Their Finest Hour by Mihangel

[Rutabaga]

Just a quick note to alert people that a new, complete Mihangel tale, "Their Finest Hour," has quietly appeared on the main AD page under Completed Novels. I've just started it but I have no doubt it will live up to the quality of his previous work.

R

[Nick Deverill]

I've just read it. I was supposed to be doing something else an hour ago, but I quite simply could not pause in reading such a tale.

Truly, truly astonishing. Few books one pays for are as well written, and although I can read at 1000 words a minute, this one deserves and got, a much slower reading.

Mihangel - I offer a left handed hand-shake (UK normal one is right handed, but scouts use the left).

[Cole Parker]

Excellent. One marvels at the stoic courage of Brits. Great writing.

C

[Chris James]

All of Mihangel's stories cater to my taste for history, and this one is a winner. Filled with details about the lives of these Scouts in London during the ravages of WW2, there are moments of heartbreak and pure joy, a good mix when writing about those troubled times. His characters come alive on the page and give us a different perspective on a story we all thought we knew. Excellent, Mihangel...you have my thanks.

[Cole Parker]

One thing he didn't cover that I'd like to know is what happened to all the displaced citizens who escaped injury but lost everything. If there were a few of these the society could easily have assimilated them. But there had to be thousands, and where did they all go and what did they all do?

C

[Mihangel]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I felt that what those Scouts did, far outside the ordinary call of duty, deserved recognition.

Cole: A very good question. The answer's complicated, though I'll try not to write an essay. The war had cost so much that for 8 or so years after it ended the economy was in a mess and in some ways life was even harder. Rationing continued, stricter than before. Bread was on the ration until 1948, meat until 1954. Most everything else was in short supply, including building materials.

By 1945 about 3 million houses had been damaged. Displaced people were found alternative accommodation - doubling up with neighbours, say, or with relatives. Some houses could be repaired fairly fast, but no new ones were built as long as the next bomb might flatten them. New building began in April 1945, as soon as it was clear there'd be no more bombs. Over the next 6 years 1.2 million homes were built, nearly all by local councils, of which 150,000 were prefabs that could be put up in a day - any Ancient Brit like me will remember the acres of prefab estates. The pace was limited by the availability of finances. But so, gradually, things sorted themselves out. It was a time, though - another time - of great upheaval.

[Nigel Gordon]

To give an illustration of what Mihangel wrote about in his answer to Cole, I was recently sorting some family photos and found one from 1950 of the occupants of my grandparent's place in Hull. At the time they had my parents and a two year old me, my father's cousin, his wife and two children, my grandmother's sister and her family of three children (her husband being missing presumed dead), her eldest son's wife and their baby. 95% of the housing in Hull had been damaged in the Blitz and it was not until the late fifties that resettlement was completed.

[Nick Deverill]

The Southwark area was still desperately poor in the 50s, I have it on good authority that it was quite common for kids admitted to hospital in that area to think bread and jam formed a meal, so goodness knows what would have happened if the pre-war population had been restored in its entirety.

It would not surprise me if malnutrition formed a sizeable amount of the admissions, although I don't have medical details for that era.

[Mihangel]

No doubt there was some malnutrition, Nick, in the poorer areas. But it's always said that on the wartime (and immediately post-war) diet - spartan, but balanced and free of the sugar and fat and nasty additives we're subjected to nowadays - the nation was healthier than it's ever been.

Interesting that you were in Hull, Nigel. Though a Londoner by birth and upbringing, I've lived there for the last 45 years. And yes, my house was one of the 95% damaged. You can still see where, straddling us over a length of 250 yards, a stick of four bombs landed and demolished four houses. Three have been replaced, one hasn't.

[Bruin Fisher]

Brilliant storytelling, full of historical detail enthrallingly presented. Thanks Mihangel.

The Prefabs were factory-prefabricated and then transported to sites where they were intended as temporary accommodation until something more permanent could be provided. By January 1947 100,000 had been built. However they were lived in for years - and some are still in existence now. Residents have become fond of them and choose not to leave.

These are now grade 2 listed (officially designated part of the nation's heritage and therefore cannot be demolished or altered without consultation) - this is a recent photo - note the TV aerials!

[Jeff Ellis]

The expression I am familiar with to describe the doubling up that coped with the lack of housing during and after the war was "to be in rooms". Nigel's relatives would have described their situation as "After the war we were in rooms in Hull". I can remember being in rooms in Cardiff until I was five. We had an upstairs bedroom and the use of the kitchen and scullery (utility room). I believe that during the war under emergency regulations the system was enforceable, as was the placement of people (known as evacuees) evacuated from the cities.

