‘Few things in life are less funny than war’: Reclaiming the humour in the horror

Speaking in a 1943 radio broadcast to women across the empire about female workers who downplayed the significance of their work to the wider war effort, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the then Queen, noted that humour was a powerful component of the British war effort:

The courage of our people is reinforced, too, by one of the strongest weapons in our national armoury: a sense of humour that nothing can daunt. With this weapon of amazing temper, that turns every way, our people keep guard over their sanity and their souls. I have seen that weapon in action many, many times in the last few years, and I well know how much it can help in the really bad times.