Colin Firth & Taron Edgerton read Rudyard Kipling's letters to his 17-year-old son

[@bordershader]

Lionel, to whom the final letter was addressed, was my grandfather, who at the time was 15 years old. He stayed regularly at Batemans (Kipling's home in East Sussex) as his father was an army man himself and was posted abroad. (In 1915 he was in France coordinating troop movements.) My great grandfather had been at school with Kipling and had been immortalised as Stalky in Kipling's book 'Stalky & Co', which is how they knew each other.

[@ShazzeoftheNorth]

That's some fascinating family history you have there!

[@aircastles1013]

Wow! Who knew a curriedUnicorn would have such a background, fascinating!

[@geoffreytudor5674]

Stalky is indeed immortal in my mind! Having read RK's whole collection several times, "Stalky and Co." is still a source of great humor.

[@21centdregs]

there's something wrong with the timeline here. the descriptions says that lionel is a colonel and close friend of kipling. the letter is not written to a 15 year old. what time are you referencing in your comment when you say "at the time was 15 years old"?

[@Jerkal]

@@21centdregs obviously, they make colonels of 15 year olds... The real Lionel Charles Dunsterville would have been ~50 years old. Also, Lionel was born in the same year as Rudyard, so it would have been an impossibility for Lionel's father to have gone to school with him.

[@iamshotty]

I know I'm a bit late to the party, and this is completely off topic, but Oh my sweet Lord... Colin Firth is like a fine wine - he gets better and better with age. And he will always be my Mr Darcy xx ❤🇦🇺

[@triolith42]

I second that! Did you catch how he seemed to be fighting back getting emotional while he was reading Kiplings' final letter to Lionel? It is, in my humble opinion, that is possibly what contributed to his hasty exiting as well

[@mariannegeraud6318]

One must never forget that behind every war and behind every soldier there is a parent...a son...a daughter..a brother.. sister...a wife...a husband...a lover...a friend That someone that anxiously awaits a letter that might never come!

[@Helen-vb3nh]

That is very true…. Imagine the anticipation

[@andwhynotindeed9526]

"“If any question why we died,Tell them, because our fathers lied.” Rudyard Kipling

[@alidabaxter5849]

Kinplings son was so short sighted he was almost blind, and had constantly been turned down for military service because of that. Yet Kipling used all his influence and connections to get him into a regiment, so that he walked into a barrage of fire he could not see. Kipling mourned him, but that he acted as he did is the mystery to me.

[@colewood3297]

@@alidabaxter5849 I think it's very hard to understand for civilians, nowadays but especially back then, to understand just how important being able to say you were/are a soldier was/is to people's identities, especially men. I'm a civilian but I've read enough and heard enough to know that for many people, especially men, the idea of fighting for one's country is the highest honor one can attain. I can understand and empathize with a father who wanted his son to achieve his dream, especially that dream was the dream that society dictated was the ultimate dream a man could aspire to and fulfil.

[@annepokras551]

​@@colewood3297Yes but also seems so selfish to seemingly put his reputation above what should have been his son's rejection to be sent to the war front - there were non combat positions he could have "justified" for his ego.

[@colewood3297]

@@annepokras551 But those weren't the same thing. And it may seem selfish to us, but to them it was the opposite, it was the greatest sacrifice you could make for society.

[@gilliankew]

Extra poignancy knowing that the young Kipling died there; a real reminder if the way war takes the young, with all their potential and leaves the old to their grief. So sad.

[@lavrentivs9891]

As the ancient (if I remember correctly:) greek saying goes: "in peace sons bury their fathers, in war fathers bury their sons".

[@TheZigzagman]

​@@lavrentivs9891 Croesus via Herodotus. About as ancient as Greek quotes get. My favorite is still "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" in the context of Wilfred Owens.

[@petercampbell1693]

Your words are as true now as they have been always, wars are even when they can be justified, a sentence of death, injury and devastation.

[@deckenneth]

Edgerton's performance here is outstanding. He's clearly worthy of more than the film roles he's been getting. Hope we get to see him do more meaningful work than Kingsmen and Rocketman.

[@Schmidtelpunkt]

It is kind of relieving to see a young actor who could as well just ride some celebrity wave putting in the work to master the craft.

