War Horse (book)
Encyclopedia
War Horse is a children's fiction novel by Michael Morpurgo
. It was first published in Great Britain by Kaye & Ward publishers in 1982.
, Joey, young Albert's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry
and shipped to France
. His rider Captain Nicholls is killed while riding Joey. He's soon caught up in enemy fire; death, disease and fate take him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in No Man's Land
. But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist in the British Army
, he embarks on a dangerous mission to find the horse and bring him home to Devon
.
and who had been in the Devon Yeomanry working with horses, Morpurgo began to think of telling the story of the universal suffering of the Great War through a horse's viewpoint, but was unsure that he could do it. He also met another villager, Captain Budgett, who had been in the Cavalry in the Great War, and a third villager who remembered the army coming to the village to buy horses. Morpurgo thanks the three men in the dedication of the book, naming them as Albert Weeks, Wilfred Ellis and Captain Budgett.
With his wife, Morpurgo had founded Farms for City Children
, a charity where inner city children live and work on rural farms for a week. Interviewed on Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4
by Fi Glover
in December 2010, Morpurgo recounted the event that convinced him he could write the book:
In another article, Morpurgo stated that Billy was not the child's real name. Morpurgo later recalled, "As I listened to this boy telling the horse everything he'd done on the farm that day, I suddenly had the idea that of course the horse didn't understand every word, but that she knew it was important for her to stand there and be there for this child."
The third inspiration for the book, after meeting the veterans and seeing Billy with Hebe the horse, was an old oil painting that Morpurgo's wife Clare had been left: "It was a very frightening and alarming painting, not the sort you'd want to hang on a wall. It showed horses during the First World War charging into barbed wire fences. It haunted me." The painting was by F. W. Reed and was dated 1917, and showed a British cavalry charge on German lines, with horses entangled in barbed wire. Morpurgo wrote about fictionalised version of this painting in his 'Author's Note' at the start of the book. In his version, the painting shows a red bay with a white cross on his forehead, and the painting bears the legend: "Joey. Painted by Captain James Nicholls, autumn 1914."
. The play, also called War Horse, was staged at the Olivier Theatre, National Theatre
in London
. The production opened on 17 October 2007 and was met with critical acclaim — its use of life-size puppets of horses from the Handspring Puppet Company
won an Olivier Award, Evening Standard Theatre Award and London Critics' Circle Theatre Award for design. In February 2010 it was revealed that the play would transfer to Broadway
in New York City
, New York, United States.
In May 2010 it was announced Steven Spielberg
would direct the movie adaptation with Richard Curtis
and Lee Hall
writing the screeplay. Jeremy Irvine
was cast in the lead role. The full cast was revealed on 17 June 2010. The official release date is 28 December 2011.
A radio adaption of the book was broadcast on BBC Radio 2
on Saturday 8 November 2008. It featured Timothy Spall
starring as the voice of Joey, Brenda Blethyn
as Mother and Bob Hoskins
as Sergeant Thunder. The radio play was rebroadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on November 11th 2011 as part of a special Remembrance sequence.
, that was intimately involved with the genesis of the story.
War Horse is one of five children's books that deal with war that is featured in a special exhibition titled Once Upon a Wartime - Classic War Stories for Children at the Imperial War Museum
in London, running from 11 February – 30 October 2011. The exhibition details the historical background to the story, and exhibits include pages from Morpurgo's original draft of the novel.
On its first publication in 1982 the book was only translated into a 'handful' of languages. As a side effect of the interest in the film adaptation by Steven Spielberg, the publishers of the book have recently been 'inundated' with requests for translation rights for the book to coincide with the film's release in late 2011.
The painting mentioned in the preface of the book, a portrait of Joey painted by Captain Nicholls and now hanging in the Village Hall (of an un-named village), was a fiction of Morpurgo's. However, particularly since the success of the stage version of the book, so many tourists have come to the village of Iddesleigh
, where Morpurgo lives, and asked to see the painting in the village hall, that in 2011 Morpurgo commissioned an artist to paint just such an oil painting to hang there. He used equine artist Ali Bannister, who acted as the chief "equine hair and make-up" artist on the Steven Spielberg
film
of the book, and who also drew the sketches of Joey seen in the film.
Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo, OBE FKC AKC is an English author, poet, playwright and librettist, best known for his work in children's literature. He was the third Children's Laureate.-Early life:...
. It was first published in Great Britain by Kaye & Ward publishers in 1982.
Synopsis
At the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Joey, young Albert's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
and shipped to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. His rider Captain Nicholls is killed while riding Joey. He's soon caught up in enemy fire; death, disease and fate take him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in No Man's Land
No Man's Land
No man's land is an unoccupied area between two opposing positions.No Man's Land may also refer to:-Places:In the United Kingdom* No Man's Land, Cornwall, England* No Man's Land Fort, off the coast of England* Nomansland, Devon, England...
. But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, he embarks on a dangerous mission to find the horse and bring him home to Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
.
Genesis
After meeting a World War I veteran who drank in his local pub at IddesleighIddesleigh
Iddesleigh is a village in Devon, England....
and who had been in the Devon Yeomanry working with horses, Morpurgo began to think of telling the story of the universal suffering of the Great War through a horse's viewpoint, but was unsure that he could do it. He also met another villager, Captain Budgett, who had been in the Cavalry in the Great War, and a third villager who remembered the army coming to the village to buy horses. Morpurgo thanks the three men in the dedication of the book, naming them as Albert Weeks, Wilfred Ellis and Captain Budgett.
With his wife, Morpurgo had founded Farms for City Children
Farms for City Children
Farms for City Children is a UK registered charity which aims to provide experience of farm and countryside life for inner-city children.-Foundation:...
, a charity where inner city children live and work on rural farms for a week. Interviewed on Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
by Fi Glover
Fi Glover
Fiona "Fi" Glover is a BBC journalist and presenter and, until March 2011, the host of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live.-Career:...
in December 2010, Morpurgo recounted the event that convinced him he could write the book:
One of the kids who came to the farm from BirminghamBirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, a boy called Billy, years and years and years ago now, the teachers warned me that he had a stammerStutteringStuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...
... and told me not to ask him direct questions because it would terrify him if he had to be made to speak because he doesn’t speak. They said ‘He’s been two years in school and he hasn’t said a word, so please don’t confront him or he’ll run back to Birmingham’, which is a long way from DevonDevonDevon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and they didn’t want that. So I did as I was told and I stood back and I watched him, and I could see that he related wonderfully to the animals, totally silently, never spoke to the other kids at all, and then I came in the last evening, which I always used to do, to read them a story. It was a dark November evening and I came into the yard behind this big Victorian house where they all live, and there he was, Billy, standing in his slippers by the stable door and the lantern above his head, talking. Talking, talking, talking, to the horse. And the horse, Hebe, had her head out of, just over the top of the stable, and she was listening, that’s what I noticed, that the ears were going, and she knew - I knew she knew - that she had to stay there whilst this went on, because this kid wanted to talk, and the horse wanted to listen, and I knew this was a two way thing, and I wasn’t being sentimental, and I stood there and I listened, then I went and got the teachers, and brought them up through the vegetable garden, and we stood there in the shadows, and we listened to Billy talking, and they were completely amazed how this child who couldn’t get a word out, the words were simply flowing. All the fear had gone, and there was something about the intimacy of this relationship, the trust was building up between boy and horse, that I found enormously moving, and I thought, Well yes, you could write a story about the First World War through the eyes of a horse, let the horse tell the story, and let the story of the war come through the soldiers: British soldiers first of all, then German soldiers, then a French family with whom the horse spends winters, and that maybe you’ll then get a universal idea of the suffering of the First World War. So in a way I just took a gamble and went for it, and then wrote like a horse for about six months.
In another article, Morpurgo stated that Billy was not the child's real name. Morpurgo later recalled, "As I listened to this boy telling the horse everything he'd done on the farm that day, I suddenly had the idea that of course the horse didn't understand every word, but that she knew it was important for her to stand there and be there for this child."
