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00:00For the wartime newsreel cameras, the dancers wore gas masks, but the Germans never used
00:27gas against British civilians. Hitler's weapon against British civilians was bombs. Over
00:37two million homes were damaged, blasted, gutted, and beginning with London, whole cities were
00:44hammered. Fire and high explosives probed and tested the strength of the British way
00:51of life.
00:58The End
01:01The End
02:03In 1940, the Germans shifted their attack from London.
02:08The first provincial city they hit hard was Coventry.
02:11The heart was torn out of a cathedral, out of a city.
02:27People were bewildered, and their leaders were bewildered too, by the huge fires.
02:39On paper, Birmingham, Nuneaton, Rugby should have come to the aid of Coventry, which they did, in fact.
02:52But on arrival here, they found that the couplings on the fire engine were dissimulated, mally up, and it meant, therefore, that cooperation broke down completely.
03:05Of course, in addition to that, you've got 360 fractures on the gas men, and all the other services went.
03:14All the water supplies were disconnected.
03:17If the firemen wanted to find saucer, they simply were not there.
03:24The king visited Coventry, with him the home secretary.
03:28Herbert Morrison came here, and the military folk wanted to establish martial law, and we had a stand-up fight on this.
03:37Alderman, Alderman Bill Alleywell and myself said, no, this must be a civic exercise.
03:45The pressure was taken off, and virtually he and I, plus the regional officers, conducted operations from then on.
03:57It was virtually seven weeks' dictatorship.
04:00You see, there was nothing on the textbooks of civilian defence to indicate to local authorities how to behave in an emergency, calamity situation,
04:14such as we found on the morning of November the 15th.
04:19While Morrison, the home secretary, strove to correct the model by creating Britain's first national fire service,
04:26volunteers shored up the crumbling home front.
04:28Fresh evacuation hurried the children away as city after city passed through crisis.
04:37Portsmouth, Southampton, Sheffield, Bristol, Glasgow.
04:43Then, Plymouth became the worst-hit city, with seven big raids in March and April 1941.
04:50A quarter of its people, 50,000 trekkers, fled the city at night and slept out in the hills.
04:55This film was not shown in wartime Britain.
04:58The censored press could only hint at chaos.
05:0330,000 people lost their homes, and many lost much more.
05:07When the sirens went to somewhere around nine o'clock, I think, I called my mother, and she came down the stairs.
05:22She said, I'll take Raim, and I said, all right, I'll take Sheila.
05:24And we called Mrs. Topp, that was the lady upstairs, and she came down with her three children.
05:31And we went in our respective cupboards.
05:34And I sat on a little tiny chair, and I put Raymond at my side, and I held Sheila in my arms.
05:43And after that, I didn't know anything.
05:49I must have come to in the cupboard, because I heard my father say, oh, I'm afraid your mother's had it.
05:56And then I said, oh, Sheila's all right.
06:01She's in my arms.
06:04And I went to touch my other child, and I couldn't feel him.
06:10And I must have lost consciousness again, because I was bad, I believe.
06:15Later, I learned that my mother was dead, and the two children were, and Mrs. Topp was killed, and her two children.
06:28She was expecting a baby any hour.
06:31Mrs. Vance's husband, a sailor, came home on leave next morning.
06:35There was her mother laying on the bed in the front room.
06:39We went across the road to her brother's place.
06:42She told me where I had the two children.
06:47I went up where they were.
06:50Cold.
06:51Not a blemish arm.
06:57That's when I lost my temper.
06:59I said, instead of us dropping bloody paper, I said, we ought to be hitting them the same as they're hitting us.
07:06Well, Mr. McGee, after all this, what do you think about us going over to Berlin and doing the same to them?
07:12I should think so, too.
07:15A bit worse than this, I hope, with a wicked bugger like he is.
07:18I definitely do, sir.
07:20One of them tenfold.
07:21I'm sorry for the women and children of Berlin, but what about the women and children of this country?
07:26This is what the authorised newsreels did show of Berlin.
07:36Churchill's voice and presence did sustain morale.
07:40And in cabinet, he knew how to get his way.
07:46And if Henry V said, now, gentlemen, I've been into all this thing.
07:51The channel is very tricky at the moment.
07:56And we can't get the reinforcements.
07:58The rate of sickness can't be replaced.
08:02The bridgehead, according to Hemley's infantry tactics, is too small.
08:09And in short, I feel there's nothing else but to launch an attack.
08:14Up on the half, he didn't say that.
08:16He said, once more, under the breach.
08:18Dear friends.
08:20Well, Winston had that extraordinary power.
08:22But Churchill's speeches rang less true these days.
08:27Almost worse than bombing.
08:28U-bird attacks on merchant shipping cut Britain's food supplies.
08:32The Germans were on the rampage everywhere.
08:36We cannot tell what the course of this fell war will be.
08:43And it spreads remorseless to ever wider regions.
08:48We know it will be hard.
08:50We expect it will be long.
08:52We cannot yet see how deliverance will come.
08:57Or when it will come.
08:59But nothing is more certain than that every trace of Hitler's footsteps,
09:06every stain of his infected and corroding fingers,
09:11will be sponged and purged,
09:14and if need be, blasted from the surface of the earth.
09:18He may spread his course far and wide and carry his curse with him.
09:27He may break into Africa or into Asia.
