:00:40. > :00:43.stood on the brink of war. Ht would change this country and the rest of
:00:44. > :00:48.the world for ever. The way wars were fought would change, the
:00:49. > :00:54.weapons of war change and mhllions of people would die. The war to end
:00:55. > :00:57.all wars. It was meant to bd over by Christmas but the guns wouldn't fall
:00:58. > :01:10.silent for more than four ydars A century on, we remember.
:01:11. > :01:18.Thousands gathered here this morning in this arena at the Tank Mtseum in
:01:19. > :01:22.Bovington. Each one paying their own tribute the courage and sacrifice so
:01:23. > :01:28.many has over a million poppies burst into the air to rain down
:01:29. > :01:35.Welcome to the special programme as we mark the moment that Britain
:01:36. > :01:39.declared war in 1914. And it's fitting to be here at Bovington
:01:40. > :01:47.because First World War soldiers trained here on these secrets,
:01:48. > :01:52.brand`new fighting machines, what we know as the tank. Behind me we have
:01:53. > :01:57.a replica of a Mark four, the type of tank that would have been used
:01:58. > :02:02.most in the First World War and across from me, this is a rdplica of
:02:03. > :02:06.the German a seven B. 100 ydars on to this day, tank training still
:02:07. > :02:13.takes place here and the sort of things they are using are the
:02:14. > :02:17.Challenger two, the latest of the high tech tanks that can tr`ce their
:02:18. > :02:21.history back to the First World War. 3500 people were here darlier
:02:22. > :02:25.today for the service of relembrance and a re`enactment of the Fhrst
:02:26. > :02:31.World War battle and many others have gathered together across the
:02:32. > :02:36.south to pay their respects. Tonight many will join in a moment of
:02:37. > :02:40.commemoration for the speci`l lights out services and we will have more
:02:41. > :02:48.on that in a moment. First, Caroline Richardson reports on a day of
:02:49. > :02:52.reflection in Dorset. 100 ydars ago today, servicemen were absorbing the
:02:53. > :02:57.news that we were at war. They end the young men who way to sign up had
:02:58. > :03:02.no idea what was ahead of them. Today we do know and it's ilportant
:03:03. > :03:05.not to forget. I wouldn't h`ve wanted to have gone through those
:03:06. > :03:11.days, gone off in my suit to the continent and get blown to pieces,
:03:12. > :03:16.no chance. It's incredibly portly, we're still making the same mistakes
:03:17. > :03:22.but hopefully people might start to learn. Maybe they're great
:03:23. > :03:29.grandfather is in a cemeterx in France. It's poignant to me, I
:03:30. > :03:33.served 22 years in the Army. If I have been a young man 100 ydars ago,
:03:34. > :03:39.it would have been very different, would have been short lived.
:03:40. > :03:47.Thousands came to the Tank Luseum to see what a World War I battle would
:03:48. > :03:53.have been like. A fledgling a court took conflict to the skies. Tank
:03:54. > :03:59.technology spell the end of the cavalry charge. And trench warfare
:04:00. > :04:05.became a byword for futilitx and attrition. After going down of the
:04:06. > :04:30.and in the morning, we will remember them.
:04:31. > :04:38.We have got to remember all the lives that were given and jtst
:04:39. > :04:43.remember that this is to rate a really special piece of history that
:04:44. > :04:48.shaped our lives `` to commdmorate. The weapons and hardware ard museum
:04:49. > :04:54.pieces but they marked a new era of warfare. With them, the Allhes won
:04:55. > :04:59.but paid a terrible price. We are lucky to have been born when we are.
:05:00. > :05:04.Can you imagine what it might have been like if you were a young man
:05:05. > :05:10.100 years ago? Scared, worrhed, I might not see tomorrow. A young man,
:05:11. > :05:15.thinking what it might have been like in the great War. Across the
:05:16. > :05:21.south there have been wreath`laying services, church services, loments
:05:22. > :05:29.of silence. We report on how the region has marked today's
:05:30. > :05:34.anniversary. Village, town, city. The war affected every commtnity,
:05:35. > :05:40.each is marking its centenary in its own way. They were my mother's
:05:41. > :05:45.uncles. My great uncles. Evdry wooden cross planted in Cavdrsham
:05:46. > :05:57.Cemetery remembers a relative who fell. Blown to bits. All of them,
:05:58. > :06:07.actually. Two on the Battle of the Somme.
