hazelclark Posted 22 October , 2013 Share Posted 22 October , 2013 Reference is frequently made to this publication on the forum but it has left me a bit confused. I tried googling it and am more confused than ever. I did know that it was a trench publication produced during the war but i am wondering, from some of the comments if it is being rerun or something. Copies of what appear to be the original series are available edited by Malcolm Brown but cost a fortune. ($888.00) So, is there a series to which one can subscribe? Also, it seems the BBC made a movie about it but again I can find a link to watch it. Can anyone help? Thanks, Hazel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tulloch-Marshall Posted 22 October , 2013 Share Posted 22 October , 2013 A complete facsimile edition is available on AMAZON > http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wipers-Times-Complete-Wartime-Newspaper/dp/1906251177/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382482165&sr=1-2&keywords=wipers+times Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 22 October , 2013 Share Posted 22 October , 2013 Hi Hazel I fear that I am one of the culprits; sorry. I should have mentioned my source. I've been reading the book that Tom has just posted the link to. Luckily my local library has a copy and it is just brilliant. The drama based on it was shown by the BBC recently and was the subject of a long thread in the culture section. I'll see if I can find a link to the drama on the BBC I-player and see if I can dig out how to view it from outside the UK. Apologies for being a complete toper. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Clay Posted 22 October , 2013 Share Posted 22 October , 2013 The BBC made a 90 minute dramatization - see the IMDb writeup here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2763790/, Also see the BBC site with clips and background articles here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01d0zrj. Not available on iPlayer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 22 October , 2013 Share Posted 22 October , 2013 Hi Hazel I've just checked on the BBC I-player and I fear the drama has dropped off after 30 days (and Jim has just beaten me to it with the info). I can't see a DVD version as yet, sorry. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tulloch-Marshall Posted 22 October , 2013 Share Posted 22 October , 2013 The BBC show was good-ish, but the papers themselves were often hilarious. Humour in the face of adversity, often of the "black" variety. You can see why Ian Hislop liked them. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazelclark Posted 23 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 23 October , 2013 Thanks so much guys. It is too bad the BBC drama is no longer available to view. I had looked on Amazon but could only see the $888.00 job. Now I see the other - that is super. I fear I have been away too long Pete. I thought that a "toper" was a drunk which I am sure you are not!! Thanks again everyone, Hazel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 23 October , 2013 Share Posted 23 October , 2013 I fear I have been away too long Pete. I thought that a "toper" was a drunk which I am sure you are not!! Hazel You are absolutely correct about the meaning of toper; I should have said "talking like a complete toper". The TV version dramatised some of the newspaper articles as music hall sketches one of which showed a fresh faced teetotal junior officer discovering the demon drink and becoming a "complete toper". Describing myself as such is particularly ironic as I never touch anything stronger than Vimto. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJW Posted 23 October , 2013 Share Posted 23 October , 2013 The DVD of the BBC programme is available: I saw it when I clicked on the Amazon link in post 2. (.....and scrolled down a bit to see what else was on the page) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazelclark Posted 23 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 23 October , 2013 The DVD of the BBC programme is available: I saw it when I clicked on the Amazon link in post 2. (.....and scrolled down a bit to see what else was on the page)Super - thanks. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1620 Posted 25 October , 2013 Share Posted 25 October , 2013 I happened to see a pile of what looked like genuine publications in a secondhand bookshop about a month ago. The price was not unreasonable something like £50. The shop is in Honiton, Devon. There are two secondhand bookshops close to each other in the main street near the bottom of the hill. The bookshop in question is the lower one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 25 October , 2013 Share Posted 25 October , 2013 Herewith my review for Stand To! AUTHORSHIP UNATTRIBUTED The Wipers Times Introduction by Christopher Westhorp, £9.99, Conway, 331 pp, ISBN 978-1-84486-233-7. By no means has the first reprint of the original ‘Trench Newspaper’, this new edition of the Wipers Times, the wartime publication handsomely reflected in the BBC’s recent highly popular drama. (And one which even managed to get the most ardent of the WW1 ‘rivet counters’ to keep the powder of criticism dry.) Produced from February 1916, and under a range of titles reflecting the posting of the editors, the work ended after 23 editions in December 1918, its last edition named Better Times. Of course the humour now seems strained, dated, and overwhelmed by what we are now inclined to judge as the simplicities of music hall jokes. The poetry rarely reaches the narrow horizon hovering over doggerel. Yet the publication was never ‘shouty’ or angry, merely mocking of the life, the lack of love, and everything endured by men at war. And it made them laugh. It made me laugh too, and underlined any natural inclination to disbelieve that humour broad or gently mocking, in the front line was as vital to soldiers as comradeship, food, drink and munitions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazelclark Posted 25 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 25 October , 2013 I happened to see a pile of what looked like genuine publications in a secondhand bookshop about a month ago. The price was not unreasonable something like £50. The shop is in Honiton, Devon. There are two secondhand bookshops close to each other in the main street near the bottom of the hill. The bookshop in question is the lower one. Thanks, I am in western Canada so might have some difficulties but Amazon has the reproduction. thanks, H Herewith my review for Stand To! AUTHORSHIP UNATTRIBUTED The Wipers Times Introduction by Christopher Westhorp, £9.99, Conway, 331 pp, ISBN 978-1-84486-233-7. By no means has the first reprint of the original ‘Trench Newspaper’, this new edition of the Wipers Times, the wartime publication handsomely reflected in the BBC’s recent highly popular drama. (And one which even managed to get the most ardent of the WW1 ‘rivet counters’ to keep the powder of criticism dry.) Produced from February 1916, and under a range of titles reflecting the posting of the editors, the work ended after 23 editions in December 1918, its last edition named Better Times. Of course the humour now seems strained, dated, and overwhelmed by what we are now inclined to judge as the simplicities of music hall jokes. The poetry rarely reaches the narrow horizon hovering over doggerel. Yet the publication was never ‘shouty’ or angry, merely mocking of the life, the lack of love, and everything endured by men at war. And it made them laugh. It made me laugh too, and underlined any natural inclination to disbelieve that humour broad or gently mocking, in the front line was as vital to soldiers as comradeship, food, drink and munitions. That is much as I expected. Looking forward to reading it. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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