Once Upon A Wartime

On the way into Imperial War Museum North

It's a bit after the fact now, but I'd like to say what a fabulous exhibition Once Upon A Wartime was at the Imperial War Museum North at Salford Quays.


A fabulous exhibition

 It's been on since February and finished on September 2, so I'm a bit late to the party. I took my family on the penultimate day and we were all completely swept up by it all.

It was an exhibition about war as explored by children's literature, using five different books to examine a different face of the subject.

Different rooms looked at a book at a time, with recreations of scenes, complemented by personal effects of the associated writers.

I'd read four of the five books - Michael Morpurgo's War Horse, Nina Bawden's Carrie's War, Robert Westall's The Machine Gunners and Ian Serraillier's The Silver Sword, but was not familiar with the final book, Bernard Ashley's Little Soldier.



Not a great picture - the original
handwritten opening of Michael Morpurgo's
War Horse and first page of the typescript

 The show covered the First World War (War Horse), Second World War (Carrie's War, The Machine Gunners and The Silver Sword)  and a fictional African war of the 1990s (Little Soldier). The themes represented were 'loyalty', 'separation', 'excitement', 'survival' and 'identity'.

Fabulous to be able to see first-hand the original manuscript pages of the opening to War Horse, notes scrawled by Serraillier on the backs of envelopes, Ashley's chapter notes and a paperweight belonging to Bawden.

There was the original painting of a horse called Topthorn that inspired Morpurgo to create the character of the same name which is Joey's closest friend in War Horse.



School exercise book in which Westall wrote The Machine Gunners

 Of particular interest to me was the school exercise book in which Westall wrote The Machine Gunners for his son, Christopher. Westall wrote on the inside cover '£1 reward for anyone returning this book to Westall, 20, Winnington Lane, Northwich'. Also fascinating to see his typewriter and his first Carnegie Medal, for The Machine Gunners.

Coincidentally, the day before our visit I'd spent the day in Northwich with work and took a picture of 20 Winnington Lane, the house where Westall wrote The Machine Gunners. (Surely worthy of a plaque, eh?)



Robert Westall's typewriter with picture on top of him and
a cat at home in Lymm, Cheshire

 What was particularly great about the exhibition was that children could really get involved. For The Machine Gunners, they'd recreated an Anderson shelter and decked it out as Chas and his pals did in the book. My daughter and son loved crawling through a tunnel to get to the shelter.

Once Upon A Wartime was on at the Imperial War Museum in London in 2011 prior to its relocation to Salford. Not sure that it's going on anywhere else now, which is a pity.

If you are passing, it's definitely worth popping into the Imperial War Museum North - they have an excellent shop stocked with all the children's books from the exhibition.

Robert Westall's first Carnegie Medal, for The Machine Gunners, 1975



The original painting of Topthorn, which usually hangs in Michael Morpurgo's kitchen



Nina Bawden's teddy bear

20 Winnington Lane, Northwich, the house where Robert Westall wrote The Machine Gunners

Michael Morpurgo in Buxton... with Joanna Lumley



Michael Morpurgo, centre in red shirt and sun hat, Joanna Lumley, right in floral outfit

I had the pleasure of seeing Michael Morpurgo at the Buxton Opera House on Monday morning.

He appeared as part of the Buxton Literature Festival and was joined on stage by Joanna Lumley, who asked Michael about his life and work while promoting a new biography of the author, War Child to War Horse, which features seven new stories - or 'babies' as he put it - specially written for it.

It was a charming event - Michael truly is a great storyteller, not just on the page, but in person too. The theatre - a beautiful piece of architecture by Frank Matcham - was absolutely jammed with Morpurgo fans. And every one sat in rapt silence, hanging on his every word.

The highlights:

Michael and his wife were able to set up their inspirational Farms for City Children charity thanks to a large fortune left by Claire Morpurgo's father, Allen Lane... the founder of Penguin Books.

Michael these days writes in longhand, on his bed, his knees drawn up in front of him - inspired by his hero Robert Louis Stevenson. Michael suffers from repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Michael set up the post of the Children's Laureate with the help of his friend and Devon neighbour, Ted Hughes - 'an imposing man', who could open doors to make things happen for the FfCC charity thanks to his reputation as a poetry great of the 20th century.

Steven Spielberg did a fine job with his film version of War Horse, in Michael's opinion - although the Devon farming scenes were a tad Hollywood and not earthy enough.

Michael is good friends with Joanna Lumley, a patron of Farms for City Children, who happens to be married to Stephen Barlow... artistic director of the Buxton Festival until 2014.

Both Michael and Joanna met fans as they bought books outside the opera house in the glorious sunshine. Michael was unable to sign books due to his RSI, but pre-signed book plates were handed out to those who purchased tomes. Sadly, I didn't have time to join the long queue, as I had to get to work. But I did take a few photos (badly) before I left.