[@annasargent8340]

Rudyard Kipling's eyesight was appalling, from childhood - he was beaten for 'stupidity' when he was actually partially sighted. Jack Kipling wanted to join up desperately, despite gaving poor eyesight (but better than his father's) and Rudyard spoke to Lord Roberts and Jack *earned*, as you hear from the letters, the highest respect for being a perfectly adequate if very young officer, at barely 18. It was Kipling who wrote the words for the war graves, and he was behind the burial of the Unknown Soldier at Westminster Abbey. It could have been Jack, whose body was never found in his parents' lifetimes. Jack got the commission he wanted... and his parents never actually stopped looking for him or 'atoning' for his loss, having already lost their first child Josephine to influenza.

[@mzjamm2]

So true so true.

[@JessCorey]

As a member of a multigenerational military family going back before the American Revolution all the way through to Vietnam, we are very keenly conscious of our family's choices and the things we've done. Your heart can both be broken and soberd by this because as Mr. Kipling relates, many families were going through it at the time, but it doesn't make it any easier. It's why, as a lover of history. I have profound respect for the service that we have rendered to our country, but I am very aware that that service may not be looked on the same by those who have the power to send young men to die. Very well known that Kipling was astoundingly pro-British in the lead-up to World War I, and learned the harsh lesson that all those who beat the drums of war learn all too tragically. This was magnificent.

[@Lorenzo-be1nm]

English actors... the best... the english school emphasis THE WORD, THE TEXT, THE SPOKEN WORD, THE "SAYING"... with the best possible result... almost like opera singing, the word carries the emotion ....

[@KC-lo8jz]

Taron Egerton is Welsh

[@alexandrathom-heinrich4053]

@@KC-lo8jz then let’s just say British actors. I know of many people that use the word ‘English’ and mean British.

[@darmastutidarmastuti]

That's why I loved English actors.. ❤️

[@KC-lo8jz]

@@alexandrathom-heinrich4053 i can't say something is an apple when it's an orange just because they're both fruit.

[@robhardingpoetry]

The English schools really don’t emphasis those things. Theatre training probably does though

[@bluekitty3731]

Watch the movie My boy Jack with Daniel Radcliffe playing John Kipling, son of Runyard Kipling. It broke my heart to think of all of the young men dying for something as insane as war. John ( Jack) had very bad eyesight and could've gotten a medical excuse because of it, but his father was very keen that John would keep up the family reputation and do his duty. Old men declare war young men die in them.

[@OceanSwimmer]

As the daughter of a WW2 veteran, I take strong exception to your comment. My father told me he saw the threat in Europe and Japan, and enlisted in 1939 because he wanted a safe, free world for his children. He was 20 years old. He joined the Marine Corps and saw action in the South Pacific theater. Wounded in November of 1943, recovered and came home to marry my mother, who he met on furlough in 1940. He returned with malaria and suffered many years after with it. He felt a strong duty to rebuild a world that had suffered through 4 years of war. A faithful husband and father, he gave us the best start in life possible. He mourned the loss of his brothers in arms for the rest of his life. War is always the last resort. Always.

[@bluekitty3731]

@@OceanSwimmer I'm deeply sorry if my comment was in any way disrespectful to your father's or any veterans service, that was not my intent. I belive war is insane and I hope it would be only the final option, I only hope that mankind could do better.

[@QUARTERMASTEREMI6]

@@OceanSwimmer I thank God for your father and all those who enlisted because they wanted a safe, free world for their children and young people like me. I thank him and so many others from the bottom of my heart cause we wouldn’t be here without them. ❤️

[@douglasherron7534]

@@bluekitty3731 We all hope that... However, reality means we will always need people like @OceanSwimmer's father who understand that so-called "rights" and "freedoms" only exist when people are willing to fight for them. Something that seems to have been forgotten by many of those who demand "rights" and "freedoms" as though they have always existed...

[@jaldeborgh]

@@OceanSwimmer God bless your father and may he and is brothers in arms all Rest In Peace. My father was also a WWII veteran but was young enough to only experience the last couple of years of the war and on a ship that didn’t see any direct action. I’ve studied the war in great detail and it’s taught me many things, most important are the genuine brotherhood among soldiers and unselfish courage displayed by so many. I sometimes ask myself if I could give that much, it’s truly remarkable. War while requiring the worst of mankind to start somehow requires the best of mankind to stop, a remarkable irony.

