The Wartime Years

Why is it that just about every single one of us just loves a good old wallow in nostalgia? It’s probably as simple as when most of us look back we have a tendency to ‘accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative’. Then again as we get older, perhaps, there’s more to look back on, than to look forward to!


However, a remembrance of things past is not just confined to old people hoping to recapture their lost youth, many younger people also cherish things from years ago – it might be retro design, fashion or a life that seemed somehow more exciting – in a slower kind of way. The idea of accentuating the good from times past is actually a line from an old Bing Crosby song, so that tells you that nostalgia has been around for a long time, but shows no sign of losing its appeal. There’s no chance that nostalgia is going to go out of fashion any time soon.


They say that a picture’s worth a thousand words and so on that basis there’s about 100,000 words in what follows – that’s many more than most average books contain and more than enough to keep you entertained and informed about people, places, sights and history.


During the early part of the World War II all places of entertainment were closed, but it soon changed when the government realised that it was important, under such testing circumstances, that everyone somehow tried to keep enjoying themselves. How Britain coped with war through the music, films, dancing and comedy is all here in this superbly illustrated book. 


It takes us on a journey through the six years of war with fantastic archive photographs that bring to life the faces, places and personalities that made these years so memorable. Global pandemics aside, we had hoped we shall never see such times again but it’s fascinating to see, and hear, what helped Britain to ‘keep smiling through’. This book tells a fascinating story of how the war kept people ‘smiling through’, with the likes of Vera Lynn, Sinatra, Glenn Miller, Dance Bands and many more.


Life, especially today, seems to be moving ever faster, while constantly shifting and changing, which is perhaps why our own memories are so special, particularly when combined with a great photograph. Sometimes these thoughts are very intimate; at other times they are more of a shared, collective memory affecting how we view the world or momentous events.