Royal Tournament - Reasons Behind The New BMT

Reasons Behind The New BMT

In 2010, after a prolonged dialogue with the UK Ministry of Defence, ABF The Soldiers' Charity was authorised by the Ministry of Defence to stage the British Military Tournament (www.britishmilitarytournament.com) at Earls Court arena, London, in sole aid of the charity.

Whilst using many of the military assets of the former Royal Tournament (which ended in 1999), the British Military Tournament is a completely new show. The name British Military Tournament derives from the original title of the former Royal Tournament: The Grand Military Tournament. The title Royal Tournament was withheld by the Ministry of Defence because in 2010 the show involved only the British Army whereas the Royal Tournament was a tri-service event.

The principal point of difference with the former Royal Tournament is that the British Military Tournament is produced for The Soldiers' Charity by IMG, supported since its return by Boeing entirely independently of the Ministry of Defence, whereas the old Royal Tournament was produced by the Ministry of Defence, which provided the infrastructure and took all the financial risk.

There are other significant differences between the two shows.

First, the British Military Tournament has a strong narrative line and "tells a story", using military assets and audio visual effects with contributions by leading UK actors, to illustrate that story, whereas the old Royal Tournament was a variety show in which military units performed their standard acts within a loose theme. In 2010, the story line of the British Military Tournament was the history of the British Army from the English Civil War to Afghanistan today. Units involved included the Household Cavalry, The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, The Company of Pikemen & Musketeers and the Light Cavalry of the Honourable Artillery Company, the massed bands of the Grenadier, Coldstream and Scots Guards, The Rifles and the Brigade of Gurkhas plus the Pipes and Drums of the London Scottiush Regiment. Although the Royal Navy is no longer able to perform the Command Field Gun Race, throughout the show the Field Gun competition was run by competing crews from Wellington College using reduced-scale guns and limbers but full-scale rigging and obstacles. In 2011, the story line was based around the "special relationship" between the United Kingdom and the United States of America from the American War of Independence to the present day; in addition to units from the British Army, the show will include US Army units and American actors. The British Military Tournament's writer and director, Christopher Joll, intends that the story line will change with each succeeding year.

The second significant difference with the old Royal Tournament is that the show does not feature each of the UK's armed services in rotation. In 2010, only the British Army decided to participate. The other two services may provide assets in future years.

Finally, because of the limited availability of service units, the British Military Tournament is staged over only three days by contrast with the Royal Tournament, which was initially three weeks in duration and later two weeks.

The British Military Tournament was conceived by writer-director Christopher Joll, who had previously devised, written and directed the Household Cavalry Pageant (2006) and the Chelsea Pageant (2008), Major General Sir Evelyn Webb-Carter KCVO OBE DL, Chief Executive of ABF The Soldiers' Charity and the last chairman of the Royal Tournament, and Stephen Flint-Wood, head of Arts & Entertainment at IMG (UK).