John Beresford (1854) quotes from Shakespeare's 'King John', Act V scene vii: "Come the three corners of the world in arms, And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue, If England to itself do rest but true."
While John Beresford and Major Wrigley are reminiscing about the war in the Western Desert, the music of "Lili Marlene" can be heard. The song was popularised by the German Afrika Korps in the desert war, but was also adopted by the British Eighth Army as an unofficial theme song.
The film takes place in 1854, 1903, 1919 and 1945.