Sugar rationing lasted until about 1953. I remember that on a school trip that year a nice lady in Woolworths sold me a box of chocolates as a present for my mother, despite me having no "points" with me, because rationing was ending in a few days. "Points" because goods were marked with labels that showed a circle with a pie-cut missing (the point) and a number to show how many points it required. Each person had a ration-book in which the points were cancelled as they were used.

There were many draconian regulations. Farmers could lose their farms if deemed to be failing to use best-practise as perceived by Min of Ag inspectors.

[Merkin]

I would be deeply appreciative if one of you Brits could point me toward some reliable historical writing for that immediate post-war era. We were so caught up in the "Cold War" and its geopolitics that I've lost sight of its social history, especially in Britain.

[Mihangel]

Merkin, a fair starting point is the Wikipedia article on Postwar Britain, with its links.

Even more illuminating perhaps from the socio-political viewpoint is Ken Loach's documentary "The Spirit of '45", which looks at the laborious process in the six years after the war of building up the Welfare State and of nationalisation, and at its shameful dismantling and privatisation by Thatcher and her successors:

http://ffilms.org/the-spirit-of-45-2013/

[Merkin]

Thank you. Going there now.

[ken84050]

.... But it's always said that on the wartime (and immediately post-war) diet - spartan, but balanced and free of the sugar and fat and nasty additives we're subjected to nowadays - the nation was healthier than it's ever been....

Here also. New Zealand produces a lot of food, but during and after the war we were severely rationed so that as much food as possible could go to the mother country. (We don't call Britain that now, but we did then.) We children were very healthy by modern standards.

That was wandering off topic, but I heartily agree with everyone else's praise of "Their Finest Hour".

[Bruin Fisher]

That was wandering off topic

Not at all - here at AD we specialize in going off topic! Welcome to the forums Ken!

[Jeff Ellis]

A magnificent achievement... Well Done!

But... The Boy Scouts of America would have thrown them out. Doesn't that tell us something?

[Mihangel]

But to be fair, Jeff, our Scout Association's open welcome to gay boys and leaders was not publicly announced until 2011. Before then, the whole thing was a grey area, and I suspect that much depended on individual scoutmasters and district officers.

Baden-Powell's Tenth Law, as discussed in the story, suggests that he was against it. And

"Perhaps the most notorious part of Scouting for Boys [1908] never actually made it into the published version. Baden-Powell's lengthy injunction against 'self-abuse' and 'the pleasant feeling in your private parts' was cut out after the publisher suggested it might not be the best idea." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6918066.stm)

Recent biographies have suggested that B-P was a repressed homosexual himself. But even if he was, I doubt if any senior Scouts back in the 40s, and certainly none of the boys, would have known it. There must have been many gay Scouts, but the fact that in the story one particular scoutmaster gave his blessing to a gay relationship emphatically didn't reflect the official policy of the day. I'm sure the best response that could ordinarily be expected then would have been "don't ask, don't tell."

[Nigel Gordon]

There must have been many gay Scouts, but the fact that in the story one particular scoutmaster gave his blessing to a gay relationship emphatically didn't reflect the official policy of the day. I'm sure the best response that could ordinarily be expected then would have been "don't ask, don't tell."

I can say that when my scout master found out that I was gay in 1962 he suggested I transferred to a different troop, which he said was more accommodating to our kind. It was, the scout master was gay but made sure nothing went on, but was prepared to answer questions and provided a useful shoulder to cry on at times.

[Merkin]

For a glimpse of what Londoners went through during the height of the Blitz you may want to have a look at Fires Were Started, Humphrey Jennings brilliant documentary: http://ffilms.org/fires-were-started-1943/

From a review by Jack Ellis: 'Fires Were Started was one of the semi-documentary features produced in Britain during World War II by both the government Crown Film Unit and the commercial studios following the success of such prototypes as Target for Tonight (1941) and In Which We Serve (1942). This film combined the actuality of documentary (a recreated or composite and representative event portrayed by people who had actually been involved in such an event) with the narrative line and dramatic heighting of fiction.

Fires Were Started is about the work of the Auxiliary Fire Service during the dreadful German fire-bomb raids on London. It follows a new recruit through a 24-hour shift with one unit. During the day the men train and perform menial chores. Following dinner they briefly relax and their camaraderie and understated humor become fully evident. As the raid begins, they proceed to their perilous and exhausting work, on this occasion putting out a fire raging near a munitions ship docked along the Thames. Though one of their number falls from a burning building to his death, the fire is finally extinguished. The film ends with the burial of the dead fireman intercut with the munitions ship moving out to sea.'

