Narrator Paul Rogers
The day was 1 July 1916: by an odd coincidence the exact halfway point of the First World War. At 7.30 am the bombardment of the German front-line positions suddenly stopped. In the silence and sunshine of a beautiful summer morning, skylarks were heard singing. A few seconds later the Battle of the Somme began.
Sixty years later, some of the survivors of the Somme look back: they are men mostly now in their 80s and their recollections have been recorded specially for this commemorative programme by MARTIN MIDDLEBROOK , author of The First Day on the Somme, who has also written the linking narration.
With CPL H. BEAUMONT , PTE A. k, BELL. CPL D. E. CATTELL , CPL A. DICKINSON , SGT A. S. DURRANT , PTE T. EASTON, L/CPL W. J. EVANS, CAPT C. D. FAWKES, L/CPL H. FELLOWS, LT P. HOWE, SGT R. E. JACKSON, PTE P. J. KENNEDY, PTE A. V. PEARSON, PTE W. J. SENES-CALL, CPL A. WOOD, PTE G. S. YOUNG (The ranks are those they held on 1 July 1916) Producer
ALAN HAYDOCK (The Battle of the Somme:
Tuesday 9.55 pm BBC1)