the king's christmas speech 1939

The King’s (Christmas) Speech

On September 3, 1939, King George VI gave the most important speech of his life.  A few months later, with Britain battered by the loss of great warships, and many of its Asian holdings, he also gave the Christmas message of December 25, 1939.  The Christmas message tradition had been started by his father, George V in 1932, but it was WWII that embedded it as an annual tradition in British hearts and minds.  (The band Genesis noted “we always watch the Queen on Christmas Day” in their song “Blood on the Rooftops.”)

George VI’s famous stuttering problem, mitigated with help from Lionel Logue, was the focus of last year’s Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech .  In the 1939 Christmas message, it was only evident at one point in the short address.  However, one can certainly hear the measured cadence George VI used to overcome the problem.

George’s wife Elizabeth, mother to today’s Queen Elizabeth II, brought him a poem that had deeply touched her.  George VI excerpted the first lines of the poem, “God Knows” (aka “The Gate of the Year”) by Minnie Louise Haskins to illuminate the spiritual comfort he believed his subjects might seek as the Axis powers confronted the Allies in the early days of World War II.

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart bestill: What need our little life Our human life to know, If God hath comprehension? In all the dizzy strife Of things both high and low, God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will Is best. The stretch of years Which wind ahead, so dim To our imperfect vision, Are clear to God. Our fears Are premature; In Him, All time hath full provision.

• Posted : Saturday, December 17th, 2011 @ 12:02 pm
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Christmas Message, 1939

Delivered on 25 December 1939.

The festival which we all know as Christmas is, above all, the festival of peace and of the home. Among all free peoples the love of peace is profound, for this alone gives security to the home. But true peace is in the hearts of men, and it is the tragedy of this time that there are powerful countries whose whole direction and policy are based on aggression and the suppression of all that we hold dear for mankind.

It is this that has stirred our peoples and given them a unity unknown in any previous way. We feel in our hearts that we are fighting against wickedness, and this conviction will give us strength from day to day to persevere until victory is assured.

At home we are, as it were, taking the strain for what may lie ahead of us, resolved and confident. We look with pride and thankfulness on the never-failing courage and devotion of the Royal Navy, upon which throughout the last four months has burst the storm of ruthless and unceasing war.

And when I speak of our Navy today I mean all the men of our Empire who go down to the sea in ships, the Mercantile Marine, the minesweepers, the trawlers, and drifters, from the senior officers to the last boy who has joined up. To everyone in this great Fleet I send a message of gratitude and greeting from myself as from all my peoples.

The same message I send to the gallant Air Force, which, in co-operation with the Navy is our sure shield of defence. They are daily adding laurels to those that their fathers won.

I would send a special word of greeting to the armies of the Empire, to those who have come from afar, and in particular to the British Expeditionary Force. Their tasks is hard.

They are waiting, and waiting is a trial of nerve and discipline. But I know that when the moment comes for action they will prove themselves worthy of the highest traditions of their great Service.

And to all who are preparing themselves to serve their country on sea, on land, or in the air, I send my greeting at this time. The men and women of our far-flung Empire, working in their several vocations with the one same purpose, all are members of the great family of nations which is prepared to sacrifice everything that freedom of spirit may be saved to the world.

Such is the spirit of the Empire, of the great Dominions, of India, of every Colony, large or small. From all alike have come offers of help for which the Mother Country can never be sufficiently grateful. Such unity in aim and in effort has never been seen in the world before.

I believe from my heart that the cause which binds together my peoples and our gallant and faithful Allies is the cause of Christian civilisation. On no other basis can a true civilisation be built. Let us remember this through the dark times ahead of us and when we are making the peace for which all men pray.

A new year is at hand. We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace how thankful we shall all be. If it brings continued struggle, we shall remain undaunted.

In the meantime, I feel that we may all find a message of encouragement in the lines which, in my closing words, I would like to say to you.

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year. “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. “ And he replied. “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

May that Almighty hand guide and uphold us all.

This work is in the public domain worldwide because it was created by a public body of the United Kingdom with Crown Status and commercially published before 1974.

See Crown copyright artistic works , Crown copyright non-artistic works and List of Public Bodies with Crown Status .

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The King’s Speech

Perhaps you have seen the Oscar winning film, now you can view the original transcript of the King’s Speech, which was sent to Scotland Yard in 1939, announcing that Britain was going to war…

Ben Johnson

Perhaps you have seen the award winning film – which was nominated for 12 Oscars – now you can view the original transcript of the King’s Speech, which was sent to Scotland Yard in 1939, announcing that Britain was going to war.

The transcript – which was broadcast to the nation on 3 September 1939 – can be viewed free at the Metropolitan Police’ Historical Collection – along with hundreds of other documents, artefacts and images detailing the history of policing since 1829.

