- Richard Herncastle: [narrating] 'Join the Army, boys.' It's a fine life, they said. Make a man of you, they said. Only trouble was, some of us never got the chance to be men - they went straight from the cradle to the grave. Me, I should have known better. Long before I joined up I'd learned that life has a nasty habit of knocking you down and pushing your face in the muck. Before the war to end war, I was on the stage - on the stage, where the smiles are as bright as the lights - because you're not supposed to see the unhappiness and the pain.
- Vesta Tilley: [singing] We've watched you playing cricket and every type of game./In football, golf, and polo you men have made your name./But now your country calls you to play your part in war,/And no matter what befalls you, we shall love you all the more./So come and join the forces, as your fathers did before.
- Nick Ollanton: [about theatre people] They're not people you're used to. They have more faces than the townhall clock.