View source for How Britain Kept Calm and Carried On: Real-life stories from the Home Front by Anton Rippon

{{infobox1
|title=How Britain Kept Calm and Carried On: Real-life stories from the Home Front
|author=Anton Rippon
|reviewer=Susmita Chatto
|genre=History
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1782431909
|pages=222
|publisher=Michael O'Mara
|date=May 2014
|website=http://antonripponyarns.com/
|summary=A collection of first person stories showing how humour helped Britain face World War Two.
|cover=178243190X
|aznuk=178243190X
|aznus=1782434704
}}

My generation is now at saturation point with 'Keep Calm and Carry On' posters and all the accompanying variations. So much so, I was surprised to learn from this book was that the now ubiquitous poster was never actually distributed. The poster had been planned as part of a campaign to raise morale, but after they were printed, the government felt it would have been seen as patronising, given that Britons were doing exactly that without the government message to bolster them up. 

Rippon’s thorough introduction includes general history as well as personal stories of how his family coped during the war. (Rippon himself was born during the war). Rippon talks of his grandmother refusing to shelter under the piano during a raid, instead remaining in her favourite armchair. I am that person too, so I could relate to Grandma from the outset. 

However, I was also interested in this, and many of the stories, because history is often portrayed in terms of a mass of humanity, giving only the details of how the majority were living and responding to various events. Individual stories bring a period to life and sometimes force you to question the main accounts. Rippon sourced these stories from people’s memories rather than seeking out accounts from the actual time, but that also makes them fascinating in terms of considering what has stuck with people over the years.

I am a Londoner. London is full of memorial notes to those who died in the war; the evidence of tear-jerking truth surrounds us every day. But something that has often struck me about war is the sheer inconvenience of it; how I would have grumbled if I had to take shelter in an Underground station with several others, how I might well be the person who simply refused to do it and remained in the comfort of their own home, muttering that the bombers would have to take me down with it. This book showed me that some people did indeed get irritable and did react like that, and that my own ideas of how I might have felt are not as unlikely as history teachers have told me in the past!

It is predominantly humorous, but through the humour I could see how life and death experiences, when repeated, actually became dull. It also shows how the mundane can be important even during war, perhaps more important than in peace time. There is a story of a woman who wanted to find her false teeth before taking cover from a raid, prompting her son to tell her ''For Christ’s sake, they’re dropping bombs, not bloody ham sandwiches!'' But imagine the inconvenience of trying to get your false teeth replaced if you lost them in a raid – I am with the boy’s mother on this one!

This collection contains everything from pithy one liners (which made me laugh out loud on the Tube!) to full letters and quite long stories. Some remember conversations with strangers, some remember their voluntary service. Others do recall more grim memories; while there is a good deal of gentle humour in these accounts, there is still a large amount of sorrow. This is inevitable; the black humour that we use to get through tough situations is always bittersweet.

Although I would imagine such a book should be filed under 'history', it is a fascinating account of what it means to suffer through a war, and really tells mini-stories of individual lives. It is very easy to dip in and out of and it certainly makes the commute go faster! It has been beautifully put together and is a terrific tribute to all those who kept calm and carried on.

If this book appeals then you might also like to try [[Jasmine Nights by Julia Gregson]].

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