This book explains for the first time the full story of the wartime adventures of Britains greatest art treasures. At first the pictures and other artifacts were distributed amongst a number of large country houses. Initially the owners of these houses almost fought one another for the right to house the Treasures. Later; when further accommodation was needed for treasures from the provincial museums; the tables turned and the Office of Works was reduced to bribing owners by promising that they would be spared billetees; and that their houses would be immune from requisitioning. By mid 1940 however; circumstances transpired that made the country houses untenable. German air bases in northern France made the whole of Britain vulnerable. Eventually two deep underground repositories were constructed; one in Wales and one in Wiltshire; and by the end of 1942 virtually all the cultural heritage of the nation was concentrated there. Building and operation of these underground treasure houses did not; however; go smoothly; as described here.
#683037 in eBooks 2011-07-27 2011-07-27File Name: B00CLBUI94
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Must-read for fans of Gothic horror cinemaBy Victoria CravenBritish Gothic Cinema is about the influence of British filmmakers on horror cinema from the very beginning of film. Hammer gets a (deservedly) large portion of the book; but other companies like Amicus get their time; as well. Forshaw clearly knows his material and historyndash;explaining how the censorship codes (blood on cleavage used to give people the vapours)ndash;were slowly chipped away.There are interviews with the some of the key players of the time; and honest reviews of performances by the staple players like Peter Cushing; Vincent Price (shipped in from the States to bring in the crowds) and Christopher Lee. No stone is left unturnedndash;itrsquo;s an exhaustive work. Forshawrsquo;s love for the subject shows.This is an excellent companion to the BBC4 documentary A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss . Indeed; Gatiss is mentioned a few times in the end of the book; as are Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. British Gothic Cinema; on the whole; is about horror cinema; and the British influence on it; though the earliest contributions were period Gothic pieces.Very academic; I would recommend it only for people already interested in Gothic cinema or fans of film history; but for them itrsquo;s a must-read. There are some film spoilers for very well-known films; but if yoursquo;re a fan of the genre yoursquo;ve probably already seen them. (I didnrsquo;t find this to be a problem.) The biggest quibble I had were the typos; of which there were more than a few.Overall; I did enjoy it; am glad I read it and wound up with a long list of films to watch.[I was given a free copy of this to review; but was under no obligation to give a positive review.]