A FORMER soldier turned author and broadcaster is setting his sights on exploding the myths of the First World War.

Major Gordon Corrigan, who appears at the Durham Light Infantry Museum and Durham Art Gallery at 2pm on Saturday, was an officer with the Royal Gurkha Rifles before retiring from the Army in 1998.

Since then, he has established himself as a military historian with a reputation for challenging long-held popular beliefs.

His book, Mud, Blood and Poppycock, published two years ago, has been described as a "frontal bayonet charge on a well dug-in enemy" and forms the basis of his first talk.

Maj Corrigan, who has made a series of television programmes on warfare, including Battlefield Detectives and Weapons of the Second World War, said: "The Great War is more deeply embedded in our national psyche than any other aspect of our military history.

"In the public eye, it is seen as an unnecessary war waged by butchers and bunglers and which cost Britain a whole generation of lives lost to no purpose.

"I believe that this perception of the war is incorrect, and I will examine these popularly-held beliefs and ask whether they are supported by the evidence, and if not, why do we believe them?

"I'll be asking did we really lose a generation? Was poison gas really such an appalling killer of young British soldiers? Were men shot for military offences really shell- shocked victims of war, and many others."

Tickets are £4 or £3 concessions, £2.25 for children and £2 for season ticket holders.

For further details, contact 0191-384 2214.