Mark Hone Posted 10 January , 2016 Share Posted 10 January , 2016 Today's Sunday Times has a feature about a proposed celebrity walk along the length of the Western Front next summer, led by Sir Anthony Seldon. It is apparently part of a campaign to create a 450 mile long Via Sacra from the Swiss border to the Belgian coast. The article is rather vague on details, apart from indicating that the walkers plan to arrive in the Somme area in time for the 1st July commemorations. Liz Hurley, Dominic West and Bonnie Greer are apparently among those taking part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 10 January , 2016 Share Posted 10 January , 2016 Content partially removed by moderator who considered it off-topic. Remaining content deleted by JH, as it was inherently linked to the other words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick63 Posted 10 January , 2016 Share Posted 10 January , 2016 I tend to agree with the general consensus that anything with the word 'celebrity' is often disappointing and crass. Out of the three 'celebs', the only connection to WW1 seems to be.... Dominic West starred in the remake of 'Testament of Youth', Bonnie Greer was on the UK panel deciding the elements of the `14-`18 commemorations. Liz Hurley doesn`t come up with anything related to WW1 on a google search. It`s quite possible that they may have a connection through ancestors, who knows ? A little bit from Ms Greer from the Telegraph back in 2013.... Tomorrow’s announcement will be the culmination of several months work by the government’s advisory board, which includes senior retired military figures, politicians, writers, historians and religious leaders. The group was charged with putting together the programme of events and “educational initiatives”, with £50 million from government and National Lottery funds supporting the commemorations. Bonnie Greer, the playwright and author has joined the panel to, in the words of a source, enhance the “theatrical” and “spectacular” aspects of the plans. She said commemorations should be more than just events to mark the anniversaries of the war’s major events. “We know so much about the conflict in terms of the big set pieces. We need to know what it was like for people who thought the war would be over by Christmas and who found out it wasn’t, for those towns who lost all their young men.” Ms Greer, whose father served in the Second World War, added: “World War One has always been the war that has interested me the most as it was the war that influenced the world the most. “My personnel connection has to be with the fact that my dad was from the Deep South and US African Americans came back from Europe and began the change that led to the Civil Rights movement.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick63 Posted 10 January , 2016 Share Posted 10 January , 2016 And a little bit more here....http://www.1418now.org.uk/essay-bonnie-greer/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 10 January , 2016 Author Share Posted 10 January , 2016 I forgot to mention that Cherie Lunghi is also listed as a participant. She was able to describe a definite Great War connection: her grandfather James Lee of the Northumberland Hussars who was killed. I'm assuming that this is the man: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/204968/LEE,%20J%20C Dominic West's grandfather apparently fought at Loos but no details at given in the article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin spof Posted 10 January , 2016 Admin Share Posted 10 January , 2016 There is a thread in Skindles for personal comments about the celebrities. Can we please stick to Great War related aspects only? http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=234942&p=2351476 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 10 January , 2016 Share Posted 10 January , 2016 The idea of a 450 mile Via Sacra was conceived during the Great War itself. I wish the participants luck. The Swiss end of the frontier & through the Vosges and Lorraine is challenging terrain. I hope that a side-benefit is that the participants and their accompanying party bring business to local enterprises en route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healdav Posted 10 January , 2016 Share Posted 10 January , 2016 The Sunday Times article says that the celebrities will start walking from Switzerland on 22 June and will get to the Somme on 29 June. I've got news for them. Even if they have a sergeant major with a whip urging, on, and walk 24 hours per day, it is much too far for a week's walk. I have done a large part of it, and just walking from the Vosges to somewhere near Metz will take them about 4 days (especially as none of them is an experienced hard walker - certainly I don't remember any of them ever seeming to do something very energetic.). Getting over the Vosges is likely to take a week. Something is not right here. Most likely they will 'walk' the distance by car, stopping at suitable places to look valiant carrying rucsacs packed with paper for a five minute shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonym Posted 11 January , 2016 Share Posted 11 January , 2016 More likely to be a "Personal Advertising Walk" Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 11 January , 2016 Share Posted 11 January , 2016 it is much too far for a week's walk. I have done a large part of it, and just walking from the Vosges to somewhere near Metz will take them about 4 days (especially as none of them is an experienced hard walker - certainly I don't remember any of them ever seeming to do something very energetic.). Getting over the Vosges is likely to take a week. I agree. I haven't walked nearly as much as you have and yet I can't imagine tracing the front line in the Vosges so quickly. Are they really going to go up and down and up and down numerous steep forested mountainsides? From ground level? It took me three hours to get up one side of la Tête des Faux - 1208m - (admittedly I was stopping and looking at things, but still) from l'Étang du Devin - 950m - and I wasn't wearing high heels. And in June? The last two times I was in the Vosges in June the temperatures reached 37°C at height. Walking round the front up on Gaschney (~1000m) I thought I would die! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stebie9173 Posted 11 January , 2016 Share Posted 11 January , 2016 I suspect the "are to walk along sections of the former western front" in the first paragraph is the salient part of the article. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 11 January , 2016 Share Posted 11 January , 2016 So that's Ypres sorted, which paragraph covers the Somme? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 11 January , 2016 Share Posted 11 January , 2016 I suspect the "are to walk along sections of the former western front" in the first paragraph is the salient part of the article. The article is behind a paywall and I can't see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stebie9173 Posted 11 January , 2016 Share Posted 11 January , 2016 I can't see the main article either as I don't subscribe. The first paragraph is visible to me however, though I may be looking at a different page to others. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 11 January , 2016 Share Posted 11 January , 2016 I can't see it so I have googled Via sacra 2016. This is the walk. I still maintain that the walks in the area I know well are challenging. Whoever does it needs to be fit. I give them credit for drawing the attention of Brit-centred audiences to places which aren't on the Somme or near Ieper. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 11 January , 2016 Share Posted 11 January , 2016 I give them credit for drawing the attention of Brit-centred audiences to places which aren't on the Somme or near Ieper. Gwyn It will be interesting to see how much of the televised bit is devoted (I assume there's a televised bit) to the French areas. Thanks for posting the link, Gwyn. The segments they're walking would make a fantastic holiday; if I could get the time off I'd join them ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 15 May , 2016 Share Posted 15 May , 2016 An article on this from the Daily Telegraph website 'Somme 100 years on: Sir Anthony Seldon's remarkable 450-mile remembrance walk with Liz Hurley and Dominic West'. It appeared under the more sensible - & definitely less celebrity orientated title - ' Footsteps of the Fallen' in this weekend's edition (14th May '16) of the Telegraph Magazine... NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 16 May , 2016 Share Posted 16 May , 2016 Having read the Telegraph article I honestly would file this under the "Silly ideas for the 100th" category. This is daft for so many reasons the main one in my opinion being the assumed right of us Brits to construct with impunity this path of remembrance through other countries, what about the French and the Belgians who I believe did play a part in the conflict. To me this repeats yet again the "Lions led by Donkeys" and "They were all victims" over-sentimentalised view of the war. I would love one of these "historians" to address this simple question, given that Germany invaded and subjugated most of Belgium and large tracts of France and would if not stopped end up on the Channel coast just what should Britain and her allies actually do?. Hopefully this half-baked idea will fade away given time mind you if as stated this path will have "wood chippings under foot trees for shade and signposts at key points" (Quote) it would be the ultimate 450 mile long 6 foot wide WW1 theme park N PS I omitted to add that cyclists and runners will have to be catered for and adequate disabled access provided over the 450 mile route Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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