麻豆约拍

Six months into the Great War and the world is beginning to change and the aftershock is rippling through the cultural establishment.

New technologies like the telephone and the wireless telegram are being used for the very first time. German zeppelins loom over Britain. Poisonous gas is leaked onto the battlefield at Ypres.

On the cultural front we see these startling innovations reflected back in the rise of modernist literature, such as The 39 Steps by John Buchan, and art. C.R.W. Nevinson's 'La Mitrailleuse' or 'The Machine Gun' marked a definitive break from the Victorian interpretation of war as one of 'valour' and 'sacrifice', glorified in Rupert Brooke's poems published posthumously in 1915.

Cinema is the most popular form of entertainment with the demand to see international stars like Charlie Chaplin changing the inner workings of the film industry.

In the first of the second series on how the Great War changed art, words and society, Francine Stock returns to The Cultural Front looking for glimpses of a modern world.

With contributions from Genevieve Bell, Pat Mills, Samuel Hynes, Guillaume de Syon, Richard Slocombe, Stewart Kelly and Bryony Dixon.

Producer: Caitlin Smith.