Real First World War

A blend of story and #folklore with a nature narrative. 'Stories of the Sun' by Dawn Nelson is out now! Order here 📒: bit.ly/463HrBu ☀️

“This meticulously researched and well-written book offers a glimpse into the problems faced by our ancestors as they returned home from war.” - Mark Simner, @wdytyamagazine on Adam Powell's 'Soldiering On': bit.ly/3h5JAD0 #WW1 #POW #Veterans #mentalhealth

#OTD1916 Pell-Mell, the new Charles B Cochran revue, opens a week late at the Ambassadors theatre as scenery and costume deliveries were delayed due to so many employees joining the Army. Coincidentally, in one sketch star-turn Alice Delysia donned khaki too.

#OTD1915 1,200 die when RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German torpedo off the Irish coast, among them American theatre impresario Charles Frohman who brought Broadway shows to London’s West End and premiered JM Barrie’s Peter Pan at the Duke of York’s. @TheHistoryPress @LivesOfWW1

April 1916: Shakespeare Centenary year productions enlist Shakespeare for the war effort, but his words were khaki-clad almost from day one of war, especially for recruiting campaigns. @TheHistoryPress @jykp @FWWLives

The siege of Kut-al-Amara ended in surrender #OTD in 1916: bit.ly/2I1GwXk #WW1

Books of My Childhood: Graham Maddocks was a teacher at my school. Though he didn’t teach me, he led my class trip to the Western Front, the first of many. His interests influenced us all (a thread) @TheHistoryPress

In 2020 a virus shuts UK theatres. In 1918 the Spanish flu returns. Deaths average 2,000 a week. Few theatres close - people are collapsing on stage and off. But after 4 years of mass slaughter on the Western Front, for theatre professionals mortality has become part of life.

Demonstration of hay box cookery at Food Saving Exhibition which opened at the Institute of Hygiene #OTD 1918. Read more about hay box cooking & other #WW1 food saving measures in my book 'Great War Britain' from @TheHistoryPress Pic (c) Grenville Collins Postcard Coll/Mary Evans

early 1917: Harry Lauder says he wants to "sing for the boys on the frontlines who are in the thick of the struggle with the Hun.” So with War Office support he tours the war-ravaged countryside, often performing accompanied by live shell-fire. @TheHistoryPress @jykp @RealFWW

Christmas 1914 was by far the strangest #Christmas everyone who lived through it had ever known... bit.ly/2QoewEZ #WW1 #RealFWW

The Battle of #Verdun - #Germany's attempt to 'bleed #France white' - ended with nearly a million casualties and a French victory #OTD 1916 bit.ly/2z7kEFU #WW1 #military

Self-proclaimed holy man Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was murdered by Russian nobles eager to end his influence over the royal family #OTD 1916 bit.ly/2LkYGVQ #Russia #WW1

Dec 1918: Spanish flu is still sweeping Britain, but business is brisk at Manchester Theatre Royal's first peacetime panto Cinderella, with Cecily Courtneidge making her panto debut in the title role and Little Tich's Buttons getting big laughs. @TheHistoryPress @RealFWW

Hobnails, drill and boot camp: secrets of Sam Mendes’s war epic 1917 bit.ly/2PwyUAx (via @ObserverUK) #military #WW1

#Jerusalem surrendered to British troops #OTD 1917 bit.ly/2SB2zJf #WW1 #military

British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed for helping soldiers escape German-occupied #Belgium during #WW1, was born in #Norfolk #OTD 1865 bit.ly/2OnbmAf #womeninhistory

The first released British prisoners of war reached #Calais #OTD 1918 bit.ly/2TV4Mz0 #WW1

The Third Battle of #Gaza came to an end #OTD 1917 when British forces captured Gaza from the #OttomanEmpire bit.ly/2G8NuMJ #WW1 #military

#Britain annexed #Cyprus and declared war on the #OttomanEmpire 105 years ago, #OTD 1914 bit.ly/2kEM8Mo #WW1 #military