Old Front Line
WW1 Podcast with Paul Reed
Charley’s War
Charley’s War was a comic strip published in the late 1970s and early 1980s telling the story of Charley Bourne, a 16 year old Tommy on the front line of the Great War. What does it tell us about the conflict, and what impact does it have on our understanding of the subject?
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19 Comments on “Charley’s War”
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Old Front Line 
As always, excellent. Thank you Paul
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Thank you, Darrell!
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A great episode that really made me think about Charley’s war in a way that I didn’t as a teenager. I also ended up buying Battle Action just for Charley’s War. So many great characters and moments! I think I cheered out loud when the bully RMP, Sgt Bacon, was about to beat Charley up, but he was foiled by the appearance of a pair of huge Aussie soldiers, who proceeded to administer some well deserved Karma! I remember telling my Grandmother about the Silvertown munitions factory explosion, only to be astonished when she told me she remembered all the windows in her neighbourhood being smashed by the blast. Now to order the books…
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Thanks, Mark. It’s truly an amazing series and it was wonderful to go over it all again.
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Never read anything of Charley, but am sure I will look into the books. Think I can squeeze three volumes with all my other books ;-)
Great podcast again. And it made me think of all the comics I read when I was a kid. Mostly WW2 related (and westerns). Wonder where those comics all went….
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Having just read this ‘Guardian’ article (weblink: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/16/british-war-comic-art-rescued-exhibition ) about the fate of the artwork of various war comics, which noted ‘Charley’s War’ and its potency, I then listened to this podcast. Outstandingly done, as always, Paul. Cheers.
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Thank you, Nick!
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I hope you’ll be able to visit the ‘Into Battle’ war comics exhibition at Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock which features never before seen original artwork, including some from Charley’s War. It runs from 1st Oct to April next year
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Excellent as always Paul. Never read any of these but I think I’m going to be heading to eBay…..
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Enjoy Matt!
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Paul – thanks for sharing this important influence of what shaped your interest in the Great War. We didn’t have “Charley’s War” here in the U.S. but I can see how important it was — and remains — to those who lived close enough to hear the artillery. All your podcasts are a treat and this was no exception.
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great episode. Remember Charley’s war well. Like you it got my interest in the great war in stark contrast to the quite clean depictions of wwii heroics as shown in my other favourite comic Warlord.
I need to get my battle comics out of my dad’s attic.
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Thank your for this one, Paul! Interesting link between Charley and Manning’s alter-ego ‘Bourne’….also, considering the comic’s character ‘Sgt Tozer’….wasn’t there a Corporal Tozer in ‘Her Privates, We’ too?
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Just received a message from Amazon… the three volumes with about 336 pages each will arrive in two days… ;-)
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Fantastic! Enjoy them!
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Thanks Paul for another fascinating podcast. I was in my early 20s when these were published, so these passed me by. I can see how they would generate a young person’s interest in the Great War and can see myself ordering some copies in the near future. Good story about John Giles.
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Thanks, Stephen.
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Paul, thank you… another engaging episode which I listened to in the car last night whilst driving home after guiding a school around Ypres and the Somme over the last few days. It really brought back memories of eagerly waiting for Battle Picture Weekly to come out every week – I might be wrong, but on a Wednesday I seem to remember! The point you make about the full story drawing in all the layers of the Great War that no one soldier would have been unlikely to have experienced is very similar to what Henry Williamson does with his character, Phillip Maddison, in his epic ‘Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight’. I am just finishing the final (14th) book, ‘The Gale of the World’ on your recommendation in your earlier podcast you did on Williamson and my views are richer because of it. I think going back over ‘Charley’s War’ will do the same and give anyone who guides schools around the battlefields some great ideas on where to pitch our stories for the kids. Cheers.
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I read Charley’s War in Battle when I was a kid. It still remains one of the most memorable stories in comics and was really instrumental in forming a young person’s view of warfare. There was so much information about how the war was fought that was inserted into the story and which made it such an honest depiction of combat. Thanks for giving Charley’s War the spotlight it deserves. I’ll be re-reading it.
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