A nostalgic look back on games, quizzes, jokes and various ways that people passed the time through the black-outs of the war. This is a thoroughly charming book capturing a bygone time. Illustrated throughout it is delightful and a great gift either for someone who lived through the Blitz or as a piece of social history.
The Black-out Book: One-Hundred-and-One Black-out Nights' Entertainment Synopsis
As the haunting air raid sirens of World War II echoed around blacked out streets, the people of London and other British cities would gather together in tube stations, tunnels, railway arches, basements and makeshift shelters at the bottom of gardens, fearful of what the night might bring from the dark skies. Here, in these cramped refuges, families and strangers would find comfort and distraction in the form of games, stories and jokes. Evelyn August brings together over five hundred games, pensees, puzzles, jokes and literary snippets which provided some amusement during the long nights of the blitz. From 'A thought for the petrol-rationed motorist' and 'Prayers of the Great' (Henry VIII, Raleigh, Plato), to 'What happened to the shilling?' and 'What to do when sleep won't come', The Black-out Book provides an insight into the pastimes and distractions sought during the blitz. Entertaining to all, nostalgic for many, what emerges in this fascinating book is the spirit and humour of the British people during the terrifying black-out nights of World War II.
Born in Beckenham in 1907, the late Sydney Box (1907-83) was a writer and film producer, producing such classics as The Seventh Veil (1945, which won him a best screenplay Oscar), Holiday Camp and Quartet. His film company Verity Films produced over 100 propaganda shorts for the government and the services during the Second World War. Managing director of Gainsborough Pictures (1946-49), he became an independent producer in the 1950s, forming Sydney Box Associates. Most of his screenplays were written in collaboration with his late wife, Muriel. Their collaborative work was published under the pseudonym "Evelyn August."
