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals and, in 1942, was seconded to the Special Operations Executive. He lost his only son during the war. Flying Officer (Navigator) John Philip Hales ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Young (veteran)
William Alexander Smillie Young, also known as Sandy Young, (4 January 1900 – 24 July 2007) was, at age 107, one of the last surviving British veterans of the First World War. He later emigrated to Australia, and was the last known veteran of the Royal Flying Corps, in which he served as a radio operator. Early life Young was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, on 4 January 1900, the eldest of the six children of Robert Craig Young. His family moved to Hayes in Middlesex when he was 13, when his father became the manager of a Scots Jams factory, and he was educated at the county school in Southall. First World War Young joined the Derby Scheme, under which young men under 18 could sign up to show their readiness to join the army or the air force when they turned 18 (later replaced by conscription under the Military Service Act 1916). He was not keen to join the infantry, as the casualty rate was so high; instead, on his 18th birthday in 1918, Young signed up for the RFC at its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific Ocean, Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in Genocides in history (World War I through World War II), genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the Spanish flu, 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising French Third Republic, France, Russia, and British Empire, Britain) and the Triple A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Anderson (veteran)
Alfred Anderson (25 June 1896 – 21 November 2005) was a Scottish joiner and veteran of the First World War. He was the last known holder of the 1914 Star (the Old Contemptibles), the last known combatant to participate in the 1914 World War I Christmas truce, Scotland's last known World War I veteran, and Scotland's oldest man for more than a year. Early life Alfred Anderson was born on 25 June 1896 at 20 Kirloch Street, Dundee. He was the son of Andrew Anderson, a joiner, and Christina Thomas Emmerson. His parents married on 5 September 1888 in Chicago, Illinois, where they had two sons before returning to Scotland. The Andersons went on to have four more children, including Alfred. Andrew Anderson died on 31 July 1943, aged eighty-one, of bronchial asthmafrom which he had suffered for over twenty-five yearsand bronchopneumonia. Christina Anderson died of cardiovascular degeneration on 9 January 1953, aged eighty-four. Alfred registered both of his parents' deaths. First Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
