POPULAR NEWSPAPERS DURING WORLD WAR II

Part 4: 1942-1943 (The Daily Express, the Daily Mirror, the News of the World, The People & the Sunday Express)

Popular newspapers were one of the primary means through which ordinary people in Britain received their news about the war.  They now provide an excellent and immediate source for students and scholars alike, describing the progress of the war and its impact on the home front.  The papers provide:

• Hundreds of thousands of photographs and maps - making the war more intelligible and reducing it to a human scale. 
• Detailed accounts of the latest developments whether on the home front or the battlefield.  The North African desert campaign is particularly well documented, including the Battle of El Alamein, reports of which were used to raise morale among the war weary in Britain.
• Insightful articles by leading writers and politicians, such as Robert Menzies writing on the colonial dimensions of war in the Daily Express and Bert Aza, agent to Gracie Fields, offering his music-hall reminiscences in the News of the World.
• Masses of material for the study of popular culture, ranging from film and theatre reviews to regular football and cricket reports.

Part 4 covers the period 1942-1943, which may be said to be the turning point of the war.  Initial disasters such as the fall of Singapore and the German capture of Tobruk, were followed by German retreat at Stalingrad and the surrender of Italy.