Gareth Davies Posted 22 January Share Posted 22 January Martin Middlebrook has died aged 92. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekb Posted 22 January Share Posted 22 January RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 22 January Admin Share Posted 22 January Sorry to read this. His First Day On the Somme and the Kaisers Battle are seminal books. A good speaker and a house guest who was brilliant with children. The day I sat my nursing finals exams back in January 1985, I treated myself to afternoon tea and purchased a copy of the First Day. When I met Mr Y, we had a lot of duplicate books and gave loads away, but I’ve never been able to part with my old copy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 22 January Share Posted 22 January R.I.P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 22 January Share Posted 22 January Sorry to hear this, great speaker. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17107BM Posted 22 January Share Posted 22 January (edited) Really sad news. R.I.P. Gary. Edited 22 January by 17107BM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesalter1 Posted 23 January Share Posted 23 January Very sad to hear this news. I went on my first ever battlefield tour with Martin Middlebrook. He was such a knowledgeable man and a great guide. I remember sitting in a cafe with him in Arras as I did not want to go down the tunnels - claustrophobia. We had a lovely chat over coffee and crepes. Did several trips with him afterwards. RIP Martin. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 23 January Share Posted 23 January A very influential historian and author that brought the war into schools and collages during the 1980s in a very popular and easily digested way. Along with Lyn Macdonald and other similar authors, they contributed tremendously to our popular understanding of the war. RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Atkins Posted 23 January Share Posted 23 January Very sorry to hear this; like many others, no doubt, I found his work very informative and accessible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.B. Posted 23 January Share Posted 23 January RIP Sir, the author of one of the most influential WWI books of the last 60 years as a well a fine legacy of work on subjects as diverse as the Allied Bombing Offensive and the Argentine view if the Falklands War. For those interested, he also left this fascinating account of the genesis of his interest in WWI and the writing of his first book -an amazing insight into conducting research and getting a publishing deal in the pre-digital age: MARTIN MIDDLEBROOK - The Writing of The First Day on the Somme (hellfirecorner.co.uk) Regards Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 23 January Share Posted 23 January Like Sue above I toured the battlefields with Martin on several occasions and got to know him a bit. I too had a wide ranging and very entertaining evening in a bar in Arras in which amongst other things he waxed lyrical about the first time he saw Marilyn Monroe on screen. One of my other favourite memories is of Martin blagging his way into the officers club in Verdun and gatecrashing a leaving do for a French medical officer which ended up being a lot of fun due in part to opening champagne bottles in a very non standard way. He knew his stuff about the battlefields too. Whenever I visit Mansel Copse I try to walk across to the Gordon cemetery across the road and visit what we always call Martin's six subalterns. It's not the only place I will think of him, as it was his descriptions that first illuminated so many. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyH Posted 23 January Share Posted 23 January Very sad news, his 'The First Day on the Somme', is still, in my opinion, the best book on the battle. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 24 January Author Share Posted 24 January 10 hours ago, Fattyowls said: Like Sue above I toured the battlefields with Martin on several occasions and got to know him a bit. I too had a wide ranging and very entertaining evening in a bar in Arras in which amongst other things he waxed lyrical about the first time he saw Marilyn Monroe on screen. One of my other favourite memories is of Martin blagging his way into the officers club in Verdun and gatecrashing a leaving do for a French medical officer which ended up being a lot of fun due in part to opening champagne bottles in a very non standard way. He knew his stuff about the battlefields too. Whenever I visit Mansel Copse I try to walk across to the Gordon cemetery across the road and visit what we always call Martin's six subalterns. It's not the only place I will think of him, as it was his descriptions that first illuminated so many. Pete. Far too few people bother to walk down the road to GC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 24 January Share Posted 24 January 11 hours ago, Fattyowls said: One of my other favourite memories is of Martin blagging his way into the officers club in Verdun On one trip with him he took along a post-WW2 RASC 2/Lt`s BD which he said was his own worn during National Service. He swapped it in a deal with some French gent. Like many, I owe a lot to him and his enthusiasm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartH Posted 24 January Share Posted 24 January He did things before others did, very special. I was there when he met John Terraine who had come to see him give a talk on the First Day of the Somme. At the end the rest of the room sat and listened to the two of them discuss the Somme, still gives me shivers now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickaren Posted 24 January Share Posted 24 January Sorry to hear this news. Martin was guilty of starting my interest in WW1 with The First Day on The Somme. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cozendon Posted 12 February Share Posted 12 February I have only just learnt this sad news. I was advised to read 'The First Day On The Somme' by my History teacher in the mid-90s. I suspect it was the first book on the First World War that I read (other than those aimed at children). Reading it as 14/15 year old was an incredible experience. Middlebrook's work and 'With A Machine Gun To Cambrai' both enthralled me at that time. Maybe it was my age but it still ranks with the finest books I have read, both fiction and non-fiction. In May, I am taking my son to the Somme for the second time. He was a baby when we first went but is now eight. Middlebrook's work is very much one of the reasons we will be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16thBNCanScotJim Posted 12 February Share Posted 12 February RIP Mr. Middlebrook. And thank-you for all you have done to keep the memories alive of all those who fought and died for the peace we have experienced. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 13 February Share Posted 13 February Never met him, but have a great respect for him. May he meet many of the "old uns" in that great unknown up there. RIP Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB1943 Posted 5 March Share Posted 5 March Martin, R.I.P. You are sorely missed. Regards, JMB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maricourt Posted 7 March Share Posted 7 March How sad to hear of the passing of Martin Middlebrook. His book, The First Day on the Somme, was one of the first histories of WW1 that I acquired and pointed me in to the direction of a life-long interest in the Great War. RIP Mr Middlebrook. Maricourt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradley Posted 7 April Share Posted 7 April Rest in peace Il be digging out the `First day of the Somme` very soon for a good old awe inspiring read once more. Thank you Mr Middlebrook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted 8 April Share Posted 8 April First book 1stDay on the Somme was a classic....eyewitness accounts and helpful maps to get a "Feel" of the battlefield compatable to Cornelius Ryans trilogy of "The Longest Day"[D-Day ]; A Bridge Too Far {Market Garden} and The Last Battle {Battle for Berlin] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Battle_of_the_Somme,_July-november_1916_Q7797.jpg Who writes Miltiary History that way any more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 9 April Share Posted 9 April There are quite a few historians blending eyewitness accounts and a narrative based on research. For example, the recently published "Burning Horizon: British Veteran Accounts of the Iraq War, 2003" by Julian Whippy (he of Battle Honours Tours and joint author of WW1 book "The greater game") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 9 April Author Share Posted 9 April 7 hours ago, Chris_Baker said: There are quite a few historians blending eyewitness accounts and a narrative based on research. For example, the recently published "Burning Horizon: British Veteran Accounts of the Iraq War, 2003" by Julian Whippy (he of Battle Honours Tours and joint author of WW1 book "The greater game") There are some really good stories in that book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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