There’s a guy I work with who has a Dr Hibbert laugh. I mean, really a Dr Hibbert laugh. And he’s an old, big, bearded, upper-class white guy. He looks like Father Christmas, too.

Went to the Imperial War Museum photo archive today, and looked at over 6,000 pictures from WW1. The library assistant wasn’t exactly unhelpful, but she didn’t go out of her way to make my search easier, either. I was looking for something quite specific: a photo of two or three British soldiers, standing, and the pic had to have emotion, dirt, mud. The librarian suggested I start with the ‘civilians’ file, and after flicking through dozens of sepia images of soldiers picking grapes, flirting with local women, and milking cows, I realized I’d be better off looking for blood ‘n’ guts elsewhere – like in the files marked ‘battles’! Still, I came away with about twenty good shots. Hopefully Intense Author (who declared our original – and our revised – cover ‘awful; absolute shit’) will like one of them.