Radio Review: 14 November

I’ve heard a few people saying that they’re already sick and tired of broadcasters’ apparent intention to relive the First World War in real time. Personally, I’ve found it very easy to dip in and out to find the good programmes, while avoiding the rubbish.

Part one of The Ballads Of The Great War on BBC Radio 2 (Tuesdays at 10pm) is one of the best commemorative efforts I’ve heard so far, knitting together new folk music with archive recordings of real first-hand accounts.

I found it impossible not to be moved and angered by the story of the ex-jockey signing up, saying he wanted to work with animals. The recruiting sergeant told him he wanted the Middlesex Regiment, which had ‘lovely ’orses’. The Middlesex lot was a foot regiment, and the horseman had been duped. No thought to skill or aptitude, just the ability to hold a rifle and to fire ammunition until it ran out, after which you were on your own. Thousands died to reclaim yards, sometimes feet, of mud.

I knew the songs were new compositions for the series by John Tams, Billy Bragg, Julie Matthews, Jez Lowe and Sean Cooney. Even so, after listening, I had to check that they weren’t Great War originals. La Belle Epoque, written by Lowe, was a highlight, the frivolities of the pre-war era not filtering down to servants and street cleaners. I also adored The Wrong Bus, referring to London omnibuses requisitioned to carry troops to the front.

The futility was summed up by an old boy who was at a rugby dinner with numerous Germans and Frenchmen when the war was declared. A vote was taken and it was agreed that hostilities could start in the morning, and so the party went on. After all, it would be over by Christmas. Wouldn’t it?

Louis on Twitter: @LFBarfe or email: wireless@cheeseford.net