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Podcast: Seriously...
Episode: The Phoney War
Description: Edward Stourton tells the story of the BBC in the âphoney warâ of 1939-1940 and the periodâs strange echoes of Covid-19 today. When war was declared in September 1939, everyone in Britain expected a catastrophic bombing campaign. Theatres and cinemas were closed and children were evacuated to the countryside. What followed instead was a hiatus when tensions remained high but the bombs did not fall. How does the experience of the Home Front at the start of the Second World War echo the Covid-19 crisis and what did it mean for the evolution of the BBC? The corporationâs initial...