Ebury Press - Keep calm and carry on: good advice for hard times

Keep Calm and Carry On. The British have never been terribly good at the more touchy-feely aspects of self-help and inspirationthe kind peddled so effectively in the United States for decades and now beloved in the rest of the modern world. When the British have been stuck in a spot of bother in the past, such as the odd world war, they have tended to resort to more formal and restrained modes of address-pull yourself together, stiff upper lip and all that, old man. This is the very world that spawned Keep Calm and Carry On.

It was one of three posters produced by the British governments Ministry of Information on the eve of war in 1939. The other two were Freedom Is in Peril and Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory. Simple reassuring instructions, each topped with the commanding seal of King George VIs crown. Two and a half million copies of the Keep Calm and Carry On sheets were printed, but they would be distributed only in the imminent threat of a German invasion. Thankfully they never saw the light of day and were almost all pulped. So that might have been that, if one of the few remaining posters hadnt been discovered in a dusty box of old books bought at auction by British bookseller Stuart Manley.

Though they didnt initially know what the poster was, Mr. Manley and his wife liked it so much they framed it and hung it in their bookshop. They werent the only ones who found its stark, simple reassurance engaging. In fact, they had so many inquiries about it from customers that in the end they decided to have some copies printed. It seemed that in the seventy years since its first appearance, its very British soothing strength hadnt lost any of its appeal. The bookshop has gone on to sell tens of thousands of the poster, not to mention mugs, T-shirts, and tea towels, with customers including everyone from Top Gear presenters to Buckingham Palace and Downing Street.

Its message, it seemed, was just as effective a tonic for those laboring under modern anxieties as for those who endured the Blitz. But it wasnt until the uncharted waters of the economic downturn began to rise that the mantra really came into its own. Since the autumn of 2008 it has quite literally become the pin-up of our current predicament, with even the BBC posing the question: Is this the greatest motivational poster ever? So what you hold in your hand is the book of the postera modest attempt at inspiration for hard times, a restorative mixture of advice, entertainment, and inspiration to help you through. In an age not just of recession but also of information overload, you need a source of wisdom that doesnt hang about or mince its words, so these quotes have been chosen not only for their ability to echo the universal good sense of the original poster but also to echo the virtue of its brevity. Drawing on over two millennia of common sense from home and abroad, from Cicero to Churchill, Keep Calm and Carry On attempts to put its finger on the mess we are in and, moving forward from that sorry mess, what can make life truly worthwhile. Enjoyand pass on the good cheer.

With thanks to Barter Books
Home of the original WWII poster
www.barterbooks.co.uk

WHAT WE ANTICIPATE SELDOM OCCURS; WHAT WE LEAST EXPECT GENERALLY HAPPENS. Benjamin Disraeli CALAMITY n. A MORE THAN COMMONLY PLAIN AND UNMISTAKABLE REMINDER THAT THE AFFAIRS OF THIS LIFE ARE NOT OF OUR OWN ORDERING. Ambrose Bierce IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HEAD WHEN ALL ABOUT YOU ARE LOSING THEIRS, ITS JUST POSSIBLE YOU HAVENT GRASPED THE SITUATION. Jean Kerr IT ISNT SO MUCH THAT HARD TIMES ARE COMING; THE CHANGE OBSERVED IS MOSTLY SOFT TIMES GOING. Groucho Marx HE WHO THINKS HE IS RAISING A MOUND MAY ONLY IN REALITY BE DIGGING A PIT. John Clapham ITS A RECESSION WHEN YOUR NEIGHBOR LOSES HIS JOB; ITS A DEPRESSION WHEN YOU LOSE YOURS. Harry S. Harry S.

Truman BLESSED ARE THE YOUNG, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE NATIONAL DEBT. Herbert Hoover THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH, BUT NOT ITS MINERAL RIGHTS. J. Paul Getty

AN ECONOMIST IS AN EXPERT WHO WILL KNOW TOMORROW WHY THE THINGS HE PREDICTED YESTERDAY DIDNT HAPPEN TODAY. Laurence J. George Bernard Shaw THE ONLY FUNCTION OF ECONOMIC FORECASTING IS TO MAKE ASTROLOGY LOOK RESPECTABLE.