09:31But it is with us here in this island's fortress that he will have to reckon and settle in the end.
09:43One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one.
09:46Now beholding me, an LDV for battle, I'm just yearning.
09:51Doing my best like all the rest to keep the home fires burning.
09:56Each evening's different starts.
09:58Open down the street I march.
10:00I'm guarding the home of the Home Guard.
10:02Guarding the Home Guard's home.
10:05All day long, steady and strong.
10:07Doing what I'm told and I can't go wrong.
10:09All the ladies are fond of me, but last night one of them gave a shout.
10:14When she saw me pulling my binnet out while guarding the Home Guard's home.
10:20The Home Guard had been founded a year before.
10:23On exercises, its members played at fighting.
10:27You are a new corps.
10:29A corps with its traditions to make.
10:32But you have already got your motto.
10:34And your motto is, kill the Bosh.
10:36In the course of your duty,
10:40you may have the luck to come in contact with the enemy.
10:46If you do, one of your duties is to shoot when you see a sitter.
10:52And shoot to kill.
10:55The British still lived in fear, not just of invasion,
10:58but of the foe at home.
11:02Fear of listening spies.
11:06And fear of enemy aliens.
11:12In the summer of 1940, the press had screamed,
11:16intern the lot.
11:17And almost all of them, Germans, Austrians,
11:20refugee Jews, left-wing exiles,
11:23had passed through verminous transit camps,
11:25interned without trial.
11:26I was interned just like that, you know,
11:31fetched by the police,
11:33without knowing anything beforehand.
11:37Two policemen came and fetched me.
11:41Although they did not know it,
11:43they were bound for Liverpool,
11:44for embarkation.
11:45People standing, lining the streets, you know,
11:50and throwing stones at you,
11:52spitting at you,
11:54shouting spies,
11:56you know.
11:57And that was horrible.
12:02Everyone thought,
12:03well, it will be a concentration camp,
12:05like it is in Austria,
12:07or in Germany.
12:10And we were brought on that boat,
12:14and several of them wanted to jump into the water,
12:17you know,
12:17because they didn't know
12:18what is in front of them.
12:22And we arrived on the Isle of Man.
12:24We had the pictures taken first,
12:26of course,
12:26with our number on.
12:28So we had already the feeling,
12:30well,
12:30we are criminals.
12:33But from that moment on,
12:35it was much,
12:36much better.
12:38We had quite nice people
12:40to look after us.
12:42And we had more security.
12:45We had so much security
12:46that we were fenced in, even.
12:48Aliens had the right of appeal
12:51to tribunals,
12:53and by 1941,
12:54many were free.
12:56But a new threat
12:57to civil liberty had loomed.
12:59Regulation 2D.
13:04Because Stalin was still
13:05in alliance with Hitler,
13:07the British Communist Party
13:08opposed the war effort.
13:10Under 2D,
13:11its paper,
13:12the Daily Worker,
13:13had been banned.
13:15But five months later,
13:16when Hitler struck at Russia,
13:18Churchill himself
13:18seized the chance
13:20to be Stalin's ally.
13:22Germany's new thrust east
13:23took the pressure off
13:24Churchill's battered island.
13:26There was time now
13:27to perfect the new
13:28and truly total war economy.
13:31But at its head in the coalition government
13:36were two jealous rivals.
13:38Big men brought in
13:39from outside Parliament.
13:40Max Beaverbrook,
13:41the newspaper baron,
13:43now Minister of Supply,
13:45and Ernest Bevin,
13:46the strong man of the TUC.
13:50For Bevin,
13:51the industrial workers
13:53were his people.
13:54Well, mates,
13:55ever since we took office,
13:58we have been exhorting you
14:01to work hard.
14:02I've never done so much
14:04exhortation to work hard
14:06in my life.
14:07but we've got to do it
14:09to win this victory.
14:12We'll all go along together
14:14with a mighty effort
14:17and show to the Hitlers
14:19and Mussolini's
14:20that we can not only work
14:23and fight,
14:24but we can be cheerful
14:26in doing it as well.
14:27Ernie Bevin, you see,
14:36is an Englishman
14:37to the fingertips
14:38and with a great hold
14:40over the trade unions
14:41and the labour movement
14:43as a whole.
14:45I think he's the most conceited man
14:46that I've ever known.
14:49It happens to self-made men
14:50very often.
14:52But the great thing about Ernie
14:54is that he never went back
14:55on what he said.
14:56And he said to his civilist,
14:59I said it, didn't I?
15:01And that is a tremendous thing.
15:03He was very loyal
15:04in those ways.
15:05Very likeable man.
15:07And one day,
15:08we were fighting for
15:09a rather technical point,
15:11the extraction of wheat
15:12in the loaf.
15:13And they were trying
15:14to get it up to
15:1588% extraction.
15:18And Ernie suddenly said
15:19in the committee,
15:21he said,
15:21I say that the middle
15:24of this loaf
15:24is indigestible.
15:25Yeah, can't eat it,
15:26so wait,
15:27there you are,
15:27what did I tell you?
15:28Churchill grew
15:30in admiration
15:31of the great
15:33fundamental qualities
15:35of Bevin,
15:36a single-purposeness,
15:38and
15:38the obvious
15:40desire,
15:41determination
15:42on the part of Bevin
15:44to suppress all party
15:46political considerations.
