A look at childhood during WW2 from the rationing to the gas mask.
A Talk with Angela Brown from Pegasus WW2 Reenactment.
Join Angela as she takes us though an engaging journey of what it would have been like to grow up during a period of shortages and upheaval (and no sweets!).
On December 22, 1940, the British Ministry of Agriculture released a statement urging people to eat carrots. Britain was struggling with food shortages and carrots were cheap and plentiful. This led government agencies to tout them as having eye-strengthening powers. Posters began to appear with Dr Carrot and Britain’s Ministry of Food published recipes such as carrot fudge and carrot croquettes, while proclaiming the vegetable could help people “see better in the blackout.”
Portraying carrots as a night vision-enhancing superfood had another benefit—hiding a secretive English radar technology from the Nazis. To counter act Germany’s night-time bombing raids, the Royal Air Force pioneered the Airborne Interception (AI) radar. Britain already had a land-based system of radar towers along the coast. But the AI radar could be mounted to planes and detect German bombers from the air.
To keep this new development secret, “night fighters” were publicised as having night vision spectacular enough to spot enemy planes in the dark. Officials began telling reporters this ability was supplemented by a carrot-rich diet.
Object of the Month
The Object of the Month lunchtime talks take place on the second Wednesday of every month and highlight different objects from our fine art and social history collections.
Join us as we discover the hidden histories of items across our collections, from painting, print and sculpture to craft, costume and ceramics. The programme is delivered by Museum and Gallery staff as well as a wide range of outside expert speakers.
Object of the Month talks are free. Donations to The Atkinson Development Trust are welcomed.
Our Collections
You can find out more about The Atkinson’s collections here.
The Atkinson has almost three thousand works of art dating from the 17th to the 21st centuries. We also hold collections relating to the history of Sefton Borough as well as the Goodison Egyptology Collection. You can purchase selected print reproductions from our fine art collection via the Art UK Shop.
