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The Guardian
5 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
World peace at last: Japan surrenders – archive, August 1945
15 August 1945 Japan has surrendered, unconditionally. This was announced in London, Washington, Moscow, and Chungking at midnight last night. Broadcasting the news at that hour Mr Attlee said: Japan has today surrendered. The last of our enemies is laid reading. 15 August 1945 For half an hour after Mr Attlee's midnight announcement of the Japanese surrender the centre of Manchester remained quiet. The night-time 'population' of servicemen and girls and a few late travellers had not yet heard the news. The first indication of anything unusual was a flood of calls to the Manchester Guardian office asking if the news was really official at last. In the meantime the news spread and groups of singing and cheering girls and servicemen began to appear on the streets. A motorcar went up Cross Street with people sitting on the roof, shouting, and waving a large union jack. The one motorcar was joined by others and crowds of people, middle-aged and children as well as young people, began to converge on Albert Square. Many of the people who had been in bed or were about to go to bed when they heard the news dressed and came down to town. By a quarter to one Albert Square, which had been deserted 40 minutes before, was a solid mass of people, filling the square, standing on the air raid shelters, and sitting on the pedestals of the statues. A large section of the crowd, after unsuccessfully chanting 'We want the mayor' for some time had their attention diverted by a soldier who climbed to the top of the large flagstaff in front of the town hall entrance and tied a union jack to the top. This feat was greeted with loud cheering, while a sailor proceeded to add a second flag, to a chorus of 'All the nice girls love a sailor.' In night attireThe crowd was finding other ways to amuse itself and one party, including a girl still dressed in her pyjamas, was vigorously dancing and singing Knees up Mother Brown. A Jeep, hidden beneath a mass of Americans, girls and children, drove back and forth through the Square, while fireworks were exploding continuously. There seemed to be little happening in Piccadilly, but here one met crowds of singing people, arm in arm, making their way to the town hall. Midnight scenes in LondonThe news of the Japanese surrender was received in the Thames-side districts by a medley of noise from ships' sirens. Many people were awakened by continuous blasts and firework explosions. Across the Thames in Kent bonfires were blazing in a manner reminiscent of the nights of the blitz. Sleep took wings and fled with the last clouds of war from the London suburbs. Lights blazed out long after midnight. An hour after the premier's announcement the air was still echoing with the crack of fireworks. Hoots from river tugs sent the victory sign ringing out in reply to the 'dot-dot-dot–dash' of the train whistles. Telephone operators were 'flooded' with calls as soon as Mr Attlee had finished speaking. One trunk operator said: 'We were soon working at midday pitch with the usual shortage of staff.' About 30 or 40 American soldiers in the main hall of the American Rainbow Club in the West End of London listened to a midnight announcement by President Truman from Washington. They greeted it with cheers. 'They have been celebrating for days,' said an American observer, 'and most of them are pretty tired.' Outside crowds swayed in noisy welcome of the midnight declaration. An enormous bonfire on Carfax blocked all through traffic from north, south, east, and west at Oxford. Thousands of people flocked the streets singing and dancing, and fireworks were exploding everywhere. Around the city from the many aerodromes multicoloured flares lit up the countryside for miles. 15 August 1945 Wailing 'Forgive us, O Emperor, our efforts are not enough,' a weeping crowd of Japanese bowed to the ground before the Imperial Palace in Tokyo yesterday after being told that an Imperial decision had been reached. A report of the scene broadcast by the Japanese news agency to its offices in the Far East was picked up in New York and quoted by Reuter. Without explaining what the Imperial decision was, the agency broke off its transmission in the middle of a sentence and asked editors to hold the report. The Emperor's message was addressed to the people gathered before the Niju-Bashi – the double bridge leading to the parade ground in front of the Palace, the nearest point to the Palace which the public is allowed to approach and where the people are accustomed to gather in times of crisis and celebration. 