15:49Imagine the power he had.
15:51He was in charge
15:53of the possibilities
15:55of service
15:56for everybody
15:58in the civilian life
15:59of this country.
16:01He had total powers
16:03over every man working
16:04and over every woman.
16:07From March 1941,
16:09Bevin began
16:09to direct women
16:10into vital work.
16:12And into vital work
16:13the pretty girls went.
16:15But not enough of them.
16:17So in December,
16:18Britain went further
16:19than any fighting land
16:20had ever done
16:21and further than the Germans
16:22could ever go,
16:23conscription of women
16:25was announced.
16:27Girls called up
16:28could choose
16:29between the women's services
16:30or war work
16:32in the fields
16:33of factories.
16:37Beautiful work
16:38of the radio
16:39this morning
16:39on Rhythmic Records.
17:00I suppose you'll be
17:05leaving us shortly.
17:07Yes, I think I will.
17:09Think I'll give
17:09the land army a trial?
17:11Do you think
17:11you'll like that?
17:13Yes, the land
17:14rather appeals to me.
17:16Don't think any of us
17:16want to starve those.
17:17Whatever happens to you?
17:19What am I going to do
17:19about my hair?
17:21I can't possibly
17:22come down the country.
17:24Oh, well then,
17:25I suggest you
17:26wear it straight.
17:27Like Hitler's.
17:28I'd like to help
17:29to build spitfires.
17:31My boy's in the RAS.
17:33Well, and I feel
17:34I'm helping him.
17:36The sooner we all
17:37pull together in this thing,
17:38the sooner it will be over.
17:39I myself would like
17:40to go in the services
17:41because it's the uniform
17:42that appeals.
17:49Change the step
17:50of the march
17:51and quick side.
17:53Change the step!
17:56Change the step!
17:58You are the right,
17:59keep, keep!
17:59Airboard!
18:01Stand!
18:05Power!
18:07March!
18:09Airboard!
18:11Stand!
18:15While Devin's concern
18:17was long-term efficiency,
18:19Beaverbrook revelled
18:20in short-term frenzies.
18:22Now he was calling
18:23for tanks.
18:24We want tanks.
18:25We want
18:27very many tanks.
18:30We want them
18:31for the defense
18:32of our island
18:33and also
18:35for offensive
18:37operations.
18:40Beaverbrook's
18:40flamboyant methods
18:41outraged his colleagues
18:42and even his loyal
18:43friend Churchill
18:44was troubled
18:44by Beaverbrook's moods,
18:46by his resignations,
18:48and by his quarrels
18:49with Bevin.
18:49Well,
18:51Max Beaverbrook
18:52did a very good
18:54crash job.
18:56But in my opinion,
18:58and I'm biased,
19:00he left behind
19:00an enormous
19:02quantity of
19:03wreckage,
19:04administrative
19:05wreckage.
19:07And he said,
19:08war is
19:10a matter of
19:10improvisation.
19:12Organization
19:13is the enemy
19:14of improvisation.
19:15Ernie Bevin,
19:19domineering,
19:20dogmatic,
19:21even tyrannical,
19:22could be ruthless.
19:24Don't stand in my way.
19:25Don't criticize me.
19:27I will tolerate
19:29no interrogation
19:30from any source.
19:33Beaverbrook,
19:33the same.
19:35Same.
19:36Two strong
19:37personalities,
19:39domineering
19:40and ruthless.
19:42Early in 1942,
19:44Beaverbrook flounced out
19:45after only two weeks
19:46in a new job,
19:47boss of war industry,
19:49minister of production.
19:51For convincing reasons,
19:53Bevin had finally won.
19:56Well,
19:56I think he won
19:57because
19:57Churchill
19:59had the sense,
20:01the common sense
20:02to realize
20:02it was good
20:03to have the trade union
20:04movement on his side.
20:07He wasn't,
20:08he didn't throw
20:09Beaverbrook overboard.
20:10Don't forget,
20:12Beaverbrook was out
20:13and in
20:13and out
20:14and in.
20:15and finally out.
20:17This time he stayed out.
20:19A visit to Russia
20:20where he'd been welcomed
20:21by Britain's ambassador,
20:23Sir Stafford Cripps,
20:24had convinced him
20:25that the delightful Stalin
20:26was a great man.
20:28The Russians had been pressing
20:31a reluctant British government
20:32to start a second front
20:33in Europe.
20:35Out of office,
20:36Beaverbrook flung himself
20:37into a campaign
20:38for the second front,
20:39building on Britain's
20:40almost mystical admiration
20:41for the Red Army.
20:42We believe in the skill
20:45of the Russian generals.
20:48We believe in the equipment
20:50of the Russian divisions.
20:53And we believe
20:53in the fighting power
20:55and the courage
20:56of the Russian soldiers.
20:57and this is the day
21:03to proclaim our faith.
21:09Weapons we must give
21:11and raw materials.
21:14Bread we must give
21:16and sugar too.
21:19Men we must give.
21:23Equipped with tanks
21:24and with airplanes.
21:28That is the pledge
21:30of the second front.
21:30Also cheering Beaverbrook on,
21:37Britain's Communist Party
21:39now backed the war.
21:41Their leaders were calling
21:42on the workers
21:42to make their war production
21:43mightier yet.
