John Broadhead was born in 1945 and brought up in Batley. He attended Batley Grammar School and aft er joining the Ministry of Defence in 1963 took a First Class degree in Modern European History with the Open University. He served in NorthernIreland, Hong Kong, the Middle East and spent most of his later career as a senior civil servant in Whitehall. His keen interest in military history was infl uenced by his father’s service with the Bradford Pals. On retirement he has been researching the eventsrecorded in his father’s diary and retracing those footsteps on the battlefi elds of France.
