1941 in review

I had second thoughts about filling in gaps in this blog with quotations from the Daily Mirror compendium which I received as a birthday present. It would be hypocritical to do so after complaining about the continuing, virtually continuous, programming of World War Two features on at least two Freeview channels.

Now, though, seems a good time to review the reporting of 1941 as a whole as reflected in the selected front pages by the (anonymous) compiler. 

There was no doubt that the Mirror was wholly behind the war effort and the coalition government. Although as strongly Labour-supporting then as it is now, it is difficult to find any criticism of Churchill and the Conservatives or any other party for that matter. Hyper-patriotic, the Mirror made free with the epithets "Huns", "Japs" and "Wops" in its headlines which  a present-day editor may have had second thoughts over. The tone was set in the first sentence of the lead article: "The New Year will bring decisive events in the war against Hitler and his puppet Mussolini." There is criticism of New Year Honours as consolation for several worthies who had been given public appointments but then had to be relieved of them because they were not up to the job. There was no criticism of the DSO for Mountbatten who was clearly still considered a hero for his command of HMS Kelly. It was to be some time after the war that accounts by officers and men who had served under him revealed his deficiencies, which culminated in the disastrous Dieppe Raid.

Throughout the year, the Mirror reported on progress on three fronts, naval action, bombing raids in Europe and the regaining of ground in North Africa. However, it was not afraid to report Nazi advances or the effects of German bombing, such as the Swansea Blitz in February. 

The big events of the year were covered. In May, Rudolf Hess landed in Scotland. The Mirror was in no doubt that his peace proposal was a big con. Later that month, the sinking of the Bismarck was front-page news. In June, Hitler tore up the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact and, along with Axis allies, turned on Russia. A Mirror leader commented on American ambivalence. Hitler's avowed intent to strike at "International Jewish Bolshevism" struck a chord with the German and Irish communities of the US. President Roosevelt was however a friend of Britain. Later in the year, Stalin was to call for the West to open a second front as Russia, in great hardship, struggled to resist German pressure. 

A constant preoccupation was rationing, and in particular the food ration.

Two deaths caught my attention in a November edition. Frank Pick was the man credited with creating London Underground's corporate identity. The Mirror felt his contribution to government propaganda, as a former Director-General of the Ministry of Information, was a more significant headline. There was also  the death by suicide of the 24-year-old Mary Clement Davies, daughter of Clement Davies, MP for Montgomeryshire. He had, along with Clement Attlee, prepared the ground for unseating Neville Chamberlain after the Norway debate. Davies was to become leader of the Liberals after the war. One wonders whether the personal tragedy contributed to Davies's alcoholism.

Sadly, the collection of Mirror front pages finishes with the edition of Monday 29th December. This was filled with reports of the war in Europe and the Pacific, seemingly two steps forward and one step back. Doubtless there was an end-of-year message to come on 31st, looking back on Britain's survival against the odds in 1941, and with hopes for the turning of the tide which was to come in 1942. But I shall just have to imagine it.

Dr John Oldershaw

I missed the centenary of my alma mater, Oldershaw School, opened in September 1920. However, the CBE announced for its founder one hundred years ago today gives the excuse for some catching up.   John Oldershaw MD, who practised medicine in Liverpool, became a magistrate and alderman in the then county borough of Wallasey. Biographical details on the Web are hard to find, but he was clearly well-to-do as well as public spirited in order to found the new school at a time of economic privation. He must also have had some influential friends as donors, and perhaps some parents paid fees, but I do remember being told that Oldershaw was one of the first secondary schools in the country to be truly open to all. It was only later that it was taken on by Wallasey Corporation, presumably as pressure on public funds eased and the aspirations of the Education Acts of 1918 and 1921 (detailed here) could begin to be met. I remember that one of the staff at the time I joined the student body was J.A. Davidson who had been an early pupil and could be identified on a 1922 school photograph, one of those which lined the walls of a school corridor.

