British Attitudes (inter war years) Flashcards
When was the British Empire exhibition at Wembley Park
1924
What does the fun-fair at the Wembley empire exhibition suggest about attitudes to empire at the time
the fact they had to put in a funfair could suggest that people didn’t actually care about empire- more just a day out with the family then wanting to know about empire
What does the Empire Christmas Pudding suggest about government attitudes to empire
saw empire as a way to recover economically- wanted to promote self sufficiency
When was the Empire Marketing Board set up
1926
What was the purpose of the Empire Marketing Board
promoted the consumption in Britain of items produced in Empire through posters and advertising campaigns
Why did the Empire Marketing Board become more active in the 1930s
following the great depression- international trade declined drastically and the Empire became even more important to the British economy
How much did the nationwide series of public lectures cost the Board and the British taxpayer in 1929
£10,500
How many lectures about empire were given in 1929 and how many people went to the lectures
2,400 lectures given to around 500,000 people
What topics were discussed during the nationwide public lecture series
‘The British Empire and What it Means to You’
What does the nationwide lecture series tell us about British attitudes to empire
Maybe that not enough people were interested in the empire- government had to spend money to give lectures across the country- wouldn’t have to if there was great support for the Empire
How many copies of the Empire Marketing Board’s Calendar of the Fruits and Vegetables of Empire were distributed
180,000 in 1929
How many Empire Marketing Board pamphleys had been issued by June 1933
10 million
How much did the National and local newspapers cost the government
£364,280
When did the buy British campaign start
Autumn 1931
What were the Empire Shopping Weeks
for a week retailers in different towns around the country were persuaded to plaster their shop windows with adverts for Empire products and to press Empire goods on their customers- prizes were awarded for the best displays
How many Empire Shopping Weeks were sponsored in different towns in 1930
200 Empire Shopping Weeks in 65 towns
How much did the Empire Shopping Weeks cost the Empire Marketing Board in total
£277,771
What did the brief bulletins broadcast weekly to housewives
empire produce in season
recipes emphasising Empire ingredients
How many listeners of the weekly bulletins wrote in for copies of recipes in 1929
20,000
When did the British documentary film movement return to Britain
Jan 1927
What does the large amount of money spent by the Empire Marketing Board tell us about attitudes to Empire
Shows that Empire was very important to the British government as a means of economic stability post WW1 and great depression
Also shows that the general British public were less concerned with the Empire- had to spend all this money promoting it
How much did expenditure on advertising increase by between 1920 and 1928
increased from £31 million in 1920 to £57 million in 1928
What was on display at the Wembley Exhibition
re-enactments of WW1 encounters and see imperial fauna and flora, exotic animals and plants
How much was admission to the Wembley Exhibition
1 shilling per adult and 9 pence for children
How many people visited the Wembley Exhibition in total
27,403,267- over half the British public
How much in total did the Wembley Exhibition cost
£11 million
How did the BBC promote a one sided view of Empire
broadcatsed programmes such as readings of Kipling’s poetry and performances Edward Elgar’s marches and ensured critical perspectives never got airtime
When was the Empire Film Unit set up
1930
What type of films did the Empire Film Unit create
produced hundreds of documentary films that sought to inform viewers about the empire and persuade them of tis value to their lives
What were some of the most popular commercial films about imperial adventure called
She (1925)
The Four Feathers (1939)
Sanders of the River (1935)
Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
What did the British Board of Film Censors do
ensured that the public did not see films that portrayed the British in a negative light, diminished the dignity of whites or blur the boundaries between the races (wanted to maintain racial differences
What was the nature of the 1925 Special Restriction Order
gave the state the power to expel lascars (non white sailors) from British shores
Why did the stage production of Othello cause outcry
the black actor (Paul Robeson) kissed his white co-star (Peggy Ashcroft)
Who wrote Passage to India
E M Forsters
Passage to India- why was it influential
one of the most influential novels written about the empire as he wrote it as a half insider because he had been a provate secretary to the Maharajah of Dewas State Senior
What a Passage to India about
human nature playing itself against an imperial background between people of different origins thrown together by the imperial chance
British technique by ‘The Club’ in the novel- ugly system based upon racial awareness and arrogance but still undeniably effective in sustaining the brazen bluff that lay at the heart of empire
one of the main characters said- ‘we’re not pleasant in India, we’ve something more important to do’
not an ideological novel BUT still depicts Indians as people who couldn’t look after themselves HOWEVER criticised the unbridgeable gulfs created by Amritsar
What was Four Feathers about
thrilling justification of imperial attitudes
