The Home Front in World War Two Read online

  “You needed somewhere for pig sties, a source of available food, and men willing to take turns in cleaning out the sties.”

  Goats were also kept by some for milk and rabbits were reared for stews. By 1944 a quarter of the official production of eggs came from domestic sources and around 6,000 animals were kept in private gardens. As part of the curriculum, pupils cultivated vegetables in their grounds, with the crops used to supplement their school dinners. The food-growing exercise was so successful that by 1943, over a million tons of vegetables were being grown in British gardens and allotments. At the same time, farming was modernised and the Women’s Land Army was providing much-needed labour for the growing agricultural sector.

  Propaganda

  Aware that the British people were in danger of being starved into submission as so much imported food came from Canada and America and supplies coming across the Atlantic were particularly vulnerable to German attack, the government had to work decisively. In October 1939, the Minister of Agriculture, Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith had announced on the radio: “Half a million more allotments properly worked will provide potatoes and vegetables that will feed another million adults and half a million children for eight months out of twelve….So, let’s get going, let ‘Dig for Victory’ be the motto of everyone with a garden and of every able-bodied man and woman capable of digging an allotment in their spare time.” Soon after, the head of the Agricultural Plans Branch of the Ministry of Food, John Raeburn, set up the Dig for Victory campaign, which the Minister of Food, Lord Woolton, exploited enthusiastically. While much of the credit for the campaign went to Lord Woolton, Dorman-Smith had instigated it and John Raeburn ran it from 1941 throughout the war and was responsible for its continuing success. Through pamphlets, books, newspaper articles and “food flashes”, which were short, instructional films shown before feature films, the government made sure that the public knew how to prepare soil, plant seeds and harvest the crops. The first food flashes came across as stern and moralising, and were heckled in cinemas, they were soon adjusted by the Ministry of Information who made them, and later films featured cartoons and humour. The Dig for Victory campaign stimulated public enthusiasm. Audrey Sykes remembered:

  “We all grew marvellous crops. Shallots, onions, leeks, cabbages, carrots and potatoes; there was no manure and no expensive equipment available, but every space, from railway sidings to window boxes were suddenly blooming with the tops of growing vegetables – it was quite a work of art. If anyone had any spare time, they spent it growing veg!”

  The BBC also rose to the challenge once more with its ‘Radio Allotment’ vegetable plot, which grew 23 varieties of vegetables and from which weekly reports were broadcast, informing listeners about developments, discoveries and progress. The first gardening celebrity, Cecil Henry Middleton, began broadcasting on the BBC Home Service in September 1940. He became a national treasure, known by all as Mr Middleton. “These are critical times,” he said, “but we shall get through them and the harder we dig for victory, the sooner will the roses be with us.” The son of a head gardener in Northamptonshire, Mr Middleton originally contributed to a gardening column for The Daily Express, persuading thousands to take up their spades. Even before the war, he had a huge following with his weekly radio programme In Your Garden. Relaxed and friendly, showing his empathy with amateur gardeners and an astute sense of humour, he spoke as if his listeners were close friends, and frequently referred to his own gardening failures and successes, arousing a sense of shared problems and camaraderie. It was a great contrast to the formal style broadcasts people were used to. He advised about seed sowing, planning crops, dealing with difficulties and he advised on what to do in the garden or allotment during every week of the year. In Your Garden was broadcast on Sunday afternoons throughout the war, attracting 3.5 million listeners, with advice such as:

  Buy good tools – Do not borrow, buy. Choose a good [spade] with an “all-bright” blade if you can find such a treasure. Look after it, keep it clean and sharp and it will last for years.

  Dig wisely – Now comes a word of warning. Do not break your neck over this digging. Digging is what you make it, a painful, back-aching ordeal or a pleasant recreation, and if you are not used to it, it should be taken as medicine, in small doses.

  Mr Middleton’s amusing and encouraging comments included: “An allotment is like the army. The first month is the worst. After that you begin to enjoy it” and “Keep your tools clean and bright. No man can dig properly with a dirty spade” or “Step on the spade instead of the accelerator. You’ll reach your journey’s end quicker.”

