We met Phil during a tour of the Somme battlefield sites in northern France. As a passionate amateur historian who has studied the Australian contribution to the Great War extensively, finally getting to see and experience the Somme was a sombre but fascinating experience. Phil Hora’s knowledge of the battles, the various allied and enemy forces, their deployments and especially his incredible sense of spatial place and dimension made the time spent at Somme even more worthwhile. I will always be grateful to Phil for his generously provided time and knowledge. If you are an Aussie, Canuk, Kiwi or Pom I would urge you to go to the Somme to “understand” a little better what our incredible forbears suffered and achieved. It will make you sad and proud in equal measures. if you do I would urge you, if possible, to use Phil’s fantastic tour service to do so, he is as we say in Australia “a bloody good bloke who knows his stuff!”