Blood, Thunder and Showgirls: The Merchant Navy on the BBC, 1939–1945

Abstract

This article examines the representation of the Merchant Navy on BBC radio in Britain during the Second World War. It discusses how this essential, but dangerous, wartime role was presented to the British public by arguably the most prevalent wartime cultural medium. It uses extensive research in the BBC’s Written Archive Centre, using both radio broadcasts and listener research, to understand how the role of the Merchant Navy was portrayed and understood during the war. This article argues that, unlike other civilian occupations, men of the Merchant Navy were presented as brave and courageous under enemy fire and were consequently given access to much of the prestige generally reserved for the armed forces.

Notes

1. Central Statistical Office, Fighting With Figures: A Statistical Digest of the Second World War (London, 1979), 43.

2. Ibid., 67.

3. Ibid., 43.

4. T. Lane, The Merchant Seamen’s War (Manchester, 1990); P. Summerfield, ‘Divisions at Sea: Class, Gender, Race, and Nation in Maritime Films of the Second World War, 1939–60,’ Twentieth Century British History 22 (2011): 330–53.

5. For example, the state released a series of posters simply stating ‘To The Merchant Navy – Thank You!’ while newspapers constantly harangued their readers to remember the sacrifices made by the Merchant Navy.

6. The BBC does not archive by date but rather by speaker making judgements about patterns of broadcast difficult to assess. The Merchant Navy, however, were of perennial focus by the BBC.

7. S. Nicholas, The Echo of War: Home Front Propaganda and the Wartime BBC, 1939–45 (Manchester, 1996), 1.

8. Ibid., p. 12. If the high levels of licence evasion in some areas are taken into account, this figure might be as high as 40 million.

9. Mass Observation, Home Propaganda: A Report Prepared by Mass Observation for the Advertising Service Guild (London, 1941).

10. Nicholas, The Echo of War, 2.

11. Ships Sail On, 17 January 1940, BBC Written Archive Centre (Hereafter BBC WAC).

12. ‘The Navy In Action’, Glasgow Herald, 15 December 1939, 6.

13. Ships Sail On, January 17, 1940, BBC WAC.

14. R34/460 Policy: Merchant Navy Programmes 1940–44, BBC WAC.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. The Blue Peter, August 9, 1941, BBC WAC.

18. R34/460 Policy: Merchant Navy Programmes 1940–44, BBC WAC.

19. Ibid.

20. Summerfield, ‘Divisions at Sea’, 334.

21. R34/460 Policy: Merchant Navy Programmes 1940–44, BBC WAC.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Shipmates Ashore, January 7, 1942, BBC WAC.

25. Sunday Postscript by Frank Laskier, October 26, 1941, BBC WAC.

26. Shipmates Ashore, March 21, 1942, BBC WAC.

27. R34/460 Policy: Merchant Navy Programmes 1940–44, BBC WAC.

28. Courage of Merchant Seamen by George Blake, November 14, 1943, BBC WAC.

29. R34/460 Policy: Merchant Navy Programmes 1940–44, BBC WAC.

30. Ibid.

31. R34/460 Policy: Merchant Navy Programmes 1940–44, BBC WAC.

32. Postscript by a Merchant Seamen, October 5, 1941, BBC WAC.

33. Courage of Merchant Seamen by George Blake, November 14, 1943, BBC WAC.

34. R34/460 Policy: Merchant Navy Programmes 1940–44, BBC WAC.

35. News Talk by an Officer of the Merchant Navy, February 11, 1942, BBC WAC.

36. The Story of Gerald Riley (Survivor from the MOPAN), August 26, 1941, BBC WAC.

37. Hansard HL Deb September 10, 1941, vol. 120, col. 27–8.

38. Shipmates Ashore, January 7, 1942, BBC WAC.

39. Courage of Merchant Seamen by George Blake, November 14, 1943, BBC WAC.

40. Down in the Engine Room, January 12, 1942, BBC WAC.

41. Courage of Merchant Seamen by George Blake, November 14, 1943, BBC WAC.

42. R9/5/116- Audience Research- Reports, Sound 166- Talks, Postscripts 1941–1942, BBC WAC.

43. R9/5/9- Audience Research- Reports, Sound 9- Features- June 1943–April 1944, BBC WAC.

44. CAB 121/106, Ministry of Information Home Intelligence Weekly Report, No. 176, February 17, 1944, National Archives, London.

45. CAB 121/106, Ministry of Information Home Intelligence Weekly Report, No. 215, 16 November1944, National Archives, London.

46. Sonya Rose, Which People’s War?: National Identity and Citizenship in Britain 1939–1945 (Oxford, 2003), 153.

47. C. Geraghty, ‘Masculinity’, in National Fictions: World War Two in British Films and Television, ed. G. Hurd (London, 1984), 24.

48. Postscript by Merchant Seamen, October 5, 1941, BBC WAC.

49. Paul Baker and Jo Stanley, Hello Sailor!: The Hidden History of Gay Life at Sea (London, 2003), 1.

50. Shipmates Ashore, January 7, 1942, BBC WAC.

51. Shipmates Ashore, April 3, 1943, BBC WAC.

52. Ibid.

53. Summerfield, ‘Divisions at Sea’, 12.

54. Mary A. Conley, From Jack Tar to Union Jack: Representing Naval Manhood in the British Empire, 1870–1918 (Manchester, 2009), 3.

55. The Blue Peter, October 11, 1941, BBC WAC.

56. Shipmates Ashore, March 21, 1942, BBC WAC.

57. The Blue Peter, July 5, 1941, BBC WAC.

58. Shipmates Ashore, January 7, 1942, BBC WAC.

59. Shipmates Ashore, January 7, 1942, BBC WAC.

60. The Blue Peter, August 9, 1941, BBC WAC.

61. BBC Written Archive Centre, Shipmates Ashore, November 6, 1943.

62. Shipmates Ashore, July 25, 1942, BBC WAC.

63. R34/460 Policy: Merchant Navy Programmes 1940–44, BBC WAC.