Neville Chamberlain's pocket diary goes on display in new exhibition
For most people a pocket diary is the place to record the minutiae and mundanity of life. A reminder to collect dry cleaning, perhaps. Or remember someone's birthday. For Neville Chamberlain it was the place to scribble in two words his most important decision: "war declared".
The former prime minister's diary goes on display for the first time on Thursday at a new exhibition marking the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the second world war.
Outbreak 1939, at the Imperial War Museum in London, charts the events surrounding the declaration of war with Nazi Germany, a decision the country knew about at 11.15am when, according to the BBC presenter who introduced him, a "crumpled, despondent and old" Chamberlain made his famous radio broadcast. The exhibition also tells the human stories: of the children who were evacuated, the couples who hastily arranged weddings, and how the conflict became known as "the phoney war".
"Everybody is familiar with 1940 and our finest hour, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Blitz," said the museum's senior historian, Terry Charman. "But many people are unfamiliar with the first few months of the war and the unwarranted optimism that this war could be won on the cheap."
Next to Chamberlain's diary are displayed original letters and memos purportedly showing how civil and gentlemanly relations between the leaders were in the moments leading to war...
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
The former prime minister's diary goes on display for the first time on Thursday at a new exhibition marking the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the second world war.
Outbreak 1939, at the Imperial War Museum in London, charts the events surrounding the declaration of war with Nazi Germany, a decision the country knew about at 11.15am when, according to the BBC presenter who introduced him, a "crumpled, despondent and old" Chamberlain made his famous radio broadcast. The exhibition also tells the human stories: of the children who were evacuated, the couples who hastily arranged weddings, and how the conflict became known as "the phoney war".
"Everybody is familiar with 1940 and our finest hour, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Blitz," said the museum's senior historian, Terry Charman. "But many people are unfamiliar with the first few months of the war and the unwarranted optimism that this war could be won on the cheap."
Next to Chamberlain's diary are displayed original letters and memos purportedly showing how civil and gentlemanly relations between the leaders were in the moments leading to war...