The third inspiration for the book, after meeting the veterans and seeing Billy with Hebe the horse, was an old oil painting that Morpurgo's wife Clare had been left: "It was a very frightening and alarming painting, not the sort you'd want to hang on a wall. It showed horses during the First World War charging into barbed wire fences. It haunted me." The painting was by F. W. Reed and was dated 1917, and showed a British cavalry charge on German lines, with horses entangled in barbed wire. Morpurgo wrote about fictionalised version of this painting in his 'Author's Note' at the start of the book. In his version, the painting shows a red bay with a white cross on his forehead, and the painting bears the legend: "Joey. Painted by Captain James Nicholls, autumn 1914."
Adaptations
The book has also been made into a play adapted by Nick StaffordNick Stafford
Nick Stafford is a British playwright and writer. He is best known for writing the stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel War Horse, which garnered him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play in 2008, and the Tony Award for Best Play in 2011.-Career:Stafford trained at Rose...
. The play, also called War Horse, was staged at the Olivier Theatre, National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The production opened on 17 October 2007 and was met with critical acclaim — its use of life-size puppets of horses from the Handspring Puppet Company
Handspring Puppet Company
The Handspring Puppet Company is a puppetry performance and design company established in 1981 by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones, situated in Cape Town, South Africa. Thys Stander is the company's chief puppet maker.-History:...
won an Olivier Award, Evening Standard Theatre Award and London Critics' Circle Theatre Award for design. In February 2010 it was revealed that the play would transfer to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York, United States.
In May 2010 it was announced Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
would direct the movie adaptation with Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...
and Lee Hall
Lee Hall (playwright)
Lee Hall is an English playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for the 2000 film Billy Elliot.-Early life:...
writing the screeplay. Jeremy Irvine
Jeremy Irvine
-Early life:Irvine was educated at Bedford Modern School, an independent school in the county town of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, followed by the National Youth Theatre and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.-Acting career:...
was cast in the lead role. The full cast was revealed on 17 June 2010. The official release date is 28 December 2011.
A radio adaption of the book was broadcast on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
on Saturday 8 November 2008. It featured Timothy Spall
Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
starring as the voice of Joey, Brenda Blethyn
Brenda Blethyn
Brenda Anne Blethyn, OBE is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
as Mother and Bob Hoskins
Bob Hoskins
Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
as Sergeant Thunder. The radio play was rebroadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on November 11th 2011 as part of a special Remembrance sequence.
Further information
Signed copies by Michael Morpurgo of War Horse are available from the shop of his charity, Farms for City ChildrenFarms for City Children
Farms for City Children is a UK registered charity which aims to provide experience of farm and countryside life for inner-city children.-Foundation:...
, that was intimately involved with the genesis of the story.
War Horse is one of five children's books that deal with war that is featured in a special exhibition titled Once Upon a Wartime - Classic War Stories for Children at the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
in London, running from 11 February – 30 October 2011. The exhibition details the historical background to the story, and exhibits include pages from Morpurgo's original draft of the novel.
On its first publication in 1982 the book was only translated into a 'handful' of languages. As a side effect of the interest in the film adaptation by Steven Spielberg, the publishers of the book have recently been 'inundated' with requests for translation rights for the book to coincide with the film's release in late 2011.
The painting mentioned in the preface of the book, a portrait of Joey painted by Captain Nicholls and now hanging in the Village Hall (of an un-named village), was a fiction of Morpurgo's. However, particularly since the success of the stage version of the book, so many tourists have come to the village of Iddesleigh
Iddesleigh
Iddesleigh is a village in Devon, England....
, where Morpurgo lives, and asked to see the painting in the village hall, that in 2011 Morpurgo commissioned an artist to paint just such an oil painting to hang there. He used equine artist Ali Bannister, who acted as the chief "equine hair and make-up" artist on the Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
film
War Horse (film)
War Horse is a 2011 British-American war drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and is intended for release in the United States on 25 December 2011 and in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2012...
of the book, and who also drew the sketches of Joey seen in the film.