Great War Stories 3 - Alexander Aitken

Hilary Barry presents this episode from the third series of Great War Stories. The subject is Alexander Aitken, a veteran of World War l who would later become a world-renowned mathematician. Aitken wrote an acclaimed war memoir (Gallipoli to the Somme) which a student reads from at Aitken's old school, Otago Boys' High, on Anzac Day. The story of the violin he kept by his side at Gallipoli is told, and a musical arrangement of Aitken's is played. The short documentaries were made for the centenary of World War l, and screened during TV3’s nightly news. 

More than once I felt like throwing the violin away down the streambed, but members of the section took turns with me in carrying it up the slope.

– Alexander Aitken, in his 1964 memoir Gallipoli to the Somme: Recollections of a New Zealand Infantryman

Key Cast & Crew

Peter Metcalf

Editor

Hilary Barry

Presenter, Narrator

Anna Cottrell

Director, Writer, Producer

Kerryn Pollock

Research

John Patrick

Sound Recordist

David Filer

Research