In Search of Great Uncle Frank

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12/10/2015

BBC Radio 4 - In Search of Great Uncle Frank

Hugh Dennis heads to Gallipoli to learn how his great uncle died in the First World War

4 Extra Debut. Hugh Dennis reveals how his Great Uncle Frank fought the Turks in the First World War, dying on the battlefield at 18. From 2015.

Actor and comedian Hugh Dennis takes a personal journey to Gallipoli in Turkey.

He's keen to find out about his great uncle, private Frank Hinnels, who was sent to fight against the mighty Ottoman Empire in the First World War. 
 
Following in Frank’s footsteps is poignant yet serene. In the middle of what was no-man’s land, surrounded by fields of sun-flowers and olive trees, Hugh reads from a journal which describes the aftermath of a sniper attack:

“We were all completely exhausted and fellows risking their lives to get to a small water hole full of tortoises and covered by enemy snipers".
 
Hugh’s guide is battlefield historian, Major Mike Peters who takes him to the very spot where his great-uncle fell in October 1915.
 
"One of the great sadnesses for my grandparents,” says Hugh, “was that the letter telling them that he had died arrived before his last letter home. It was like correspondence from beyond the grave."
 
Hugh’s journey is tinged with sadness but also characteristic edginess and humour.
 
Curious to hear the Turkish story, Hugh meets the descendants of Turkish Gallipoli soldiers. He is surprised to find that some villages on the peninsula have never truly recovered since the campaign. Hayriah is a 75 year old café owner whose grandfather was killed in the battle. She tells Hugh that, because his great-uncle fell on Turkish soil, Frank had now become “one of our sons”. 
 
Hugh and Mike finish their travels sitting in an ANZAC trench as night falls. They ask whether the political lessons of Gallipoli have ever been truly learned. 
 
One month later, back home in Sussex, Hugh consults his philosopher’s stone to tell us what ultimately he thinks he’s learned from his trip to Gallipoli.
 
A Jolt production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in October 2015.

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