Episode notes
Ex-Northampton Town player Clarke Carlisle tells the story of Walter Tull, the first Afro-Caribbean outfield player in the top division of English football, and the first to be commissioned as an infantry officer in the British Army. Clarke retraces the steps that took Tull from the playing field of Northampton Town to the place where he lost life fighting for his country.
Podcast
World War One
The events of the first truly global war and its devastating and far reaching impact.
More from World War One All episodes →
-
17 Sep 2014 · 13 min
WW1 At Home 14 - A Captain's Execution & U-boat Defences
The story of Captain Fryatt - a civilian naval officer executed by the Germans, and the Royal Navy tactic of deploying 'Q ships'. These resembled British merchant ships, to lure the enemy to the surface, but were actually heavily armed with concealed weapons.
-
8 Sep 2014 · 50 min
The War That Changed The World: Istanbul - Modernity and Secularism
Turkey emerged from the First World War as a new republic, with a secular and modern identity, attempting to break from its Ottoman past. How has this influenced Turkey today? With historians Aksin Somel and Ahmet Kuyas, and novelist Elif Shafak.
-
21 Aug 2014 · 29 min
Episode 2 - Forgotten Heroes, The Indian Army in the Great War
In the second part of his documentary looking at the Asian contribution to WW1, Sarfraz Manzoor charts the experiences of soldiers and labourers in Mesopotamia and Gallipoli. The story for India changes as the war wears on. Recruitment becomes more draconian, British officers are killed, leaving a void which is not easy to fill, and the pressure on India for food supplies and the resources of war increases. As Turkey enters the war, German and Turkish propaganda plays on the Muslim soldiers' faith and the British Authorities take very seriously the threat of mutiny.
-
20 Aug 2014 · 29 min
Episode 1 - Forgotten Heroes, The Indian Army in the Great War
Sarfraz Manzoor tells the story of the 1.27m men from the Indian Army who fought valiantly in the Great War, through a series of the soldiers' letters written home from Western Front. This first episode of a three part series focuses on the make-up of the army in 1914, including the colonial policy to recruit from what were considered the martial races - communities with a warrior tradition.
-
13 Aug 2014 · 48 min
Heroes at War: Frederick Kelly
Two time Olympic gold medalist Steve Williams tells the story of Frederick "Clegg" Kelly, Olympic rowing champion and one of Britain's leading composers, who lost his life on the battlefield in WW1.
-
5 Aug 2014 · 1 hr
Veterans: From WW1 to Afghanistan
Radio 1's Greg James hears from British troops who served in Afghanistan as they contrast their experiences with those who fought in World War One. Mixing new interviews from Afghanistan veterans with archive of those who endured the trenches, this story brings out the universality of experience of going to war: the joining up, the camaraderie, the killing, the trauma and the loss, as well as asking if all wars change those who fight in them in similar ways.
-
4 Aug 2014 · 19 min
Women's lives on the Home Front
Woman's Hour goes behind the scenes at new Radio 4 drama Home Front, as it begins its four-year run. Actor Harriet Walter talks about her cameo role as Emmeline Pankhurst, and we hear from the writers about the opportunity to dramatise the domestic lives of people whose stories aren’t told in military history books. Plus Emma Barnett is joined by Home Front editor Jessica Dromgoole and academic Dr Angela K Smith to discuss the war's impact on the lives of women far away from the trenches.
-
3 Aug 2014 · 13 min
WW1 At Home 13 - Sikh Soldiers & Pilot Heroes
The valiant Sikh contribution, the drama of those first training flights above the meadows of Oxfordshire, and a bittersweet story of two families brought together by love and loss.
-
28 Jul 2014 · 57 min
How Britain Went to War
Leading Whitehall historian Peter Hennessy examines Britain's secret war planning and preparations before 1914. Drawing on official papers, sound archive, and interviews with historians, Hennessy discusses what was in the minds of Asquith, ministers, officials and top soldiers and sailors, as they prepared for a possible conflict and as they finally took Britain into war in August 1914. He explores tensions between senior military and naval officers, between the Admiralty and the War Office, and within the Cabinet, and shows how debates and divisions shaped the war plans and influenced their…
-
19 Jul 2014 · 50 min
The War that Changed the World: Part Two
The tank, gas, flame throwers, Zeppelins - the weapons of World War One were like nothing that had been experienced before. At a special event with the British Council, Amanda Vickery and her guests explore the waging of war, its methods and morality, at the German Military Museum in Dresden.
Take it with you
The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.