:06:08. > :06:12.At Wimborne Minster, hundreds gathered to pay their respects at a
:06:13. > :06:17.service of remembrance. My father was in the First World War because
:06:18. > :06:24.he had been gassed, he died of asthma when he was 56. So mx
:06:25. > :06:31.children don't have a grandfather on that side of the family. Matters
:06:32. > :06:36.came to pray and reflect at Salisbury Cathedral. And new
:06:37. > :06:40.memorials to honour the fallen work on bail. A plaque for each of the
:06:41. > :06:43.eight men from Carterton who lost their lives and the role of animals
:06:44. > :06:50.in war, marked by this sculpture in Heron Dell. At Fratton Park in
:06:51. > :07:01.Portsmouth, a memorial to the Pompey Powles. In 1940, `` 1914, the men
:07:02. > :07:05.thought it was their duty sdrvice set recruiting stand specifhcally to
:07:06. > :07:09.target men and boys going to matches on a Saturday and they did hn their
:07:10. > :07:17.numbers. Unfortunately, thex died in their numbers as well. In Wdst
:07:18. > :07:23.Sussex, a new church bell, hnscribed with the names of the villagers who
:07:24. > :07:27.perished. This will be a grdat testimony to the whole vill`ge, to
:07:28. > :07:32.have this bell in this church, ringing out. August of fourth 1 40
:07:33. > :07:38.may be beyond living memory but today people across the South
:07:39. > :07:45.ensured the significance of the date was properly respected `` Atgust
:07:46. > :07:50.four, 1914. Let's just for ` moment look ahead to tonight, becatse there
:07:51. > :08:01.is a very special event happening, it is called lights out. Our
:08:02. > :08:07.reporter is near Henley. We are round about three hours awax from
:08:08. > :08:13.this vigil, this candlelit vigil at this church, a very special event
:08:14. > :08:21.this evening because there hs one person they want to mark, an extra
:08:22. > :08:24.special person, and that is Wilfred Owen, the great War poets who has
:08:25. > :08:33.very close connections to this church. For a start, he was a lay
:08:34. > :08:40.assistant here in 1911 to 1813, and also his family lived nearbx, they
:08:41. > :08:43.are buried in the cemetery outside, his sister and both his pardnts But
:08:44. > :08:49.it's in this church, in just three hours time, that the congregation
:08:50. > :08:54.will line the pews and the choir will stand at the top of thd church,
:08:55. > :08:59.giving their performance, a special performance which incorporates the
:09:00. > :09:06.poems of Wilfred Owen. I'm joined by the producer of that show. Just tell
:09:07. > :09:15.us about this performance. Ht's a concert vigil, light into d`rkness,
:09:16. > :09:20.darkness illumined. The chohr, a 40 voice mixed group, will be singing
:09:21. > :09:25.ten Coral anthems but the atdience and congregation will participate
:09:26. > :09:30.fully. They are hymns, Scriptures, prayers and readings. It's ` balance
:09:31. > :09:37.of performance and the disshpation. Talk to us about the candlelit
:09:38. > :09:42.vigil. It is structured arotnd seven sequences. Remember, recall,
:09:43. > :09:48.reflect, Revere, concepts wd can explore together. At the end of each
:09:49. > :09:52.sequence, lights and candles will be extinguished so we begin in full
:09:53. > :09:57.light and at the end of the service, we will be incomplete darkndss. I
:09:58. > :10:02.think you can tell, this is going to be a special performance and vigil
:10:03. > :10:06.here, they will of course bd remembering the war dead gave their
:10:07. > :10:13.lives or the rest of us. But one man in particular, the War poets, the
:10:14. > :10:19.great Wilfred Owen. A very poignant evening there. It will be poignant
:10:20. > :10:25.right across the South, manx of these services are going on, it s
:10:26. > :10:33.not too late to find out how to get involved. You can insert on that
:10:34. > :10:43.website, put in the nearest place and find out the nearest evdnt. With
:10:44. > :10:48.me throughout the programme is the curator of the Tank Museum here in
:10:49. > :10:55.Bovington. It has been and still is an emotional, poignant day. I think
:10:56. > :10:58.so, you think about what we are looking back to, August four, it's
:10:59. > :11:03.the beginning of the period for a country where at the end of it, we
:11:04. > :11:07.have lost a million lives, ` staggering number. So for us to be
:11:08. > :11:10.able to have a look at this period, see what it meant to this country
:11:11. > :11:19.and what changes are brought to this country, really important. This is a
:11:20. > :11:26.war that we are learning from history books. It has gone from
:11:27. > :11:30.living memory now. It is peculiar as well, because so many of those
:11:31. > :11:36.veterans, even they said it went into black`and`white in the 193 s.
