‘Mr Devon History’ to reveal the secrets of the county’s wartime diaries

The celebrated expert Todd Gray, Devon’s highest profile historian, is to discuss one of the most fascinating but least well known activities of World War Two in a special lecture this month.

In the late 1930s and throughout the War, a social research organisation called Mass Observation recruited local diarists to capture the everyday lives, thoughts and feelings of ordinary people.

Thousands of these diaries are housed in the Mass Observation archive, but those for Devon have not been publicised - until now.

Todd Gray’s illustrated lecture in Topsham’s Matthews Hall examines some of the 100-plus accounts which reveal the experiences of Devonians as they were gradually overwhelmed by the War.

Todd will detail the inner thoughts of these diarists in a talk which will be at times hilarious, sometimes sombre and always thought-provoking.

The author of many books on the history of Devon and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, Todd was awarded an MBE for services to Devon's history, and is a Freeman of the City of Exeter.

Now he opens the pages of Mass Observation diaries in a special lecture organised by Topsham Museum at Matthews Hall, Topsham, at 7.30pm on Tuesday June 16.

The lecture is entitled Mass Observation and Devon's Wartime Diaries, 1937 to 1945.   Doors open at 7pm, £6 entrance, and a bar will be available.

Todd will also have copies of his books available, including his latest on which the talk is based - Devon’s Home Front Diarists, 1937-1945.