Charles Masterman, from http://www.firstworldwar.com

Just a note to folks that this evening on BBC Radio 3 we had Neil Brand’s ninety-minute play, Seeing it Through. The subject of the play is Wellington House, the covert British propaganda outfit from World War One (also known as the War Propaganda Bureau), which under Charles Masterman conducted a would-be civilised campaign of information management, using willing well-known authors (Wells, Bennett, Doyle, Chesterton) to argue Britain’s rightfulness in fighting such a war, and employing other media, including film. There was passing mention of Charles Urban, who produced the documentary feature Britain Prepared (1915) for Masterman, and reference at the end to The Battle of the Somme (1916), made by the British Topical Committee for War Films, with somewhat anachronistic comment on its use of some inauthentic footage. A thoughtful, skillful piece from the prodigious Mr Brand.

You’ll be able to catch the play for the next week on Radio 3’s Listen Again service. I recommend doing so.