The wikipedia entry is regrettably scant, but I can add the names of two distinguished former pupils. Colin Morris made his name as the author of a Whitehall farce, Reluctant Heroes, but went on to become a pioneering TV presenter and producer. He donated a typescript of Reluctant Heroes to the school library, and I hope it is still there. (Francis Ernest) Martin Jenkins was the star of the school plays when I was at Oldershaw. He went on to become a stage director (giving actor Brian Cox an early starring role as Ibsen's Brand) and BBC radio producer, before going freelance. He is also an expert on trams and tramways.

Madame de Pompadour

 After last Sunday's dramatisation of sex in high places on BBC-TV, it is appropriate to remark on the 300th anniversary of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, marquise de Pompadour, influential mistress of Louis XV, King of France.

Completing GWR electrification: wishful thinking?

On the basis of an item in recently published minutes of a Network Rail board meeting, the Evening Post headlined yesterday's edition "New hope for electric rail line". The board had been told that the unit cost of the projected electrification between Northampton and Sheffield was below European rates on a like-for-like basis. Since the ostensible reason for the majority Conservative government cancelling the electrification initiated by the coalition (a decision announced after a general election, it should be remembered) was the cost of the work, the Post draws the conclusion that there is now no objection to the project being resumed.

However, Grayling's excuse always seemed specious. Yes, there had been cost overruns on the English section, but these were largely due to a faulty strategy which had been abandoned and there was no reason to believe they would be repeated in South Wales. There must have been other reasons for the cancellation. 

By all means let us put pressure on the current Secretary of State for Transport (Grant Shapps) using this latest information as a lever, but remember this i the Department which drastically pruned the HS2 project. I am not getting my hopes up.

Book recommendation: "Sultan of Swing" by Michael Crick

 If politics are of no interest to you whatsoever, then this very readable biography of David Butler is not for you. Written with the cooperation of the subject, but not uncritical, it reveals that there is more to Butler than the invention of the swingometer. He did not coin the term "psephologist", however. Crick goes into the history of the word, including a surprising link to the Inklings. Butler did give wider currency to the term, though, including introducing it to America.

The big revelation to me was that Butler was more than an expert in front of the cameras on election nights. Together with the formidable Grace Wyndham Goldie, he defined the presentation and to some extent the production of the BBC results programmes. 

For me, another item of interest was the light that Butler's reminiscences shone on the mature thinking of Winston Churchill, with whom he had two long conversations. 

Boxing Day

In lieu of a Christmas Box, I tip my hat to the people who collect the refuse and recycling for Neath Port Talbot. In addition to the year-round standard service, someone on the round in Skewen occasionally makes sure that my waste caddy is put back within the front yard after their collection when storms threaten and are liable to blow the caddy away.

-o-

There are hundreds, probably thousands of TV and movie dramas about Christmas Day and Advent, but as far as I know, no screenwriter has tackled the remaining days of Christmas - except perhaps for adaptations of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Boxing Day offers some dramatic possibilities, being one of the days in the year when domestic violence rises. I have toyed with the idea of writing a Boxing Day scenario of which a family split is one of the two narrative strands, both being resolved in a hopeful ending. It needs filling out, though, and inspiration has deserted me.

Absent friends

 My cousin Chris Poole and his wife, who initially promoted his career as a Santa Claus, gave me permission to use any of the many photos in his gallery before she died. Not long after, he too slipped away quietly. So this photo brings mixed emotions, of sadness that they are not still with us but also happy memories. 

It is surely better to illustrate a Christmas day blog with the picture of a real person I knew, someone who enjoyed his annual impersonation, rather than with a stock photo. And it really does exude goodwill.

But once again, there are too many absent friends among the living. Once again, travel restrictions prevent me seeing either  of my daughters over the Christmas period, not to mention my brother or sister and their families. So I sympathise with those in a similar position or worse. Let us hope this pandemic will be behind us soon.

A Happy Christmas to you all.

Madagascar, an unlucky country

 On top of years of drought as weather patterns off East Africa have shifted, Madagascar suffered a shipwreck this week which claimed at least 85 lives. On top of that,  a helicopter sent to inspect the disaster crashed. Only two survivors have been reported.