:11:37. > :11:41.For us now, we can learn a huge amount more about it. Is th`t
:11:42. > :11:47.important for the future? Wd have to learn the lessons from that war it
:11:48. > :11:52.also how it changed this cotntry, in enormous ways, militarily, socially,
:11:53. > :11:56.and over the next four`year period will be able learn an awful lot
:11:57. > :12:05.more. You are the creator of the Museum, `` curator of the mtseum.
:12:06. > :12:09.The tank just changed everything in terms of machinery and warf`re,
:12:10. > :12:14.didn't it? In its infancy in World War I, it was early, it was a
:12:15. > :12:19.British invention, there to save British lives. We were the ones
:12:20. > :12:23.having to push the German army out of occupied France and Belghum. It
:12:24. > :12:30.makes no end of a contributhon and for the Germans, it's a frightening
:12:31. > :12:35.weapon but them to face. We are to talk a lot more now about t`nks In
:12:36. > :12:40.the last few years, there h`s been renewed interest in uncoverhng
:12:41. > :12:44.stories of soldiers who fought in the First World War and havd been
:12:45. > :12:50.forgotten. Remarkable tales of courage and heroism. Things to an
:12:51. > :12:54.open day at a church in Poole, we have discovered the story of one
:12:55. > :13:06.particular soldier who fought in the very first ever tank battle.
:13:07. > :13:11.Cyril Coles was a Sunday School pupil in Poole in Dorset. A few
:13:12. > :13:16.years later he swapped his civilian clothes for a uniform, and was then
:13:17. > :13:21.trained to use the most important British secret weapon of thd First
:13:22. > :13:29.World War. The tank. He took part in the first t`nk
:13:30. > :13:35.account `` attack in 1916. He was christened in this church in 18 3,
:13:36. > :13:42.and before he joined the Arly he worked in the mill with his father.
:13:43. > :13:45.Sarah learned about several's involvement thanks to an opdn day at
:13:46. > :13:52.the church. My sister came across this
:13:53. > :13:56.photograph of a battle this chap had been in.
:13:57. > :14:02.Several did his training at Surrey and East Anglia. But as the number
:14:03. > :14:08.of tanks group, more space was needed. So the War office ddcided to
:14:09. > :14:17.mark `` move training here to Bovington. A branch railway was
:14:18. > :14:23.built to move the tanks to the camp. They need somewhere away from the
:14:24. > :14:28.public eye, and quite a bit of land. Dorset, fine. Not many people here.
:14:29. > :14:34.They have also got a railwax line they can bring the tanks down on the
:14:35. > :14:36.railway line, offload them there so that Bovington becomes the hdeal
:14:37. > :14:46.place to train those first tank soldiers.
:14:47. > :14:50.Back in 1916, civil and his colleagues were stopped in their
:14:51. > :14:57.tracks by a German shell. Hd was shot as he tried to escape.
:14:58. > :15:05.The rest of the crew were ltcky enough to escape and survivd.
:15:06. > :15:13.Cyril was just 23 when he dhed. One of the pioneers of a new form of
:15:14. > :15:22.fighting machine that would revolutionise the way battlds are
:15:23. > :15:27.fought. 100 years ago, the tanks were so
:15:28. > :15:30.secret that the residents wdre told to close the curtains so thdy would
:15:31. > :15:37.not be able to see exactly what was going by. And now, here we `re at
:15:38. > :15:42.the tank is Ian, which has the world's largest collection of tanks.
:15:43. > :15:59.What I have done is gone inside and down a lot more about them.
:16:00. > :16:05.Imagine that you are in the trenches and looking up, and this mark one
:16:06. > :16:19.comes over the top. You havd never seen anything like it beford. Just
:16:20. > :16:24.how terrifying that must have been. This was the main tank of the First
:16:25. > :16:25.World War, and yet you would have had eight guys crammed into this
:16:26. > :17:12.space. Charles ironmonger Lucky escape
:17:13. > :17:21.Just as he abandoned his tank he was hit by a lid but is not booked the
:17:22. > :17:27.impact and saved his life. `` his notebook took the impact. Then there
:17:28. > :17:31.are these beautiful World W`r I embroidered postcards, which the men
:17:32. > :17:36.would buy from French women, they were hand`stitched to order. It was
:17:37. > :17:40.way for the men to censor bding positive home that would detract
:17:41. > :17:52.from the horror they were f`cing. `` send something positive homd. This
:17:53. > :17:53.one says, Ted. Let's come rhght up to date now and talk to Corporal
:17:54. > :18:03.Kevin Roberts. the challenge you see up thdre. What
:18:04. > :18:07.is today means for you? Massive I think if we forget what people did
:18:08. > :18:16.before us, then we just forget who we are. So it is massively hmportant
:18:17. > :18:22.to remember them, especiallx today. And particularly in the rold you
:18:23. > :18:26.play. These were the first tanks. So different from today. Can you
:18:27. > :18:33.imagine what that must have been like? If they hadn't gone through it
:18:34. > :18:40.before us, we wouldn't have had a stepping stone to go from. From what
:18:41. > :18:44.they have been in, to where we are now is absolutely massive.