[Mihangel]

Thanks, Merkin. A fine film indeed. One of the pictures in the story is a still from it. Some others are taken from Shunter Black's Night Off, a contemporary but heavily fictionalised account of the saving of a burning train of explosives by (in reality) a Scout, which lies behind the episode on Bishopsgate goods yard in the story:

There are many films about the blitz; but one quite recent docudrama I would commend is The Blitz: London's Longest Night:

[Paul Wren]

I nearly missed this story, till Nigel Gordon sent me a message saying that I should read it. Glad I did, it is one of the best novels I have read on AD and gives a real insight into conditions in London under the Blitz. Congratulations Mihangel for a great piece of work.

[Chris James]

One of the things I enjoy about this site is that a good story can spawn such interest in historical subjects. Credit Mihangel for providing the framework around all the links and videos posted in this thread.

While most of the stories on AD are inclusive of the generations who read them, The Finest Hour is an honest view of young boys pushed to the brink of manhood by the harsh realities of war. We may write about the heroic deeds of our characters but this drawn from real life story is an inspiration.

Set in a period of English history where homosexuals were persecuted and perceived as less than manly this whole short saga puts the lie to such thinking. In modern times we look back at the life of Alan Turing and see the blind ignorance of English society towards the homosexuals in their midst. It was the worst case of bullying an individual by attacking personal freedom with laws that enshrined public ignorance.

Mihangel's young characters have that everyman feel about them as they should. Untold numbers of heroic deeds occurred during that time of national crisis, everyone pitched in, and yet it took years for English society to change the laws regarding homosexuality. Humanity may never see an end to war but it may see an end to homosexual persecution. Unfortunately not in my lifetime as there is still too much ignorance.

[Nigel Gordon]

Set in a period of English history where homosexuals were persecuted and perceived as less than manly this whole short saga puts the lie to such thinking. In modern times we look back at the life of Alan Turing and see the blind ignorance of English society towards the homosexuals in their midst. It was the worst case of bullying an individual by attacking personal freedom with laws that enshrined public ignorance.

I am not sure that homosexuals were particularly persecuted during this period. I was involved in a oral history project for the homosexual community in London some years ago and the impression I got talking to many older gays was that unless you were caught doing something like soliciting in a public toilet the authorities generally turned a fairly blind eye to things, at least in London. One chap I interviewed told me that a local beat cop called in at an East End pub that was a known haunt for gays and was a place where those on leave could pick up a rent boy for the night, to tell them that they were going to be raided later that night as a complaint of 'immoral activities' had been made. It was also a fairly common practice for people to be advised to get the night train to Calais so as to avoid arrest. One woman who I knew told how the police would stand on the doorstep of her boarding house stating in a very loud voice that they had a warrant to search, in order to allow her tenants' guests to leave by the back door.

The persecution really arose during the post-war years, especially after 1951 and the Burgess and Maclean affair. It is quite clear from the documentation that the authorities were fully aware of Turing's homosexuality right through the war and had no problems with it. It is only in the post war period that they start to see it as a problem. After 1951 there is an increasing clamp down on homosexuals but it is not till the late 1950s early 1960 that an all out persecution starts - it seems that this was very much a reaction against the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (as it was to become) pressure to get the law changed.

In the late 1960s I was for a time secretary of a branch of CHE in London and was aware that I was being followed by Special Branch. In one incident a man I had been having a lunch meeting with entered the public toilets on his way to the underground station and was approached by younger man apparently offering a sexual encounter. The younger man, who turned out to be a DC with Special Branch, was rather surprised to find himself being arrested by his target, who was a Chief Superintendent for a County Police Force.

During the interwar years and the period of the 2nd world war the general attitude was so long as homosexual activities were not openly visible they should be left well alone. Something of the feel of homosexual society during the war years can be found in Mary Renault's book "The Charioteer", a book which along with the film "The Victim" did more for the cause of homosexual rights than all the campaigning that was going on.

[Merkin]

Something of the feel of homosexual society during the war years can be found in Mary Renault's book "The Charioteer", a book which along with the film "The Victim" did more for the cause of homosexual rights than all the campaigning that was going on.

Nigel, I am so glad you mentioned The Charioteer and Mary Renault, a writer who meant so much to me during my formative years. This book is perhaps not as stirring as her Hellenic novels but it is one which, in spite of its datedness, I still regard as important to us. Here is a link I've found to a very insightful review not only of the book but also of the period we have been discussing here. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/03/the-charioteer-mary-renault-review