  Growing tips

  In the book 101 Things to Do in Wartime, there are tips on mushroom growing. It explains how “mushrooms can be grown all the year round in places where no other crops will grow, such as cellars, dark sheds, garages and even in spare rooms inside the house.” Readers were advised to “provide a number of boxes to a convenient size having a depth of six inches or so.” The boxes could be arranged in tiers or in rows and the compost was to be spread on the trays to a depth of five inches and allowed to settle. The mushroom spawn should be broken up and planted at intervals and the compost covered with a thin layer of ordinary soil. “An infrequent very light watering is applied, but never in sufficient quantity to seep through the boxes and apart from keeping the beds free from weeds and away from draughts, no other attention is needed. When gathering the mushrooms, they are twisted from the bed – not cut – and the disturbed soil smoothed over. The stems are then cut off about three-quarters of an inch from the cap.”

  In the same book, ideas about arranging a vegetable garden were given: “Try a border of carrots with cabbage lettuce behind. Further back, alternate with ordinary and spinach beet with clumps of rhubarb and plants of ordinary and button tomatoes behind; the contrasts of colour being most effective. If there is room, an effective background can be provided by a row or two of Brussels sprouts.”

  A food war

  Particularly through Lord Woolton’s charm, business acumen and understanding of the British psyche (he spoke to women about the various difficulties as if they were his daughters, which endeared him to them), the Dig for Victory campaign was a success, and prevented the British from starving during or after the war. In ensuring that everyone was educated about growing and preparing nutritious food, Woolton created an “all in it together” attitude and helped to increase the nation’s collective determination to remain strong. Over ten million instructional leaflets were distributed and it was estimated that by 1945, over 1.4 million people had allotments, producing more than a million tons of vegetables a year and the acreage of British land used for food production increased by 80 per cent. In 1941, Lord Woolton had declared: “This is a food war. Every extra row of vegetables in allotments saves shipping… the battle on the kitchen front cannot be won without help from the kitchen garden.” Advertising was particularly effective in heartening and inspiring the public. Copywriters and art directors who designed and wrote the ads knew how to persuade and unite people. Strong images, simple slogans and occasional cheerful and jovial humour efficiently conveyed the idea that the nation was working as one and persuaded all to take responsibility for themselves and others as far as they could. These same Ministry advertisers devised characters such as Potato Pete and Doctor Carrot which helped to popularise two of the most widely available foods. The characters, displayed in iconic posters in stations, shops and offices, in leaflets and recipes, and in specially written songs and slogans, became extremely popular. It was an inspirational campaign accomplished with great success, using marketing techniques far in advance of their time. Through radio advertising and colourful posters in particular, the songs tapped into the public enjoyment of having a good old sing-song to cheer themselves and each other up.

  The Dig for Victory song

  Dig! Dig! Dig!

  And your muscles will grow big

  Keep on pushing the spade

  Don’t mind
the worms

  Just ignore their squirms

  And when your back aches, laugh with glee

  And keep on digging

  Till we give our foes a wigging

  Dig! Dig! Dig for Victory!

  Other ads and editorial issued by the Ministry of Food, made helpful suggestions, such as: “Fruitful results from vegetables” which appeared in Good Housekeeping in 1942. It began:

  “Eating fruit is a pleasure we don’t often get nowadays, and there’s no denying we miss it. But, from the point of view of health, we can more than make up for the lack of fruit by eating extra vegetables. The main health value of fruit is in the vitamin C. Vitamin C clears the skin, prevents fatigue and helps you to resist infection. And it’s by no means confined to oranges as people are apt to imagine. Some vegetables, indeed, actually contain more of the health-giver than oranges do.”

