In our latest podcast, we travel to Dud Corner Cemetery and the Loos Memorial in Artois to discover the stories of some of the men who lie here. The podcast begins with an overview of the Battle of Loos, and we look at what went wrong with the offensive in September 1915.
Like all cemeteries, every story and every name on a memorial is a tale to be told. We encounter a formidable boxer, known as the "Widowmaker", as well as two officers whose indiscipline landed them in front of the Courts, one for assault and the other for running over a police officer while joyriding on an unlicensed motorbike. No less than five VC winners are commemorated here, and we hear the stories of the deeds behind their medals. One of the finest poets of the Great War, Charles Sorley, is commemorated on the memorial. Found in his kit bag after his death was the least known of the great poems of WW1, and we hear the poem in full and consider why it is such a powerful piece of Great War literature.
We hear the tragic story of the Mochrie family, who lost three sons in a single day and discovered how the showboating of a deaf rugby-playing Scottish officer sparked a near riot in the 1913 Scotland vs France game in Paris.
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