21:46No one calls
21:47for the second front
21:48without being
21:49personally prepared
21:51to place their being,
21:53their energy
21:54and every ounce
21:55of fight they possess
21:57at the disposal
21:58of the government.
21:59There is a full understanding
22:02of what is meant
22:03and the people
22:04of this country
22:05are quite rightly
22:07beginning to resent
22:09this war on the cheap.
22:11This one way war
22:13that's going on
22:14where it's the Russians
22:15that do the dying
22:17and the fighting
22:18and the sacrifice
22:19while we pay tributes
22:21to them
22:21from the benches
22:22of the House of Commons.
22:27But one left ringer
22:28on those benches
22:29as Kripps
22:29had just returned
22:30from his stint
22:31in Moscow.
22:33Many people saw him
22:34as a possible rival
22:35for Churchill.
22:36His views on Russia
22:37had vast appeal.
22:41We've got to try
22:42and help the Russians
22:43in every way
22:45that we can
22:46to make ready
22:47to meet the spring
22:49offensive of Hitler.
22:49I appreciate
22:51there are some people
22:52in this country
22:53who are still afraid
22:55of the spread
22:56of the Russian ideology
22:58but what they've got
23:00to recollect is
23:01that if we are friendly
23:02with Russia
23:03and have an arrangement
23:05of cooperation
23:05with them
23:06any dangers
23:07which they fear
23:08will be very much less.
23:11As a matter of fact
23:11the Soviet Union
23:13have no idea
23:15and no wish
23:16to interfere
23:17with the internal affairs
23:20of any other country.
23:21I know that
23:22from the lips
23:23of Stalin himself.
23:24Again in the headlines
23:36disaster was stacked
23:37on defeat.
23:39The press was worried
23:40and critical
23:40especially the Daily Mirror
23:42which ran a scolding campaign
23:43against profiteers.
23:45One cartoon
23:46was too much
23:46for Churchill.
23:48The price of petrol
23:49has been increased
23:50by one penny
23:51official.
23:54Churchill told Morrison
23:57to stop the paper
23:58but the rest of the press
24:00rallied to the Mirror's support
24:01led by the young editor
24:02of Beaverbrook's
24:03Evening Standard
24:04Michael Foote.
24:08The liberty of the press
24:09in this country
24:09can only be maintained
24:11by the vigilance
24:13of the people
24:14and the vigilance
24:15of Parliament
24:16and the courage
24:16of the newspapers
24:17themselves.
24:18That's the only way.
24:21Therefore we must fight
24:22fight fight
24:23to retain those liberties.
24:26The ministers
24:27come along
24:27and tell us
24:28have told us
24:29in the last
24:29two or three weeks
24:30of course it's only
24:31the Daily Mirror
24:32they were trying
24:32to get at.
24:33The attack is over
24:34they say.
24:36No more demands
24:37on any other newspapers.
24:40All other newspapers
24:41may continue
24:42to live
24:42in tranquility
24:43and in freedom
24:45and in peace.
24:47There's something
24:48rather familiar
24:48about those words.
24:49I have no more
24:52territorial demands.
24:57I can picture
24:58in my mind's eye now
25:00Mr. Morrison himself
25:02muttering those words
25:04I have no more
25:06territorial demands.
25:09Coming down shoe lane
25:10with a firm look
25:12on his jaw
25:13and a hot gun
25:15in his pocket
25:15with the evening standard
25:17safely suppressed
25:18under 2D
25:19and its proprietor
25:20safely looked after
25:21under 18B.
25:24The only man
25:25who thought
25:25it was going
25:25to be shut down
25:26was Churchill
25:27and when it was
25:28brought up
25:29in the House of Commons
25:30on the whole
25:30the House of Commons
25:31came out
25:33on the side
25:34of the mirror
25:34more or less.
25:35They didn't like
25:36the mirror
25:36but they weren't
25:37going to have it
25:37suppressed.
25:38and after that
25:41well
25:42we trimmed
25:43ourselves a bit
25:44and the government
25:44forgot their foolishness.
25:47Since democratic life
25:49did go on
25:49there were still
25:50by elections.
25:52The coalition government
25:53lost a string of them
25:54to independence.
25:56Tom Dryberg
25:57stood at Malden
25:58as an independent socialist.
26:00Malden
26:00was a very safe
26:01Tory seat.
26:03I hadn't the faintest
26:05idea of how
26:05to be a candidate.
26:06I didn't belong
26:07to any party
26:08didn't know
26:09the electoral law
26:11or anything.
26:12First I went
26:13to see my employer
26:14Lord Beaverbrook
26:15whom I was working
26:18for at the time
26:19on the Daily Express
26:20and he was
26:23a bit sceptical.
26:24He said
26:24the only advice
26:25he would give me
26:26was that I must
26:28wear a hat.
26:29He said
26:29the British people
26:30will never vote
26:31for a man
26:32who doesn't wear a hat.
26:33Then in June
26:34came a fresh shock
26:35from Africa.
26:36Tobruk fell
26:39about three or four days
26:40before polling day
26:42in the election.
26:44We rushed out
26:44a leaflet
26:45headed tragedy
26:46at Tobruk
26:47and it was a tragedy
26:49and we felt it
26:50as such
26:51but nonetheless
26:51I'm bound to admit
26:53that that did
26:54probably
26:55greatly add
26:56to the number
26:57of votes
26:58which we got.
