In 1900, most Londoners ate their meals at home. Most working men returned home for their midday meal and those who didn’t ate plain British food in plain British ‘chophouses’. Wealthy men dined out at their clubs or, if they were very adventurous, at French restaurants. During the Second World War, restaurants were initially exempt from rationing; the wealthy were supplementing their rations by eating ‘luxury’ off-ration food. This was strongly resented by those unable to afford to eat out; new restrictions were introduced in May 1942 so that restaurants weren’t able to charge more than five shillings per customer and meals couldn’t be more than three courses (and only one of these could contain meat or fish or poultry). But even restaurants couldn't always offer escape from the monotony of potatoes, oats and cabbage: in 1944 Simpson's-in-the-Strand was serving Creamed Spam Casserole.

Dr Warren Dockter (University of Cambridge) and Professor Richard Toye (University of Exeter) discuss the speech which Winston Churchill gave in the aftermath of the sinking of the French Fleet on...

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Churchill watching an attack on a German-held ridge in Italy by 8th Army troops, with General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean forces, 26 August 1944 copyright: IWM (NA...

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This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.

It will be better to engage Germany on new frontiers … Naval command of the Baltic must be secured.

Introduced by Richard M Langworth Churchill wrote two books about his experiences in South Africa London to Ladysmith, his first Boer War book, is a remarkable read, with startling observations for a...

In January 1943, Churchill met up with Roosevelt and de Gaulle. Stalin had declined to attend, citing the ongoing fighting in Stalingrad as the reason he couldn’t get away. This Anglo-American ‘summit’ at Casablanca (in French Morocco) addressed the specifics of tactical procedure, allocation of resources and the broader issues of diplomatic policy. Ultimately, though, what the Casablanca Declaration made clear was that the Allies would accept nothing less than the ‘unconditional surrender’ of Germany. Stalin was reassured.