The King’s Speech – starring Colin Firth – tells the inspiring story of George VI who overcomes his stammer as he reluctantly takes the throne when his brother, Edward VIII abdicates in 1936 over his plans to marry twice divorced Wallis Simpson.

A series of announcements by the King and Prime Minister were broadcast to the country asking police for their help in getting people to follow air raid precautions and wear gas masks. A war cabinet was also formed and people were asked to stand firm and resolute in the battle ahead.

In his first speech, on 3 September 1939 , King George VI said: “In this grave hour, perhaps the most fateful in our history, for the second time in the lives of most of us we are at war. Over and over again we have tried to find a peaceful way out of the differences between ourselves and those who are now our enemies. But it has been in vain. The task will be hard. There may be dark days ahead and war is no longer confined to the battlefield.”

The new king quickly won the respect of his ministers and his people and his hard work and conscientious manner eventually brought him respect in his war torn country.

Neil Paterson, Manager of the Historical Collection said: “The Met is in such a unique position to have a rich history of documents, photos and images dating back to 1829. We are very proud of our Collection – which is free to see – and people from all over the world regularly come to view it.”

View the transcript below of the King’s speech:

The Historical Collection is based at Empress State Building, Empress Approach, Lillie Road, London, SW6 1TR, London, from 10am – 4pm weekdays.

Published: 25th December 2014.

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The history of the Royal Christmas Day speech

For seventy years, Queen Elizabeth II was a staple of Christmas Day, appearing on television, radio and on the internet throughout her reign to deliver her annual Christmas Message. Now, it is King Charles who speaks to country and Commonwealth on Christmas Day. But this tradition is very much a Windsor one. It began with His Majesty’s great-grandfather, King George V, and continued through his grandfather, King George VI via radio broadcast then on into the historic reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

King George V delivered the first Christmas Message in 1932 (fun fact: it was written by author Rudyard Kipling) and spoke of the technology that made him “enabled, this Christmas Day, to speak to all my peoples throughout the Empire. I take it as a good omen that Wireless should have reached its present perfection at a time when the Empire has been linked in closer union. For it offers us immense possibilities to make that union closer still.”

King George VI delivered radio speeches each Christmas and spoke each year of the Second World Ward. In 1939 he talked about the War, stating, “A new year is at hand. We cannot tell which it will bring . If it brings peace how thankful we shall all be. If it brings continued struggle, we shall remain undaunted.”

However, it was Elizabeth II who would turn the Christmas Day message into an unmissable part of the UK’s celebrations.

It wasn’t until Queen Elizabeth’s 1957 Christmas Message that they became televised.

Queen Elizabeth II always made a point to show her sympathy to those who are less fortunate, or who had suffered tragedies that year. She always mentioned the unity of the Commonwealth, and she always made time for personal highlights from the year.

And in the last years of her reign, her wise words brought much comfort with many tuning in on December 25th 2020 to hear her speak once more of hope in the midst of the pandemic that had changed the lives of everyone throughout the year before.

Her Late Majesty’s last Christmas speech, on December 25th 2021, was her most poignant as she paid tribute to Prince Philip who had died in April 2021.

On Christmas Day 2022, it was their eldest son, Charles III, who paid tribute to them both as he made his first festive address.

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King George VI's Christmas message of 1939

• 5 years ago
• Duration 4:06

The King broadcasts a message of hope to the Empire in the early months of the Second World War.

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The King's Speech: How George VI's simple domesticity made him the king his country needed in time of war

I n the build-up to the coronation of George VI in May 1937, London's 26,000 busmen went on strike. They wanted shorter hours and better conditions, as well an inquiry into the dangers to their health of the new larger buses, which travelled at a dizzying 30mph instead of just 12mph. The general secretary of their union, future Labour minister Ernest Bevin, conscious of the nation's patriotic mood as the coronation loomed, urged them to think again, but they walked out anyway. With no buses, London's trams were packed to capacity, while the streets were full of illegally parked cars and the railway stations flooded with commuters.

Yet as the big day approached, short-term inconveniences were forgotten. The papers all printed supplements of the processional route; a thousand special trains were arranged to bring sightseers to the capital; overnight, thousands of people slept in parks or on the streets. "I went to a short thanksgiving service and then back, to sit solidly listening to the wireless, which thrillingly described the procession and the service," an Oxford vicar's wife wrote afterwards. "We sat spellbound from 11 till five and gloried in all the pageantry as described and the music and the cheering. It was the most wonderful broadcast we'd ever heard."

