A new story by Michael Morpurgo, the author of War Horse, will be performed to mark the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley announced.
The work has been specially written for the national commemorations on Sunday 30 July. His live reading of the story will be accompanied by an appearance by the much-loved horse puppet Joey from the acclaimed National Theatre stage adaptation of War Horse. The commemorations will also feature extracts from The Wipers Times, the play by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman based on the satirical trench newspaper published by British soldiers fighting on the Ypres Salient.