16 August 1945 Americans continued today to celebrate the victory over Japan with undiminished vigour. The rejoicing, which began last night at seven o'clock when President Truman announced the Japanese acceptance of the Allied terms, continued all night and is still going on. President Truman declared today and tomorrow to be holidays for all employees of the federal government. Business houses throughout the nation closed today and probably many of them will do the same tomorrow. New York's Times Square, the traditional scene of great celebrations, was packed all night last night by a great crowd. They cheered, sang, and waved flags, and pretty girls were kissed by complete strangers and took it good-naturedly. Throughout the city motorcars roared through the streets with horns sounding and the occupants shouting, while tons of torn paper floated down from skyscraper windows in spite of preliminary pleas by officials that paper is still scarce and should not be wasted. The demonstrations were much larger than when Germany capitulated. In Washington huge crowds gathered before the White House. Mr Truman and his wife appeared in the portico and greeted the throng. 16 August 1945 While General MacArthur is issuing orders to the Japanese to fly to Manila to sign the surrender and is preparing to take command of the forces that will shortly land in Japan, Tokyo journalists and broadcasters are declaring that Japan only lost the war because of the Allied superiority in material and civil and scientific power. Japanese spokesmen all blame the Allies for their methods, and one paper says the 'entire nation is burning with righteous indignation over the enemy's outrages.' The Emperor denied that in starting the war the Japanese had any aggressive ideas. The Japanese envoys should, on General MacArthur's orders, leave for Manila this morning to sign the surrender and receive instruction. It is thought that the signing ceremony may not take place till next week. Men of the United States Third Fleet cheered the end of the war yesterday and then had to man their guns to shoot down about 16 Japanese planes which were approaching the American ships after the acceptance of the surrender terms. The British fleet shot down five. Admiral Halsey ordered that this should be done in a 'friendly way.'See also Editorial: problems of peace 17 August 1945 The floodlit spectacle of London is naturally much grander time than on the VE nights. From this building you see great illuminated flags waving and bright tops of towers that are lost in the darkness, and everywhere you look – north, south, east, and west – resplendent buildings rise like visions of the night. St Paul's, that we thought so often we were seeing for the last time, rises over the city, transfigured, something 'not made by hands.' By some technique of floodlighting the peristyle and dome are like precious crystals and the cross high over the lantern gleams like pure gold. How one remembers St Paul's glowing against the darkness with another glow, red and fiery, when Ludgate Hill was on fire and Paternoster Row was flaming. In the west the Abbey towers shine out and the Westminster clock tower was like a great ornament. Above it was the great bright flag on Victoria Tower.
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Homefires burning: how a cache of passionate love letters shows the second world war on two fronts
During a house move, a cardboard box belonging to my husband Matthew's grandparents came to light. Inside we found thousands of love letters sent between the Manchester Guardian journalist Gerard Fay and his wife Alice, during the second world war. They were jumbled up and undated, and reading them all seemed a daunting task, so the box was shelved. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Matthew is an academic writing a book about an earlier generation of Fays, Frank and Willie, the actors who co-founded Dublin's Abbey theatre with WB Yeats. Frank was Gerard's father, so when lockdown happened we decided to tackle the correspondence, to see if there was any useful information for Matthew's book. We discovered so much more. Called up to fight in 1940 at the age of 26, Gerard Fay joined the army as an ordinary soldier while his wife Alice – or 'Loll', short for Lollipop – remained in the north of England. Matthew and I used datable events, both domestic and global, to order the letters, and a story began to unfold of Gerard's rise through the ranks, his service on D-Day and subsequent wounding, and Loll's life on the home front. Loll, a former teacher, was evacuated from Manchester and went to live with various relatives in cramped conditions with their toddler Stephen and, later, baby Elizabeth. Rain poured through the ceilings and there were mice in the drawers. Making nutritious meals during rationing was a constant challenge and she worried about measles, whooping cough and her son's education. Stephen dirtied his pants and lost clogs and caps. But Loll was a make-do-and-mend expert and avid knitter. She loved fashion and hoped for enough clothing coupons to buy a non-utility suit for a wartime wedding. Alongside his basic training, which took place all over the UK, Gerard found himself representing soldiers at courts martial, censoring letters, giving lectures on current affairs to the troops, and even writing a precis