27:00Dryberg won
27:00by a huge majority.
27:02Meanwhile
27:02the rebel MPs
27:03of all parties
27:04wanted a showdown
27:05with Churchill.
27:08I went to
27:09Brookville
27:10in 1942.
27:12Churchill was
27:13in Washington
27:14and the American
27:18press carried
27:19alarmist reports
27:20of the state
27:21of the government
27:22at home
27:24and possible votes
27:25of Central
27:25and so on.
27:27So much so
27:28that Winston
27:28rang me up
27:29it was about
27:305 a.m.
27:31our time
27:32I suppose
27:32about midnight
27:33his time
27:33to ask
27:36what was happening
27:39was the government
27:39still in office
27:40and what was going on
27:41and so forth
27:42and I was
27:43able to tell
27:44so far as I knew
27:45nothing had happened
27:46except that this
27:47motion had been
27:48tabled
27:48which we'd have
27:49to take.
27:50Churchill came back
27:51to confront
27:51a House of Commons
27:52motion
27:53expressing no
27:54confidence
27:54in his leadership.
27:56It even seemed
27:57to the rebels
27:58that they might win.
28:00They muffed it.
28:00As so often
28:03with these
28:04great parliamentary
28:05debates
28:06there's a bit
28:07of an anticlimax
28:08when you get there
28:10and in this case
28:12the anticlimax
28:13came instantly
28:15in the opening
28:16speech
28:17by this
28:17ineffable old
28:19Tory
28:19Sir John Wardlaw
28:20Milne
28:21because he made
28:22this fantastic
28:23suggestion
28:24that there should
28:25be a supreme
28:26commander
28:27of all the
28:28armed forces
28:28who should be
28:29and he named
28:30him none other
28:31than the Duke
28:31of Gloucester
28:32whom God
28:34preserved
28:35but there was
28:37a roar of laughter
28:39and a howl
28:41of disappointment
28:41and in gales
28:43of derision
28:44the motion
28:45was swept away.
28:47There were only
28:4725 votes
28:48against Churchill
28:49and now
28:51the war news
28:52began to grow
28:53brighter.
28:55The Germans
28:55were held up
28:56at Stalingrad.
28:58Britain won
28:59in November
29:00at El Alamein.
29:02Churchill went
29:02north to Bradford
29:03in spiteless
29:04spirits.
29:07Now
29:07we have
29:09just passed
29:11through the month
29:12of November
29:12usually a month
29:14of fogs
29:15and gloom
29:16but on the whole
29:18a month
29:18I've liked
29:19a good deal
29:19better
29:20than some other
29:21months we've seen
29:22during the course
29:22of this present
29:24unpleasantness.
29:25and so I say
29:28to you
29:29let us
29:30go forward
29:31together
29:31and put
29:32these grave
29:33matters
29:33to the proof.
29:38Churchill
29:39was safe
29:39in power
29:40while the war
29:40lasted
29:41but the hopes
29:42of the British
29:43people
29:43were swinging
29:44away from him
29:45beyond victory
29:46what could
29:47Churchill
29:48offer them.
30:09But by the
30:10middle of the war
30:11there weren't
30:12so many barrels.
30:13if you wanted
30:14beer
30:15you might have
30:15to bring
30:16your own
30:16bottle
30:16and many
30:19other things
30:20which people
30:20had relied on
30:21were now
30:21in short supply.
30:23Apples
30:23and razors
30:24clams
30:24and potatoes
30:25bread
30:26and offal
30:26were all
30:27unrationed
30:28but you had
30:29to queue.
30:36And because
30:37they hated
30:38queuing
30:38people welcomed
30:39rationing.
30:41Soap
30:41and clothes
30:41were rationed
30:42as well as
30:42most essential
30:43foodstuffs.
30:46You knew
30:46you could
30:47get the ration
30:47without fail
30:48and the British
30:49system seemed
30:50fair enough
30:51the same
30:51for everyone
30:52rich or poor.
30:53Each person
30:54got up to
30:55eight ounces
30:55of sugar a week
30:56every two months
30:58a packet
30:59of dried eggs
31:00eight ounces
31:01of cheese a week
31:02eight ounces
31:02of fats
31:03four ounces
31:03of bacon
31:04and about
31:05a pound
31:05of meat.
31:06are you
31:17helping to win
31:18the war
31:19on the kitchen
31:20front?
31:22If you are
31:23saving our
31:24shipping
31:24by making
31:26the most
31:27of what we
31:27grow at home
31:28if you are
31:30growing
31:30vegetables
31:31on every
31:32bit of ground
31:33that you can
31:34get hold of
31:35if you are
31:37only eating
31:38what you need
31:39and not
31:40what you'd like
31:41and as much
31:43as you'd like
31:43then you are
31:45helping to win
31:46the war
31:46and my advice
31:48to you
31:49is cook
31:50potatoes
31:51in their
31:52jackets
31:52and grow
31:54your own
31:54onions.
