Fwd: Wartime rebels who broke the ban by displaying keep calm and carry on poster

Sunday 30 October 2016

Wartime rebels who broke the ban
by displaying keep calm and carry on poster
-------------------------------------------

By Patrick Sawer, Senior Reporter


With its simple five word exhortation it has become symbolic of the
British spirit of steady defiance in the face of Nazi aggression.

So much so that its 'Keep Calm and Carry On' slogan has in recent years
been reproduced on everything from mugs and coasters to T-shirts and tea
towels.

But in fact this evocative red and white poster was banned by Britain’s
wartime government and did not see the light of day until years later.

Now, however, the only known photograph has been discovered of one of
the few posters which survived the Government ordered destruction being
used for its intended purpose.

It shows scientists working at a Government weapons research laboratory
in Bedfordshire with the poster hanging on the wall behind them, despite 
the ban.

Far from using it to boost the population’s blitz spirit, civil servants
had ordered the pulping of 2.5 million copies of the poster before it
could be distributed around the country.

The men from the ministry believed that to what modern readers might
seems like a soberly steadfast message would prove to be counter-productive.

They took the view that telling people to keep calm might be regarded as
patronising or even encourage them to suspect there was in fact
something serious to panic about.

Yet, as this picture shows, this group of scientists managed to salvage
on of the posters before they were destroyed and use it stiffen their
resolve in their work  developing ways of beating Hitler.

It’s not known how this particular poster survived destruction of most
of the print run, but it may be that the laboratory technicians and
scientists pictured had already been sent a copy and felt - for all the
fears it might be considered patronising - that in fact it summed up how 
they felt they should conduct themselves.

The photograph was discovered by Paul Hooley, a retired printing firm
owner and amateur historian, when he came into possession of a local
newspaper’s photographic archive.

The photograph was taken sometime after the outbreak of war  by the
Bedfordshire Times at one of three possible secret locations in
Bedfordshire. These were part of Military Defence 1 – known as 'Winston
Churchill’s Toyshop' - where scientists with links to the Bletchley Park 
listening centre worked to devise new weapons.....



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/29/wartime-rebels-who-broke-the-ban-by-displaying-keep-calm-and-car/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2016/10/29/112226590_Original_Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On_poster_on_display_at_a_secret_wartime_lab_in_1939-large_trans++cf1WrSAPZOx8kf0-AwhF_YP4kl1GCBkEEVK4O0GIPBQ.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3887096/Don-t-Calm-Carry-Poster-wartime-icon-actually-BANNED-government-amid-fears-make-people-think-panic-about.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490