Few Eggs and No Oranges, the diary of Vere Hodgson, recounts British life on the home front during the Second World War. It was first published in 1976 by Dennis Dobson [1] [2] [3] and again in 1999 by Persephone Books. [4] [5] Described by the author as "a diary showing how unimportant people in London and Birmingham lived through the war years", the published diaries begin on 25 June 1940, the morning after the first air raid on London.
Vere Hodgson was born in Birmingham in 1901. She read History at Birmingham University and went on to be a teacher. [6] In the early 1930s she helped to run a local charity in Notting Hill Gate. She kept a diary throughout her life and in 1976 edited her 1940-45 diary to create Few Eggs and No Oranges.
William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Hodgson used his experiences at sea to lend authentic detail to his short horror stories, many of which are set on the ocean, including his series of linked tales forming the "Sargasso Sea Stories". His novels, such as The House on the Borderland (1908) and The Night Land (1912), feature more cosmic themes, but several of his novels also focus on horrors associated with the sea. Early in his writing career Hodgson dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved renown as a bodybuilder. He died in World War I at age 40.
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term Blitzkrieg, the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
Angus Lindsay Ritchie Calder was a Scottish writer, historian, and poet. Initially studying English literature, he became increasingly interested in political history and wrote a landmark study on Britain during the Second World War in 1969 entitled The People's War. He subsequently wrote several other historical works but became increasingly interested in literature and poetry and worked primarily as a writer, though often holding a number of university teaching positions. A socialist, he was a prominent Scottish public intellectual during the 1970s and 1980s.
The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New Romantic movement was characterised by flamboyant, eccentric fashion inspired by fashion boutiques such as Kahn and Bell in Birmingham and PX in London. Early adherents of the movement were often referred to by the press by such names as Blitz Kids, New Dandies and Romantic Rebels.
Fay Weldon was an English author, essayist and playwright.
Frederick James Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton,, was an English businessman and politician who served as chairman of the Conservative Party from 1946 to 1955.
The Minister of Food Control (1916–1921) and the Minister of Food (1939–1958) were British government ministerial posts separated from that of the Minister of Agriculture. In the Great War the Ministry sponsored a network of canteens known as National Kitchens. In the Second World War a major task of the Ministry was to oversee rationing in the United Kingdom arising out of World War II. The Minister was assisted by a Parliamentary Secretary. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Food and Animal Welfare (2018–present) was appointed at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ensure the continued supply of sufficient food during the Brexit process.
Enid Algerine Bagnold, Lady Jones, was a British writer and playwright known for the 1935 story National Velvet.
V-weapons, known in original German as Vergeltungswaffen, were a particular set of long-range artillery weapons designed for strategic bombing during World War II, particularly strategic bombing and/or aerial bombing of cities. They were the V-1, a pulsejet-powered cruise missile; the V-2, a liquid-fueled ballistic missile ; and the V-3 cannon. Germany intended to use all of these weapons in a military campaign against Britain, though only the V-1 and V-2 were so used in a campaign conducted 1944–45. After the invasion of western Europe by the Allies, these weapons were also employed against targets on the mainland of Europe, mainly in France and Belgium. Strategic bombing with V-weapons killed approximately 18,000 people, mostly civilians. The cities of London, Antwerp and Liège were the main targets.
The Birmingham Blitz was the heavy bombing by the Nazi German Luftwaffe of the city of Birmingham and surrounding towns in central England, beginning on 9 August 1940 as a fraction of the greater Blitz, which was part of the Battle of Britain; and ending on 23 April 1943. Situated in the Midlands, Birmingham, the most populous British city outside London, was considered an important industrial and manufacturing location. Around 1,852 tons of bombs were dropped on Birmingham, making it the third most heavily bombed city in the United Kingdom in the Second World War, behind London and Liverpool.
Persephone Books is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. The catalogue includes fiction and non-fiction. Most books have a grey dustjacket and endpaper using a contemporaneous design, with a matching bookmark.
Arundel Gardens is a street and a communal garden square in Notting Hill, London, one of seven streets between Ladbroke Grove and Kensington Park Road of which five share in a communal garden between them. It was built in the 1860s, towards the later stages of the development of the Ladbroke Estate, until that decade part of the rural hinterland of London. Notable past residents of the street include psychologist Charles Samuel Myers, who coined the term shell shock, and the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Sir William Ramsay, discoverer of the noble gases.
The Rowley Gallery are picture frame makers and fine art dealers in London, England.
Highfield was a large house situated at 128 Selly Park Road in the Selly Park area of Birmingham, England. Built in the 1860s, it was bought in 1929 by Philip Sargant Florence and his wife Lella Secor Florence after Sargant Florence was appointed as a professor at the nearby University of Birmingham.
Georges de Mauduit, Vicomte de Mauduit, was a French pilot, engineer and author. He was the son of the Comte de Mauduit, Chief of Staff and a cavalry officer, and his great-grandfather General de Mauduit accompanied Napoleon to St Helena.
The United Kingdom home front during World War II covers the political, social and economic history during 1939–1945.
Hazel Iris Addis, née Wilson, was a British writer of over 20 novels from 1935 to 1953, under the pseudonyms Hazel Adair and A. J. Heritage. Under her real name, H. I. Addis, she also published works relating to Cub Scouts.
The Clapton Press is an independent publisher based in London E5, established in 2018.
Rosie Violet Nina Millicent Newman (1896–1988) was a British amateur director of documentary films. She is best known for Britain at War of 1946, colour reportage of World War II. From a wealthy background, she belonged to London society circles, and her connections facilitated her film work.
Winifred Vere Hodgson (1901-1979) kept a lifelong journal starting in her childhood. She is best known for the entries she wrote in the years of World War Twoentries which she edited in 1976 and published as, ‘Few Eggs and No Oranges: A Diary Showing How Unimportant People in London and Birmingham Lived through the War Years 1940-45’. Her detailed 600-page record of life on the home front, from the point of view of an average Londoner, was reprinted by Persephone Books in 1999 and is appreciated by social historians.