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| SILENCE IN THE WAR ROOMS | One of the most iconic collections items at Churchill War Rooms is the Remington ‘noiseless’ Typewriter. It gives us a glimpse into what it was like for a typist to help Britain triumph during the Second World War.
From the end of the First World War, the British government were sure that any future war would see London become a target for air raids.
In 1938 a group of basement offices in a Whitehall building close to Parliament became the site for what would become the Cabinet War Rooms.
Churchill's War Cabinet met here 115 times. During the Blitz and V-weapon attacks from Germany, hundreds of people spent thousands of hours working here.
Churchill insisted on a quiet working environment. At the Cabinet War Rooms, even whistling in the corridors was strictly banned.
Britain’s Prime Minister also ordered his staff to use special typewriters that would reduce unnecessary noise. |
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| | | | | | | SEE THEM FOR YOURSELF | | Churchill War Rooms is open to visitors and we can’t wait to welcome you to one of London’s must-see attractions. Not sure what to expect? We invited historian Dan Snow to check out the museum post lockdown. | |
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| These typewriters were imported from the United States. They were in constant use, generating typed reports and memoranda that would have crossed the desks of Churchill and his War Cabinet.
Elizabeth Nel, one of Churchill's personal private secretaries, used one such typewriter .
One night she was working late into the night with Churchill on a speech of over 10,000 words. She took shorthand for three and a half hours and then typed 27 pages of this speech for Parliament.
And around one o'clock or two o'clock in the morning Churchill asked her if she was tired. When she said she was fine, Churchill remarked: 'We must go on like the gun horses until we drop.'
Today, you can visit Churchill War Rooms and explore the secret headquarters that were the epicentre of Britain's war effort during the Second World War. |
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 | | | | LEARN MORE ABOUT CHURCHILL | | Your ticket to Churchill War Rooms includes access to the Churchill Museum. You can spend hours in this award-winning museum. Discover more about his life, his childhood and his legacy, and see personal objects including school reports, letters written to his wife, one of his favourite cigars and more. | |
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