PAU Student Interviews Richard Smith, Director of Bovington Tank Museum

In his interview, Smith first briefly explained the history of the Tank Museum, whose foundation dates back to 1923: "The history of the museum starts with Bovington Barracks. This barracks was adjacent to a British Army barracks in the area. So a tank unit was stationed here. In 1916 it became a tank headquarters where secret weapons were developed and tested. The reason for this was that the area was remote and isolated from the city. In 1919, after the end of the First World War, the tank unit stationed here was recalled. When the soldiers returned, they took their vehicles and equipment with them. Some special vehicles were separated from the others and put in a different area.  It is not clear what happened after that, but the story goes that in 1923, the British writer Rudyard Kipling, one of the most prominent people to write about the First World War up to that time, visited Bovington. Kipling saw parked tanks and came up with the idea of collecting and displaying them. This seems to have led to the idea of a war museum, but I'm not so sure about the reality of it. After that, the army started to build up a small tank collection in the area, but it wasn't until the late 1940s that this collection was opened to the public. The current museum, which is run by a foundation, opened in 1970."

In the interview, Richard Smith gives the following details about the museum: "The Russians probably have more tanks in their museum than we do, but we consider ourselves the museum with the most diverse tank collection and the largest. The building we are in covers an area of 200 thousand square meters. And we have almost all tank samples in our collection, from the first tank in history to the tanks used today. At the same time, the number of visitors to our museum varies between 220,000 and 300,000 per year.  We also have 'Little Willy' in our collection, which is the first tank in history. From 1915 to the 1960s, there are also modern tanks. For example, there are also tanks that were used in Afghanistan.  We are currently the most successful museum on social media in Europe. When we look at the world, I think we are the third or fourth most successful museum. In terms of reaching the masses, we have currently our biggest audience, and when I say audience, I am not only talking about those who physically come here, but also people who follow us on social media and benefit from our content."