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Woodbine Willie's Poetry

Fascinating Facts

  1. Researchers estimate that Woodbine Willy gave away as many as 865,000 cigarettes at his own expense during the War.
  2. Woodbine cigarettes were launched in 1888. Woodbines were known for being unfiltered and therefore very strong. They were cheap and popular with soldiers during the First and Second World War.
  3. The BBC say that a quarter of poems published during the First World War were by women and a fifth were written by soldiers.
  4. Some of the most famous First World War poets include:
    - John McRae
    - Marjorie Pickthall
    - Rupert Brooke
    - Robert Graves
    - Ivor Gurney
    - Wilfred Owen
    - Charlotte Mew
    - Vera Brittain
    - Rudyard Kipling
    - Philip Larkin
    - Isaac Rosenberg
    - Elizabeth Daryush
    - A E Housman