When the first American servicemen arrived in England in March 1942, the indigenous population greeted their presence with mixed feelings. A certain level of resentment of these newcomers was harboured by the English and expressed by many in the in the well-worn phase of the time 'over-paid, over-sexed and over here'. But without the presence of American servicemen in Britain and its huge military and industrial muscle, the war with Germany would probably have been lost. U...

Richard Brown kept a personal diary throughout the whole of the Second World War. He used it to record the course of the conflict as he perceived it, gleaned from the newspapers, the wireless and hearsay. As well as describing the development of the war, Brown captured a vivid image of life in wartime Britain, with rationing, blackout restrictions, interrupted sleep, the prospect of evacuation and the enormous burden placed on civilians coping with a full-time job as well ...

The Second World War widows were the ' forgotten women', largely ignored by the government and the majority of the population. The men who died in the service of their country were rightly honoured, but the widows and orphans they left behind were soon forgotten. During the war and afterwards in post-war austerity Britain their lives were particularly bleak. The meagre pensions they were given were taxed at the highest rate and gave them barely enough to keep body...