The Somme – The First 24 Hours was made for the hundredth anniversary of the Somme. Tony Robinson tells the powerful and moving story of five men of one battalion as they enlist, train for and take part in the worst disaster in the history of the British army. With a secret diary kept by Private Frank Meakin,Tony Robinson recounts the tale of the Sheffield City battalion where just 47 of the 650 men in the battalion survived.The whole battalion was made up of men from the same street, the same workplace and who were killed disproportionately. The impact that had on those streets must have been enormous. Private Frank Meakin broke Army rules to keep his record of the catastrophic battle and as a result left us a powerful account of the horrors of war