Keep Calm and Carry On and other Second World War Posters
British Home Front Propaganda Posters of the Second World War
Great title for a blog entry ‘the title that proliferates‘, leads us into this great site, where someone clearly loves Harry Potter, as several examples within this excellent collection (excusing the rude ones) are focused on Harry Potter. My favourites – the one above and the one below, neither of which I had seen before. Thanks to @cjrw for the tip-off.
On Saturday 15 May the University of Winchester’s MA in Religion, Rhetoric & Death held it’s first ‘Death Day‘, a really interesting event with a great balance of interesting speakers. I missed the first session, but then listened to really thought-provoking talks from Cribb’s funeral parlours, the UK Manager of Cemeteries, and a conductor of ‘secular funerals’ – covering a range of ideas about how the funeral business has changed and is changing. After an interesting lunch sat with a number of ‘Revs’ it was time to give my paper (above), combining with a paper from Helen Frisby on mourning practices in Victorian Britain… followed by a paper on the use of effigies before the ‘Rock & Roll’ session of the day: ‘Slasher movies’ and the use of obituaries for celebrities, especially when suicide is involved (and drew our attention to a new magazine: Eulogy). Lots of food for thought from the day, especially enjoyable when it’s a conference not related to either of the subjects I teach (History & Media Studies) and just a chance to enjoy!
Tweet17th April 2010: “The Doctor is summoned to Blitz-torn London by Winston Churchill, and the Daleks are waiting for him!” Visit the BBC site.
Unidentifiable posters in the background...
This looks a bit like "Feed the Pigs" in the Background!
Evacuation
Careless Talk Costs Lives
Interestingly, I didn’t recognise any of the posters, but the above is MOST DEFINITELY not a real wartime poster (here’s one of the real ones), interesting decision by the BBC not to use real posters!
Dalek to Victory
http://imdoctorwho.blogspot.com/2010/04/dalek-victory-poster.html
Keep Calm and Exterminate
http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/2010/04/doctor-who-daleks-wwii-keep-calm.html
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The Guardian front page provides an interesting juxtaposition of images from the party manifestos. I immediately was reminded of much of the Soviet style influence on Second World War posters, including the poster that started it all for me “Women of Britain: Come Into the Factories“. Read the information in the box, and a similar story. For a closer look:
Read the original story in The Times, or access Wallis & Wallis. Is this from the same “crop” (ha ha, clever journalism) as the recent sale, interesting that so many are being found right now. Is it just that people now recognise the value, or what’s the story (my initial cynicism was to assume that they had been cleverly plagiarised…).
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DUKE (US)— The only known printed copy of Haiti’s Declaration of Independence has been found in the British National Archives by a graduate student from Duke University.
While researching the early independence of Haiti in February, Julia Gaffield found the document, an eight-page pamphlet dated Jan. 1, 1804, in the British National Archives in London.
It is only the second declaration of its kind in the world, the first being the U.S. Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson and others.
Gaffield, who is researching early 19th century Haiti for her doctoral dissertation in history, says the document had been overlooked in the British archives, even as researchers spent decades searching for it in Haiti.
“I wasn’t specifically looking for it, but I had an eye out for it because I knew it was missing,” Gaffield says. “We figured there was an original somewhere, but didn’t know if it still existed.”
Over 283 color images of vintage movie posters include the extremely rare drive-in theater posters are featured along with the more common one-sheet size. These posters, often very different from the standard posters, were printed in smaller numbers, adding to their interest and value. Auction results from 1989-the present, and other pricing information make this a useful tool for collectors of posters who are trying to make informed purchasing decisions.
A perfect book for lovers of movies and movie posters. Here are images of some of the rarest movie posters in the world. With over 283 color images of vintage movie posters,.the extremely rare drive-in theater posters are featured along with the more common one-sheet size. These posters, often very different from the standard posters, were printed in smaller numbers, adding to their interest and value. All of these posters have less than ten known copies in existence, and many have only one or two known examples. Posters of such favorite movies as “”Alien,”" “”Caddy Shack,”" and the “”Attack of the 50-Foot Woman”" are included, with iconic movie stars Marilyn Monroe, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Auction results from 1989-the present, and other pricing information make this a useful tool for collectors of posters who are trying to make informed purchasing decisions.”
I wondered about keeping this quiet, as I would LOVE to own my own original poster, but it’s in the Daily Mail, and I was contacted by BBC South-East Today on Tuesday as they were covering a story on it (I missed out on contributing as I was organising a training session all day). If you want to find out more about the sale, visit the website of the auctioneers. Timing is interesting, that as Keep Calm and Carry On has become HUGE, that there’s one in this collection… I’m always too sceptical though!
Richard Slocombe, of the Imperial War Museums says “We’ve all heard about the ubiquity of Keep Calm and Carry On. But ironically that poster was never actually published. Mainly because its two sister posters – Freedom Is In Peril and Your Courage Will Bring Us Victory were seen as being patronising and condescending.” That was a suggestion I have made, but there’s no evidence as to WHY Keep Calm and Carry On was never actually used!
Before ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ became famous, whenever I mentioned to people that I was studying World War Two posters for my PhD, the most frequent responses was “ah-ha, your country needs you!”, to which I would reply, well, yes, “right idea, wrong war”! The image, however, IS iconic, mentioned as Number 1 of the ’100 Best Posters of the Century” in the 1990s, and did influence a number of Second World War campaigns, especially of the “Do you really need to x?” variety.
Country of Origin United Kingdom
Date 1914-1916
Artist Alfred Leete
Printer Victoria House Printing Co. Ltd., London
Size 29 1/2″ x 20″
Sources Unknown
Other Information. One of several variations of this poster. Please contact the IWM with queries about the copyright/reproduction of this poster.
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