2014 marked the Centenary of the First World War, a conflict which inspired the founding of the Imperial War Museum. The museum was established in 1917 to record the experiences of ordinary participants in conflict – at home and on the front. IWM London’s subsequent collection of objects – both large and small – are material witnesses to conflict. We needed to bring their stories to life. We used one example of a small object – a real letter, the exact words written to Lord Kitchener from a young Irish boy asking to be able to enlist – as the source material for our radio advertisement.