Using rare news footage and interviews from the British Pathé archive, this series provides a year by year look at what made the news of yesteryear. With a comprehensive hour long programme on each year of the 1940s, this 3 disc set takes us from World War through Victory to an all new age of austerity in a newly divided world...

At the beginning of the 1940s - the world woke up to the expansionist ambitions of Nazi Germany as Hitler's forces made steady progress invading Finland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland and France. Japan, Yugoslavia, Greece and Bulgaria bolstered the Axis Forces. By 1942, a state of global war ensued; the US had entered the conflict following the Japanese attack on the US Navy at Pearl Harbour and the war spread to campaigns in the Pacific, Burma, North Africa, Russia and the Atlantic. 1943 was a tuning point for the Allies with the bloody siege of Stalingrad ending, success repelling the German forces in Tunisia and the surrender of Italy. D-Day in June 1944 saw the Normandy landings of Allied invasion troops - the world's biggest combined land, sea and air operation. As the Allied force made progress to Berlin and eventual Victory In Europe, the grim realities of the concentration camps were revealed to a disgusted world.

Post-war, the United Nations and NATO were formed and the Iron Curtain fell and divided Europe and Berlin. In the UK, a new age of austerity began with wartime rationing continuing and a challenging balance of payments deficit with many produced goods strictly for 'Export Only'. Princess Elizabeth married, the Welfare State and the NHS were inaugurated and the Nationalisation of core public utilities and industries began in earnest under Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government.

Due to the inevitable news blackouts and the general propaganda style of the Pathé news bulletins of the war years, this collection scores slightly lower than the other volumes in this series. Partly this is due to the fact that if you want a blow-by-blow account of what were the main news world events during World War II then there are plenty of more thoroughly researched documentaries out there (The World at War being the most notable example), but mostly it's due to the fact that Pathé news only seems to report how well the Allied forces are doing. While this is understandable - as it was designed to bolster morale of the people of the time - unfortunately it does make for rather bland viewing in retrospect. Even when cities in the UK are bombed it's reported in a quirky way that shows the plucky Brits pulling together.

In addition the news readers of the time delivered mildly racist and sexist commentary on some of the days news events. For example, talking of the threat of the Japanese, one newsreel had the commentator deliver the line: "Purging these yellow termites..."

Non-war related highlights, for those old enough to remember, include:

1940: A moving suspension bridge that finally collapses; and the bombing of Coventry.

1941: America enters the war.

1945: A look at a ground based rocket that sets off on a track. It's obvious that this is was the inspiration for Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds 2; Ice cream is delivered to the men on the Western front; Ikea style swedish flat pack furniture arrives in the UK; a plane crashes into the Empire State Building; and America drops the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

1946: Heathrow airport opened.

1947: Al Capone dies; and Princess Elizabeth marries Philip Mountbatten.

1948: Gandhi dies; National Health Service begins; Silver Wedding Anniversary for the King and Queen; and Prince Charles is born.

If you remember the '40s, or simply want to discover some of the major events that happened at the time, this is certainly an interesting release. However, as I mentioned previously, the majority of the news surrounding the war is not as well presented as one would have hoped.

7

Darren Rea