Welcome to another trench chat and I'm really pleased to be joined once more by author and historian Richard Van Emden.

It's great to have Richard back on the podcast. He's written over 20 books on the

Great War now, pioneered the oral history of the Great War, interviewed hundreds of First World

War veterans. One of his best-known books is about the last fighting Tommy, Harry Patch,

who Richard managed to get back over to the battlefields

in those final years of his life, and Richard, as well as appeared on so many documentaries about

the First World War as well. So Richard is a fantastic historian, brilliant writer, and an all-round

good egg, and it's always a pleasure to have him in. So thanks, Richard.

Thanks for joining us.

Oh, pleasure, Paul.

Thank you.

So we're going to talk about a book, a new book, which is about the volunteers of the Great War.

But I just kind of thought this episode will be going out in early November in the kind of lead up to to Armistice Day. I don't know about you, but I kind of always find myself at this time of

year thinking about the veterans. Is that something that you kind of find yourself doing as well?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I met, I always say, I think the back of the book always said I met

270 veterans, but I'm sure with you too you have your

favourites you have the ones that you recall particularly and I sort of have a kind of top five

that I always think about over the armisticeous period you know the the friends the mates that

they lost obviously as well but yeah it's it's it's always this time of year that

i'm sort of drawn back to them and when you think that you know we're coming up to the 110th anniversary

of the great war next year a decade on from the centenary kind of often wonder what they would

make of it all now really oh my god i. I don't want to think about it.

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