This slogan from 1939 symbolises British identity in 2025 . You can find it on T-shirts, mugs, postcards and posters.
The simple white words appeared on a red poster prepared for World War Two. But the poster wasn’t distributed. In 1939, the British government was prepared for a major war, and possibly an invasion. It didn’t want the population to panic. So the Ministry of Information created three posters.
The first two posters were distributed when war started on 3 September. Their themes were courage and defending freedom. But the message wasn’t clear. The posters weren’t popular and the third one was recycled. But a few copies survived.
In 2001, Stuart Manley bought a box of old books for his bookshop. In it, he found a copy of “Keep Calm and Carry On”. He liked it and put it on the wall in the shop. Customers wanted to buy copies, so he made some.
They became very popular and the slogan started appearing everywhere. Often, people created variations like “Keep Calm and Carry On Shopping” or “Stress Out and Call Your Mum”.
So British
So why is this slogan considered so “typically British”? The Brits have a reputation for not being very emotional. It is a good example of the way they imagine the population reacted to terrible bombing in WW2: they kept calm and carried on.
Copyright(s) :
Courtesy IWM