31:55and they
31:56did
31:56assailed
31:58by a barrage
31:59of films
31:59and posters
32:00after war
32:02work
32:02before fire
32:02watching
32:03in between
32:03spells of
32:04home guard
32:04training
32:05townsmen
32:05toiled
32:06on their
32:06allotments
32:07Britain
32:08was under
32:09blockade
32:09by 1943
32:12farmers
32:13had brought
32:13nearly four
32:14and a half
32:14million
32:15extra acres
32:15of grassland
32:16under the
32:17plough
32:17and allotments
32:18were chewing
32:19up scraps
32:19of good
32:20land
32:20left over
32:21vegetables
32:22flourished
32:23round the
32:23Albert
32:24Memorial
32:24good
32:32plain
32:32food
32:32was still
32:33cheap
32:33and unrationed
32:34in factory
32:35canteens
32:35and in the
32:36new publicly
32:37owned British
32:38restaurants
32:38but many
32:39people complained
32:39that the rich
32:40could still
32:41find fancier
32:41tidbits
32:42the black
32:44market
32:45snaked
32:45silently
32:46through
32:46Britain
32:47poor
32:49fella
32:49now
32:50what can I
32:50sell his
32:51mother
32:51I want
32:57to talk
32:57to you
32:58about what
32:58is called
32:59racketeering
33:00or the black
33:02market
33:03it is being
33:05stopped
33:06these food
33:08cheats
33:09are the
33:10enemies
33:10of the
33:10people
33:11and there
33:12must be
33:13no dirty
33:13fingers
33:14in the
33:15people's
33:15food
33:16the ugly
33:20squanderbug
33:21symbol of
33:22waste
33:23was outlawed
33:24women
33:25women were
33:25reminded
33:25not to
33:26waste
33:26old
33:26clothes
33:27and not
33:27to
33:27ask
33:28for
33:28glamorous
33:28new
33:29ones
33:29every
33:37scrap
33:37of
33:37manufactured
33:38matter
33:38counted
33:39fashion
33:41is
33:42rationed
33:44roughly
33:46speaking
33:46the
33:46rot
33:47set in
33:47when
33:47silk
33:48stockings
33:48had to
33:48be
33:49sacrificed
33:49in the
33:49early
33:50stages
33:50of
33:50the
33:50war
33:51that
33:51was
33:51pre
33:52austerity
33:52by the
33:53way
33:53did you
33:54realize
33:54the
33:54difference
33:54between
33:55austerity
33:56and
33:56utility
33:56austerity
33:57on the
33:58left
33:58is the
33:58elder
33:59sister
33:59of
33:59utility
33:59which
34:00you
34:00see
34:00in
34:00the
34:00checked
34:00suit
34:01and
34:02austerity
34:02was
34:02allowed
34:03many
34:03fashionable
34:03privileges
34:04denied
34:04to
34:05utility
34:05for
34:06instance
34:06pleats
34:07utility
34:08as you
34:09know
34:09is
34:09confined
34:09to
34:10four
34:10whereas
34:11austerity
34:11was
34:11lavish
34:12with
34:12pleats
34:13strict
34:17petrol
34:17allocation
34:18drove
34:18many
34:18cars
34:19off
34:19the
34:19road
34:20though
34:20some
34:20drivers
34:21ran
34:21on
34:21cold
34:22gas
34:22trains
34:26and buses
34:27were scarce
34:27now
34:28too
34:28you'll
34:29wonder
34:29why
34:29we
34:29make
34:30a
34:30fuss
34:30if
34:31george
34:31decides
34:32to
34:32take
34:32a
34:32bus
34:32but
34:33look
34:33again
34:34and
34:34you
34:34will
34:34see
34:35that
34:35george
34:36ain't
34:36all
34:36that
34:36george
34:37should
34:37be
34:37he's
34:38he's
34:38he's
34:38he's
34:38only
34:38got
34:38a
34:39step
34:39to
34:39go
34:40a
34:40couple
34:40of
34:40hundred
34:41yards
34:41or so
34:42whilst
34:43others
34:43further
34:44down
34:44the
34:44queue
34:44have
34:45far
34:45to
34:45go
34:45and
34:46lots
34:46to
34:46do
35:17The BBC, official voice of Britain, was more high-minded than ever, but the public didn't mind.
35:23The Brains Trust, a weekly intellectual forum, was one of the radio's most popular programs,
35:29and the voice of the novelist J.B. Priestley made him a major star.
35:34The British were absolutely at their best in the Second World War. They were never as good,
35:41certainly my lifetime before it. And I'm sorry to say that I've never been quite as good after it.
35:51Because a large number of people were living more intensely than they'd ever done before,
35:59a large number of people equally felt they needed some of the arts.
36:05De Meyra Hess, played in the National Gallery.
36:17There was a greater demand, I think, for good books, good plays, music,
36:25sight of some good pictures, than I'd ever known before in this country.
36:35But still more people loved High Gang, and that man, Tommy Handley.
36:47It's Bob!
36:54It's that man again, it's that man again, it's that man again.
36:58Can I do you now, sir?
37:00Yeah!
37:00Yeah!
37:05Well, well. If it isn't Tanteen Clare of a whistle-smacking bomber.
37:15I say, you look a bit tousled. Have you flown off the handle?
37:19No, sir. I've been fire-watching for the first time.
37:25Do you have a chaperone?
37:26Oh, yes, sir. And a very nice, polite chap he was, too.
37:32Always said pardon before he took his boots off.
37:35I can hate to hear what he said before he took his socks off.
37:41And Gracie Fields was back.
37:47I'm the girl that makes the thing that drills the hole that holds the spring that drives the rod that turns the knob that works the thingamibob.