  Doctor Carrot

  Doctor Carrot was featured in magazine articles and posters to instruct people about how many different ways they could use the healthy and versatile vegetable. Perhaps because Doctor Carrot looked a little old-fashioned with his wing-collar and top hat, Disney in America invented the slightly more modern Clara Carrot. Both proclaimed cheery sayings, such as “I’ll put pep in your step”, “I’m an energy food” and “Doctor Carrot guards your health”. Culinary delights such as curried carrot, carrot jam and a home-made drink called Carrolade (a blend of carrot and swede juice) were just some of the Ministry’s suggestions for making use of carrots. Two other recipes that helped to satisfy a sweet craving were:

  Carrot Fudge

  4 tablespoons finely grated carrot

  1 leaf of gelatine

  Orange squash

  Cook the carrot in just enough water to keep them covered for ten minutes. Add some orange squash to the water. Melt the leaf of gelatine and add this to the carrot and orange mixture. Cook this again for a few minutes, stirring the mixture all the time. Spoon into a flat dish and then leave it to set. Cut into cubes.

  Treacle Toffee Carrots

  ½ lb sugar

  ½ lb treacle

  1 tablespoon vinegar

  2 oz margarine

  A handful of fresh carrots

  Melt the margarine in a strong saucepan and add all the other ingredients except the carrots. Bring to the boil and keep boiling steadily until a little if the mixture, when dropped into cold water immediately becomes brittle. Wash and scrape the carrots, then dry them thoroughly, dip them into the toffee as soon as it reaches the brittle stage and pour the rest of the toffee into a greased tin to set firm.

  The slogan “Carrots keep you healthy and help you see in the blackout” was one of the particularly successful ways that the government promoted carrots quite shamelessly. It was made known that the carotene or vitamin A in carrots was largely responsible for the RAF’s increasing success in shooting down enemy bombers. In reality, carrots are important in keeping eyes healthy, but they do not miraculously enhance anyone’s vision, in the dark or otherwise. The myth was strengthened when a Royal Air Force pilot, John Cunningham, gained a remarkably good record of shooting down enemy planes at night. Nicknamed “Cat Eyes”, Cunningham declared that his love of carrots was the reason for his phenomenal night vision. As a result, people ate carrots enthusiastically, believing it would help them to see more clearly in the blackout. It was important for all to incorporate vegetables into their regular diets, so the idea worked well, but the main reason for the RAF’s success was the British advances in the use of radar. Besides, most people ignored the fact that Dr Carrot wore glasses!

  Potato Pete

  As well as carrots, potatoes were promoted fervently as a beneficial and accessible source of protein and energy. As with the Dig for Victory song, Potato Pete also had his own song augmenting his message. Recorded by the actress Betty Driver, it helped to popularise potatoes even more. Potato Pete recipe books were published with suggestions and advice on how best to serve the vitamin and mineral-rich vegetable and the Ministry of Food’s War Cookery Leaflet No. 3 focused on potatoes. It began:

  “There is no vegetable more useful than the homely potato. Potatoes are a cheap source of energy, and they are one of the foods that help to protect us from illness. They contain the same vitamin as oranges and ¾ lb of potatoes daily will give over half the amount of this vitamin needed to prevent fatigue and help fight infection…don’t think of potatoes merely as something to serve with the meat. They can be much more than that. A stuffed, baked potato can be a course in itself. Potatoes can be used, too, for soups, bread-rolls, pastry, puddings and even cakes.”

  To cut down on waste and retain the most nutrients, scrubbing rather than peeling potatoes was recommended in the leaflet:

  Always cook them in their skins

  If you must peel them, peel thinly

  After peeling, cook at once. Avoid soaking in water if possible

  And in a more child-friendly poem:

  ‘Those who have the will to win

  Cook potatoes in their skin

  Knowing that the sight of peelings

  Deeply hurts Lord Woolton’s feelings.’

  To popularise potatoes with children, even some traditional nursery rhymes were adapted to Potato Pete themes, for instance:

  There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

  She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.

  She gave them potatoes instead of some bread,

  And the children were happy and very well fed.

