Churchill's Bunker: The Cabinet War Rooms and the Culture of Secrecy in Wartime London

Product Information

Kennedy, Maev (9 April 2003) The Guardian Restored underground apartments opened to public. Accessed 28 July 2009.

The war had barely ended when nostalgia for Britain’s finest hour occasioned an avalanche of requests to visit the bunker; only a favored minority was granted informal tours. The government ultimately set aside money to restore the complex, under the auspices of the Imperial War Museum. The Cabinet War Rooms opened to the public in 1984. Its success prompted the opening of the adjoining Churchill Museum [http://cwr.iwm.org.uk] in 2005. Visits made in 2011 to visitor attractions in membership with ALVA". Association of Leading Visitor Attractions . Retrieved 25 April 2012. This is Ray’s recollection of that afternoon – as related in the letter by his wife Dorothy: “Churchill greeted Ray cordially, calling him by his first name… They talked about the similarity in their last names… about the United States… and particularly about old British coins and stamps. Ray mentioned he collected [them] and Churchill was very interested. Churchill offered Ray a cigar to smoke. Ray said he’d smoke it later, so Churchill gave him another one to smoke later. Ray was offered a drink of brandy, but refused because he was on duty. Churchill then continued to drink his brandy that was on a table beside his chair.Ironically, while low-level staff worked there permanently, Churchill preferred meeting above ground. Even during the 1940–41 Blitz, leaders met in the bunker at night, when air raids were likely, but elsewhere during the day. Use by senior staff declined sharply in 1942 and 1943, peaking again in early 1944 during the “little Blitz” and later that year when V-1s and V-2s posed a risk. The other Hidden London tours which are restarting for the first time since March 2020 are of the disused stations and tunnels at Euston, Moorgate and Aldwych, all of which have their own unique character and histories.

a b c Finch, Cressida (Summer 2009). "A short history of the Cabinet War Rooms 1945-1984" (PDF). Despatches: The Magazine of the Friends of the Imperial War Museum. London: Imperial War Museum: 18–22 . Retrieved 25 April 2012. [ permanent dead link] Rooms 60 Right and 60A were used as a telephone switchboard and a typing pool respectively. Due to the rudimentary nature of photocopying equipment available at the time, up to 11 typists were stationed in the typing pool at any one time, typing out copies of meeting minutes by hand. [30] Abandonment and preservation [ edit ] With nearly two dozen history books to his credit, Holmes has no trouble delivering an opinionated, thoroughly entertaining account that follows the hyperactive Churchill, his family, servants, staff, advisors, cabinet and generals as they troop in and out of the bunker, various London command centers, country estates and world capitals while fighting World War II.Staff lived and worked down here, working shifts of up to 12 hours, often overnight, perhaps only surfacing for air in the upper world every ten to 14 days. Grimy baths and toilets are what remains of the washroom facilities, while soot obscures the patterned wallpaper in the executive sleeping quarters.

New Churchill War Rooms entrance will reference military hardware, Jacob Epstein and Henry Moore". culture24.org.uk. 25 May 2012 . Retrieved 19 June 2012. Hansard, 23 March 1989; 'Cabinet War Rooms: HC Deb 23 March 1989 vol 149 c780W' Hansard 1803-2005. Accessed 18 March 2009 While the better known Churchill War Rooms, a British government command center throughout the war, is open to the public as part of the Imperial War Museum, tours of Down Street are a much more infrequent delight. But while anyone can tour the War Rooms for themselves today, what they can’t do is go behind the glass to see the artifacts in the detail that Asbury shares in his book. On 21 October 1939, the first cabinet meeting took place there, under the then prime minister Neville Chamberlain. No one much liked having to meet underground, especially as no one seems to have stopped smoking when down there, but with the Phoney War likely soon to break out into a full-scale land conflict, everyone recognised the necessity of being prepared for the worst. Soon after Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, he made a special visit and announced: "This is the room from which I'll direct the war."Within a month, crews had cleared, reinforced, soundproofed and installed communications in several of what became the Cabinet War Rooms. By the war’s outbreak, dozens of rooms were functional, fitted with air conditioning, independent water and lighting, medical facilities and sleeping quarters. The Office of Works considered the arrangements temporary, and the budget for expansion was tight. Inhabitants paid the price. The rooms were chilly, damp and poorly ventilated. In an era when almost everyone smoked, tobacco fumes mingled with cooking odors and smells from the primitive toilets. Rose, Steve (1 June 2012). "Constructive criticism: the week in architecture". The Guardian . Retrieved 19 June 2012. Churchill's office-bedroom, open from 27 July 1940, [24] included BBC broadcasting equipment; Churchill made four wartime broadcasts from the Cabinet War Rooms, the first being on 11 September 1940. [25] Although the office room was also fitted out as a bedroom, Churchill rarely slept underground, [26] preferring to sleep at 10 Downing Street or the No.10 Annexe, a flat in the New Public Offices directly above the Cabinet War Rooms. [27] His daughter Mary Soames often slept in the bedroom allocated to Mrs Churchill. [28] The second and last War Cabinet meeting took place in 1941, where a review of the Australian war effort was presented by the Australian premier Robert Menzies. Churchill was not in attendance due to a bronchial cold, so instead the meeting was chaired by Clement Atlee, the Lord Privy Seal. As ultimate authority lay with the civilian government the Cabinet, or a smaller War Cabinet, would require close access to senior military figures. This implied accommodation close to the armed forces' Central War Room. [11] In May 1939 it was decided that the Cabinet would be housed within the Central War Room. [6] In August 1939, with war imminent and protected government facilities in the suburbs not yet ready, the War Rooms became operational on 27 August 1939, only days before the invasion of Poland on 1 September, and Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 3 September. [4] Wartime use [ edit ]