Danger UXB

Does anyone remember Danger UXB? It was a British series from the '70s following bomb disposal units in Britain during WW2. Although I remember watching it as a kid, I can't remember any specific episodes or storylines. Anyway, I'm trying to find copies of Danger UXB to rent (it's awfully expensive to buy, although I'm sure it would be worth it. Or almost worth it), and in the process have come across some interesting links.

ContaminatedLand.co.uk has a page about where some UXBs are buried, or suspected buried:
http://www.contaminatedland.co.uk/sere-dip/estd-uxb.htm

Even more interesting is the LCC Bomb (incl. Flying V) Damage Map from '39-'45:
http://www.locallocalhistory.co.uk/studies/bombingmap/index.htm

There have been a few related snippets in newspapers (and because I'm prematurely turning into an old lady I cut these things out) over the years that I can't find online, but at any rate here are two news items: UXB removed from IMW at Duxford.

And from the other side, British bombs diffused in Germany.

Well, that's pretty much it. Nothing terribly interesting, but it'll have to satisfy my UXB craving until I can find this series at an affordable price...

Suggested Reading Pt. 2

Among other things, I'm currently reading London At War, 1939-1945 by Phillip Ziegler. It is without question the funniest WW2 book I've come across (Ziegler humorously draws attention to the initial disorganization of Civil Defence, the characteristic pluck of Londoners, the arrival of American GIs, etc.) while still remaining articulate, informative and well organized.

Of course, it's not all funny, but it's one thing that stood out to me after reading so many World War Two books. If we go by South Park's rule that we're allowed to laugh at something after 22.3 years (I'm citing the episode Jared has Aides), we should definitely be able to appreciate the humour of events without any guilt. Or whatever. It's 1 am and I'm not making much sense, but that's just fine.

Anyway. At nearly 400 pages there is little that Ziegler has left out. One thing that really interests me during this period is racial and ethnic discrimination, which he also addresses. That said, I need to find some books about gays and lesbians in Britain at that time (if you have any suggestions, let me know). I'm excited to read the rest of London at War. So far it's proving to be a fantastic read.

Mr Ziegler has written many other books, including one on the plague. If he manages to point out the more ridiculous points of Second World War, I can't wait to find out what he says about the plague in his aptly titled Black Death.

Happy reading!

Delirious P.S. Maybe I should have called this the Blitz Blog? Or is that less funny and more cutesy-poo? Whatever. Goodnight, wherever you are...

re: Camp Coffee

A while back I said that I couldn't remember the story about Camp Coffee having to change their label. While looking for something else I stumbled across a few related articles:

"UK Coffee Logo Stirs Racism Row" BBC News 1999 (BBC News)

"Camp Coffee forced to change label by PC brigade" (Daily Mail)


Interesting!


Old logo (or one of them):



New logo:

That's all!

Holly and Barbed Wire/Suggested Reading

Not much going on in the WW2 arena right now--I'm back to writing (in an experimental voice) but am still mainly researching. I keep getting caught up in related but basically irrelevant things--planes, dogfights, women in uniform and, of late, Canadians in the war. Fascinating as these things are they aren't exactly what I'm writing about. I toyed with the idea of having L's brother be a fighter pilot just to justify reading about it but it feels like it's straying too much out of the main cast, besides which I'm splitting energy into too many directions. So it's back to the Home Front, which is where my main interest and goals lie.

I'm going to end up having an enormous bibliography by the end of it, though unfortunately a lot of books have pretty much the same information. I've narrowed my searches a lot and have come up with some fascinating books (listed below). The real trouble I'm having is that there seems to be very limited information on the ARP (Air Raid Precautions), which was one of the many possible Civil Defence jobs. I'm trying to edge away from personal reminiscences--despite my want to stay up all night reading selections from Mass Observation, etc--because I don't want to unintentionally plagiarize anyone's real experiences; the story I'm writing isn't supposed to be far-fetched or amazing in terms of some kind of insane adventure bordering on the ridiculous (i.e. a spy story). It's supposed to be just something that could have been someone's life, and those everyday things make up most reminiscences.

Carol Harris and Mike Brown, whom I discovered individually, both have some fantastic books to their credit. Weirdly enough it turns out they are a (married?) couple who both write these WW2-related books (plus some other fringy things). I think they've collaborated on one or two, even. Amazing. I think, if I were in the market for dating (which I am NOT), an interest in the British Home Front would be a requirement. That, on the other hand, might require me moving TO Britain.

Anyway.

As it's approaching That Time of Year I've decided to force myself into the Xmas spirit a little by reading Christmas on the Home Front by Mike Brown (Thanks to LB for getting it out of the U of T Library for me. Us riff-raff don't have access to the stacks, sadly). Simply organized, it's written in chronological chapters, i.e. '1940: The Second Christmas' and so on. As many of these books do, it's thankfully full of pictures--adverts and private photos alike--plus recipes, stuff about evacuees, and some personal reminiscences. I can't wait to finish this one.

There's a similar, but very condensed, page on the BBC website enitled 'Christmas Under Fire' if you just want a summary. I'm wondering if it's derived from Mike Brown's book; some of it is word for word. Click here for the link.

The other Mike Brown book I've got out (thanks to LB as well for getting this one!) is Put That Light Out!: Britain's Civil Defence Services at War, 1939-1945. The overtly long title is pretty much self-explanatory. Again, lots of pictures of rescue teams and so on, it's well researched and presented and--the best thing--it's got a TON of ARP information that I've been craving so badly.

Next up is a Carol Harris book that, unfortunately, I had to return to the library before finishing it (I tend to put a million things on hold and they all come in at once, for some reason). Women at War: The Home Front, 1939-1945 is so full of information that it's almost difficult to read--well, difficult to absorb. There's a similar book, Women at War in Uniform: 1939-1945 that I'm interested in reading but probably won't for the above reasons.