:18:45. > :18:50.How many do you have in this tank? Four. Still very secret, sole of it?
:18:51. > :18:56.Secret `` some of it. David, this is the beginning of four
:18:57. > :19:01.years of commemoration. What are you hoping we will understand and
:19:02. > :19:06.appreciate at the end of it? That we have much picture of what h`ppened
:19:07. > :19:09.in the First World War. What that generation went through. And the
:19:10. > :19:15.next time we walked past ond of those war memorials, we will realise
:19:16. > :19:20.they are real people. They named their tanks, didn't they?
:19:21. > :19:26.Do you still do that? Yes, this is mega Tron. So the tradition is kept
:19:27. > :19:34.going. Thank you for being with us.
:19:35. > :19:36.Reading may be famous for its beer, bulbs and biscuits.
:19:37. > :19:39.But few people know about the crucial role the town played in
:19:40. > :19:42.helping to train tens of thousands of pilots, from all over thd world,
:19:43. > :19:52.Nikki Mitchell reports from Reading University's Wantagd Hall.
:19:53. > :19:59.The hustle and bustle, the clanking of glasses. Crammed in shoulder to
:20:00. > :20:56.shoulder. It must have been absolute chaos. They would launch thdm off so
:20:57. > :21:00.they could practice their observational skills from the ground
:21:01. > :21:06.was covered by a scale model of a French village with pyrotechnics for
:21:07. > :21:10.a did effect. As they launch themselves off, the Observer had to
:21:11. > :21:14.plot where the pyrotechnics went off, where the light bulbs flashed
:21:15. > :21:22.in the houses to simulate shells and artillery fire. As the flying school
:21:23. > :21:26.expanded, and Aerodrome was built, and a growing number of Reading s
:21:27. > :21:30.residents to win the war effort The only woman in this photograph is
:21:31. > :21:40.Elsie Taylor, her granddaughter Julia recently discovered she was a
:21:41. > :21:45.fabric worker. These would have been my grandmother's notes. It dxplains
:21:46. > :21:47.what order you have to do it in and the tautness things had to be, it
:21:48. > :21:55.was important to get it correct because life could depend on the
:21:56. > :22:02.tautness of the rigging. Elsie went on to live to 100, but around 1 ,000
:22:03. > :22:08.of Britain's pioneering MEng were dead by the end of the war. More
:22:09. > :22:13.than half of them, including Flying Officer Petit, were killed hn
:22:14. > :22:22.training. His plane nosedivdd to the ground in Wiltshire. He was 21 years
:22:23. > :22:30.old. You can hear more all this week on your local registration.
:22:31. > :22:36.We will have the weather in a minute or two when we have finished this
:22:37. > :22:40.programme. And there is a specially extended late news at 10:25 p.m , we
:22:41. > :22:48.will be reporting on the lights out services across the South. H'm sure
:22:49. > :22:52.you have stopped in front of many of these war memorials and wondered
:22:53. > :22:57.about the names there, wonddred what their stories are, who thesd people
:22:58. > :23:02.are. This is the memorial hdre at the Tank Museum. Tonight we're going
:23:03. > :23:07.to leave you with a little bit more information about some of those
:23:08. > :26:13.soldiers who fell in the First World War. Thanks for watching.
:26:14. > :26:19.We saw a number of showers today but through the course of the nhght they
:26:20. > :26:29.will ease and the skies werd clear. Temperatures will fall away into
:26:30. > :26:32.single figures. The winds are fairly light and with the light winds,
:26:33. > :26:39.there is the risk of one or two missed patches. A dry, sunnx day,
:26:40. > :26:41.decent start but we will sed increasing cloud and the risk of a
:26:42. > :26:43.shower from the North