[@beast6213]

This was heartbreaking to hear.

[@1hayes1]

Taron Edgerton has a dazzling life energy.

[@1hayes1]

@bad1dobby Of course. Unfortunately, I repeated the error in the video title. My bad.

[@sylvianblue]

The wonderful movie My BoyJack written by, and starring as Kipling, the wonderful David Haig and Daniel Radcliffe as Jack is so wonderful.

[@msshellm8154]

Utterly heartbreaking ... and it's happening not just 'again' but never really stopped. The human face of headlines 💔

[@khairina281]

Colin firth and his beautiful voice ✨✨

[@alixthompson2836]

I grew up in Burwash, very close to Kipling’s manor. This is heartbreaking

[@Badpoison1]

I knew it was coming, and yet still I'm here, gutted.

[@markmuldoon805]

The book that reduced me to tears was 'The Broken Years' that tells the story of the last years of World War 1 in the letters of the Australian soldiers on the 'Western' Front. So many letters, so many hopes, so many authors marked KIA 1917 and even 1918. .....

[@QUARTERMASTEREMI6]

John had a medical condition (I think poor vision) and so could have had a medical excuse, but his father pushed him anyway… what a shame he died so young and early in his life… RIP John Kipling. ❤️

[@catzenhouse]

He had horrible vision. Severe short-sightedness. His father, Rudyard, used his influence to get John into the services.

[@fd5927]

How INCREDIBLY moving with the horror of war.

[@darmastutidarmastuti]

It's like story came alive...when professional actors read a letter.. ❤️ In the future,, i'd be thrilled if Matthew Goode and vanessa kirby can participated in this show..

[@melanierichardson2498]

Vanessa reading Some of princess Margaret's letters would be amazing

[@vickywitton1008]

This is heart breaking and beautiful

[@gnostic268]

This is so tragic and moving. It's unimaginable that teenagers went off to die and their parents stayed behind and lived. It should always be the other way around.

[@Lif20-n6n]

Maybe if he hadn’t forced the boy, he would have lived, what do you think? Onky a sadist would send a boy, a MINOR, to the frontline.

[@QUARTERMASTEREMI6]

John had a medical condition (I think poor vision) and so could have had a medical excuse, but his father pushed him anyway… what a shame he died so young and early in his life… RIP John Kipling. ❤️

[@Lif20-n6n]

@@QUARTERMASTEREMI6 he had poor eyesight! And his father pulled some strings to make him go ANYWAY!

[@alidabaxter5849]

​@@Lif20-n6nAbsolutely right and I will never understand how a parent could do such a thing

[@5Ducklings]

Can you imagine ENCOURAGING your young son to go to war . . . only for him to be killed there? That is sooo sad.

[@pleappleappleap]

I'm crying again.

[@mariamartamarcolinocava1551]

Congratulations on Father's Day and may this work help many dads in situations of need or exile.

[@sylvianblue]

The adverts throughout this are really infuriating

[@AmyAnderson-fields]

Heartbreaking.

[@rosalindarcher6060]

heartbreaking

[@3321far]

War is a young man's and an old man's game. The young men who men who totally disregard their lives and personal safety, and the old men who send them to war for the same reason. Everyone else, between 30 and 60 hate war. People of conscience, the parents, wives, siblings, and partners who love and cherish their young men.

[@lindawilson4625]

Interesting and heartbreaking. Thank you.

[@carolking6355]

Wonderful, thank you.

[@anonymouspeacefulperson6199]

Excellent 👌 I could connect with the crocodile rock on PTSD recovery and the fishing guy who didn't like that therapy process. A wonderful reading, thank you.

[@emsieR86]

Taron ❤

[@Verax]

Thank you for uploading but, its Egerton.

[@annereinig7876]

I would love to go to one of the live shows, Berlin of course being the closest. But being a single mum of small children makes it impossible. Hoping you keep the series going untily children are old enough so I can go alone or with them.

[@WatchingDude]

I'll have a serving of Taron please ☺️

[@rachaelberry5091]

So wonderful!

