Mr_Sunray Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 D'Oyly Snow was out of his depth just as Captain Blackadder's only experience was fighting 10,000 Watusi Warriors armed only with Kiwi Fruit and Guava Halves, he (Snow) had only fought in the Zulu, Nile, Sudan campaigns and wasn't prepared for four and a half million heavily armed Germans Yawn! WWI for Dummies... Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Mmmmmmm. Presenters excellent - Taff, Soren, Allen and it was Frank Bostyn at the Passchendaele Museum by the way. Miss Cassidy's family involvement was hyperthetical except for the man who was on battlefield grave and ordnance disposal which could have been expanded on. Of course, while this work was undoubtedly dangerous manual labour, there was no mention of the enhanced pay rates that would have applied. So, Mr Snow who describles himself as an "Historian" was unaware of his grandfather's part in WW1? - I find this implausible to say the least. Reasonable programme but not that informative except perhaps for those with no or little knowledge of WW1. And the well edited contrast betwen the "ordinary soldier" and the "General in his chateau" was a clumsy and obvious reinforcement of a deep and long held misunderstanding . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRACELAND Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 A very interesting program ! EDWARD B. BALLARD 1816, 2nd Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment who died on 10 May 1915 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryn_Hammond Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 I asked Weidenfeld & Nicolson to send Dan Snow a copy of my Cambrai book with a view to getting him to review it especially in regard to his ancestor's performance when the Germans counter-attacked on 30 November. As telly programmes are usually made quite some time ahead, he probably wouldn't have got it before he was filmed for this. I hope he does read it now as it shows another side to Thomas Snow as a diligent corps commander trying to get his superiors to take notice of the warnings from his subordinates of an imminent German counter-attack. I'm not sure he got increasingly out of his depth but decreasingly so. Nevertheless, he was as Arm has said 'in a broken body' by late 1917. "Shurley the late Snow would have ridden a horse at some stage." He certainly did ride a horse because he fell off one and broke his pelvis! This injury continued to trouble him greatly and, ultimately, prompted him to admit he wasn't up to the job any more. As for Gommecourt, again I agree with Arm. His performance was indefensible, but the whole attack meant everyone from him down was on a hiding to nothing. Some paid with their jobs, many many more with their lives - Snow did neither. Bryn PS And don't call me 'Shirley' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Banning Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Just watched it with interest on iplayer after seeing so many posts on it and am afraid that I was rather underwhelmed. I thought the scene under the Thiepval Memorial between Bill MacCormick & Dan Snow truly excruciating. The producer was obviously keen on portraying a certain story. A real pity that it wasn't done with a bit more thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 What is wrong with Shirley? It is a nice name............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Can anyone say what Snow`s capbadge is in post #53? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisharley9 Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Phil it will be General Staff Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 what on earth was the horse meant to demonstrate? Oh, I see. The producer learnt that cavalry had been involved at some point. I took this to mean the Snow would have got round the field much as Wellington did. By the end we were to assume it was a far different war to that of 1914. The whole thing-right or wrong- was that Snow was outmoded by the advances in technology and the fighting conditions. Gommecourt reinforced this and then Dan at the end showed that Tom Snow also felt this. Given that they would have cut etc. the scenes it may be that the horse riding was tied to the part they proposed to use about him falling from his horse and how this effected him throughout the war. Regards Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towisuk Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 I was absolutely delighted and surprised at the quality of the programme last night, looking at the nit-picking comments in the previous posts is there nothing about WW1 programmes on tv that will make certain members of the forum happy? We have been given programmes on the Great War running through all this week towards the 90th anniversary of the armistice, and not only that, a great deal of our expert Pauls input. I for one am grateful, having learnt things from each of the programmes I have watched, I make no claims to knowing it all and am quite happy to watch, listen and learn. So from me, WELL DONE Paul, and all fellow forum members who are taking part in these programmes...keep up the good work looking forward to the rest of the series..... Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Barker Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 I would add to that, that I am proud to be a member of a forum of which a significant number of those providing research behind the camera and those in front are members. A reflection of the quality of what goes on here for the vast majority of the time. What the internet was for. Congratulations to all involved. I'm watching out for pals tonight too - though this might be dangerously close to watching out for 'celebrities' Before I finish this piece I'd like to add that.... Soren - I though you did brilliantly at Tyne Cot with your research papers blowing in that strong wind. In awe Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towisuk Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Just another of the programme's inaccuracies, along with the steel helmets. They looked like American grave crosses to me. At a guess I would hazard a guess at La Targette French cemetery...so what?..... lighten up, and be happy some of the lads from our forum are getting the message across!!! I'm sorry I can't be jealous and bitch about the programme, I thought it covered two stories running parallel excelently regards tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
