Random WWI sorts of things

We saw War Horse for the first time this week. Not sure what I thought of it. Parts very moving, parts very cliched and mawkish. Interesting to see the scenes filmed in Castle Combe, which is where we had our honeymoon.

My theory is that Tom Hiddleston's and Patrick Kennedy's characters were in a relationship, or at least in the run up to one, simply because that tends to be the latter's role. Einstein and Eddington, Cambridge Spies, he was the gay love interest, killed off before matters could be consumated. QED.

I was re-reading A Tommy's Sketchbook and was struck, again, by a lovely little picture Henry Buckle did in July 1915 of flowers (poppies and cornflowers) from Flanders Fields. I can't find a link to that on the web and don't want to scan it in case of copyright issues, but it's profoundly moving, seeing those flowers in a jam tin and thinking of the significance of the poppies going forward.