2. The first half of this decade was taken up by World War Two which ended on
2 September 1945. Some of the world leaders in this decade consisted of
Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph
Stalin.The picture to the right shows them in
1945.
Hitler, who was also in power during the first half of
the decade, died on 30 April 1945.
Leader of Indian Independence movement Mahatma
Ghandi also died in this decade on 30 January.
What happened?
3. • The Jeep
• The Frisbee
• The slinky
• The microwave
• Velcro
Inventions
4. Flanagan and Allen were a British singing and comedy duo that were
extremely popular around the time of
WW2. Their most known song is Run
Rabbit Run (to listen, click the image
to the right).
Popular Music: Flanagan and Allen
On the farm, every Friday
On the farm, it's rabbit pie day.
So, every Friday that ever comes along,
I get up early and sing this little song
Run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run!
Run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Goes the farmer's gun.
Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run.
Run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run!
Don't give the farmer his fun! Fun! Fun!
He'll get by
Without his rabbit pie
So run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run!
The lyrics were used as a defiant dig at the allegedly
ineffectual Luftwaffe. On 13 November 1939, soon after the
outbreak of the Second World War and also soon after the
song was premiered, Germany launched its first air raid on
Britain, on flying boats that were sheltering in SullomVoe,
Shetland. Two rabbits were supposedly killed by a bomb
drop, although it is suggested that they were in fact procured
from a butchers' shop and used for publicity purposes.
5. loo, n.4 There are several hints of the term for a water closet being around since
the 1920s, such as Joyce’s line in the 1922 Ulysses, “O yes, mon loup. How much
cost? Waterloo. Watercloset.” But the first unambiguous use of loo in this sense
is from Nancy Mitford’s 1940 Pigeon Pie, “In the night when you want to go to the
loo.”
mayo, n.3 This inevitable clipping of mayonnaise is first recorded in 1940.
nitty-gritty, n. and adj. This reduplicative term got its start in African-
American speech, and is first recorded by the mainstream press by the Pittsburgh
Courier in coverage of a 1940 Joe Louis fight.
bollocks, int. This British interjection is first recorded in 1940. Of course, like
most such expressions it is undoubtedly older than the date it first appears in
print.
shazam, int. The interjection originally appears in Whiz Comics #2 with the
appearance of the superhero Captain Marvel. By saying the word, which is an
acronym for Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, boy Billy
Batson transforms himself into the hero.
WORDS INVENTED IN 1940’s
6. Although Anne Frank died in 1945, her diary was published in 1947. However
it wasn’t published in English until 1950’s.
Here is a list of entertainers in the 1940’s
Literature & Entertainment.
Here is a list of
musicians in the
1940’s