[@1rjbrjb]

One wants to like Kipling. "If" and all that. But everyone here knows the story. The poor boy was unfit for service and wound up in battle only because his father used his considerable influence to get him there. In the meantime, dad very prudently passed up any opportunity for military service in his lifetime. He was too good a propagandist to be spared and he knew it, though it must have been hard for him to have sacrificed the glory and adventure. His letter to his friend: "ah well, lost a son, there it is then. We raised a man. Whole point of 'If'. The Hun will pay". TR also badgered his son to fight. But then again, TR had been Colonel Teddy and he had also tried to raise a division in the great war and he at least had the decency to die of a broken heart after losing Quentin. Kipling hoisted a commemorative glass of port and outlived his boy by 20 years. (TR also badgered Franklin to fight but Franklin chose a desk job and lived to impose 94% marginal tax rates.) Overall, I am not a bigger fan of Kipling for this.

[@alexandrathom-heinrich4053]

Help me, TR, who are you referring to?

[@1rjbrjb]

@@alexandrathom-heinrich4053 Excuse me, Teddy Roosevelt. He and Kipling were 7 years apart in age and both pretty aggressively militaristic. Each lost a son in WW I.

[@marieroberts5664]

​@@1rjbrjb didn't Teddy lose a son in WW2 also? TR Jr?

[@1rjbrjb]

@@marieroberts5664 Theodore Roosevely junior was an assistant division commander, killed in 1944. Another son, Kermit, played a minor military role and killed himself in 1943. A high casualty rate for Roosevelts since they tended to be 1880s vintage, pretty safely beyond draft age.

[@marieroberts5664]

@@1rjbrjb thank you.

[@tardx]

The tragedy of the Great War (“the war to end all wars”) is beautifully captured in these letters. I found myself seeking out Tim Hart’s performance of ‘Dancing at Whitsun’, which I find equally moving: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIbSiXSMf9CpedE

[@marieroberts5664]

Thank you. The song is gorgeous and I would love to see a world where the sorrow was long in the past and those senseless losses nevermore would be grieved by those left behind.

[@geschichten_ursula278]

I take the change to get better in English. Thanks to all who make this possible.

[@carlhicksjr8401]

If you're interested, there is a wonderful movie starring Daniel Radcliffe as 'Jack' Kipling from 1997, 'Our Boy Jack'.

[@catzenhouse]

It was an excellent production - I wish it was rerun on TV/Masterpeice Theater.

[@munsterfloyd]

So sad to think of all those young men, from both sides, killed for what?

[@rt20089]

Killed for some stupid shit created by stupid world leaders

[@sharonmassey2923]

There's an old movie, "Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came".

[@1rjbrjb]

Better ending to "If" And what is more, you will be a dead man, my son".

[@granthurlburt4062]

Nonsense, stupid, & idiotic

[@kariburns6682]

❤❤❤

[@JohannaInTheCorner]

For a channel that is promoting the written word, I am disappointed how little care is taken on the channel itself. Getting the subtitles correct would be a fabulous idea. It will help let everyone enjoy the delightful magic of the letters you are sharing. Please consider this, thank you.

[@justbeyondthecornerproduct3540]

The automated subs aren't bad

[@JohannaInTheCorner]

@@justbeyondthecornerproduct3540 That wouldn’t be a standard I would aim at, even IF I agreed with it… which I don’t. For fairness sake I will say many other letters live videos are ‘fine’, this one is definitely worse than many.g

[@tondriasanders6306]

🥺💔

[@SuperWayneyb]

Why is Colin’s hair purple? 🙏🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤘😎🤘🙏❤️🫖☕️🍰

[@valeriepage1327]

Just wondered where and when this was filmed.

[@laurahuttseifer9613]

it's from 2017, Union Chapel in London if I'm not mistaken :)

[@valeriepage1327]

@@laurahuttseifer9613 thank you

[@mzjamm2]

Unfortunately, boys had to go to war I understand. He should never of done it. His son was rejected for service because of his eye sight. Rudyard went out of his way to get him in WW1. On his first battle he was killed. Some say horrifically. I can be a fan.😢😢😢

[@garysandiego]

I think I don’t like Rudyard Kipling anymore.

[@WanderingWayfinderLibrarian]

only caught the thrum at 7 minutes in, : "Is that Eggsy?"

[@angeladawn805]

😭

[@khymaaren]

If you misspell a name, at least be consistent about it. Well done.

[@johnalbert5187]

Electricity in a bottle 🙏

[@Waluiginumberone]

Awfully