Dominic Sandbrook

And these had been made up of volunteers sent by the two dominions of Australia and New Zealand at the outbreak of war.

They thought they were going to fight in Europe and they have been training in the desert outside Cairo.

So that'll prepare them for the mud of Flanders.

Right.

So after the war...

Australian writers in particular absolutely lionized these guys.

And they said these were the embodiments of the Anzac spirit.

They are free-spirited, manly sons of the outback and of the outdoors.

What a contrast between our brave boys and the sort of sickly, pallid products of Britain's industrial cities.

It's like a kind of Australian ashes preview.

Exactly, exactly.

Now, actually, this is slightly misleading.

a quarter of the Australian imperial force had actually been born in Britain.

So these are people who were British but have emigrated to Australia and now have decided that they will sign up.

And actually, a lot of the others were not sons of the outback at all.

They came from cities themselves, cities like Sydney and Melbourne.

And as Australian historians have actually done lots of work in showing, they're not always the most...

admirable adverts for australian virtues you know tom i like australia a lot we've been there on tour i'm a big fan of australia and australians and indeed new zealanders but actually in cairo these blokes don't bring great credit on the cairo yeah

They don't make great credit on the Australian flag.

There's a lot of fighting.