So, "the war to end all wars" began 100 years ago this week.

The British Expeditionary Force, professional career soldiers, would be no match for the Kaiser's millions of soldiers. Was the war necessary? Who caused it? Could it have bee avoided?

Kitchener needed more, he said it was for King & Country. "Pals", often only 15 or 16, joined up together. These became lions to be led by donkeys. If you'd been a Boy Scout, that was often enough of a qualification to be promoted to Lieutenant.

A Lieutenant's life expectancy on the front was no longer than six weeks, like the summer school holidays.

Blackburn is the town longest twinned in history. 1923, I think, from memory. The then Mayor of Blackburn's son had perished defending a bridge in the town of Peronne on the Somme.

The town, it's a bit like Skipton, was completely devastated by bombardment. Our Clerk of Works went out in 1919 to survey the damage & plan the repairs. The people of Blackburn contributed by public subscription to the cost of building Le Pont de Blackburn.

My wife & I first visited Peronne in 1979. We've been back many times on way to & back from other places. There is a British Military Cemetery on the town's approaches. Over 500 men are buried there. I think we saw one guy over 30, many were not 18. Most of them, about 350, had names like Khan, Patel & Singh.

I went to one cemetery, the area is strewn with them. Here guys were buried in some seemingly senseless, alphabetical order. I wondered if there were any William Taylors there? There were rows of us!

We will hear & see a lot about The Great War over the next few days, weeks & months. We will hear lines from Blunden, Graves, Sassoon & Owen. Perhaps these things were not sweet or right?