Blitz Spirit, with Lucy Worsley

[Serial_Apologist]

A letter of praise in the latest Radio Times, just received, prompted me to mention the above programme. Lucy Worsley, despite something of reputation for eccentricity, presented this documentary with that sense of authority she always brings off, albeit more light-heartedly, in her history programmes. Here she introduces with a gravitas appropriate to her subject, which, for once, is less given to bigging up the "blitz spirit" aspect so much overplayed, and which does not skimp on either the gore or the suffering.

Well worth seeing, in my view.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sm7s

[cloughie]

A letter of praise in the latest Radio Times, just received, prompted me to mention the above programme. Lucy Worsley, despite something of reputation for eccentricity, presented this documentary with that sense of authority she always brings off, albeit more light-heartedly, in her history programmes. Here she introduces with a gravitas appropriate to her subject, which, for once, is less given to bigging up the "blitz spirit" aspect so much overplayed, and which does not skimp on either the gore or the suffering.

Well worth seeing, in my view.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sm7s

I thought it was really good and interesting mentions of the propanganda use and comparisons of ‘all in it together’ scenario then and now.

[vinteuil]

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... yes, it was very good. And precisely as she is perceived to be of 'the establishment' she is able slyly to demonstrate how the government of the day utilised 'fake news' to keep the populace un-alarmed. And yet how (effective as it was at the time) this has led to the 'myth' of Britain's blitz spirit, whereas the reality was much cruder and truly horrible - in class terms (to gratify Serial... ) the toffs bedding down in the basements of the Savoy while the plebs had to break down the barriers of the tube stations, or be blown to pieces in inadequate above-ground shelters. And good details too - how the "Keep Calm And Carry On" poster was prepared - but pulped and never used, only coming in to common awareness after the discovery of one of the un-used originals in a bookshop in 2000 ....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On

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[Nick Armstrong]

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... yes, it was very good. And precisely as she is perceived to be of 'the establishment' she is able slyly to demonstrate how the government of the day utilised 'fake news' to keep the populace un-alarmed. And yet how (effective as it was at the time) this has led to the 'myth' of Britain's blitz spirit, whereas the reality was much cruder and truly horrible - in class terms (to gratify Serial... ) the toffs bedding down in the basements of the Savoy while the plebs had to break down the barriers of the tube stations, or be blown to pieces in inadequate above-ground shelters. And good details too - how the "Keep Calm And Carry On" poster was prepared - but pulped and never used, only coming in to common awareness after the discovery of one of the un-used originals in a bookshop in 2000 ....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On

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Agreed. I blanched slightly at the idea of a dramatised documentary when a relative recommended the programme to me as there have been poor ones, but in fact this was extremely well done, with the dramatised sections bringing to life the contemporary archive material. The choice of low-tide time for big raids to hamper obtaining Thames water to extinguish fires was among details I never knew.

[kernelbogey]

Thanks for the heads up, Serial: yes it was well done. (I have in the past been irritated by Lucy Worsley, especially her (or her producer's) penchant for her to dress up in period costume. She did so in this - those gloves! - but less ostentatiously.)

I have long been suspicious of the Blitz Spirit trope: it seemed likely to be a propaganda invention - as she more or less shows.

Btw, the 'iconic' photo of St Paul's Cathedral surviving the 29 December 1940 raid, which she focused on, relates to another propaganda untruth. I don't remember the relevant date - perhaps that of this particular photo - but St Paul's received a direct hit in one of those raids, which was both hushed up and rapidly repaired on Government instuctions, possibly IIRC Churchill's explicit wish. (Sorry, I don't have a reference for this.)

[Petrushka]

Thanks for the heads up, Serial: yes it was well done. (I have in the past been irritated by Lucy Worsley, especially her (or her producer's) penchant for her to dress up in period costume. She did so in this - those gloves! - but less ostentatiously.)

I have long been suspicious of the Blitz Spirit trope: it seemed likely to be a propaganda invention - as she more or less shows.

Btw, the 'iconic' photo of St Paul's Cathedral surviving the 29 December 1940 raid, which she focused on, relates to another propaganda untruth. I don't remember the relevant date - perhaps that of this particular photo - but St Paul's received a direct hit in one of those raids, which was both hushed up and rapidly repaired on Government instuctions, possibly IIRC Churchill's explicit wish. (Sorry, I don't have a reference for this.)