37:56I'm the girl that makes the thing that holds the oil that hoils the ring that takes the shank that moves the crank that works the thingamibob.
38:04I'm the girl that makes the thingamibob. It's a ticklish sort of job making a thing for a thingamibob, especially when you don't know what it's for.
38:12And I don't know, and I don't know, but I'm the girl that makes the thing that drills the hole that holds the spring that makes the thingamibob that makes the engines roar.
38:23And I'm the girl that makes the thing that holds the oil that hoils the ring that makes the thingamibob that's going to win the war.
38:32What is, Joe?
38:39Aircraft production had trebled in two years, and the next two it doubled again.
38:44By now, Britain's war economy was much more widely based and thoroughly organized than Germany's.
38:50But the cost of such concentrated effort was high.
38:53Familiar customs in industry were swept aside.
38:56Workers put in massive overtime, which stretched mind and body to the limit.
39:01Then, sometimes, their patience snapped.
39:06This is Betzhanger, Kent, scene of a famous dispute in 1942.
39:11Industry cried out for coal, but output fell and went on falling.
39:16Many miners had joined up or had found better paid work.
39:20Older men worked longer hours and had to guard the mine as well.
39:23But when they could stand these conditions no more, they struck.
39:29We all marched down into Deale and then onto the Canterbury Road.
39:35Well, there were several of the local residents, and particularly some of the troops, they were jeering and sneering at us.
39:44But little did they know that, at the time, that we were manning this pit 24 hours a day with the Home Guard troops ourselves.
39:55And many of us worked and stopped at the pit here 24 hours a day.
39:59The miners knew strikes were forbidden by Bevan, by a wartime regulation, Order 1305.
40:09But faced with a solid body of a thousand men, you couldn't jail them all or even collect the fines.
40:14And Bevan and Churchill knew it.
40:16I don't think Churchill wanted us to go to prison.
40:23He wanted us to stay here and guard his property.
40:25Because it was his property after all. It wasn't ours.
40:30The government gave in.
40:33Desperate for labour, late in 1943, Bevan called up boys.
40:38Not for the forces, for the mines.
40:41Now, you'll be here four weeks.
40:44Is there any particular district you'd like to go to at the end of your train?
40:47Bowdover-Darvin.
40:49Right. Now, will you pass down there to the billeting section, please?
40:52Well, if you have a...
40:53Put your steel tools up, the department went and dropped in on them.
40:56What tells you how?
40:58Seven o'clock, please.
40:59Seven o'clock.
41:00One new national serviceman in ten became a Bevan boy.
41:03You couldn't escape whoever your dad was.
41:06They tell me you're a public school boy.
41:08It'll be a bit of a change for you going in the mine, won't it?
41:12Yes, it will.
41:12But I feel as though it's a necessity that someone's got to do the job.
41:15And so I think I'm doing my part in helping.
41:21I was expecting to go into the army.
41:23And, of course, I was very shocked when I heard on the news on Christmas Day
41:28that I was to be directed into the mines.
41:31It was a ballot, actually.
41:32And they drew out numbers ending in nought or nine.
41:35My registration number ended in nought.
41:38Because there's no ducking away from that.
41:41Consequently, I had to go into the mines regardless of anything.
41:44His parents hoped he'd be an army officer.
41:46Oh, they were flabbergasted.
41:48And if somebody had said to me six months sooner that you're going into the mines,
41:51I should have thought they were joking.
41:52But lads of 17, without a mining background, couldn't solve the problem.
41:59Output went on falling and falling.
42:03And in 1944, in Yorkshire and South Wales, over 200,000 miners came out on unofficial strike.
42:09The men have worked continuously for a period of nearly five years under war conditions,
42:19suffering from a deep sense of grievance because they have not been rewarded by the state
42:25equally with ex-mine workers employed in government factories.
42:34In the bustling Tyneside shipyards, as in the mines,
42:37men who remembered mass unemployment feared the peace.
42:41Their doubts and wishes spoke out even in government-made documentary films.
42:48Time sounds busy enough today.
42:52Oldens and youngens hard at work making good ships.
42:54But just remember what the yards looked like five years ago.
43:01Idle.
43:03Empty.
43:05Some of them derelict.
43:07And the skilled men that worked in them scattered and forgotten.
43:12Will it be the same again five years from now?
43:18Other films echoed the same question.
43:20Like this early effort by the Bolting Brothers, starring Bernard Miles.
43:25Oh, you reckon Hitler's made a lot on us change our minds a bit lately.
43:30We made a fine big war effort.
43:32Well, when it's all over, we've got to see to it we make a fine big peace effort.
43:36There's no two ways about it.
43:38Won't go back, Neil.
43:39We made a start.
43:41Sure.
43:42Look at that Dunkirk.
43:44Wasn't no unemployed there.
43:47Every man had a job to do and he'd done it.
43:50And that's what we've got to see they as in peacetime.
43:54A job.
43:55Ah, there'll be work enough too when this lot's over.
43:59Building up something new and better than what's been destroyed.
44:04There mustn't be no more chaps hanging around for work what don't come.
44:09No more slums neither.
44:11No more dirty, filthy back streets.
44:14And no more half-starved kids with no room to play in.
44:18We can't go back to the whole way of living.
44:24Least ways, not all of it.