  In April 1943, Lord Woolton announced: “We had better use our intelligence and the knowledge we have. We can now produce meals without meat in them, and they will keep us well and give us all the energy we need to keep us fighting fit.” As ever, there were many educational leaflets produced to help, including: Onions and Related Crops, How to Make a Compost Heap, How to Sow Seeds, Pests and Diseases in the Vegetable Garden and Preserves from the Garden. Towards the end of the war, the government also distributed a monthly Allotment and Garden Guide, which gave practical tips such as:

  “If the weather be fine in February, we shall be anxious to get onto the vegetable plot. Never work the soil when it is too wet and sticky...seeds sown in cold, wet soil will rot instead of germinating. Remember when ordering your seeds that half a pint of runner beans will sow a row 50 feet long.”

  The Ministry of Agriculture Dig for Victory Leaflet No. 1, focused on a “Cropping Plan for a 90’ x 30’ Plot” and “Grow Vegetables All Year Round”, which began:

  “Vegetables for you and your family every week of the year. Never a week without food from your garden or allotment. Not only fresh peas and lettuce in June – new potatoes in July, but all the health-giving vegetables in WINTER – when supplies are scarce…savoys, sprouts, kale, sprouting broccoli, onions, leeks, carrots, parsnips and beet. Vegetables all the year round if you dig well and crop wisely.”

  The leaflet continued with “Allotment or Garden Layout and Schedule of Crop Rotation”, which included a table, showing where and when vegetables and fruit should be planted and how to rotate them for the best results. People were advised to grow what they enjoyed eating. The core crops that people grew were: potatoes, carrots, turnips, peas, parsnips, beets, leeks, cauliflower, runner, dwarf and broad beans, shallots, tomatoes, onions, marrows, kale, radishes, parsley, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, swede, lettuces, spinach and sprouting broccoli. Stan Bell remembers his family’s garden in Loughborough, where they grew peas, rhubarb, cabbages, potatoes and carrots. “All the children helped to grow things. I grew dwarf beans on canes, thinking they were climbing runner beans, but dwarf beans weren’t climbers. They grew anyway and they were delicious!” Efforts were made by everyone to recycle and to manage the land responsibly. To this end all sorts of organic practices were advised. The main objective was to produce abundant crops with the highest nutritional content. One of the Ministry of Agriculture’s leaflets explained how to cultivate fresh vegetables throughout the year in: “Grow f
or winter as well as summer.” Alf Bailey, who was eight when the war broke out and lived in East Anglia from 1942 to the end of the war, recalled:

  “Our allotment was ten minutes’ walk away from our house. There were about twenty or thirty allotments on the same land. I used to go there with my dad (who was a fireman) on most evenings in the summer after school and on Saturdays and Sundays during the winter. We mainly grew vegetables and some fruit. My job was weeding and picking. Everything was seasonal then – in winter we grew and ate root vegetables and in summer we grew and ate lettuces and radishes. We grew some fruit – we had some blackberry and red currant bushes and some rhubarb. When it was ripe, I picked the fruit, collecting it all in a saucepan and took it home for my mum. She often made it into a crumble for Sunday dinner and sometimes she made jam.”

  Peter Evans remembered helping his mother on their allotment: “We used all sorts of household objects, like toilet roll tubes, cardboard boxes and egg cartons for germinating seeds and growing small plants, then when they were big and strong enough, we moved them to the soil.” Jack Baker’s father collected old windows and made them into cold frames, growing spinach, kale and lettuce under them. Other original ideas included covering vulnerable young plants with old net curtains to prevent birds and insects from eating them. Children usually helped by digging, planting, weeding and picking the produce. Some children worked on farms in the school summer holidays, picking the fruit and vegetables.

  In addition to all this, recipes for the free food that could be found around the countryside were published and distributed, promoting such dubious dishes as crow pie, braised sorrel, nettle salad and squirrel-tail soup. Housewives were advised to make jams, chutneys, preserves, purées and pickles from wild berries, other hedgerow fruits and the leftovers of the fruits and vegetables they grew. Cooked nettles were said to taste a lot like spinach and rosehips made a tasty and nutritious soup.