Spotlight on Walter Tull, hero who fought prejudice on the pitch and in the trenches

New game explores the life of Walter Tull, one of the first black players in England who also became an officer in the First World War

After the extraordinary success War Horse

the novel by Michael Morpurgo that inspired the National Theatre and Steven Spielberg, another forgotten history the first World War is now set to find a wider audience.

next month, nearly a century after the great conflict began, Bolton Octagon Theatre will mount a play that tells the story of Walter Tull, one of the first black players in England who came to die on the Somme as black army officer first. Cited for bravery under fire, Tull received posthumous recognition many now believe it deserves.

Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, in 1888, and has been a campaign for a Military Cross andhis history was a decisive influence on the final novel Morpurgo

medal for Leroy

"I was inspired by Walter Tull value of his childhood in an orphanage, abusing the terrace and its desire to participate and do their part, his courage under fire and his heroic death in France, "said Morpurgo. He wrote his novel about prejudice and secrets, dedicated to the memory of Tull, hoping that explicitly encourage the authorities to celebrate the life of a soldier with a medal or a statue in the capital. "I felt more people should know about this extraordinary man, who would be inspired by it, as it was," said Morpurgo.

But by acclaimed director David Thacker, Tull was a major figure for over a decade. Thacker came across this story when he realized Tull played for Northampton Town football club's childhood. The director has started work on a screenplay by Phil Vasili biographer, who was researching the life of Tull. "We even had a lead cast, but it was very difficult to interest Now, the ongoing fight against racism in football. Relevance of his life is even more clear."

• Vasili and Thacker found. Then he had lived in the city of Rushden, Northamptonshire, exceptionally sharing a house with a young White House "We could not know much about Annie Williams, his home, and you want to know more," said Thacker , who recently returned to his roots in theater as artistic director of the Octagon. "We realized that we would have all been radical enough to live well, so we filled the character of Annie in the room and made a suffragette."

Tull signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1909, but suffered racist abuse in the field. A report in a match against Bristol City said: "Let me tell those Bristol hooligans that Tull is so clean in mind and method to be a model for all white men who play football."

The party scene in the room. "Edwardian Tull is great," Thacker said. "After the Spurs was recruited to the town of Northampton by Herbert Chapman, the manager happened to Arsenal. Northampton Tull is still proud. A statue of him at home and were the first club to support our demand for the show. "

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