When shy, stammering Albert, Duke of York, succeeded his dissolute brother Edward as King of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Dominions and Emperor of India, just before Christmas 1936, he found himself ruling a country that, paradoxically, seems both far more conservative and much more radical than our own. Britain in the late 1930s was a country devoted to hierarchy and dominated by deference; many pubs still had a picture of the monarch behind the bar.

Yet it was also a country where thousands were drawn to Soviet communism, planners dreamed of a brave new world and commentators seriously predicted the coming of world revolution. It was a country horrified by unemployment and haunted by war, yet it was also one that relaxed with Agatha Christie and PG Wodehouse, laughed at George Formby and Gracie Fields and queued patiently to see the latest Hollywood musical. It was a country of dole queues and Jarrow marches; but it was also a world transformed by cinemas, lidos and paid holidays, by the radio, the football pools and the dog racing, by the roadside pub and the local Woolworths. It was a country deeply divided by class and birth; yet it was one united by an unspoken moral consensus that now seems almost antediluvian.

The 1930s have often had an appalling press. To WH Auden, sitting on a Manhattan bar stool in September 1939, they were a "low, dishonest decade". For a long time they were known as "the devil's decade", "the locust years", when unemployment shot through the roof, fascism gathered momentum abroad and the political classes betrayed the hopes of a generation. And for millions of people, as Juliet Gardiner's recent book, The Thirties: An Intimate History , points out, it was indeed a time of shattered dreams. Visiting the valleys of South Wales in the early 1930s, one reporter watched as "groups of ragged men squatted on their haunches, as miners do, and played pitch-and-toss with buttons; they had no half-pennies to venture".

On a gigantic slag heap he saw "50 or so men and women" picking forlornly for lumps of coal; nearby, a man strolled down the road, "dejectedly singing 'The Red Flag' in slow time as if it were a dirge". In Scotland, another visitor remarked on the "groups of idle, sullen-looking young men" at the street corners, the houses "empty and unemployed like their tenants", the roads "pitted and rent". "The chief article of our diet is bread," said a London housepainter. "Margarine comes next…"

In some ways, though, the rot went deeper than the material hardship brought by the Great Depression. As another excellent history of the decade, Richard Overy's The Morbid Age , suggests, British society often seemed steeped in a profound metaphysical pessimism, fuelled not only by memories of the first world war but by the notion that civilisation itself was a sickly, endangered creature, already infected with the bacteria of hatred and fear.

In 1936 a keen reader could probably have spent every day of the year absorbing predictions of disaster: leftwing forecasts that capitalism was on the way out, pseudo-Malthusian tracts warning that Britain's human stock was dwindling to nothing, Freudian textbooks on the psychological roots of violence, and any number of broadsides warning of the threat of fascism or communism, or wallowing in the bloodshed of Abyssinia and Spain. Mankind, said HG Wells, was drifting blindly but unstoppably down "the stream of fate to degradation, suffering and death". And as literary journalist Geoffrey West told his readers, the question was not whether the final cataclysm was coming, but when.

Yet there was another side to the hungry 1930s. By 1936, much of Britain was in recovery, which is why the fabled Jarrow marchers failed to win greater public support. In those areas where the Depression's impact was smallest, especially in the affluent south-east and Midlands, 1930s Britain often looked uncannily like a preview of Harold Macmillan's postwar affluent society, a world in which the middle classes took their new cars on outings to the countryside, spent a fortune on cinema tickets, cosmetics, celebrity magazines and cheap thrillers, and lent their support to Stanley Baldwin's national government.

Around London, brand-new red-brick suburbs testified to the pace of change. Much-mocked by intellectuals, the Tudorbethan semis represented unprecedented freedom and comfort for thousands of people. Even working-class life, supposedly so static, was gradually changing; George Orwell, at the end of his blazing manifesto The Road to Wigan Pier , published in the year of the coronation, thought that "fish-and-chips, art-silk stockings, tinned salmon, cut-price chocolate (five two-ounce bars for sixpence), the movies, the radio, strong tea and the football pools have between them averted revolution".

We often remember the 1930s as an era of extraordinary political flux, an age when Sir Oswald Mosley's blackshirts marched openly in the streets and thousands of idealists swooned before the Stalinist experiment. Again, there is some truth in it. In 1934, the Criterion at Piccadilly Circus hosted a glamorous white-tie dinner on the theme "We Have Been to Russia", with speakers lining up to welcome the inevitable victory of communism over capitalism. A year later, one of the summer's notable occasions was a Wimbledon garden fete held to mark the triumphs of the Soviet Union, its principal attractions including an address by American singer and political activist Paul Robeson, an exhibition of "Soviet Embroideries and Curios" and music by the St Dunstan's band of ex-servicemen blinded in the war.

