Random Edition

You may be aware that it is the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II. There was a big ceremony in Poland marking the German invasion. And no doubt tomorrow we'll all get to listen to Neville Chamberlain annouce Britain's entry.

Anyway Radio 4 has a history programme called Random Edition which investigates history through the archive's of newspapers.

As I drove betwixt office's they were concenrating on

The Guardian for September 4, 1939 to re-create stories from the previous day, when Neville Chamberlain announced Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Within hours a U-boat had sunk the passenger liner Athenia. London taxi drivers rushed to join the Auxiliary Fire Service. Novelist Jilly Cooper describes how pets fared in the crisis, and singer Gracie Fields was back home but heading for trouble.

The pit about pets was interesting, people queued for ages to get horsemeats for dogs and cats! And it was illegal to put breadcrumbs out for the birds!!!!

The programme will be repeated on i-player soon. Well worth a listen for a bit of social history.