TUNNELLING-YESTERDAY

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 17th Year

Issue

Issue No.

11

Date Released

Jul 1964

Length of issue (in feet)

973

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1ISLAND OF COAL
2. 2MINI-MINES
3. 3TUNNELLING-YESTERDAY
4. 4TUNNELLING-TODAY

Story

Story No. within this Issue

3 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: The part played by some of Britain’s miners in World War I, tunnelling on the Western Front.
NCB Commentary - Fifty years ago this August World War One began.
Little has been told about the men who fought a long, ferocious and almost private was under the fields and woods of Flanders ... the fighting tunnellers - and many of them were miners.
In South Wales valley Jesse Taylor began work as a colliers’ boy in 1907. In 1916 he joined the Royal Engineers and went to France to fight as a sapper.
Their job was to blow the enemy out of his trenches - and stop them doing the same thing.
Jesse tells how it was done ...
Once at the front and in the trenches, it was down the ladder and dig - just like in civvy street - but this was digging with a difference.
When peace came it was back to the pit - and a total of 50-years of work underground for Sergeant Jesse Taylor now 76 years young.

Keywords

Mining; Military

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The National Archives COAL 32   /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963

Credits:

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Production Co.

National Coal Board Film Unit