Yet it is easy to forget that in the same year Baldwin's Tory-dominated national government, so humdrum and staid in retrospect, won another huge majority over Clement Attlee's Labour party. "I think you can trust me," Baldwin told cinema audiences in one newsreel, filmed in an old-fashioned office surrounded by leather-bound books. The camera cut to cheering crowds; on the screen, up flashed the words: "And you do!"

In many ways, then, the new king was not such a bad figurehead for a society that preferred the reassurance of the familiar to the intoxication of change. From his love of golf to his painstakingly assembled medal collection (a successor to his father's famous stamp albums), George was a domestic-minded, insular, introverted man, never happier than when cloistered with his wife and daughters. In an odd way, he was not so different from another idealised Englishman who made his first appearance in a book published a few months after his coronation.

Shy and retiring, a respectable, conservative, middle-class homeowner, Bilbo Baggins likes nothing better than curling up with his wooden pipe, a cup of tea and a slice of cake. Like thousands of Tolkien's readers, Bilbo tries to ignore the storm clouds gathering abroad. "We are plain quiet folk and I have no use for adventures," he says. "Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner! I can't think what anybody sees in them!"

Still, Bilbo goes on his adventure eventually, just as George, despite floods of tears, reluctantly accepted the crown after his brother's abdication. Like his countrymen, he dreaded the thought of another war so soon after the slaughter of the first world war trenches; like his countrymen, however, this nervous, sickly, stammering man forced himself to confront the inevitable.

When war broke out in 1939, he became an unlikely symbol of national resistance, his mundane domesticity a reminder of what Britain was fighting for. After Buckingham Palace was bombed in September 1940, his newsreel appearances were regularly interrupted by applause from the audience. But it was not merely deference that explains the public reaction, even though it played its part. The truth, I suspect, is that when thousands applauded the King in the cinema, they were not just acknowledging their monarch; they were applauding themselves.

• The King's Speech supplement

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Text of the last King's Speech at Christmas and how it may be inspiring Charles III

King George VI was gravely ill when he delivered his message at Christmas 1951

• 15:00, 24 DEC 2022

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It was a time of war, upheaval and hardship. And yet Christmas promised the blessings of happy family gatherings and renewed hope.

Seventy-one years ago this week, King George VI delivered the final Christmas speech of his life. The British people, he said, were living in an age which was often hard and cruel, but had the spirit of friendliness and kindness that would carry them through.

When his grandson, King Charles III, delivers his first Christmas broadcast on December 25 2022, he is likely to touch on similar themes. After all, the war in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis and the death of his beloved mother, Queen Elizabeth II , mean it has been a year in which optimism has felt in short supply.

READ MORE: Kate dedicates carol service to late Queen's ‘incredible legacy’

Charles is said to have taken inspiration from his grandfather. The historian Hugo Vickers, writing in the Radio Times Christmas edition, says: "I am told in these recent weeks he [the King] has been inspired by the memory of his grandfather, whom he remembers from his childhood.

He adds: " George VI was his last male predecessor as king and so a good role model. Let us hope that the benign example of his grandfather does indeed guide and inspire him, not least in his Christmas broadcast."

Watching the Queen's speech at 3pm on Christmas Day was a tradition for generations of people in Britain and parts of the Commonwealth. Her first Christmas broadcast was recorded in 1952, just 10 months into her reign.

Elizabeth's father had died on February 6 1952, aged just 56. George VI had been in ill-health for years due to smoking-related conditions, and his final Christmas message in December 1951 – at that time broadcast over the radio – had to be recorded in sections.

In it, he touched on his illness and his disappointment at having to cancel a royal tour of Commonwealth countries. He also spoke about two conflicts in South-East Asia in which Britain was engaged at the time: the Korea War, in which some 60,000 British troops fought alongside the US and other allies against North Korea and China; and the brutal "Malayan Emergency", which was fought between Community, pro-independence guerillas and forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth.

Text of the King's Speech

"As I speak to you to-day", said King George VI at Christmas 1951, "I would like to wish you, wherever you may be, a happy Christmas. Though we live in hard and critical times, Christmas is, and always will be, a time when we can, and should, count our blessings – the blessings of home, the blessing of happy family gatherings, and the blessing of the hopeful message of Christmas.

"I myself have every cause for deep thankfulness, for not only – by the grace of God and through the faithful skill of my doctors, surgeons and nurses – have I come through my illness, but I have learned once again that it is in bad times that we value most highly the support and sympathy of our friends. From my peoples in these islands and in the British Commonwealth and Empire as well as from many other countries – this support and sympathy has reached me, and I thank you now from my heart.

