SECRET HEROES
JRR Tolkien: Before penning The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, the writer served as a lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. Tolkien saw action at the Battle of the Somme and was hospitalised with trench fever. His fantasy stories echoed the “animal horror” he had seen during the war.
CS Lewis: The future author of The Chronicles Of Narnia arrived in the trenches on his 19th birthday in 1917. He once took 60 German soldiers prisoner and narrowly avoided death when he was wounded by a shell blast. Crawling to safety through the mud, he was left with shrapnel next to his heart.
AA Milne: Winnie- thePooh, the author’s most famous creation, was named after a real bear that had once been the h mascot of a Canadian infantry unit. Milne himself joined up in 1915, serving as a lieutenant, and was injured at the Battle of the Somme.
Hugh Lofting: As a lieutenant in the Irish Guards, he was inspired by witnessing animals’ suffering on the battlefield to pen his hit book Doctor Dolittle, about a medic who can talk to other species.
Basil Rathbone: Famous for playing detective Sherlock Holmes in movies, h he showed h d early acting promise by disguising himself as a tree to scout enemy positions on the Western Front, winning the Military Cross for his efforts.
Arnold Ridley: On TV’S Dad’s Army he was conscientious objector Private Godfrey. But in real life, the actor had fought on the Somme and had twice survived being bayoneted by the enemy.
Alexander Fleming: The scientist’s discovery of f penicillin i illi would ld later l help save millions, but he had previously saved many lives serving with distinction as a captain with the Royal Army Medical Corps. Henry Moore: The future sculptor was badly injured in a gas attack while in the trenches in 1917. Moore said his service passed in a “haze of trying to be a hero”.
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Volunteering at 42, the composer served as a stretcher bearer and was inspired by the sound of a bugler to compose his famous work, A Pastoral Symphony.
Clement Attlee: The future Labour Prime Minister saw action at Gallipoli and Iraq and was injured in the leg by shrapnel. Future PMS Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan also served.
Bernard Montgomery: The famous Second World War general had been shot through the lung by a sniper on the Western Front in 1914 and served at the Battle of the Somme and Passchendaele.
Ernest Hemingway: The American writer was wounded by mortar fire as an ambulance driver on the Italian front. He fell in love with a nurse, using his experiences to write his book A Farewell To Arms.