of the Beveridge report. He met Polish, Canadian and American soldiers and there were endless schemes where he ran for miles, fell off motorbikes, slept under hedges and wished he had a leather waistcoat to keep him dry. He laughed at the absurdities of army life and continued to write for the Guardian under the pseudonym 'Infantryman'. What is most striking is the modern quality of their relationship. Loll wrote openly about her depression, they quarrelled by letter, they discussed their sex life. They fantasised about what they would do when Gerard was home on leave, discussed the pros and cons of contraceptive methods, and worried that they had been careless and that baby number three was on the way. Throughout the four years they were apart, the couple nourished their relationship with lively debate of novels such as Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point, jokes about Gerard's passion for Ginger Rogers, accounts of trips to cafes, pubs, concerts, dances and 'the flicks', and gossip about family and friends. Gerard and Loll were bound by their social conscience too – they hoped for class equality after the war, and Loll pledged to write to her MP about the injustice of family allowance being paid to fathers not mothers. The intimate letters give valuable insight into what life was like for ordinary men and women during the war. Many wartime letters and diaries exist, but this dual correspondence is unusual as it reveals both sides of a family story. Matthew and I knew we had something special on our hands and began to publish the correspondence. Then a trip to the theatre took us in a new direction. Last June we caught Red Sky at Sunrise, the brilliant Laurie Lee production starring Anton Lesser and Charlie Hamblett, who appears in Netflix's Missing You. I immediately thought that a reading of our letters by two young actors, underscored by an onstage orchestra, would be a powerful way to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. I am delighted that this is now a reality. I had already set my heart on Charlie to portray Gerard and was so pleased when Daisy Waterstone, who plays Margo in ITV's The Durrells, took the role of Loll. The music, arranged and performed by Le Page Ensemble, will be both 1940s and classical. Dear Loll: A Wartime Marriage in Letters premieres at Wilton's Music Hall in London this month, and the plan is to take it to theatres and festivals around the UK. Matthew and I have written the script and the scene is set. We publish the next batch of letters (1941-42) this month, with a final edition (1943-44) in September. The words of the Fays bear witness to the consequences of conflict, not just in terms of the bloodshed but also in the dismantling of day-to-day life, and it is imperative that their story is told. Dear Loll: A Wartime Marriage in Letters is at Wilton's Music Hall, London, 30-31 May. Then touring
RTÉ News
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
LS Lowry painting bought for £10 sells for more than £800,000
A rare painting by LS Lowry originally bought for £10 has sold at auction for more than £800,000. The painting, Going To The Mill, was bought by literary editor of the Manchester Guardian, Arthur Wallace, for £10 in 1926 and has been in the same family ever since. Today, the artwork sold at auction at the Mall Galleries in central London for £805,200, including buyer's premium. Lowry, who was lauded for his portrayal of everyday industrial scenes in northwest England, painted the piece in 1925. Going To The Mill is marked on the back as being £30, but Lowry let Mr Wallace have it for £10. It is believed to be one of the earliest sales made by the Stretford-born painter. He also gifted him an additional work, The Manufacturing Town, which the family sold several years ago. The artwork, which has been in the Wallace family for the last century, was recently on long-term loan to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Simon Hucker, modern and contemporary art specialist and head of sale, Lyon And Turnbull auction house said: "We're absolutely delighted by the price achieved for this exceptional, early painting by Lowry, bought from him when he was a virtual unknown. "There are few artists who become a household name in Britain and Lowry definitely falls into this category." Mr Hucker added: "This is a painting shows that Lowry at his conceptual best, no naive painter of 'matchstick men', as the old pop song went. "Instead he is an artist of true dexterity who is making deliberate formal choices, abstracting the figure in order to express an idea about loneliness and isolation within the teeming city. "Going To The Mill is the epitome of a 1920s Lowry, the period when he becomes a unique voice in British art. "It is especially rare is for a painting such as this to have been in one collection for one year shy of a century and we are delighted to have played a small part in its history." In 2024 a Lowry painting titled Sunday Afternoon sold for almost £6.3 million (€5.5m) at auction.
