John Terraine was born on the 15th January 1921 and is remembered as a leading British military historian. He is best known for his persistent defence of Douglas Haig and also as the lead screenwriter on the BBC's landmark 1960s documentary The Great War.
Terraine was educated at Stamford School and at Keble College, Oxford. After leaving Oxford, in 1943, he joined BBC radio and continued to work for the BBC for 18 years, latterly as its Pacific and South African Programme Organiser.
He was a member of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies and was awarded the Institute's Chesney Gold Medal in 1982. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1987.
