Tag: WW2

Lovely out-of-print piano music collection #JeromeKern

Jerome Kern

I stopped having piano lessons when I was about fifteen. Recently I’ve started practising the piano again regularly and keep learning more new tunes. I had a yen to play Jerome Kern songs and ordered this out-of-print selection from an Amazon second hand dealer.

music

music 6

I don’t know who Vera and Eric were but I thought this inscription in the top left corner of the cover page was very poignant. Imagine how Vera and Eric must have been feeling at Christmas 1945. WW2 was barely over; they were probably still suffering from bereavement and trauma; rationing had continued and yet they were once again living in peace. I hope they had a really wonderful Christmas and enjoyed their Jerome Kern songs.

These adaptations of Kern songs for string quartet are lovely. Four minutes of total bliss!

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Book of the Day

On This Day in 1939 the first Anderson Shelter was erected.

anderson shelter

In November 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain placed Sir John Anderson in charge of Air Raid Precautions.

Anderson immediately commissioned the engineer, William Patterson, to design a small and cheap shelter that could be erected in people’s gardens.

The first ‘Anderson’ shelter was erected in a garden in Islington, London on 25 February 1939.

Between then and the outbreak of the war in September, around 1.5 million shelters were distributed to people living in areas expected to be bombed by the Luftwaffe.

During the war a further 2.1 million Anderson shelters were erected.

An estimated 50,000 lives were saved by use of the Anderson shelters although critics think there were better alternatives and only 27% of Londoners actually had their own shelter. 9% of the capital’s residents used public shelters and 4% went down the underground while the majority were either involved in night work or just stayed indoors.

anderson shelter
image credit: By Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

anderson shelter
image credit: By Press Agency photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The Anderson shelters were uncomfortable especially in cold weather prompting the government to issue advice to improve the situation.

More information about Anderson shelters on the History for Kids website and on Anderson Bomb Shelters. 

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Book of the Day at http://www.spurwing-ebooks.com/

Sweets came off ration #OnThisDay in 1953

ration book

Sweets were rationed during World War II but finally de-rationed on this day in 1953.

Sweets were first de-rationed in April 1949 but demand far outstripped supply and, after four months, they were put back on ration.

Sweets and chocolate rationing started on 26 July 1942.

The amount of sugar which you were allowed fluctuated during the war, ranging from 16oz a month down to 8oz (227g) a month. (That seems quite a lot to me!)

This clip from 1949 surely sets the bar for childhood greediness at an all time high!

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 School children enjoy their free milk in 1937. #NationalMilkDay

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Book of the Day at http://www.spurwing-ebooks.com/