"I trust that you yourselves realise how greatly your prayers and good wishes have helped, and are helping me, in my recovery. It has been a great disappointment to the Queen and to myself that we have been compelled to give up, for the second time, the tour which we had planned for next year. We were looking forward to meeting mv peoples in their own homes, and we realise that they will share our regret that this cannot be. I am very glad that our daughter, Princess Elizabeth, with her husband, will be able to visit these countries, and I know that their welcome there will be as warm as that which awaited us."

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King George continued: "You are most of you now sitting at home among your families, listening to me. I speak from mine. At Christmas we feel that the old, simple things matter most. They do not change, however much the world outside may seem to do so.

"When we say that Christmas brings good cheer we do not only think of material things, we think more of the feelings of frendliness and comradeship we have one for the other. And I think that, among ail the blessings which may count today, the chief one is that we are a friendly people. We do not all think alike, of course. We are such a large family of nations that this would be difficult. We each have our own ideas, but we have come to learn that differences of opinion are not the same quarrels.

"I wonder if we realise just how precious this spirit of friendliness and kindness is. We are living in an age which is often hard and cruel, and if there is anything that we can offer to the world today. perhaps it is the example of tolerance and understanding that runs like a golden thread through the great and diverse family of the British Commonwealth of Nations."

He added: "I send a special message to all those who are far from their homes and families on this Christmas Day. There is nothing new in this: we are a home-loving, but we have never been a stay-at-home people. But during the war we all looked forward so anxiously to the times when we should spend Christmas together at home, and now the troubles the world are forcing so many of us to be away from our families and our own homes.

"The Queen and I join with all those of our who are thinking today of the absent ones from the family circle, some of whom may be serving in foreign lands. They may be the young men doing their national service. They may be the officers and men of my fighting services and of the merchant services. I know that on Christmas Day they will be thinking of their families at home, and you will be thinking of them. But especially we are thinking of our friends and our sons and brothers who are now facing hardships and dangers in Malaya and Korea, a "band of brothers" drawn from all parts of my Dominions.

"The Queen and I wish you all, near and far, a happy Christmas and a prosperous and peaceful New Year."

Painful recording of King's Christmas message

Recording the King's Christmas message in 1951 was a particularly painful process because George VI was recovering from major surgery.

George, a heavy smoker, had lung cancer and other ailments and in September that year, he had his left lung removed after a tumour was found. However, he was determined to deliver a Christmas message and so the broadcast was recorded in sections and edited together.

However, George had long dreaded speaking in public. He suffered from a lifelong stammer that made it difficult for him to deliver speeches and broadcasts. He was helped by Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist, as famously depicted in the 2010 film The King's Speech. The treatment culminated in him delivering an iconic speech to the nation in September 1939, when the Second World War broke out.

History of the Royal Christmas Message

King Charles III will be the fourth monarch to deliver a Christmas Day broadcast. The first was his great-grandfather George V in 1932, who delivered a message written by Rudyard Kipling, the author of Kim and The Jungle Book. "Through one of the marvels of modern science, I am enabled, this Christmas Day, to speak to all my peoples throughout the Empire," he said.

Edward VIII abdicated, in order to marry Wallis Simpson, on December 11 1936, just weeks before he was due to give his first Christmas message. It was left to his brother, George VI, to carry on the tradition.

However, it was Elizabeth II who brought the Christmas speech into the TV age . She delivered her first message over the radio in 1952, but five years later her speech would be shown on television. The only year the Queen skipped a Christmas broadcast was in 1969, when a documentary about the Royal family was shown instead.

Many people believe the Queen's famous 'annus horribilis' speech was given at Christmas, but in fact she delivered it in November 1992 to mark the anniversary of her succession. In recent years, her speeches had touched on the Covid pandemic . "A year that has necessarily kept people apart has, in many ways, brought us closer," she said in 2020.

Her final message at Christmas 2021 reflected on the death of the Duke of Edinburgh but ended on a hopeful note: "It is this simplicity of the Christmas story that makes it so universally appealing: simple happenings that formed the starting point of the life of Jesus – a man whose teachings have been handed down from generation to generation, and have been the bedrock of my faith. His birth marked a new beginning. As the carol says, 'The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight'."

King Charles III's first Christmas speech will be broadcast on Sunday, December 25 2022 at 3pm. It will be shown on BBC One and ITV1 and can be heard on BBC Radio 4.

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80 years ago: What was life like in Christmas 1939, with our country at war?

It was the start of September – the 3rd to be exact – 1939 and most people were starting to think about the run up to Christmas, which was 16 weeks away but would come round so quickly.

For many the talking point was football. Blackpool were top of the First Division having won their first three matches.

The talking point changed at 11.15am when the announcement most were expecting and dreading was broadcast and life was to change completely.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain spoke to the nation at that time. Millions listened to the wireless wherever they could get close to one and they heard: “The British ambassador to Berlin handed a final note to the German government this morning saying unless it announced plans to withdraw from Poland by 1100, a state of war would exist between the two countries.

