03/05/2026
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON!!
Created before the war by the British Ministry of Information in 1938/39, it was the third poster designed to keep up spirits in the darker days. Though no names are attributed to the design it is believed Ernest Wallcousins coined the phrase, as he was always saying it around the ministry.
It was heralded as typifying the British 'stiff upper lip' and great resolve.
However it was NEVER actually used as the government described it as 'patronising' and it's said Chamberlain remarked "it will upset the German Chancellor even more"!!
In 2000 a book keeper discovered an old box of books, in between a couple of books was an original poster folded into four...........Stuart and Mary Manly are now very rich and the rest as they say is history!!
