Michael Morpurgo interview

In The Daily Telegraph, Michael Morpurgo writes about the adaptation of his novel War Horse that has just opened at The National Theatre.

The seeds of War Horse were sown a long time ago. April 17 2008 will be the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Merkem, or the Battle of the Kippe. The Belgian army retook the hamlet of de Kippe. To mark the occasion of a victory much celebrated by the Belgians, my grandfather, Emile Cammaerts, a great poet and Belgian patriot, named my mother, who was born on April 18 1918, Kippe. It is the name by which I've known her all my life. This is the first of many diverse influences that contributed War Horse.