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Author Argent, Denis, 1917-2008

Title A soldier in Bedfordshire, 1941-1942 : the diary of Private Denis Argent, Royal Engineers / edited by Patricia and Robert Malcolmson
Published Woodbridge : Boydell Press, 2009

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Description 1 online resource (xxviii, 194 pages) : illustrations, maps
Series The publications of the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society ; v. 88
Publications of the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society ; v. 88
Contents Intro -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- ABBREVIATIONS -- EDITORIAL PREFACE -- INTRODUCTION -- The Diarist and his Diary -- Bedfordshire in the 1930s and 1940s -- THE DIARY -- Part One: Destination Bedford, September to October 1941 -- Part Two: Billeted in Luton, October to November 1941 -- Part Three: A Long Winter, November 1941 to March 1942 -- Part Four: Good Days, Bad Days, April to May 1942 -- EPILOGUE -- Appendix A: Conchie Culture -- Appendix B: The BBC Symphony Orchestra Moves to Bedford -- Appendix C: Mass-Observation -- INDEX
Summary Denis Argent, a professional journalist, joined the British Army in 1940 at the age of 23. He was already writing for Mass Observation, the innovative research organisation founded in 1937. During most of his first two years in uniform, when he was billeted in Bedford and Luton, he kept a remarkably detailed and probing diary. He wrote of street life and other aspects of the Home Front in Luton and Bedford, where the BBC's Symphony Orchestra had relocated shortly before he arrived; daily military routine; bomb disposal; transport; women, sex and leisure; his political views and cultural interests (he loved music and was widely read); the crucial importance of leave to see his girlfriend; and his fellow conscientious objectors - he was in the Non-Combatant Corps, though he later chose to take up arms. <br><br>Denis Argent had a keen and observant reporter's eye. He was also highly attuned to the modernist intellectual culture of his time. His is a wartime diary that is perceptive, colourful, wide-ranging, sometimes amusing, and very well written
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
Print version record
digitized 2014 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Subject Argent, Denis, 1917-2008 -- Diaries
SUBJECT Argent, Denis, 1917-2008 fast
Subject Soldiers -- Great Britain -- Diaries
World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, British.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Social aspects -- England -- Bedfordshire
Social aspects
Soldiers
Soldat
Alltag
Weltkrieg 1939-1945
England -- Bedfordshire
Great Britain
Bedfordshire
Genre/Form autobiographies (literary works)
Personal narratives
Autobiographies
Diaries
Personal narratives
Autobiographies.
Personal narratives.
Autobiographies.
Récits personnels.
Form Electronic book
Author Malcolmson, Patricia, 1944-
Malcolmson, Robert W
Bedfordshire Historical Record Society
ISBN 9781800107762
1800107765
Other Titles Diary of Private Denis Argent, Royal Engineers