Welcome to a special trench chats.

I'm really pleased to welcome back, Peter Doyle, to discuss a new book that he's been working on

and a really special souvenir of the Great War that's an iconic item, really, in any collection.

So welcome back, Peter.

Thanks very much.

So you've been working on this book on the 1914 Christmas tin.

I mean, you know, I remember my aunt gave me one when I was a teenager,

and it is just such this iconic object that connects you to the Great

War. I'm amazed no one's written a book before and now you have. And absolutely, Paul, I mean,

the critical thing here is that one would expect a book to exist on this topic. There was an article

written on it back in the 80s and pretty good it was too.

But one of the things that's always fascinating to me is that this iconic object exists in such

quantities. And I was thinking, well, if this is a tin or a box that was given out to people

of Christmas 1914, why is it that there are so many of them? And I think I really was interested in it because like you, you come across these,

you are given them, or you find them in people's collections,

or they have something that they don't really understand their connection.

And so I was really keen to get to grips with it,

and it came down to two tins that I'd obtained, one which was Gunna Shellis,

of the Royal Field Artillery in the North Midland Division,

who went through the war and including going over the Canaldon War and the whole deal

right the way through the war, he had his medals within there he had a

silver war badge he had his diaries associated with it and it's very much part of the fabric of the soldier's

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