Sir Philip Gibbs (1877-1962) served as one of five official British reporters during the First World War. Born in London the son of a civil servant, Gibbs received a home education and determined at an early age to develop a career as a writer. His debut article was published in 1894 in the Daily Chronicle, five years later he published the first of many books, Founders of the Empire. His wartime output was prodigious. He not only produced a stream of newspaper articles but also a series of books: The Soul of the War (1915), The Battle of the Somme (1917), Now It Can Be Told (1920) and The Realities of War (1920).