Lieutenant Pimple and the Stolen Submarine
- Twickenham
- 1914
Private Daly of the Connaught Rangers triumphs in the Aldershot Command annual cross country race, months before the outbreak of WWI.
This poignant newsreel item shows hundreds of soldiers competing in the annual Aldershot Cross Country race, months before the outbreak of WWI. The camera keeps pace with the runners, tracking Private Daly as he crosses the finish line. Known as 'the Devil's Own', the Connaught Rangers were an Irish Regiment of the British Army; some 2,500 Rangers would lose their lives in the coming conflict.
The outbreak of war in July 1914 came as a shock to most. But from our privileged position today, we can find among the films produced in the early 1910s scattered hints of the looming conflict that would split Europe in two.
One ominous sign was the proliferation of stories of international espionage and intrigue (played as drama or comedy), while newsreels offer evidence of the prominence of the armed forces in British society. Even so, the overwhelming majority of films of the period point to a nation blissfully unaware of the horrors to come.