Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of the changing meaning and experience of friendship over the centuries

Two contrasting stories for this examination of the impact of World War One on male friendship.

Dixon begins and ends with the pacifist Bloomsbury Group, focusing on EM Forster and his famous remark, "If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country". Dr Matt Cook places this remark - shocking at the time - in the context of Forster's hidden sexual orientation.

Forster began his masterpiece, A Passage to India, before the war, in optimism about the possibility of friendships and love across the nations. As Dr Santanu Das explains, he completed it, after the War, in a far bleaker mood.

Meanwhile, amongst the less highly educated classes, groups of work-mates were being conscripted into the army. Thomas Dixon explores this new role for friendship - as a recruiting sergeant - and its tragic consequences.

Producer: Beaty Rubens

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014. Show less