“I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received and consequently this country is at war with Germany.”

That was the historic moment in 1939 and life changed instantly, although there were many more and greater changes still to come.

What was it like those 80 years ago as the nation went to war before Christmas? Let us travel back in time – and don’t forget to change your money…

War had been looming for some time and many precautions had already been put in place and, just before the declaration, Operation Pied Piper had already begun to evacuate children from our major cities.

Among them was Ken Dodd, who was 11 at the time and was evacuated for a short time to Shrewsbury.

“Lots of kids from Liverpool and other major cities were evacuated at the same time so it was quite a big thing,” Doddy once told me.

“It was terrible for lots of mums who didn’t know what kind of home their kids were being sent to.

“A few mums went with them but did not stay for very long. In fact, we were moved back after a short time so I don’t remember very much about my time as an evacuee except that I stayed with a very nice family and went to Priory School for a couple of months.

“The evacuation was not an unpleasant thing – sweet rationing was much worse – but I was certainly very glad to get back to Knotty Ash. There really is no place like home.”

Rationing was not at its peak during those early days of the war but petrol rationing had already been introduced with no more than 200 miles of fuel per month. Petrol at that time cost about 4s 2d a gallon (21p a gallon or 10p a litre).

The average wage for men was £3 9s (£3.45) and for women it was £1 12s (£1.60).

Women also felt the pinch because they were requested to wear flat shoes to conserve the wood used to make heels. They were also asked to wear light clothes so that the dye could be saved for military uniforms.

Stockings were soon in short supply and some girls took to colouring their legs with gravy browning. It looked very strange if they were caught out in the rain!

Meanwhile, a packet of five Woodbine cigarettes cost about 1p and a full bottle of whisky cost 13s 6d (68p).

So it wasn’t going to be such a bad Christmas, after all. Rationing hit harder later but in 1939 everyone continued to make the best of what was available.

The nation was determined not to get depressed even though the blackouts had already been brought into play, the decoders had moved into Bletchley Park and there were queues at the military recruitment offices as well as at the evacuation points.

The BBC introduced its Home Service to the wireless while at the same closing down its TV service until 1946.

There were still some things that remained fairly normal, though, among them the great entertainers.

Max Miller was almost resident at the Holborn Empire in London until it was bombed in 1940. When not there he spent much of his time at the London Palladium, topping the bill week after week and playing to audiences of people carrying gas masks, many of them in the uniforms of the various services.

“Max was a bill topper well before the war started and what he offered was total escape,” said Roy Hudd.

“He was a genius in the real sense and during the war he often gave up his time to entertain the troops and his audiences were always full of soldiers, sailors and airmen and their girlfriends and wives. He made them feel good.”

If Max Miller was at home in London, George Formby was certainly at home in Blackpool and packed audiences into theatres there with his own special brand of song and humour.

Blackpool was not quite Blackpool without the lights but George made up for it by shining everywhere he went, especially with his impromptu performances of We’re Going To Hang Out Our Washing On The Siegfried Line.

Flanagan and Allen possibly enjoyed their finest hour during the war. They were popular for years before and after the conflict but during those dark days their songs and fun kept Britain laughing and humming along, especially when the rest of the Crazy Gang were involved.

Bud and Ches were also used quite a lot for public service films during the war, the government seeing them as ideal entertainers to deliver important messages.

They were quite right, whenever Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen spoke or sang, millions listened.

Most entertainers did their bit during the war in one way or another. Tommy Handley, Tommy Trinder, Gracie Fields, Sandy Powell, Jimmy Wheeler, Norman Evans, Robb Wilton, Arthur Askey and, of course, Vera Lynn were among those who found themselves constantly in demand at theatres and by the military chiefs who were keen to take advantage of their appeal to send them off to entertain the troops.

“You never knew where you were going,” said Vera Lynn. “You just found yourself in the back of a truck and going somewhere. Even when you got there you often didn’t know where you were.

“But you just got on with it and did your best to entertain and cheer everyone up. You always felt appreciated, though, and that made it all worthwhile.

“I just about remember the first Christmas of the war. Everyone was determined to make it the best possible and rationing was not so bad at that time. It was not so much about eating and drinking as being together as families because nobody knew what was going to happen tomorrow.”

Some of the stars who were to become famous after the war were enlisted to do their bit for their country.

Norman Wisdom was assigned to the Royal Corps of Signals during the war and spent some of his time seconded to a top secret wartime communications post.

“I saw quite a bit of Churchill,” he said. “He even knew me by name and would often inquire if everything was all right. You had to reply in a direct style and could never try to engage him in unnecessary conversation.”

