meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Great Lives

Martin Jennings on Charles Sargeant Jagger

Great Lives

BBC

Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.2 β€’ 1.3K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 5 January 2016

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, you might not know the name of the Great Life but you have probably walked past his work. At London's Hyde Park Corner - the 'Royal Artillery Memorial' stands – a huge stone monument. Charles Sargeant Jagger was arguably the first British sculptor to try to capture the horror of war. A full-sized gun – a 9.2 howitzer protrudes from the top; four masculine soldiers surround the base – one a corpse. Martin Jennings also a British sculptor, nominates Jagger as his Great Life. Along with the expert, art historian Ann Compton, they tell Matthew Parris how the First World War shaped and made Jagger. The producer is Perminder Khatkar.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Great Lives is a download from Radio Fall.

0:02.8

We hope you enjoy what you're about to hear.

0:07.1

You might not know the name, but you've probably walked past his work.

0:11.2

At London's Hyde Park Corner, the Royal Artillery Memorial stands, a huge stone

0:17.4

monument. Our great life was arguably the first British sculptor to try to capture the horror of war. A full-sized gun, a 9.2

0:26.7

howitzer protrudes from the top in pale stone. Four masculine soldiers surround the base, one a corpse.

0:35.0

It's not so much grisly as profoundly depressing.

0:39.0

Picasso's Guernica did something similar on canvas,

0:42.0

but because the horror and futility of the Spanish

0:45.1

Civil War was so widely acknowledged, Picasso's purpose was less question than his style.

0:51.4

But in our sculptor's case, this work, while revered by some, was vilified by others

0:56.8

as a miserable war memorial monument that was even a campaign to have it removed.

1:02.3

This week's great life is Charles Sergeant Jagger and

1:05.9

nominating him also a sculptor is Martin Jennings. Martin what's so special about this man?

1:13.0

He shows people like me how to do it.

1:16.0

I mean he was a great man not only as a sculptor,

1:19.0

he was great within his time.

1:22.0

He really enacted a minor revolution of his own in figurative

1:26.9

sculpture never before had anything quite so direct and honest about the horrors of war ever been done in the form of a war memorial.

1:37.8

Everything before that was rather allegorical.

1:40.3

You know, there were scarcely clad clad angelic women raising

1:45.4

decorously wounded soldiers up to the heavens.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright Β© Tapesearch 2026.