War Horse (novel) - Wikipedia. War Horse is a children's novel by English author Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by Kaye & Ward in 1.

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The story recounts the experiences of Joey, a horse purchased by the Army for service in World War I France and the attempts of young Albert, his previous owner, to bring him safely home. It formed the basis of both an award winning play (2.

Steven Spielberg. Genesis[edit]After meeting a World War I veteran, Wilfred Ellis, who drank in his local pub at Iddesleigh and who had been in the Devon Yeomanry working with horses, Morpurgo began to think of telling the story of the universal suffering of the Great War through a horse's viewpoint, but was unsure that he could do it.[1] He also met another villager, Captain Budgett, who had been in the cavalry in the Great War, and a third villager, Albert Weeks, who remembered the Army coming to the village to buy horses.[2] Morpurgo thanks these three men in the dedication of the book.[3][4]With his wife, Morpurgo had founded Farms for City Children, a charity where inner city children live and work on rural farms for a week.[5] Interviewed by Fi Glover on Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 in December 2. Morpurgo recounted the event that convinced him he could write the book: One of the kids who came to the farm from Birmingham, a boy called Billy, the teachers warned me that he had a stammer and told me not to ask him direct questions because it would terrify him if he had to be made to speak because he doesn’t speak.. I came in the last evening into the yard behind this big Victorian house where they all live, and there he was, Billy, standing in his slippers by the stable door and the lantern above his head, talking. Talking, talking, talking, to the horse. And the horse, Hebe, had her head just over the top of the stable, and she was listening; that’s what I noticed, that the ears were going, and I knew she knew that she had to stay there whilst this went on, because this kid wanted to talk, and the horse wanted to listen—this was a two way thing..

An exceptionally poignant story of one horse's experience in the First World War. In 1914, Joey, a young farm horse, i [.]. Steven Spielberg directed the United States movie adaptation of War Horse, released on 25 December 2011, with a screenplay written by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall.

I went and got the teachers, and brought them up through the vegetable garden, and we stood there in the shadows, and we listened to Billy talking, and they were completely amazed how this child who couldn’t get a word out—the words were simply flowing. All the fear had gone, and there was something about the intimacy of this relationship, the trust building up between boy and horse, that I found enormously moving, and I thought: Well yes, you could write a story about the First World War through the eyes of a horse, and yes, the horse didn't understand every word, but she knew it was important for her to stand there and be there for this child."[6]Another inspiration for the book, after meeting the veterans and seeing Billy with Hebe the horse, was an old oil painting that Morpurgo's wife Clare had been left: "It was a very frightening and alarming painting, not the sort you'd want to hang on a wall. It showed horses during the First World War charging into barbed wire fences. It haunted me."[7][8] The painting was by F. W. Reed and was dated 1. British cavalry charge on German lines, with horses entangled in barbed wire.[9] Morpurgo wrote a fictionalised version of this painting in his "Author's Note" at the start of the book.

In his version, the painting shows a red bay with a white cross on his forehead, and the painting bears the legend: "Joey. Painted by Captain James Nicholls, autumn 1. One day, a man named Ted Narracott buys a young horse for 3. Ted's son, Albert, names him Joey and grows to love him, protecting the young horse from Ted when Ted is drunk and caring for Joey. While with the Narracotts, Joey also meets a horse named Zoey, who was a source of comfort to Joey, and whose name partially inspired his name. Soon,Ted sells Joey to the army in return for money, before Albert can stop him.

Albert tries to sign up for the army, but he is too young but promises to come back for Joey. Joey is trained for the army by Corporal Perkins, and Captain James Nicholls is his original rider, leading a unit of mounted infantry.

Joey soon befriends Topthorn, a horse ridden by James Stewart. However, during a charge against a group of Germans, Nicholls is killed. Stewart assigns Trooper Warren, a nervous young man who rides heavier but is quite kind, to ride Joey.

During another charge, Topthorn and Joey carry Warren and Stewart into the enemy lines, and are the only two of many, but they are captured by the Germans. They use Joey and Topthorn to pull an ambulance cart for the hospital, where the two horses are famous and respected for saving the lives of many. The Germans allow Emilie and her grandfather, who live in a farm near the front lines, to care for Joey and Topthorn. Emilie grows to love Joey and Topthorn like Albert loved Joey, caring for their every injury and feeding them every night. Soon, the Germans move their hospital somewhere else because there was a battle there, and Emilie and her grandfather are allowed to keep Joey and Topthorn, who they use for their farm.

Topthorn was not bred to plow, but learns quickly from Joey, who has experience from the Narracott farm. Soon, however, a group of German artillerymen pass by their farm, and they take away Joey and Topthorn to pull their artillery wagon. The two horses meet Friedrich, who befriends them and tries to care for them as much as he can, growing to love Topthorn and telling them that he didn't want to be a soldier. Joey and Topthorn are two of the last few survivors of the artillery- pulling team. One day, after drinking water with Joey, Topthorn dies from heart failure. The Allied artillery starts shelling right after the Germans and Friedrich is killed.

After seeing an Allied tank for the first time, Joey runs in terror and is wounded by barbed wire before breaking free. Both the Allied soldiers and Central Power soldiers see the wounded Joey in no- man's- land, and an Allied soldier wins possession of Joey by flipping a coin with a Central Power soldier and winning. Watch Operation Belvis Bash Online Hollywoodtake there.

However, their few minutes of friendly peace create a bond between the two before they separate, and both wondered together what could have been if not for the war. While being cared for by the Allies' veterinary hospital, Joey happens to be cared for by Albert, who is working for the hospital and has a friend named David. Albert realizes that Joey is his old horse after seeing what he looks like and how he responds to Albert's whistle. Albert starts caring for Joey again like he used to.

Near the end of the war, David and two horses from the veterinary hospital are killed by a stray shell, putting Albert in a state of depression, as David had cared for him like a father. At the end of the war, Major Martin announces that they are going to auction off all of the horses, despite the protests of Sergeant Thunder and the rest of the soldiers. During the auction, Sergeant Thunder loses to a butcher for Joey, but an old man outbids the butcher and reveals that he is Emilie's grandfather, who was looking for Joey. Emilie's grandfather tells Albert about how Joey and Topthorn came to their farm, and that Emilie had lost the will to live after Joey and Topthorn were taken from their farm, with Emilie fading away and dying at just 1.

Emilie's grandfather sells Joey to Albert for a cheap price, in return for telling people about Emilie, or else "she will just be a name on a gravestone nobody will read". Albert and Joey return to England, where they live in peace and Joey meets Albert's girlfriend, Maisie. The book was runner- up for the Whitbread Book Award in 1. Adaptations[edit]The book has also been made into a play adapted by Nick Stafford.

Young Albert enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. Albert's hopeful journey takes him out of England and to the front lines.

The play, also called War Horse, was staged at the Olivier Theatre, National Theatre in London. Watch The Jungle Book 2 Online Full Movie on this page. The production opened on 1.