The Navy Lark and Doctor Who star Jon Pertwee really was in the Navy and had an amazing number of life-threatening escapes including being aboard HMS Hood just before it was to sail to find and destroy the Bismarck.

Jon was summoned for a special assignment and left the ship only hours before it sailed into a disaster that claimed the lives of all but three of the more than 1,400 crew on board.

Kenneth More might have been acclaimed for his portrayal of Sir Douglas Bader in Reach For The Sky but during the war he actually served in the Royal Navy.

The Beverley Sisters were asked by the BBC to audition at a secret underground studio in Bedford.

“It was very exciting,” said Teddie. “It became even more exciting when a man walked in to listen to us. We couldn’t believe it because he was none other than Glenn Miller. He was unbelievably kind to us even though we were just three scruffy little evacuees from London.

“He really changed our lives and set us on the road to fame. He told us we had passed our audition and offered to help in any way he could. Since we had no accompaniment of our own, he made his rhythm section available to us and they actually backed us on our early broadcasts.

“He was so nice that we were all heartbroken when he went missing. We have never forgotten him, though, and always tried to include one of his numbers in our programme.”

Ernie Wise served in the Merchant Navy during the war, helping to bring essential supplies to Europe, while Eric Morecambe was one of the famed Bevan Boys, called up for National Service but often sent on other jobs including coal mining.

There is no doubt that the wireless played a major part in keeping people informed of events and also in broadcasting public service messages but it also served to keep a smile on the faces of the British people and to distract their minds from the woes of war.

The highlight of each week was ITMA – It’s That Man Again – which was broadcast at 8.30pm every Thursday. Tommy Handley was the man in question but he was aided and abetted by the likes of Maurice Denham, Jack Train, Deryck Guyler, Hattie Jacques, Molly Weir, Clarence Wright and Fred Yule.

Clarence Wright once recalled: “Tommy was a highly inventive performer, a humble man with his thoughts concentrated at that time on ITMA. He always felt that the next show had to be better than the last, no matter how good it had been. When the ITMA door closed for the last time, Tommy left many happy and pleasant memories and, thankfully, a number of recordings.”

Hi Gang – with Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon and Vic Oliver – was another of those comedy shows that meant so much to the listeners of the day, as did Bandwagon with Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch.

Ben Lyon and his wife, Bebe, were much-loved and respected by the British wireless listeners because they were American and could have left the country when the war hotted up.

Instead they chose to remain in London and face the Blitz shoulder-to-shoulder with the Brits whom they had befriended. Britain never forgot their courageous stand against Hitler’s attacks.

Arthur Askey once revealed: “Bandwagon and other radio shows kept Britain laughing at a time when crying was much easier. I enjoyed doing the broadcasts and shows during those days and felt I was adding something to the war effort.

“The wireless was great because you could picture all those families sitting round the fire, listening to the songs and the laughter and the news bulletins, not knowing what tomorrow was going to bring. For just a little while you could help them not to even care what tomorrow would bring.”

It wasn’t all news and laughs on the wireless. Serious programmes like The Brains Trust continued to discuss such grave topics as why you can’t tickle yourself and other scientific mysteries. There were serious dramas too.

There was always room for a sing-song, though, and the music programmes pulled in huge listening figures whether they were the day-time Music While You Work or evening shows featuring such familiar voices as Vera Lynn and Ann Shelton.

Just as listeners could not get too much information, they also could not get too much Vera Lynn and other singers. Fighting back the tears, many a family joined in with We’ll Meet Again as they sat around the wireless during those difficult times.

Neon signs were switched off as the nightly blackout turned our cities into dwellings of darkness, an attempt to confuse the enemy bombers prowling our skies.

But while the names were no longer in bright lights, the celluloid stars still brought us romance, suspense and adventure at the local picture houses and the crowds flocked nightly to get away from the worries of war and escape to the film world.

Cinemas ranged in standard from the comparatively plush Essoldo, Odeon, Gaumont and Coliseum to the local “flea pit”.

The films also were wide-ranging in quality. At the very start of the war, in 1939, Gone With The Wind stole the show. It was much awaited and Clarke Gable and Vivien Leigh did not disappoint.

Despite their worries, families were determined to enjoy their Christmas. Beef was cheaper than turkeys and even chickens in those days and for their Christmas dinner families enjoyed whatever they could manage. Many mums managed to make puggings, mince pies and cakes, something they would struggle with later as the war bit deeper.

Most presents were simple and often practical although the latest Agatha Christie book – now known by the title And Then There Were None – was a popular choice.

The royal Christmas message was delivered on the wireless by King George VI, the famous King’s Speech. The nation huddled round to listen as he gave a nine minute speech of encouragement.