The Independent
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
LS Lowry painting originally bought for £10 sells for more than £800,000
A rare painting by LS Lowry originally bought for £10 has sold at auction for more than £800,000. The painting, Going To The Mill, was bought by literary editor of the Manchester Guardian, Arthur Wallace, for £10 in 1926 and has been in the same family ever since. On Friday the artwork sold at auction at the Mall Galleries in central London for £805,200, including buyer's premium. Lowry, who was lauded for his portrayal of everyday industrial scenes in northwest England, painted the piece in 1925. Going To The Mill is marked on the back as being £30, but Lowry let Mr Wallace have it for £10. It is believed to be one of the earliest sales made by the Stretford-born painter. He also gifted him an additional work, The Manufacturing Town, which the family sold several years ago. The artwork, which has been in the Wallace family for the last century, was recently on long-term loan to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Simon Hucker, modern and contemporary art specialist and head of sale, Lyon And Turnbull auction house said: 'We're absolutely delighted by the price achieved for this exceptional, early painting by Lowry, bought from him when he was a virtual unknown. 'There are few artists who become a household name in Britain and Lowry definitely falls into this category.' Mr Hucker added: 'This is a painting shows that Lowry at his conceptual best, no naive painter of 'matchstick men', as the old pop song went. 'Instead he is an artist of true dexterity who is making deliberate formal choices, abstracting the figure in order to express an idea about loneliness and isolation within the teeming city. 'Going To The Mill is the epitome of a 1920s Lowry, the period when he becomes a unique voice in British art. 'It is especially rare is for a painting such as this to have been in one collection for one year shy of a century and we are delighted to have played a small part in its history.' In 2024 a Lowry painting titled Sunday Afternoon sold for almost £6.3 million at auction.
STV News
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- STV News
LS Lowry painting originally bought for £10 sells for more than £800,000
A rare painting by LS Lowry originally bought for £10 has sold at auction for more than £800,000. The painting, Going To The Mill, was bought by literary editor of the Manchester Guardian, Arthur Wallace, for £10 in 1926 and has been in the same family ever since. On Friday the artwork sold at auction at the Mall Galleries in central London for £805,200, including buyer's premium. Lowry, who was lauded for his portrayal of everyday industrial scenes in northwest England, painted the piece in 1925. Going To The Mill is marked on the back as being £30, but Lowry let Mr Wallace have it for £10. It is believed to be one of the earliest sales made by the Stretford-born painter. He also gifted him an additional work, The Manufacturing Town, which the family sold several years ago. The artwork, which has been in the Wallace family for the last century, was recently on long-term loan to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Simon Hucker, modern and contemporary art specialist and head of sale, Lyon And Turnbull auction house said: 'We're absolutely delighted by the price achieved for this exceptional, early painting by Lowry, bought from him when he was a virtual unknown. 'There are few artists who become a household name in Britain and Lowry definitely falls into this category.' Mr Hucker added: 'This is a painting shows that Lowry at his conceptual best, no naive painter of 'matchstick men', as the old pop song went. 'Instead he is an artist of true dexterity who is making deliberate formal choices, abstracting the figure in order to express an idea about loneliness and isolation within the teeming city. 'Going To The Mill is the epitome of a 1920s Lowry, the period when he becomes a unique voice in British art. 'It is especially rare is for a painting such as this to have been in one collection for one year shy of a century and we are delighted to have played a small part in its history.' In 2024 a Lowry painting titled Sunday Afternoon sold for almost £6.3m at auction. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