59165 Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Caught a brief glimpse & I'm 99% sure it's Targette Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Clay Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 I'm sure I've read posts in the past criticising TV coverage of WW1 - and suggesting that 'if the Forum Pals got involved' a far better standard of programme would result. Here we've got several Forum Pals providing input - and even appearing on screen! - and still we carp and moan. Oh well, I suppose that's what a discussion forum is partly about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matteyre Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Whilst I found the programme interesting, I felt it failed to provide any conclusions on what natalie's civilian family actually did during the war.... some concrete facts would have been nice. As has been previously mentioned, it seems odd that Dan Snow knew very little about his great grandfather's role given his rank. I also felt that the programme seemed to be slanted towards making him feel guilty. Overall I have mixed views on it, and hope that tonight is better.... we shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Did nobody find it strange that Snow didn`t mention that Lloyd George was his g/g/grandad? (See post #53) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Phil, I think at one point an attempt was made to see if the two men ever met. I have never seen any references to a meeting in the letters, though Snow wrote favourably about him in 1916. I think his opinion may have changed by 1918, after all Snow was old Gaurd, even though he and Haig were not close. He was however a good friend of Wilson and Rawlinson. Given the limited time they had to cover Snow, to add LG in the picture would have blown the perspective totally out of the water. regards Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stebie9173 Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Personally, I think the programme could have covered Snow just about adequately without having to share a fairly short programme with another story or three. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Agreed Steve, but that was not going to happen. Of course others could always listen to my talk on the man, thats about an hour in length? Regards Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 So Dan is related both to a frock and a donkey. This may explain a lot. I understand that people close to the programme are very pleased to have got the Beeb to put this show on BBC 1 to get Great War material to the masses - even at rather a late hour. I'll give them credit for this, for sure - and of course we have Rolf Harris to look forward to! But they may as well give the great unwashed good history rather than the crucifixion of one man. Lord knows Lt Gen Snow was pretty dire and I wouldn't want to be his defence counsel but a lot of blame and questions must be addressed to others in the chain of command surely I agree with a posting above that the Thiepval scene was just excrutiating - but a lot of interest has been generated and we are all waiting for the next one. Bring it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jemimajane Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 I am not a WW1 expert, merely a family historian who is interested in the wartime service of her ancestors. I have mixed feelings on the programme last night - I watched it mainly for the part about the Zeppelin raids. It is encouraging me to find out more about certain aspects of the war that I was unaware of. (My "O"level history many years ago did not cover this period) . But I can understand how the more knowledgeable feel about it. I feel the same about certain TV genealogy programmes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 So Dan is related both to a frock and a donkey. This may explain a lot. Descended from a donkey and a goat in fact! A chimera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovetown Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Lazy, lazy (redundant) stereotype WWI by numbers. I had recorded it to show my 10 year old lad; but decided against as I'd spend more time unexplaining elements of it to him than it would take him to watch. All for programming that ignites an interest in history, but not an interest in bad or lazy history. And far too many talking heads - at times I felt it was something that should have been called 100 Historians an Hour. Best wishes, GT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Garnett Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 Two journeys that were both honest and mature. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Matthew Kelly and Phil Tufnell this evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Haslock Posted 4 November , 2008 Share Posted 4 November , 2008 It was interesting to see the war in the air being covered. That seems to be an aspect of the war that does not get a lot of airtime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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