Picture a group of soldiers in a barn behind the lines on the Somme.

They've just been in the trenches and they've come out to rest and repair their equipment.

They're sitting round in groups and one of the things they've got to do is de-louse their uniforms,

always a problem in any part of the battlefield. They're sitting

round and they're talking, they're chatting, a trench chat. So welcome to another trench

chat with us here on the Old Frontline.

You've joined us for another Old Frontline trench chats,

and I'm really pleased this week to welcome military historian and author Richard Van Emden to the podcast.

Richard needs a little introduction from me.

He's the author of a wide range of some really fantastic books about the Great War,

and I'm sure that many of you listening to this podcast will have come to the subject by reading one of Richard's books. Thanks for

joining us Richard. Pleasure, Paul. Now we first met, I think, in the 1980s at a WFA meeting

in Reading, Richard. So the Great War has obviously been part of your life for a very long time.

How did you get interested?

Back in 1984 or 83, my mother said to me, what do you want for Christmas?

My memory was, I said, any memoir of the Great War, I'd like to read it.

And I think I'd seen a program.

I think that's what sparked my

interest. And so she brought me goodbye to all that by Robert Graves. And I read the book and I was

just instantly hooked. And I thought, well, I want to meet the veterans. I want to meet some guys

who were there. So I learned what the medal ribbons were, the Great War medal ribbons,

and I went straight down to the Chelsea pensioners and started walking around the grounds.

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