A Bloody Picnic: Tommy's Humour, 1914-18
By Alan Weeks
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
One of the crucial factors which kept Tommy going on the Western Front was his facility to see what was comic in the horror, deprivation and discomfort of trench warfare, an attitude which blossomed further in the rest areas behind the lines. The nature of the comedy ranged from gentle irony to a rougher hilarity that produced on belly laughs. Such laughter could arise from extreme physical pain and discomfort, from the provision of sustenance and from matters relating to dress, equipment and weapons. A further source of fun was bizarre events not dissimilar to situation comedy and pantomime. Moreover, a whole culture of humour surrounded Tommy’s words and songs, and many trench pets – cats, dogs, horses, goats, even rats – were in on the joke in one way or another. Nor was it only the British soldiers who managed to find something to laugh about in the trenches – the Germans could sometimes see the funny side as well. A Bloody Picnic provides an unusual perspective on how soliders coped with the grim realities of the First World War.
Read more from Alan Weeks
Tea, Rum and Fags: Sustaining Tommy 1914-1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCheer Up, Mate!: Second World War Humour Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Bloody Picnic: Tommy's Humour, 1914-18 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDangerous Work: The Memoir of Private George Weeks of the Labour Corps 1917-1919 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Bloody Picnic
Related ebooks
Harry's War: A British Tommy's experiences in the trenches in World War One Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Baltic Run Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHer Privates We Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Anzac on the Western Front: The Personal Reflections of an Australian Infantryman from 1916 to 1918 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sword of Bone Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Warriors for the Working Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Riddles Of Wipers: An Appreciation of the Trench Journal "The Wipers Times" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lion Killer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSquadron Airborne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTemporary Heroes: Lieutenant Norman Cecil Down Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Road to Passchendaele: The Heroic Year in Soldiers' Own Words and Photographs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Walter's War: A rediscovered memoir of the Great War 1914-18 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There's No Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLike Wolves on the Fold: The Defence of Rorke's Drift Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whistles of War and Peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreaking the Dams: The Story of Dambuster David Maltby and his Crew Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBaptism of Fire: Sgt. Smith in the North African Campaign Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld War I Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDigging In Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSalient Points Two: Ypres Sector, 1914–18 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAgainst the Odds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmageddon Road: A VC's Diary, 1914–1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe BEF Campaign on the Aisne 1914: 'In the Company of Ghosts' Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sir John French: An Authentic Biography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTommy Goes to War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Storm in Flanders: The Ypres Salient, 1914–1918: Tragedy and Triumph on the Western Front Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Irishmen in the Great War: Reports from the Front 1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorth Strike Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Poetry of the First World War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for A Bloody Picnic
0 ratings0 reviews