Dan would love this: Churchill War Rooms

Since Dan would be coming out to London for a few days at the semester's end, I kept my eyes open for spots he might enjoy visiting...a man who is hard to please when it comes to vacations (not so much when it comes to foot rubs.) In early March, I and my colleague Danielle visited the Churchill War Rooms just off Parliament Square. My hubby loves history stories, hence one of his favorite bands being Sabaton, and I knew right away he would love this. 

During WWII, Winston Churchill and his war cabinet hunkered down in an underground complex called the Cabinet War Rooms. It was supposed to be protected from the Blitz by a 5-meter thick layer of concrete called the "slab." When the war ended, they left the giant bunker just the way it was, and everything that remained was preserved and kept in that space until today. The beds, the phones, the maps...it's all there. They added some mannequins and a quite comprehensive museum area devoted to Churchill which covers the late Prime Minister's life from birth to death. 

The green phone you see here is a "scrambler" which allowed them to communicate without anyone listening in.

Of course my favorite part was the preserved rooms themselves. Now I realize not everyone feels the same, but I LOVE recreated environments. As a storyteller and lover of stories, I love museum set pieces that want to immerse you in an actual space that existed in the past. London museums can be full of these (as you'll see in upcoming posts) and that's why they rule. These spaces transported you directly into the tension of the time, and like the Sherlock Museum, it contained all the small items that would have been utilized - including the multi-colored pins used on the world maps to show where attacks were occurring in Europe. Unlock Sherlock, though, these were the genuine articles, because these were real people.

This is Clementine Churchill's room...can you tell?

This is the war room.

The typing pool... all the lights and clocks are the ones from the actual time - the typewriters too.

Here is the Map Room.

There is a cost to visiting the War Rooms, but if you are into history it's worth it. You get a free audio tour you can listen to at your own pace, and this contains interview material with people such as the ladies in the typing pool who were actually there working under Churchill. The museum is cool too, if just for that glimpse of the giant red velvet jumper Churchill liked to wear. The man knew how to be comfortable I guess, though it does sound like it sucked to work for him.

This is where the chiefs of staff met.

Here is the broadcast room.

Below see the kitchen...which is always my favorite thing to see in these recreations...not sure why. Maybe it is because the kitchen holds fascination for me as a domestic space which plays an important role in human life (women's especially) but there isn't much in the way of official history devoted to it. Anyway...many of the pots were the original, and everything was shown as it was when Churchill was down there smoking cigars and eating Beef Wellington. They had a dining room, sure enough, and apparently ate pretty well for living in a dark ant farm under five meters of concrete.

Note for teachers: As I said, there is a cost involved, but if you are teaching history of WWII or British history, I'd say this place is a  must. I especially appreciated the way it captured the feeling of the time, and in particular the notion of living with the reality of war. In some ways, I can see potential for creative writers, especially with regard to capturing setting. Architectural design and engineering could also get something out of this...the original construction is pretty thought provoking.

If I did assign something for Creative Writing for this, it would be to write a scene taking place in one of these rooms, in which they are to establish the setting economically (place us in that space as the museum tried to do.)