What makes a 50-year-old book on WWI still essential reading? In this episode, Angus, Jessica, and Chris are joined by Ian Isherwood and Steven Trout, authors of But It Still Goes On: Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory at 50. We revisit Fussell’s classic, exploring its legacy, impact, and the debates it continues to spark in the world of war literature and memory studies.  References:Ian Isherwood and Steven Trout, But it Still Goes On: Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory at 50, The Journal of Military History Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory --- Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War--- Class: A Guide Through the American Status System--- Doing Battle: The Making of a SkepticFrederic Manning, Her Privates WeSiegfried Sassoon, The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston Max Ploughman, A Subaltern on the SommeRobert Graves, Goodbye To All ThatDan Todman, The Great War: Myth and MemoryRC Sherriff, Journey’s EndSamuel Hynes, A War ImaginedCharles Edmonds, A Subaltern's War
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58 - The Monocled Mutineer
What happens when a controversial real-life figure becomes the centre of one of the BBC’s most politically charged wartime dramas? In this episode, we revisit The Monocled Mutineer (1986), Alan Bleasdale’s adaptation of the story of Percy Toplis — alleged ringleader of the 1917 Étaples mutiny. The four-part series drew huge audiences but quickly became a flashpoint in debates over historical accuracy, media bias, and the BBC’s role in shaping national memory. We unpack the drama’s reception, the historical evidence (or lack thereof) behind Toplis’s role in the mutiny, and how the show explored themes of class, power, and military discipline in the First World War. References:Emma Hanna, The Great War on the Small Screen: Representing the First World War in Contemporary Britain (2009) John Buchan, The 39 Steps (1915) William Hussey, The Boy I loved (2025) Boys from the Black Stuff (1982) Dope Girls (2025) The Crimson Field (2014) Hornblower (1998-2003) Masters of the Air (2024) Sharpe (1993-2008)
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57 - Dope Girls
What was the real story behind the BBC series Dope Girls? In this episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast, we dive into the world of Soho’s underground nightlife in the 1920s, as seen in the BBC’s new drama Dope Girls. The series takes inspiration from Marek Kohn’s book Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground and brings to life the turbulent years after the First World War, when jazz clubs, crime, and vice flourished in London. Joining us to separate fact from fiction is Professor Matthew Houlbrook, a leading historian of 20th-century Britain. We explore the real figures and stories behind Dope Girls, the shifting social landscape of post-war Britain, and how the show reflects the era’s struggles with gender, crime, and morality. References: Marek Kohn, Dope Girls: The Birth Of The British Drug Underground Kate Atkinson, Shrines of Gaiety Matt Houlbrook, Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957 Downton Abbey Robert Graves & Alan Hodge, The Long Weekend: A Social History of Great Britain 1918-1939 Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests
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56 - Reginald Hill
What happens when a late-twentieth-century detective novelist develops strong opinions about the First World War?  This month Angus, Jessica and Chris discuss Reginald Hill's The Wood Beyond (1995) and the short story 'Silent Night' from the collection A Candle for Christmas (2023). Along the way, we consider the significance of the genealogy boom to the historiography of the war, the politics of the Shot at Dawn campaign and the tradition of novelists inventing fictional regiments.  References: Midsummer Murders The Sweeney Who Do You Think You Are? Not Forgotten (2005-2009) Pat Barker, Regeneration (1991) Sebastian Japrisot, A Very Long Engagement (1994) Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong (1993) Blackadder Goes Forth (1983) The Monocled Mutineer (1986) Alan Clark, The Donkeys (1961) Reginald Hill, Arms and the Women (1999) ________. On Beulah Height (1998) ________. Recalled to Life (1992) ________. Exit Lines (1984) Helen McCartney, Citizen Soldiers: The Liverpool Territorials in the First World War (2005) Peter Simkins, Kitchener's Army: The Raising of the New Armies, 1914-1916 (2007) Arthur Marwick, The Deluge: British Society and the First World War (1965) Susan Grayzel, Women's Identities at War (1999) Tammy Proctor, Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War (2003) Alison Fell, Women as Veterans in Britain and France after the First World War (2018) Oh! What a lovely podcast, Black Hand Gang Oh! What a lovely podcast, The Warm Hands of Ghosts
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55 - Sapphire and Steel
What happens when you combine the First World War with a 1970s cult sci-fi classic? Â This month we watched 'Assignment 2' from the television series Sapphire & Steel which features a ghostly First World War soldier haunting an abandoned railway station. Along the way we discuss differing approaches to sacrifice, the idea of an 'unjust' death, and where the show sits on our ongoing 'creepy' list.
A history podcast discussing various cultural genres which reference the First World War, including detective fiction, Star Wars and death metal music, and ask why the First World War has particular popular cultural relevance.
South Africa