Guest matt Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Did anyone else watch The Last Tommy on BBC1 last night? the second and final part is next Tuesday at 9pm.very moving indeed. Matt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Watched it in silence Matt, so powerful and also full of inspiration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddball Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Yes, very thought provoking & emotional, can't help wondering if they started filming it 2 years ago how many of those chaps are still alive now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 I think there is 4 left now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polecat paul Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 Speechless ,just listening to him made me think exactly what they all gave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest matt Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 The only part of the program I thought was in bad taste was where they took the one guy in the wheelchair to a trench network that was being "dug" and showed him the remains of a body,I thought that was uncalled for. Matt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 In 2003 when the film was made there wre 23 WW1 vets still alive, as Jack says now only 4 left. As regards your comments Matt to be fair to the programme makers he did ask about bodies being found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeEnfield Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Why, Oh Why, couldn't 'The Last Tommy', not have been screened tonight. (11/11) Looking at the prog listings, (on 'normal' bbc/ivt, any way) you'd be excused from realising that IT IS Rememberance Day. There was a (very) short clip on bbc news, regarding the oldest surviving airman, (who flew recon for the battle of Jutland !!) being honoured in recognition of his services, and that of this non surviving comrades, in france. Apart from that, NOTHING. -So, from myself, honouring those who have given their time and blood, so's I can express myself freely, IN HONOUR OF THE FALLEN. WHY DO YOU STILL MARCH ? Why do you still march, Old Man with medals on your chest, Why do you still grieve, Old Man for those you laid to rest. Why do your eyes still gleam, Old Man when you hear those bugles blow, Tell me, why you cry, Old man about those days so long ago. I'll tell you why I march, young man with medals on my chest, I'll tell you why I grieve, young man for those I laid to rest. Through misty fields of gossamer silk come visions of distant times when the boys of such a tender age lost lives,...and mothers pined. We buried them in blanket shrouds their young flesh scorched and blackened A communal grave, newly gouged in bloodstained gorse and bracken. --- And you ask me why I march, young man ? I march to remind you all, But for those apple blossom youths, You'd never have known freedom, at all. written by Bill Ridley Lest We Forget. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyler Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Well even Sky hasent any thing on, so good on you LE for that post, money money thats all its is now, what about memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest matt Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Hi Andy, I totally agree with you,all they are showing is the usual rubbish! On the subject of poetry are you familiar with Wilfred Owen's work? I think Dulce Et Decorum Est and Strange Meeting are some of his best. On Sunday night S4C (Welsh tv),are showing Tolkiens The Two Towers.much of what inspired Tolkien to write Lord of the Rings was his experience as soldier during WW1.it is easy to see where his discription of The Dead Marshes of Mordor came from. Matt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeEnfield Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Thanks Tyler, It makes you think, if it wasn't for these HERO'S,- and I make no excuses for calling them ALL by that title, although, those I know, that served, would be highly embarased, by the term,- where would these so-called programe directors be. Seems like it's all to easy,- and cheap, to fill the evenings viewing with so called 'reality tv',.........although, whats 'reality', about a group of so-called "celeb's", who wou;ld'nt know...............No, not going there, but I guess you get my drift; :lol: Matt, got into Wilfred Owen, while at school, Anthem for Doomed Youth, and never lost a liking of it since, as for favorites,.........as you say, Strange Meeting,captures reality in its haunting lines; as do, The Next War and At a Calvary Near the Ancre. Have you read any of Siegfried Sassoon ? Memory. When I was young,my heart and head were light, And I was gay and feckless as a colt Out in the fields, with morning in the may, Wind on the grass,wings in the orchard bloom. O thrilling sweet, my joy, when life was free And all the paths led on from hawthorn - time Across the carolling meadows into june. But now my heart is heavy - laden. I sit Burning my dreams away beside the fire: For death has made me wise and bitter and strong; And I am rich in all that I have lost. O starshine on the fields of long - ago, Bring me the darkness and the nightingale; Dim wealds of vanished summer, peace of home, And Silence; and the faces of my Friends. Siegfried Sassoon, written 1/2/1918. " At the going down of the sun, We WILL remember them........" Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeEnfield Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Oop's.........My apoligies to all, regarding the miss quote at the end of my last posting, Of course it Should have read, "At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,.................. WE WILL REMEMBER THEM...................." Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest matt Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Hi Andy, Indeed I have read Sassoon.I am very interested in the three poets,Owen,Graves and Sassoon.Robert Graves had a house near where I live,in his poem Letter to SS from Mametz Wood he discribes many places I know well.Also I have been to Shrewsbury to the memorial to Wilfred Owen and found his house. Matt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeEnfield Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Hi Matt. Not had a lot to do with Graves, but certainly, both Owen and Sassoon,when describing,through verse,the world they were inhabiting,and sights they were seeing,does tend to make a mockery of the idea that war is 'clean',- promoted by certain film producers(granted, mostly of latter conflicts) Have you found any WWII war poets ? Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeEnfield Posted November 15, 2005 Share Posted November 15, 2005 Well, having just watched the 2nd part of The Last Tommy, what can I say,........I had tears in my eyes, one moment, and was laughing out loud, the next. Well Done BBC. Probably the best programe, of its type, thats been shown; and one that, if released on BBc DVD, I'll certainly buy. Even the detail of the re-enactors LOOKED right,-although I'm no expert. Very well done to all concerned, and I'll see if I can say same on BBC web site tomorrow. Anyone else see it ?? All My Respects to the surviving Vererans;..........HERO's all. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean101ryan Posted November 15, 2005 Share Posted November 15, 2005 Amen to that, very moving program. Shock to realise there are only four left now. Used to live next to an old boy who I ran errands for. As a teenager I thought it was a pain having to shop for him and listen to him, he was such a fussy old sod!. He was a Gallipoli veteren and still had all his diaries. He showed me officers mess menus he wrote for Christmas and loads of other stuff. It is one of my eternal regrets I took no interest at the time; and he was responsible for me getting my first job. He died about 18 years ago. We owe these people so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeEnfield Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 Re The Last Tommy; I've just heard that Alfred Anderson,of Scotland, - the LAST of the old Contemptables, has died. WE MUST NEVER FORGET............................. A link I founf the other day, may be of interest, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/last_tommy_gallery.shtml Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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