roughdiamond Posted 2 July , 2013 Share Posted 2 July , 2013 Will this be something else to be roundly criticised on here for its historical inaccuracies http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23128507 Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 2 July , 2013 Share Posted 2 July , 2013 Possibly not for the signs are promising with Ian Hislop being involved. In my opinion his series “Not Forgotten” was one of the best of its genre in recent times. My only concern is that this particular subject may be better covered in pure documentary form but we shall see in time. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Pigott Posted 2 July , 2013 Share Posted 2 July , 2013 Interesting little bit on making it here: Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 2 July , 2013 Share Posted 2 July , 2013 Thanks for that, very interesting, I wonder do any artifacts connected with the printing of the Wipers Time survive?. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanA Posted 2 July , 2013 Share Posted 2 July , 2013 Will this be something else to be roundly criticised on here for its historical inaccuracies http://www.bbc.co.uk...t-arts-23128507 Sam Perhaps I could start the ball rolling? "The paper's subversive humour proves popular with soldiers on the front line but goes down less well with their superior officers." Really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 2 July , 2013 Share Posted 2 July , 2013 Must say I have often wondered about that. "Wipers Times" is funny but it seems to me to have been a rather public school / grammar school / cliquey type of humour. Is there any evidence that the ordinary Tommy actually got to see it? What did he think of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 2 July , 2013 Share Posted 2 July , 2013 Always strikes me as a GW version of Private Eye so Hislop is ideal to be involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charpoi Warrior Posted 2 July , 2013 Share Posted 2 July , 2013 Must say I have often wondered about that. "Wipers Times" is funny but it seems to me to have been a rather public school / grammar school / cliquey type of humour. Is there any evidence that the ordinary Tommy actually got to see it? What did he think of it? That is my reading of it as well. Ian Hislop bodes well but I'm not sure who Michael Palin is playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roughdiamond Posted 3 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 3 July , 2013 I'm not sure who Michael Palin is playing. Nothing on IMDB, but they do quote Paul Kennedy as playing "Winston Churchill", stretch of the imagination??????? Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 3 July , 2013 Share Posted 3 July , 2013 Do we know when it's o be aired (I didn't see refernce to it in the article). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4jonboy Posted 3 July , 2013 Share Posted 3 July , 2013 It says it will be aired on the BBC "later this year" Lesley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 3 July , 2013 Share Posted 3 July , 2013 Thank you, Lesley. Anyone (Taff?). Got anything more specific? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 18 July , 2013 Share Posted 18 July , 2013 Article in today's Daily Telegraph (18th July) Click NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 18 July , 2013 Share Posted 18 July , 2013 "It is hoped that the Wipers Times will follow Blackadder as one of the classic First World War comedies". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Pigott Posted 18 July , 2013 Share Posted 18 July , 2013 "It is hoped that the Wipers Times will follow Blackadder as one of the classic First World War comedies". In fairness, it does go on to say: ' Historians believe it will also address one of the great inaccuracies of the conflict: the sacrifice that British Army officers made alongside their men. Far from the buffoonery and cowardice of Captain Blackadder and co, it is estimated that one fifth of old boys from public schools were killed in the war. “Blackadder does give a very distorted view of the experience of the officers in the war and that has been largely accepted,” says Dr Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, whose book The Great War and The Public Schools is published in November. “One of the great untruths about the war is in this very area. These officers were not port-swilling men moving characters around a board miles from the frontline. They were sweating blood and suffering in very similar conditions.” ' Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonharley Posted 18 July , 2013 Share Posted 18 July , 2013 A nice plug for Seldon there and his upcoming book. I'm tempted to dash off a letter to the Telegraph: "Sir, "Whilst I admire Dr. Anthony Seldon's desire to redress the 'Blackadder'-influenced view of the First World War, I was unaware that 'sweating blood' was a part of the British officer experience. Shedding it would surely be more accurate. "Yours sincerely," That said, I assume Seldon contributed more but was edited down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Marshall Posted 21 July , 2013 Share Posted 21 July , 2013 Palin is 70. Even if he was to play a crusty old 'Dug out' officer, it would take a suspension of rational thought to make it believable. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 21 July , 2013 Share Posted 21 July , 2013 Of course not all 'Public Schoolboys' were officers. As I pointed out to Dr Seldon in the information I supplied for his book just over half of Bury Grammar School's war dead were NCOs or Privates. I suspect that this was true of a lot of provincial day schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamRev Posted 2 September , 2013 Share Posted 2 September , 2013 I'm very much looking forward to this having read the Wipers Times from cover to cover a number of times, and each time getting more of the jokes. I recently read in an online newspaper article, that Roberts and Pearson served with the 12th Sherwood Foresters (correct) which was a pioneer battalion (also correct) which meant that they were an elite unit who led the army into battle....... er.... William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indefatigable Posted 3 September , 2013 Share Posted 3 September , 2013 According to next weeks Radio Times published today it is a 90 minute one off drama which according to Ian Hislop, they had to make up very little with some material incorporated from an unpublished memoir supplied by the Roberts family. So it will be upto those who have read the originals to comment on accuracy. Michael Palin is playing a sympathetic officer they named after a General Mitford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 3 September , 2013 Share Posted 3 September , 2013 Who knows ... we might enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastSurrey Posted 3 September , 2013 Share Posted 3 September , 2013 The Sherwood Foresters were pioneers to 24th Division. B.R.Mitford,born 1863 and distinguished in the Sudan and South Africa, commanded 72nd Brigade in the same division from 1914-17. He was then promoted to command of 42ND Division, where he seems to have made himself unpopular as a driver rather than a leader. He was replaced in autumn 1917. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulgranger Posted 3 September , 2013 Share Posted 3 September , 2013 Who knows ... we might enjoy it. That would be novel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 3 September , 2013 Share Posted 3 September , 2013 That would be novel It would be a first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Thompson Posted 3 September , 2013 Share Posted 3 September , 2013 Having read some copies of the "Wipers Times" I found them amusing, so I shall look forward to the programme. Cheers Roger t'other one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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