Peter Doyle

@Rupert_1969 Incredible, thanks for sharing

@ProfPeterDoyle A memory my grandmother told me about – she was 11 in 1914: seeing her two brothers return from the front and take a hot bath in a tub, with lice floating on the surface of the water.

In Paris : reflecting on this card I picked up yesterday, a wry statement on trench hygiene for the average Front Line soldier of the Great War. Le Poilu has provided his family with love and lice… sent home by French Territorial soldier Charles Marse in 1916.

@BygonesTorquay They are great. One of them was designed by Rene Lalique. (I bought a set in a flea market in the a south of France, which was great)

@ProfPeterDoyle Not seen those before Peter , would be great to have the medallions with them

In Paris : reflecting on these cards I picked up yesterday. I understand that they were sold (along with small medallions) in aid of the men in the trenches, of the Poilu with no family or with a family in need, on the designated Soldiers’ Day, 25-26 December 1915.

In Paris : reflecting on these cards from one family I picked up yesterday. This one, sent to a French Territorial Soldier Charles Marse, honours on its face the defenders of France - while describing gathering food essentials from an Italian: ‘macaroni, nouilles, haricots…’

1/ 🧵 The Festival of Britain opened this day in 1951 - according to its official guide a 'united act of national reassessment, and [a] corporate reaffirmation of faith in the nation’s future’.

@FredHood77 @BFI That’s correct, with twice as many fatal casualties

@ProfPeterDoyle @BFI My Australian brother in law pointed out to me that there were more Brits at Gallipoli than ANZACs.

Loud Australian at @BFI screening of Peter Weir’s Gallipoli this evening: Why are YOU here? Are you Australian? Me: I’m an historian who studies Gallipoli… I’m not Australian Her: have YOU been to Gallipoli? Me: Many times…you should see the Dawn Ceremony at Anzac… Her: oh….

@OneLeatherBoot @KatieEBarclay @BFI The Nek (and Lone Pine), both of them awful, were not diversions for Suvla Bay; they were part of the attack on Chunuk Bair. (The French spent most of the Campaign at Cape Helles)

@KatieEBarclay @ProfPeterDoyle @BFI Which is weird, as even in the movie Gallipoli they mention the British landing & the charge at the Neck being a diversion for that. The French pretty much get forgotten about as they were over the other side of the strait.

@PostIndustria12 @BFI Absolutely

@ProfPeterDoyle @BFI My great grandfather was there. Worcesters. Wounded and survived. Enormous casualties the day of his landing.

@danpetty @KatieEBarclay @BFI Yes, as do many people in the UK

@KatieEBarclay @ProfPeterDoyle @BFI I think most Aussies think it was just Australia vs Turkish.

@terrancebradley @KatieEBarclay @BFI Indeed

@KatieEBarclay @ProfPeterDoyle @BFI More French troops died at Gallipoli than Australian soldiers.

@Gary41743720 @BFI That’s incredible- my first visit has never left me

@ProfPeterDoyle @BFI I went to Gallipoli by myself in 1975, I had the whole place to myself, a farmer took me down a dirt track along the coast line on his tractor, I was only 25 back then but it was a day I will never forget. Cheers from a polite Ozzie. 🇦🇺

@CliveSDavidson @BFI I’ve come by a lot of those through the years!

@ProfPeterDoyle @BFI Ahh where would we be without the self-appointed gatekeepers?

@Jp88Julie @BFI We weren’t introduced 😬

@ProfPeterDoyle @BFI Was her name Pauline?

@MamaCranky @AudreySuffolk @BFI Of course! I know that - it was just a shock to be challenged by a stranger, like I had to show my ticket or something…

@ProfPeterDoyle @AudreySuffolk @BFI We’re not all like that!!! I swear!! Was she young? (Says Aus mum of 4 in her mid 50s thinking this young lady sounds quite rude!)

@KatieEBarclay @BFI Wow…

@ProfPeterDoyle @BFI I once mentioned in passing to an Oz historian in Glasgow that in the area we were in the entire battalion died at Gallipoli- 1,000 men from only a few streets. And she was startled - she’d never realised non-Anzacs were there. And she had a history PhD!

@genXalogy @BFI Absolutely!

@ProfPeterDoyle @BFI It is a wonderful bit of cinema.

@prior_robin @BFI 😬I thought you’d like that. I enjoyed discussing it when we were all at the Nek in 2015…

@ProfPeterDoyle @BFI Wow

Ok…. In the @BFI

@NoodleMC2 @BFI Of course: but no, her questions were pointed and unfriendly, which was not pleasant. Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed seeing the film in the big screen, and she left without looking back…

@ProfPeterDoyle @BFI That film has a special place for many Australians but its relative unknown elsewhere. The question was likely one of genuine interest.