FIGHTING FOR THE NEWS

Sub-titled 'The Adventures of The First World War Correspondents from Bonaparte to the Boers', it is not two centuries since a newspaper conceived the idea of sending a reporter overseas to observe, gather information and write about war. The first Special Correspondent was Henry Crabb Robinson who in 1807 was sent by the proprietor of The Times John Walter II to act as their 'Man in Germany', ostensibly to follow and report on the movements of Napoleon's Grande Armée. Robinson was a 32 year old lawyer. He was almost arrested, but escaped from the Continent in disguise, the first of many exploits and adventures of this bold group of individuals who included William Russell in the Crimean War, whose reports helped bring down the government, and perhaps most famous of all Winston Churchill who reported on conflicts in Cuba, the Indian frontier, Sudan and the Boer War. Also includes reportage from Balaklava, the American Civil War, Prussia on the march, into Africa's dark centre, the Zulu War, and Egypt and the Sudan. 236pp, eight pages of photos including William Russell writing in his tent in the Crimean War winter 1854-55 and Felice Beato, the first photographer to capture the reality of war (WARNING - dead bodies at Taku Fort 1860).