The military historian Richard Holmes — not to be confused with the biographer of the same name who will be at the Woodstock Literary Festival next month — is a prolific author and TV presenter, famous for the War Walks and Wellington BBC series.

Now he has put together a collection of photographs, some of which he assembled for his book Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front. His new book, Shots from the Front: The British Soldier 1914-1918 (Harper Press, £20) includes truly shocking photographs, but also the preparations for war, nurses and parients, scenes from the battlefield, and the armistice and its aftermath.

As he says: "This book is not much concerned with the great and the good, but is greatly preoccupied with the folk with broken fingernails, stubbly chins and lousy shirts who made up the real strength of an army built to endure."