Recordings for the 2024 President’s Address now available

2 December 2024

‘War and Peace: Mass Observation, Memory and the Ends of the Second World War in Britain’

 

About the event

Why does the Second World War continue to have such a hold over the popular imagination in early 21st century Britain? From Brexit to Covid, sporting competitions to environmental disasters, many public events are understood through reference to the Second World War and in particular the ‘signal events’ of 1940: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. Unlike the First World War, the memory of this second conflict is largely positive, focused on an imagined past in which people came together in adversity, overcoming the divisions of social class, political belief, and economics that had so divided 1930s Britain to defeat- against the odds – a powerful and ambitious enemy. In short, the Second World War is still widely remembered as Britain’s ‘finest hour’.

In this talk, entitled ‘War and Peace: Mass Observation, Memory and the Ends of the Second World War in Britain’, Lucy Noakes will outline the history of this memory and argue that it has a particular resonance in times of turmoil and instability. Looking back at the ways Mass Observers were beginning to construct a memory of the war as it came to an end, in similarly uncertain times, this talk explores the ways in which people make use of the past in order to understand their presents.

Audio and video recordings of the panel event are now available.

 

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Coming soon and now available to book

Our first event of 2025 will be a joint lecture with the German Historical Institute London (GHIL) given by Roland Wenzlhuemer (LMU Munich) on ‘Raise, Reuse, Recycle: Global History and Marine Salvage in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century’. Attendance of Roland’s lecture is available in person at the GHIL and also online at 5:30pm GMT on 21 January.

Booking for this event is available by following the links below: