15 March 2017 15:06
Richard Van Emden
Subject: Meeting the Enemy
Richard van Emden is a well-known historian of the Great War, having interviewed 270 veterans and written, so far, twelve books. He was born in Nottingham in 1965, and read Politics at Newcastle University, subsequently taking his MA and MPhil at the University of Reading. He trained as a journalist and worked in London for two years before going to Cologne University and writing his first book, Tickled to Death to Go, the biography of Ben Clouting, who took part in the first action of the Great War and served until the end. In 1994, Richard came back to the UK and began work for Testimony Films, acting as associate producer on the award-winning Roses of No Man’s Land and Veterans. Subsequently, he worked for the BBC on The Trench and for independent television companies, making documentaries for BBC1, BBC2, BBC4 and Channel 4. These include Britain’s Boy Soldiers, What did you do in the Great War, Daddy?