I suppose this cartoon relates to the aristocratic passion for hunting, shooting and fishing. Here it is the shooting takes pride of place. I do wonder why, in 1940 of all years, the artist is concerned with how the Germans misunderstand the British. The message here seems to be ‘we’re not as bloodthirsty as you think we are’. The idea surely isn’t to invite German readers to say that they are not suffering under this misapprehension? Who cared what the Germans were thinking in 1940?
In these days of gas fired boilers it comes as a surprise to be reminded of the need to store up your supply of coal. What is Punch thinking of when it even suggests that householders might fill up their shelters with coal? I suppose the thinking is that the readers would know that this is seriously unwise and that, I suggest, is the point of the joke.
That was the motto on all those posters during WW2. Growing just some of your own food was a way of closing the gap between the nation’s needs and what had to be imported at the cost of many seamen’s lives.
The original quotation was that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.
As in WW1 there was this suspicion the foreign looking people were spies. The truth was that you needed to blend in with the population at large if you wanted to be successful spy. After the war it was established that none of the German spies succeeded in their missions.
I can’t remember any use of the term ‘business evacuees’ at the time. It obviously refers to firms that have relocated away from areas where bombing was more likely. Evacuation of children was a major preoccupation at the time.
I agree. I have viewed every one and would like to thank Mr M for going to the trouble of posting them all.
I can read the words on my computer, although they are rather small for comfort. I’m sure there must be some way to overcome this small problem. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable might come up with an answer.
It is a brave thing to try and make a joke about an air raid. Here we see the real thing. In the background there are enemy bombers, searchlights trying to locate them and there are flashes showing where anti-aircraft shells are exploding. We are surely meant to know that the air raid wardens would not be discussing whose cat they are looking at. I find it hard to believe that this would have been considered funny at the time.
“I find it hard to believe that this would have been considered funny at the time.”
I think it’s part of the British psyche to try and find humour in any tragedy hence the profusion of allegedly poor taste jokes after some disaster or event. So-called gallows humour.
‘We’re going to hang up our washing on the Siegfried Line. Have you any dirty washing mother dear?’
This was a popular song that British soldiers sang during the first few months of the war before Hitler’s blitzkrieg drove the British Army to Dunkirk. This cartoon presented its readers with a joke that would soon become obsolete and truly embarrassing.
Looking at a painting depicting a railway disaster is apparently a cheerful experience. How is this justified? By taking our minds away from the current disasters in the war.
If this is satire then it is very gentle satire. Of course, Miss Stapleton hasn’t won the previous war. However this cartoon emphasises the point everyone can play a part in this most important enterprise.
This cartoon is surely meant as a satire on the way upper middle class people display what is nowadays called a sense of entitlement. This woman simply cannot believe that the reasonable policy of rationing can possibly apply to her.
For upper class women the war offered many opportunities – especially for wearing fashionable uniforms. The perception at the time was the Wren (Women’s Royal Naval Service) officers had the most glamorous outfits. The artist seems to imply that the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) officer’s uniform was equally stylish. It wasn’t.
The cartoonist helpfully points to Oliver Cromwell as the origin of this statement. In 1940 that was what people thought. Wikipedia now suggest that the saying was made at a later date.
Originally gunpowder needed to be dry so that the musket could be fired. The service women needed dry powder for quite a different reason.
