Obviously we all know that Blackadder Goes Forth was set during a real-life event, but now it transpires that the characters in the BBC series also had namesakes that fought in the first world war. The Daily Telegraph reports that Forces War Records, a military genealogy website, has trawled through 6m military records and found there was actually a Captain Blackadder, Private Baldrick, Captain Darling and Lieutenant George. Dominic Hayhoe, from Forces War Records, said: “As fans of the television show, we wondered if we could find the military records of the characters’ namesakes, and we did. The only person we haven’t been able to track down so far from the first world war is a General Melchett. But according to the military records we have, he makes an appearance in the second world war.”