Under Attack: London, Coventry, Dresden - Exhibition Events
Date: Various
This exhibition tells the story from the perspective of public transport in London, Coventry and Dresden, and illustrates the struggle to keep these cities moving during the Second World War. For more information on the exhibition please visit our Exhibitions page.
Juliet Gardiner Series
A series of three talks relating to the Under Attack exhibition will be delivered by author, social historian and former editor of History Today, Juliet Gardiner. In these talks Juliet will explore how the Blitz was a transforming experience for those who lived through it. She will talk about how it engendered a spirit of defiance, endurance and unity, and how this created an image of indefatigable British spirit on which politicians and press still draw today. Juliet Gardiner's most recent book 'The Blitz, The British Under Attack' is published to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Blitz on 7 September 1940 and is available to purchase in the LT museum shop.
Juliet Gardiner Series: The London Blitz
Tuesday 26 October 2010
The first in the series of talks will look at how London was the first target by German air bombers and suffered the most concerted of all the attacks on Britain. More than half those killed or seriously injured were Londoners and of three million houses destroyed or damaged beyond repair over 50 per cent were in London. But London suffered more than death and material damage, the very fabric of society was subjected to the most serious test ever and though ultimately morale did not crack, the Blitz raised important questions about the ability of local as well as national government to protect its people from attack and meet their urgent needs - both physical and psychological.
Time: 18.30 (talk lasts approximately one hour)
Tickets: Adults £8.00; senior citizens £6.00; students £4.00
Private view and talk: Meet the Curators
Tuesday 16 November 2010
A private view of London Transport Museum's new exhibition, Under Attack, London, Coventry and Dresden, followed by an illustrated talk from Head Curators Steve Bagley (Coventry Transport Museum), David Bownes (London Transport Museum) and Director Dr. Michael Dünnebier (Dresden Verkehrsmuseum).
Time: 18.30 (talk and viewing will last approximately two hours)
Tickets: Adults £15.00; senior citizens £12.00; students £10.00. Ticket price includes a glass of wine, beer or soft drink.
Talk: Beauty and the Blitz
Tuesday 7 December 2010
During Word War II rationing and later the government's utility scheme meant everyone had to tighten their belts. Fashion and design historian, Emmanuelle Dirix will explain that, far from being put on the back burner, beauty and fashion practices became much more inventive and were encouraged through the government's make-do-and-mend campaign. Despite strict regulations and 'fashion rations' people still maintained style. New austerity fashion items such as trousers and wedge sole shoes, along with hats - which were unrationed, provided an opportunity to update looks, whilst old blankets and curtains took on new roles as coats and dresses. This illustrated talk, will include archive propaganda film footage of the make-do-and-mend campaign, and will show how the Second World War and the utility style made fashion more accessible to the masses, and explain how New York became one of the world's leading style centres as a result of the occupation of Paris.
Time: 18.30 (talk lasts approximately one hour)
Tickets: Adults £8.00; senior citizens £6.00; students £4.00
Film Screening: Propaganda and reality
Tuesday 18 January 2011
For a brief period in UK film history, the term propaganda did not have a negative connotation. Censorship too was accepted in the interests of morale and national security. With these ideas in mind, film and video curator Simon Murphy will introduce a range of commercial newsreel, official documentaries and feature film clips portraying the London Blitz, and explore the messages behind them, contrasting them with a rare 16mm colour film showing the full extent of devastation in central London in 1941.
Time: 18.30 (talk lasts approximately one hour)
Tickets: Adults £8.00; senior citizens £6.00; students £4.00
Juliet Gardiner Series: The Blitz in the provinces
Tuesday 25 January 2011
The Blitz in the provinces. In the second talk Juliet Gardiner will discuss how Hitler shifted the focus of German attack to the provinces. Coventry was first major attack outside London followed by Merseyside, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, Plymouth, Hull and other targets essential to Britain's war effort. The assumption that many towns and cities were beyond the Luftwaffe's bombing range was cruelly shattered as places such as Clydeside and Belfast also became targets. But had the provinces learned from the London experience, or did the Blitz reveal how ill prepared the provinces were and how vulnerable the people who lived there were?
Time: 18.30 (talk lasts approximately one hour)
Tickets: Adults £8.00; senior citizens £6.00; students £4.00
Talk: Wheels under fire
Tuesday 15 February 2011
Despite the raging fires, devastation and destruction, the men and women of London Transport kept the city going through six years of war. During the main Blitz from September 1940 to May 1941, London was bombed nearly every night, but the familiar red buses and trains still ran each day. The deep Tube stations became overnight air raid shelters for thousands of Londoners, but were always ready the next morning to carry commuters who were determined to get to work. Women took over many of the key jobs. London Transport's workshops built bombers instead of buses, and staff struggled to maintain and operate a badly damaged system in difficult and dangerous conditions. Oliver Green, London Transport Museum's Research Fellow, will give an illustrated talk, using photographs and film extracts, to show how ordinary Londoners lived and worked, but did not always survive, in those extraordinary times 70 years ago.
Time: 18.30 (talk lasts approximately one hour)
Tickets: Adults £8.00; senior citizens £6.00; students £4.00
Talk: Seeing it through - wartime posters on the Underground
Tuesday 1 March 2011
London Transport's war posters used modern design to convey essential information to passengers and staff. Thoughtful passenger behaviour was encouraged in the humorous cartoons of Fougasse and David Langdon. More direct appeals for co-operation, or advice on sheltering and the 'blackout' were expressed in easy to read layouts. Other posters celebrated LT's contribution to the war effort and London's resilience. Seeing it Through was a series of posters commissioned from Eric Henri Kennington by London Transport in 1944; they commemorate the everyday acts of heroism by civilian workers during the Second World War. Head Curator David Bownes, and art historian Jonathan Black, discuss London Underground's poster campaign during the Second World War, from morale boosting propaganda to visions of post war society.
Time: 18.30 (talk lasts approximately one hour)
Tickets: Adults £8.00; senior citizens £6.00; students £4.00
Juliet Gardiner Series: The legacy of the Blitz
Tuesday 22 March 2011
How did the Blitz affect not only the British people during those harrowing eight months but the immediate post war world? And are any of the lessons learned from the experience of the Blitz still having an impact on our lives in the 21st century? Juliet Gardiner will look at the answers to these questions, and more, in her third and final talk in this series.
Time: 18.30 (talk lasts approximately one hour)
Tickets: Adults £8.00; senior citizens £6.00; students £4.00