Tea-time meant a singalong, of course. Many homes had a piano or a wind-up record player or just voices. No matter, the Christmas carols were belted out along with the old favourites. The barrel was well and truly rolled out. It wasn’t all gloom for Christmas in 1939.

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The Royal Watcher

The king’s speech, 1939.

King George VI  addressed the British people over radio, after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced that Britain had declared war on Nazi Germany, on this day in 1939, saying :

In this grave hour, perhaps the most fateful in our history, for the second time in the lives of most of us we are at war. Over and over again we have tried to find a peaceful way out of the differences between ourselves and those who are now our enemies. But it has been in vain. The task will be hard. There may be dark days ahead and war is no longer confined to the battlefield.”

The speech was the culmination of years of speech therapy to overcome the King’s stammer, a story immortalized in the award-winning film ‘The King’s Speech’, starring Colin Firth.  During the war, the King and Queen visited troops and traveled around the country to raise morale, gaining immense popularity, though the King’s health rapidly deteriorated, leading to his early death in 1952.

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Read The King’s Christmas Day speech in full

Charles called on people to protect each other, delivered message about environment and praised volunteers serving communities, article bookmarked.

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The King has called on people to protect each other, delivered a powerful message about the environment and praised volunteers serving communities across the country in the second Christmas broadcast of his reign .

The festive address – the second since the death of his mother , the late Queen Elizabeth II , in September 2022 – was delivered standing up in Buckingham Palace ’s centre room, which opens onto the famous balcony overlooking The Mall.

Charles called on people to “protect each other” as he said the world is living through a time of increasingly tragic conflict .

Follow our live coverage of the Royal family at Christmas here.

The King also described the “selfless army” of volunteers serving communities across the country as the “essential backbone of our society”. He said the presence of community stalwarts among his coronation guests emphasised the meaning of the ceremony – “a call to us all to serve one another”.

There was also an environmental element to the address from Charles, who has spent much of his adult life defending the planet and now found “great inspiration” from the many people who recognise “we must protect the Earth and our natural world”. He concluded by thanking those who were “caring for our common home”.

Here is the full text of the King’s Christmas broadcast:

“Many of the festivals of the great religions of the world are celebrated with a special meal. A chance for family and friends to come together across generations; the act of sharing food adding to conviviality and togetherness.

“For some, faith will be uppermost in their hearts. For others, it will be the joy of fellowship and the giving of presents. It is also a time when we remember those who are no longer with us and think also of those whose work of caring for others continues, even on this special day.

“This care and compassion we show to others is one of the themes of the Christmas story, especially when Mary and Joseph were offered shelter in their hour of need by strangers, as they waited for Jesus to be born.

“Over this past year my heart has been warmed by countless examples of the imaginative ways in which people are caring for one another – going the extra mile to help those around them simply because they know it is the right thing to do: at work and at home; within and across communities.

“My wife and I were delighted when hundreds of representatives of that selfless army of people – volunteers who serve their communities in so many ways and with such distinction – were able to join us in Westminster Abbey for the coronation earlier this year.

“They are an essential backbone of our society. Their presence meant so much to us both and emphasised the meaning of coronation itself: above all, a call to us all to serve one another; to love and care for all.

“Service also lies at the heart of the Christmas story – the birth of Jesus who came to serve the whole world, showing us by his own example how to love our neighbour as ourselves.

“Throughout the year, my family have witnessed how people of all ages are making a difference to their communities. This is all the more important at a time of real hardship for many, when we need to build on existing ways to support others less fortunate than ourselves.

“Because out of God’s providence we are blessed with much, and it is incumbent on us to use this wisely.

“However, service to others is but one way of honouring the whole of creation which, after all, is a manifestation of the divine. This is a belief shared by all religions.

“To care for this creation is a responsibility owned by people of all faiths and of none. We care for the Earth for the sake of our children’s children.

“During my lifetime I have been so pleased to see a growing awareness of how we must protect the Earth and our natural world as the one home which we all share.

“I find great inspiration now from the way so many people recognise this – as does the Christmas story, which tells us that angels brought the message of hope first to shepherds. These were people who lived simply amongst others of God’s creatures. Those close to nature were privileged that night.

“And at a time of increasingly tragic conflict around the World, I pray that we can also do all in our power to protect each other. The words of Jesus seem more than ever relevant: ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’

“Such values are universal, drawing together our Abrahamic family of religions, and other belief systems, across the Commonwealth and wider world. They remind us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of our neighbours, and to seek their good as we would our own.

“So on this Christmas Day , my heart and my thanks go to all who are serving one another; all who are caring for our common home; and all who see and seek the good of others, not least the friend we do not yet know. In this way, we bring out the best in ourselves.

“I wish you a Christmas of ‘peace on Earth and goodwill to all’, today and always.”

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