St Paul's sustained significant damage during the Blitz when a bomb fell through the roof in an air raid which took place on October 9 1940. The top photo in the link shows workmen repairing the roof while the lower photo shows damage inside.

https://londonist.com/london/history/st-pauls-cathedral-bomb-damage-second-world-war-blitz

[Nick Armstrong]

I can’t hear the phrase ‘incendiary bomb’ without thinking of the Queen’s Hall, destroyed by one which was thought extinguished (although that was May 1941 I believe)

[kernelbogey]

St Paul's sustained significant damage during the Blitz when a bomb fell through the roof in an air raid which took place on October 9 1940. The top photo in the link shows workmen repairing the roof while the lower photo shows damage inside.

https://londonist.com/london/history...orld-war-blitz

Thanks Pet: I hope someone here may also come up with a reference to how that was hushed up at the time, and given priority for repairs for propaganda purposes.

Lucy W focused on London, understandably, although she made some references to the bombing of Birmingham, Liverpool, Southampton, Plymouth and other cities. It was clear that she thought the Blitz Spirit was a propaganda - or PR, as we might now say - invention. It was also clear that the working class families of the East End of London were poorly served by state institutions, at least initially: she made reference to the voluntary sector - Citizen's Advice, Red Cross, St John's Ambulance and others - coming in to fill the void.

There is scope for a more radical programme on all this, going in more depth into how 'chirpy Londoners' were both neglected and yet presented in newspapers, newsreels etc as heroic - 'London can take it' etc. Andrew Marr is someone who would have the historical perspective and radical inclinations for such a programme.

[Petrushka]

I hope someone here may also come up with a reference to how that was hushed up at the time, and given priority for repairs for propaganda purposes.

I'm not sure that it was hushed up at the time. The photograph of the damage to St Paul's in the link above appeared, as the text acknowledges, in the Sphere newspaper of October 19 1940. The only reference I can find to Churchill regarding St Paul's is that it should be protected at all costs for morale purposes - a not unreasonable request to make.

The myth that St Paul's was undamaged has largely been grown up around the iconic photograph taken by Herbert Mason of the Daily Mail in the raid of December 29/30 1940 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul%27s_Survives

It is sadly ironic that the raid on the night of May 10/11 1941, which saw the destruction if the Queen's Hall, was the last major air raid of the London Blitz though the V1 'Doodlebug' raids in 1944 were also to cause significant damage and casualties in London. It was in the first of those raids, on June 18 1944, that a V1 scored a direct hit on the Guard's Chapel during a Sunday morning service killing several members of the Band of the Coldstream Guards including their Director of Music, Major James Causley-Windram.

Anyone interested in daily life during the Second World War should read 'How We Lived Then' by Norman Longmate first published in 1971 but still, I think, the definitive work on the subject. https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-We-Live...s=books&sr=1-1

[kernelbogey]

I'm not sure that it was hushed up at the time. The photograph of the damage to St Paul's in the link above appeared, as the text acknowledges, in the Sphere newspaper of October 19 1940. The only reference I can find to Churchill regarding St Paul's is that it should be protected at all costs for morale purposes - a not unreasonable request to make....Anyone interested in daily life during the Second World War should read 'How We Lived Then' by Norman Longmate first published in 1971 but still, I think, the definitive work on the subject. https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-We-Live...s=books&sr=1-1

Thanks again... I can add only that from somewhere, almost certainly a television programme on WWII, I gathered that the damage to St Paul's was hushed up in order to foster a kind of mythical invulnerability - both to bolster public morale and to stick a metaphorical V-sign to the Luftwaffe u.a.! I can't be more specific, unfortunately.

[vinteuil]

Anyone interested in daily life during the Second World War should read 'How We Lived Then' by Norman Longmate first published in 1971 but still, I think, the definitive work on the subject. https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-We-Live...s=books&sr=1-1

... thank you. Ordered

I recommend treating yourself to something simple, like a book or a CD, every now and then, to give your spirits a lift.

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[Serial_Apologist]

There is scope for a more radical programme on all this, going in more depth into how 'chirpy Londoners' were both neglected and yet presented in newspapers, newsreels etc as heroic - 'London can take it' etc. Andrew Marr is someone who would have the historical perspective and radical inclinations for such a programme.

Then clearly you haven't been watching his show on Sunday mornings: Andrew Marr - who was likeable and slightly tongue-in-cheek when he made his elsewhere oft-repeated British history series - underwent a conversion on the road to BBC "impartiality" to host this prime time show some years ago, and has been sticking to it since.

I've always held ex-lefties to be worse turncoats than ex-smokers!

[oddoneout]

Some connection to the thread and interesting in its own right

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/03/bethnal-green-library-win-war-pandemic-closure

[vinteuil]

I've always held ex-lefties to be worse turncoats than ex-smokers!

... as poor old Hazlitt discovered, most lefties end up being ex-lefties. You and he are a rare breed in remaining loyal to that belief

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[Serial_Apologist]

... as poor old Hazlitt discovered, most lefties end up being ex-lefties. You and he are a rare breed in remaining loyal to that belief

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So was Tony Benn - we are in good company!