The Montmaray Journals – Page 14

Keep Calm, Barnes and Aunt Charlotte

Barnes, long-time companion to Aunt Charlotte, doesn’t really need a poster to remind her to keep calm, but here’s one anyway:

Meanwhile, Aunt Charlotte is Not Amused by those little men in the government who think they run the country. Bolsheviks, the lot of them. In her day, they knew their proper place . . .

In Royal Blue, of course.

And that’s it for Keeping Calm this week. I couldn’t think of a poster for Simon – he’s a bit too enigmatic to sum up in half a dozen words – but if anyone has any ideas, leave a comment below and I’ll make one for him.

More Keep Calm posters:
1. Keep Calm, Sophie, Veronica and Toby
2. Keep Calm, Julia and Rupert
3. Keep Calm, Daniel and the Colonel
4. Keep Calm, Carlos and Henry
5. Keep Calm, Barnes and Aunt Charlotte

(If you’ve dropped in here and were wondering what this is all about, these people are characters in my new book, The FitzOsbornes at War, which is set in England during the Second World War.)

Keep Calm, Carlos and Henry

Carlos and Henry may be, respectively, a dog and a young girl, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t desperate to do their bit to defeat the enemy. They deserve posters just as much as the other FitzOsbornes, so here they are, thanks to Keep Calm-O-Matic.

First, Carlos the Portuguese water dog:

(He’s already had some experience at biting Nazis.)

Next, Henry. Actually, keeping calm isn’t really her thing:

Tomorrow: Barnes and Aunt Charlotte

Keep Calm, Daniel and the Colonel

More posters for friends of the FitzOsbornes, thanks to Keep Calm-O-Matic. First, Daniel, who may or may not be Veronica’s boyfriend:

Then the Colonel, who gets a chance to be even more mysterious and secretive than usual during the war:

Tomorrow: Henry and Carlos

Keep Calm, Julia and Rupert

Following on from yesterday’s personalised FitzOsborne posters, here are some posters for their dear friends, Julia and Rupert.

First, Julia, Belgravia socialite and wife of the Viscount Whittingham:

Julia can share that poster with her equally glamorous friend, Daphne, who has a larger role in The FitzOsbornes at War than in the previous books.

Then there’s Rupert, friend to all animals in distress, but especially furry ones that meow:

Tomorrow: Daniel and the Colonel

Keep Calm, FitzOsbornes

During the Second World War, the British government was very concerned about keeping up the morale of its poor, beleaguered citizens, so the Ministry of Information produced a number of posters, including this one:

More than two million copies were printed, but the plan was that they’d only be distributed if Britain was invaded. This didn’t happen (thankfully), so most of the posters were destroyed at the end of the war. However, one was discovered by Stuart and Mary Manley at Barter Books, who displayed a copy in their shop and then began making copies to sell. You can now buy ‘Keep Calm’ postcards, key rings, mugs, tea towels, mouse mats . . . or even design your own personalised ‘Keep Calm’ poster using the handy Keep Calm-o-Matic website.

I decided the FitzOsbornes and their friends deserved their very own posters, so here they are, thanks to Keep Calm-O-Matic. First, Sophie:

Well, she does tend to neglect her journal when her life gets busy.

Next, Veronica:

In Suffragette Purple, of course.

Then there’s Toby, who enlisted in the Royal Air Force at the end of The FitzOsbornes in Exile:

Or possibly, knowing Toby:

Tomorrow: Julia and Rupert keep calm