I got chatting to Simon, Editor of Third Way Magazine, at Greenbelt, and was talking to him about options for publication – a few days later, I had a request to write this article (within 3 days), and with a final bit of editorial polish, very happy to see it in this month’s edition, which popped through the door this morning (see p34).

• Find out more about the book on Amazon.

London Transport Museum’s Exhibition ‘The Art of the Poster‘ finished last week, and was accompanied by the book London Transport Posters: A Century of Art and Design, for which I wrote a chapter (finishing as much as I could do in an internet cafe in Melbourne, Australia!). London Transport Museum are notoriously protective of their copyright, so it was a great chance to continue some research on further posters… I still get excited when I see a poster I’ve not seen before, or even one I have seen before making it’s way into the modern public domain… such as the Keep Calm and Carry On posters! My thesis focused largely on posters produced by the Ministry of Information, but they called upon the expertise of organisations such as London Transport and Shell in the formation of the Ministry of Information, as these organisations had demonstrated a proficiency in publicity. It was also interesting to study First World War posters, to which I’d referred in my thesis (noting that they were far more King & Country whereas the Second World War was a much more democratic effort), as the chapter was about wartime posters, not just the Second World War. LTM had been working on digitising their poster collection whilst I was doing my PhD research, and the materials launched online whilst I was writing this chapter. My PhD research had turned up some really interesting information which the London Transport archives didn’t have (and I spent some time both in Covent Garden and the main archives, along with the V&A, and we had meetings out at Acton… some great materials stored there), so really felt I made a good contribution. My chapter ended up as a joint publication as David Bownes completed it whilst I was hopping around New Zealand, before I proof read it in the midst of Bolivia, after a great day blowing up dynamite in the silver mines, before returning in time for the book/exhibition launch in October!

Further Resources  (in no particular order)

• New Statesman: Mass Market Modernism, November 2008
• The Guardian Gallery, November 2007
• The Museum of London: Exploring 20th Century London (undated, but clearly a summary of the book)
• Comparing BART and LT, April 2009
• The Design Museum: London Transport
• Suite 101, January 2009
• Culture 24, December 2008
• Flickr: London Transport posters throughout the Years
• Flickr: London Underground cluster
• If you want a chance to buy some originals, there’s always Onslows

As my thesis demonstrates, I have always been fascinated by communications and the media, and I was interested to gain the perspective of an expert on the day. I found the day very valuable, and decided that I would focus my media attention on what I knew best – Second World War Posters! I struggled to write my press release, thinking of too many ideas and trying to add in information that academics may care about, but press editors don’t. Chantal, however, was determined that none of us would go home without the outline of a press release, and really helped draw my ideas out.

The day also included a “radio interview”, and you can hear my recording here: Chantal Cooke interviews Bex (MP3, 4.22MB, sub-5 minutes). Please note the information re: the information I gave about NHS re-use of leaflets was true from about 5 years before, but it was the thought that came into my head at the time!