And now we’re going to get historical and nerdy. I hope you’ll indulge me.
Today we visited the highly regarded and “You must go see” the Churchill War Rooms. Here’s the entrance, which is little more than a landing and a staircase underground. This is where Winston Churchill met with his war leaders during World War II. This was where the British ran their war from 1939 until 1945. It was reopened by Margaret Thatcher in 1984.
Generals and high ranking civilians and Royal Marines worked and lived down there. Previously it was a basement store, but was converted in 1938. Churchill’s name is on the name of the place, but he actually didn’t like it.
This is the first thing you see, is this authentic 500-pound German bomb. During 1940, in the height of the Blitz, the roof of the underground workspace was augmented with a steel-reinforced concrete layer. People in the area had no idea.
The tour is self-guided. They give you the device with the keypad and speaker and you just listen and linger at your own speed. I lingered slowly. Here is the cabinet room. They’d all meet here. That oak chair in the center back was where Churchill sat:
These rooms, with few exceptions, returned to storage after the war. But they were meticulously restored for museum purposes. Someone thought to take highly detailed photographs when the war room was still in service and the Imperial War Museums rebuilt the entire facility. It feels incredibly immersive, too.
This little room was the living quarters of Brendan Bracken, the minister of information. Bracken founded the modern Financial Times and was briefly the First Lord of the Admiralty. George Orwell worked for him. Bracken was the inspiration for Big Brother. He died of cancer in 1958.
This was Sir Edward Bridges’ room. A captain in World War I, Bridges became a senior official in the British civil service. After the war he was named Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and Head of the Home Civil Service. He was knighted in 1965 and died four years later, at 77.
Clementine Churchill, the prime minister’s wife, slept here. This feels about diagonally opposite of his room.
Other bedrooms belonged to Maj. Sir Desmond Morton (who was shot in the heart during World War I and still served, with the bullet lodged inside him), Cdr. Tommy Thompson and others. Secretaries and others working in the war rooms carried sheets with them and slept wherever they found a space.
This is an authentic map hanging in the Chiefs of Staff conference room. Note the Hitler graffiti.
Speaking of maps, try this one, which marked the battle lines. Just to the west of those white pins, about three-quarters up their path, is where my great-grandfather was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.
Here’s the code for that map:
This map was in the map convoy room. This is the eastern seaboard section of a world map that ran the width of the room. Each day the location of Allied convoys were updated here. Note the hundreds of pinholes.
Some of the original electrical equipment:
Some of the keys that ran the joint:
Keys for these doors were there. But you don’t really know what these rooms were for. Some mysteries remain secret:
And now some kitchen shots. This is where all of the food was made for the people in the war rooms:
I went back, after our own snack lunch in the museum’s cafeteria, to take these individual shots. A group of students were working their way through. One said “I thought Churchill was rich?”
Time changes perspective on a lot of things.
Right after them came a group of six older folks. One said “We had one of those. Do you remember those?” Another, looking at this black stove, said “We had three of those. One was for the help.”
See those three stacked cans on the shelf? That was corn beef sold by Libby, McNeill & Libby, an American concern. They were founded in Chicago in the 19th century and were also canning fruits and vegetables by the time war broke out. By 1960 Libby’s had annual revenues of $296 million. As with everything, there have been corporate changes. Swift & Company sold to Seneca Foods in 1982. Nestlé picked it up a few years later. Then, just before the turn of the century came ConAgra to take over canned meats. The nectar side of the business was picked up by Tequesta Foods three years ago.
And they’re sitting there in the British war rooms kitchen. Corned beef in the famous trapezoidal can. That wasn’t what Churchill ate. He preferred prime rib.
Ronuk has been around since at least 1908. You can see a lot of old newspaper ads here. They are still around.
Tea? I’d just like everything to be labeled like this, please.
Bread? Not a big fan of the drop shadow font here. I wonder how authentic that is to the time. Anyone?
Whitbread started as a brewery in 1742 on the outskirts of London. They got in to coffee and then at the start of the 21st century dropped beer and pubs for the hotel and restaurant industry.
Sand. For fires and such:
A propaganda poster in one of the secretarial areas:
A scramble phone in one of the bedrooms:
This wax mannequin is manning the radio system. From here the prime minister could speak to the BBC and, thus, the world:
And here’s where Churchill delivered those speeches. This was his room and office. Supposedly the items here are authentic. When they closed the war rooms this was one of the few areas that were left untouched.
That’s Churchill’s bed. But he seldom stayed there. Hated it, remember? Had to put on the brave British front. He actually watched the London bombings from the roof above. History records that Churchill spent three nights here. And countless naps. The man loved his naps.
The man also loved his maps. Here’s a legend he kept in his room:
This clocked in at 1,000 words and 31 pictures. And there’s still more to go for the day …
