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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Something Understood

Religion & Ethics

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry

BBC Radio 4 LW

Something Understood: Faith on the Frontline

Faith on the Frontline

BBC Radio 4 - Something Understood, Faith on the Frontline

Jo Fidgen considers the challenges faced by soldiers with religious faith in wartime.

The impact of combat on the religious beliefs of soldiers is examined through diaries from the First World War and poetry by Iraq War veteran Brian Turner. 


The journalist Jo Fidgen examines how religious belief can be both diminished and strengthened during service on the frontline.  

She talks with Padre Simon Rose of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment about his experiences in Afghanistan and with Brian Turner, the American poet who served in Iraq. And she also draws upon the writings of soldiers who saw action in the First World War, including the Padre Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, and Vietnam (the poet Yusef Komunyakaa).  

With music by Bobby McFerrin, Sheryl Crow, Ivor Gurney and Penderecki.


Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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