I'm getting sleepy so I'm cutting the books short and moving onto some links before I hit the hay.

First--homepage of the 1940s Society: www.1940.co.uk
Loads of info that I haven't even delved into yet--links to meetings (again, I'm not IN England, unfortunately so I can't attend), articles, personal memories, etc. plus an online shop of absolutely awesome stuff (i.e. blank ration books to fill out yourself. What?!)

Finally, two videos from Quentin Reynolds, an American war correspondent/journalist in England. These types of things are so intentionally sentimental that I can't do anything but react in a really genuine way. These types of things that are done now seem cheesy in a whole different way, though I guess they really are the same thing. Maybe it's just my nostalgia for a time I have never known but these 10-minute shorts are both touching and terrifying.
The first is a Christmas Under Fire; the second is London Can Take it!, which is a slogan/title I keep coming across. Apparently they could and did take it but if I had been around then I think I might have resented that idea for some reason, though I'm not quite sure why. Maybe the attempt to tag what was going on in some succint, catchy phrase kind of cheapened the experience? I don't know. At any rate, here are the two videos.

Christmas Under Fire - 1941



London Can Take it! - 1940

Ration Week part 7

Just quick note:

Last night's dinner/today's lunch (leftovers): Slice of roast beef, smashed potatoes, peas, boiled carrot (the carrot was eaten last night). I thought that after all these peas I'd learn to like them, but I still haven't.



On a more exciting note, my dad got back from his trip to England and he brought back--Camp Coffee! I can't wait to try this stuff tomorrow. Part of me really hopes it's as disgusting as one would think. The flash from my camera makes the image hard to see, but the label looks slightly different--the Scotsman's servent is no longer standing beside him serving him coffee but is enjoying it beside him. Interesting! The Aunt Jemima logo has changed over the years as well. Actually I read a thing about people wanting the Camp Coffee people to change the label because it's kind of offensive--I didn't realize they actually had changed it.



Dad also brought back a little Supermarine Spitfire MkIIA. Well, a model one. It's very small--I never thought an aeroplane could be cute before, but there it is. You can't tell from this horrible, blurry picture how dear it is. Thanks, Dad!

Oranges and Lemons

I came across a WW2 version of 'Oranges and Lemons' which I thought kind of a laugh. Unfortunately I have no idea if it's real or if it's been written more recently, but it's still funny.

Spitfires and Blenheims
Said the bells of St Clements
Aren’t built for five farthings
Said the bells of St Martins
Donations I pray ye
Said the bells of Old Bailey
On account o' the blitz
Said the bells of Shoreditch
Downhearted? Not we
Said the bells of Stepney
Lord love yer no, no,
Boomed the big bell of Bow.

Ration Week part 6

Last night I made some kind of shepherd's pie (it was intended to be Woolton Pie but it was a little late in the evening to be starting on the pastry) with the moral support of my brother over the phone. It's his birthday, by the way--happy birthday, Brother!


I used the smallest baking dish I could find but it still wasn't very full. It turned out quite well nevertheless and I was able to use up a lot of odds and ends, which of course is the point of shepherd's pie.

I'll be the first to admit that this looks a little gross, particularly with the nearly fluorescent SPAM poking through. I promise it wasn't as repellent as it looks here!


When I got to mixing everything together, I realized I was really low on meat (used up the other half of my ration, which was one pork sausage); my brother suggested frying up a bit of bread to put in. I did that, but not having much left the broken-up bread still left it wanting...so I threw in some SPAM (gag). Thankfully it doesn't actually taste like much--it seems to really just be filler, and cut up small enough you can't really tell it's there. In the end, the lack of meat (or meat-like substances) worked in my favour. I love shepherd's pie but I've always found it tremendously heavy and consequently a little dissatisfying, even if one only has a small piece. In this case, it was mainly vegetables that made up the lower portion so it didn't have that horrible density which can be so sickening. I think I still need to fiddle with the proportions in the future, but it was good enough.



I have this weird habit of eating everything off really small plates, which I shouldn't have done in this case; it was a kind of messy dish and the gravy was at risk of sliding off the plate altogether once I actually cut into it! Ah, well. It was very tasty. I'm excited to make this again, and next time, to try filling up the whole dish.






As usual, let's end this thing off with a few links.

The first is a film from 1939 about what the hell to do with your ration books in the event that rationing would come into force (food rationing started Jan 8, 1940). It's 'hosted' by W.S. Morrison, who was the Food Minister from Sept 1939 to April 1940. After him came Lord Woolton, who was Food Minister until sometime in 1943, I think (I don't know why, but this strikes me as kind of funny--Lord Woolton on the cover of Time Magazine--March 26, 1945).

In the same video, there's a thing about sending off all your waste (paper, metal, bones, rubber, etc) for the war effort. Obviously I have no idea if these films originally followed one another, but the second part is cool--it's kind of stop-animation with bits of paper and metal piling up and a parcel apparently wrapping itself. Plus it's narrated as though it were a children's book which is very funny in a way that perhaps wasn't intended.


Finally, something about planes! There's a dude who's uploaded several episodes of "Dogfights" (among other things) onto YouTube. It's obviously in several parts because it's an hour-long program. Anyway, I found one of my favourites, which was about the Tuskeegee Airmen (those guys were AWESOME). If you have 44 minutes to watch the episode, here are the embedded videos in order (Insert disclaimer here--this is the property of the History Channel and I am not hosting these videos, merely providing links). I haven't watched it on YouTube, but I assume it's all there and working.


Part One:


Part Two:


Part Three:



Part Four:



Part Five: