Do you know I sent you those pictures of that box I discovered?

I'm talking to Peter Kempton from his home in England. A few days before we spoke, he had sent

me some photos and promised to tell me an interesting story about them. Peter is an historian

and a collector of Christmas crackers, those festive little

party favors that make a bang when you open them. And the story he's telling has to do with

an antique box of crackers he had recently found at auction. I found there was an association

between that and a relative who I never knew existed who was killed in the First World War.

So that box he'd recently acquired was produced in 1917.

It was more than a century old, but still in great condition, and with most of its original

contents intact. And he only paid about eight pounds for it.

It was a nice box, and I was happy to have it, but I didn't think that much more about it.

But then, something interesting happened. Peter was doing a bit of research into his family's ancestry. And I didn't think that was much more about it. But then, something interesting happened.

Peter was doing a bit of research into his family's ancestry.

And I discovered this chap called Norman Herbert Kimpton.

And I discovered that he was an uncle of mine.

Never knew he existed.

And at the age of 20, on July the 14th, 1917, he was killed.

July the 14th, 1917, was Bastille Day in France.

But, more importantly, to our story anyway, it's the same year that those antique crackers

he just bought were produced.

Well, as an historian and collector of Christmas crackers, and as an amateur genealogist,

Peter Kempton couldn't just leave things there. Part of his collecting also includes old trade catalogs, so he went to

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