Book ANTELOPES Rennie Bere THE WORLD OF ANIMALS

Simon Jones written by six year old me.

I was six or seven when I was given this.

My wife is reading this at the moment and really enjoying it.

That's what the original caption says, although it also gives the location as 'Shackleton'.

Women in Land Army uniform hold heavy horses.

Land Girls at Cross Farm, Shackleford, Surrey, learn horse management #OTD 19 April 1917. (Fox Hulton collection via Ancestry)

No, I doubt he would have known.

What I am learning from the proliferation of AI images across Facebook is that a lot of people clearly didn't do enough Spot the Difference pictures as kids. It hasn't just added colour John!!!

Good luck in Amiens!

Black and white photo soldiers stand by trench breastworks, man seated with white sheet around him is given a haircut.

A soldier is given a haircut behind the front line, Fauquissart, France, April 1915. Photo by Lt Col R L Haymes, 2nd Battalion, The Queens Regiment. Source: www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

Early one morning in Amiens I got a message from Colonel John Buchan asking me to breakfast at the "Hôtel du Rhin." While we were having breakfast, there was a great noise outside an English voice was cursing someone else hard and telling him to get on and not make an ass of himself. Then a Flying Pilot was pushed in by an Observer. The Pilot's hand and arm were temporarily bound up, but

blood was dropping through. The Observer had his face badly scratched and one of his legs was not quite right. They sat at a table, and the waiter brought them eggs and coffee, which they took with relish, but the Pilot was constantly drooping towards his left, and the drooping always continued, till he went crack on the floor. Then the Observer would curse him soundly and put him back in his chair, where he would eat again till the next fall. When they had finished, the waiter put a cigarette in each of their mouths and lit them. After a few minutes four men walked in with two stretchers, put the two breakfasters on the stretchers, and walked out with them-not a word was spoken. I found out afterwards that the Pilot had been hit in the wrist over the lines early that morning and missed the direction back to his aerodrome. Getting very weak, he landed, not very well, outside Amiens. He got his wrist bound up and had asked someone to telephone to the aerodrome to tell them that they were going to the "Rhin" for breakfast, and would they send for them there?

Orpen told the story in An Onlooker in France (1921).

Watercolour drawing two officers seated at restaurant table one with blood on head. William Orpen, 'Two RFC Officers just Wounded and Having Breakfast at the Hotel at Amiens before going to the Hospital.' Hotel du Rhin, April 1917. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20847

In April 1917, the artist William Orpen saw two injured Flying Corps officers stagger into his Amiens hotel & order breakfast. Their aircraft had been hit by German fire & they had crash landed outside Amiens. Presently orderlies arrived & carried them away on stretchers. Source: Art.IWM ART 3018

Now that I've seen this in person, I've realised the reason why he appears to have his head fatally exposed above the trench parapet is that he's looking through a periscope. The clues are the figure in the background, the focus of his eye, & the hint of parapet on the upper left of the canvas.

Black and white photo Two bell tents painted with long streaks, dummy soldier stands in front.

The art of deception. A dummy soldier guards a fake camp, near Arras, France, #OTD 17 April 1918. Photo: Armando Consolé. Source: www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

Alas no Allan.

I'm very glad you are working to preserve these records 🙏.

In my uncertain understanding, the FoI Act removed '100 Years' in any legal sense, leaving all medical records potentially exempt from release forever. It still seems to be cited by archivists & records managers, but 100 years from the creation of the record rather than the birth of the individual.

screenshot of 15 powerpoint slides

Looking forward to talking on military mining 1914-18 once again this evening, but will plug my new 'Tunnel Fighting' talk because no one has yet requested it and it's💥. All welcome tonight to Surrey Branch Western Front Association, Cobham. Details: www.westernfrontassociation.com/branches/uni...

I sound like the Daily Telegraph!

Way too much talking and really annoying trailers. I mostly listen to Through the Night for complete performances of classical music.

Being old without becoming right wing is the greatest challenge faced by humanity. I mean, have you tried to listen to Radio 3 lately?

The best known in the UK is by @sommecourt.bsky.social

That's interesting Bobbie. Does the '100 year rule' still have any legal basis do you know?

Thank you!

An elephant with an Indian or a Burmese man and British soldier sitting on it, next to a tank, on which stand Indian and British soldiers, one reaches to the elephant.

'Lieutenant A. Garwood, the commander of a Sherman tank, feeding an elephant with biscuits from the turret of his tank on the road at Taungtha, Burma, 14 April 1945. The elephant was captured by the crew of this tank from the retreating Japanese.' #TankTuesday Source: www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

Trench map annotated with route of attack.

'But many there stood still
To face the stark, blank sky beyond the ridge,
Knowing their feet had come to the end of the world.'
#OTD 14 April 1917, the 2nd Manchesters captured Dancourt Trench in an attack that inspired Wilfred Owen's poem Spring Offensive. A map I prepared for war poets tours.

Sign on park: PUBLIC NOTICE: FILM PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES KATANA FILMS LTD IS FILMING IN THIS AREA BETWEEN 9 &18 APRIL AS PART OF THE SCENE, WE WILL BE PRODUCING ATMOSPHERIC SMOKE/HAZE. THERE IS NO FIRE HAZARD. THE SMOKE IS PRODUCED BY SPECIALISED EQUIPMENT AND IS HARMLESS. THE SMOKE EFFECTS WILL BE PREDOMINANTLY USED ON THE 9 &10 APRIL WE APOLOGISE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE

🙂

I knew a wine merchant who sold him several cases of wine or port and chased him for several years to settle the account until one day he arrived in person and paid with brand new white £5 notes.

A large empty pond, trees reflected, blue sky, mist. Windsor Great Park.

The swanless pond 🙁.

Plane tree in leaf, deer beneath, misty, blue sky. Windsor Great Park.

A misty morning in the deer park.

I'm giving another talk on Underground Warfare in the First World War for the Western Front Association, this Wednesday 15 April 2026. This time it's the Surrey Branch in Cobham, in person only so I hope to see you there. Details:
www.westernfrontassociation.com/branches/uni...

Yes I think she probably mis-remembered.