The subject of the First World War evokes many images, many of which are used repeatedly nowadays in film and TV, but they tend to concentrate on the drama and the misery of war. The reality was that it didn’t rain every day, the trenches were not knee deep in mud all year round, and soldiers were not subjected to shelling and death every day of their lives. In fact, day-to-day life was, as one veteran expressed “90 per cent sheer boredom and 10 per cent fear, but when we wer