Keep Calm and Carry Yarn

We clearly have David Simpkin on the look out for images of subversion now (nothing new there then), so here’s another gem he’s found from “The Daily What“

The Evolution of an Internet Meme

See the full story re this Keep Calm and Carry On diagram, and find a high res version (thanks to David Simpkin of P&G Wells for bringing it to my attention). In case you’re wondering, an internet meme: “The term Internet meme is a phrase used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet, much like an esoteric inside joke.” (Wikipedia)

“At first I LOLed, and then I was like “huh.” How did we get here? How did this meme evolve from stoic World War II propaganda to hilarious Richard Dawkins jokes?

And thus, the phylogenetic tree of “KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” posters was born:”

Inside Out: The BBC

Today I’ve been talking to the team from ‘Inside Out, North East‘ re: a programme they are making about the Keep Calm and Carry On phenomenon. Every time someone contacts me about the story, I find it fascinating that it continues to roll on (even as we’re officially exiting the recession, I believe!), and I’m looking forward to a trip to the Imperial War Museum for some filming.

“Keep Calm and Carry On” in the #uksnow

Watching the havoc that has been wrought in the UK over a few inches of snow (although I’m not necessarily advocating spending huge amounts for the infrequent amount of time these things happen), I wondered if anyone had picked up “Keep Calm and Carry On” as a slogan, and the Mirror has:

“Keep Calm And Carry On” has been the slogan of the year for 2009. The old wartime slogan has been festooned on posters, mugs and greeting cards.

The Stereophonics even pinched it for an album title.

Pity that the nation’s news broadcasters seem to have lost that wartime nonchalance. “Panic!” they scream. “Panic on the icy streets of Basingstoke!” A sort of cross between Morrissey and Dad’s Army’s Corporal Jones.”

Read the full story, and see how I enjoyed taking 15 hours to get 4 miles in Dover before Christmas – we certainly Kept Calm and Carried On – and the local Policemen appreciated our calmness – and our chocolate biscuits and hot coffee even more! I believe Operation Stack is back in action today again around Ipswich!

Time Magazine

Great news, which hopefully will come to fruition, but I’ve been contacted by Time Magazine re: the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ story, in that they are planning to do a report on it, and want to talk to me about it!

Keep Calm and Borrow

I sometimes meet Matt Buck at the Winchester Web Scene, and think his cartoons are great – this one of course caught my eye!

“The government’s pre budget report is due on December 9th. It’s not hard to imagine the curry houses of Westminster having a bumper week as Mr Darling and the treasury staffers try to work out what the public sector borrowing requirement is going to be while their spending continues to hold up the national economy. The last public estimate was £173Bn during 2010.”

Read full story.

Dr Bex Lewis Quoted in the New York Times

• Article in the New York Times Magazine: Consumed, 5th July 2009
• The Journal of Murketing

Great to see recognition for my research! As it says, at the time the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was nowhere. The poster that generated “a huge fuss” was the Your Courage poster from the same series. Just to note that I did say that the poster was distributed around the UK, kept in Post Offices, Libraries, etc, but was kept in reserve in case of invasion! Quite how the message was to get through to put them up, I’m not quite sure…

Read more about posters in the New York Times (not necessarily wartime posters). <edit 7th July>Who am I? What do I look like?</edit>