This book was originally published in three volumes, but then it was republished in 2002 as one volume, which is much less frustrating when you really don’t want to stop reading it. This is a brilliant book, really well researched, it goes into ancient and modern history and shows why Britain was blessed the way it was, and what is happning to it now – and why. It was written in the 1980s, so some of the examples it uses are a little out of date, but interesting – if only to show how much worse Britain’s got. You’d think it would be a really depressing book, but it isn’t, it’s empowering and encouraging. Are we at rock-bottom? No I don’t think so, but we’re not far off it – and therefore anything we do now can only make an improvement, not make it any worse. It would have been interesting if he had written more about the modern education system, but then in the 1980s it wasn’t as bad as it was in the 1990s, and I suppose even the 1990s aren’t as bad as now. Great book. It absorbed me for hours – and now it’s challenging me.
Tag Archives: Great Britain
One Young Man: the simple and true story of a clerk who enlisted in 1914, who fought on the Western Front for nearly two years, was severely wounded at the Battle of the Somme, and is now on his way back to his desk – J E Hodder-Williams
Not a massively catchy title. This is a short but beautiful book, mostly it is written by the man himself and edited by Hodder-Williams, with a few comments by him also. It gives a really good idea of what went on in the trenches, and what life was like for ‘Tommy’.
As he says himself: ‘Isn’t it wonderful how many sorrows the British army can drown in a cup of tea?’ I reckon it’s changed a bit since then though.
There is one particular bit, in which the soldier writes about his experiences with the YMCA (while it was still effective, and before it had completely sold out on its origins): ‘I am sure everyone was overstocked with chocolates and cigarettes, for we all kept returning to the counter to buy something just for the sake of a smile or a ‘How are you getting on, Tommy?’ from one of our hostesses. The whistle blew and we all made a rush for our trucks. The ladies stood in a body at the end of the paltform, and as each truck passed waved and wished us good luck. The noise we made was deafening; we cheered and cheered until the little group of England’s unknown heroines on the platform passed from sight. Our hearts were very full.’ That just about says it all. I had to pause a little bit at this point. The line between life and death in this book is so thin, and these acts of kindness really hit home almost as much for the reader as they must have done for the soldiers involved.
There’s also the camaraderie and humour of the trenches too: ‘We have a rare lot of ditties. We often sing across ‘Has anyone seen a German Band,’ or ‘I want my Fritz to play twiddly bits on his old trombone.’ We really have a good bit of fun at times; other days are – crudely, but truthfully putting it – ‘Hell’.’
It’s so sad that these people had to give so much. I wonder what they’d think if they were able to come back. That’s probably not a good thing to wonder.
This is the sort of book you need to read now and again. Like when you forget that Britain hasn’t always been like this. Sometimes it’s been Great.