44:26That's gone forever.
44:28And the sooner we all make up our minds about that, the better.
44:33We've got to all pull together.
44:36There was a great community spirit during the war.
44:41It is the nearest thing that I've seen in my lifetime to the operation of a kind of socialist state.
44:47That is of a democratic socialist state of citizens believing that they could have influenced by their actions speedily what was going to be done.
44:57And that the whole world could be changed by the way they operated.
45:00They saw that the world was changed by their actions in the war.
45:04And they thought that could be translated into political action as well.
45:08It was extremely exciting.
45:11But some of the political leaders, maybe because they were so deeply involved in their own pursuits, didn't appreciate what was happening.
45:19And so, the people's hopes for a better peace fixed themselves on Sir William Beveridge,
45:26who had been commissioned by the government to draw up plans for a welfare state.
45:30When his report was published in 1942, it was a best-seller.
45:37The report proposes, first, an all-in scheme of social insurance,
45:46providing for all citizens and their families all the cash benefits needed for security,
45:53in return for a single weekly contribution by one insurance stamp.
46:02It preserves the maximum of individual freedom and responsibility
46:09that is consistent with the abolition of want.
46:15The government first blew hot, then cold.
46:18Very cold.
46:20Churchill wouldn't act.
46:21Churchill got very worried, and his two chancellors of the exchequer, Sir Kingsley Wood and Anderson,
46:28were equally critical.
46:29And that's why the Beveridge plan was delayed after my bill.
46:33That's why education came first.
46:36A major reform of education would tread on fewer big toes.
46:40It had other uses, too.
46:42It wasn't really very controversial.
46:44It was very long, and Churchill realized here was a wonderful way of exercising the troops, you see.
46:52Churchill was first and foremost a war leader.
46:55He kept the brakes on Reconstruction.
46:59Churchill didn't take much interest, frankly.
47:01He wanted to know whether we were going to go in for nationalization.
47:06And we had a proposal by Herbert Morrison to nationalize the electricity industry.
47:11And that's where the coalition government stopped.
47:14We couldn't get agreement on that.
47:16A new party, Commonwealth, called for Beveridge now, and won two by-elections.
47:22Other independents took up the cry.
47:25The Beveridge bandwagon rolled on.
47:28Early in 1944, West Derbyshire had its say.
47:31One candidate was wholly independent.
47:33Indeed, he had no program at all.
47:35I have no animosity to the other two candidates.
47:43If I am not elected, I am the only one that has anything to lose.
47:51I am very proud that what I consider to be the foundation stone of true democracy
48:01has been well and truly laid in the village of Knifedon, Derbyshire, England.
48:14Goodall then fled back to his father's cottage.
48:18And the real fight was between an independent socialist, Charlie White,
48:21who had Commonwealth support,
48:24and the youthful conservative, Lord Hartington,
48:27who had official Labour backing.
48:31Hartington's family had always found a seat round here,
48:34and to reject him would be most untraditional.
48:44But White won by a landslide.
48:47Conservatives were not pleased.
48:50Democracy, however, was safe enough for the fascist leader, Mosley, to be released.
48:55He had been interned since 1940.
48:57The government said that he was ill,
49:01but very few people believed it.
49:04This caused the greatest public uproar of the war years.
49:16Fear and hatred had changed their targets.
49:20Released aliens were serving in the Pioneer Corps.
49:23On the newsreels, they now appeared as lovable allies.
49:27This is Corporal Drucker.
49:29His scars and his glass eye are the legacy of being kicked by a horse
49:34when he was in a crack Austrian cavalry regiment.
49:37The Dugrund, wasn't it, Drucker?
49:39Yes, sir.
49:40I was kicked twice.
49:42Once by a horse and once by Shigletober.
49:44I prefer the horse.
49:46Alien troops of myriad nations were welcomed now in Britain,
49:51where they gathered to prepare for the D-Day invasion.
49:55The Free Poles conquered many Scottish hearts.
50:01And the G.I.s were everywhere.
50:03They were well equipped, well paid,
50:12and they gave the girls fine new things like nylons and the jitterbug.
50:22Churchill could now inspect an army,
50:25which knew that it would win.
50:27The hour of our greatest effort and action is approaching.
50:33We march with valiant allies
50:35who count on us as we count on them.
50:39The only homeward road for all of us
50:41lies through the arch of victory.
50:47Last the day came.
50:50And it was sweet.
50:52Wally Hammond's cover drive delighted crowds
50:59who basked serenely in the fine high summer weather.
51:15Britain seemed close to the winning post.
51:18Wasn't it all over?
51:20Bar the killing?
51:22Thanks to the very fine weather in the Straits of Dover,
51:25all holiday crowds apparently had a good time,
51:27except those rash enough to travel.
51:30Is the favourite winning?
51:32Ah, who cares anyway?
51:33The V-1.
51:34The V-1.
51:34The V-1.
51:35The V-1.
51:36The V-1.
51:38The V-1.
51:40The V-1.
51:42The V-1.
51:44The V-1.
51:44The V-1.
51:46The V-1.
51:53The V-1.
51:58The V-1.
52:02Plane with no pilot.
52:14A new kind of weapon.
52:34A new kind of war.
52:49It was time to hide again.
53:15The V-1.
53:28The V-1.
53:31THE END
54:01THE END
54:31THE END
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