VIDEO: Hertfordshire historian features in Sainsbury’s Christmas Truce advert for 2014

A Hertfordshire historian who is co-ordinating a countywide First World War project has appeared in Sainsbury’s’ festive advert about the Christmas Truce of 1914.

Dan Hill from Herts at War appears as an extra in the supermarket chain’s three-minute video, which was released yesterday.

The film retells the story – 100 years on – of the Christmas Truce, where soldiers from both sides put down their weapons and came together to play a football match.

As well as featuring in the advert itself, Dan was also asked to speak in the ‘making of’ film.

Speaking to camera, he said: “As somebody who spends a lot time researching the Great War, rather than talk about large scale units of hundreds or thousands of men I think it’s important to find out what one man did in one place at a certain time.

“It’s certainly no coincidence the fact it happened over the Christmas period. It’s that kind of normality mixed with this terrible and very tragic war, and I think that’s what makes the Christmas truce so special.”

Dan is the project co-ordinator for Herts at War, which is commemorating the centenary and aims to reveal the stories of Hertfordshire soldiers, as well as how the four-year conflict affected those back home.