Michael Hammond is an Associate Professor in Film History at the University of Southampton, UK. He has written extensively about cinema and the First World War, including The Big Show: British Cinema Culture and The Great War (2006). His current research is concerned with the impact of the First World War on the aesthetic practices of the Hollywood studios between 1919 and 1939.

Adrian Smith is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Southampton, UK, and is currently writing the authorised biography of the industrialist and aviation pioneer Sir Richard Fairey. He has previously written biographies of Lord Mountbatten and the First World War ace Mick Mannock, and a history of the New Statesman.