One piece of news.
A whole country exhaled.

This beat comes in two versions. Run the one for the hall you have, not both.

"Hold up six fingers. Everybody. Look at them. (pause — let them look) That is how long the war went on for. If you are six, that is your whole life. Every birthday you have ever had. The children in this story could not remember a single day without it. (hands down)"

"nobody puts a hand up yet. Six years is how long the war went on for. Stand up if you can remember one real thing — one actual memory — from six years ago. (pause — let them look around, then sit them down) Look at how few of you. Six years is very nearly everything you can remember."

"and that is what it was for them. Blackout curtains at every window from 1939. Ration books from 1940. Fathers and brothers away, and thousands of children evacuated to live with strangers they had never met. That was not a chapter of their childhood. It was all of it."

"Every person in Britain had a ration book. Even a baby had one. Sweets were on the list. How many sweets could one child have in a whole week? Hands up for five. (pause) Hands up for ten. (pause) Hands up for fifty."

Count the room by eye. Don't tally. Then press →.

"Ten. Mostly boiled sweets, toffees and liquorice. Chocolate was rarer still."

"Sweets stayed rationed until 1953 — eight years after the war ended. The children cheering in the street in 1945 were teenagers before they could walk into a shop and buy a bag without a coupon."

"For years, church bells were not allowed to ring anywhere in Britain. Not one. Turn to the person next to you and tell them why you think that was. Ten seconds. Go."

Ten seconds. Time it — don't guess. Hand up to bring them back, then press →.

"A bell was the warning. If you heard one, enemy soldiers were coming. So nobody rang them. And then on VE Day, they all rang at once."

"Bells were banned in 1940 as the invasion warning. They were rung once for a victory in 1942, and allowed again in 1943 — but on VE Day they rang everywhere in the country at the same time."

This beat comes in two versions. Run the one for the hall you have, not both.

"Cup your hand behind your ear, like this. (do it — wait for the whole hall) No phones. No screens. One wooden radio in the corner of the room, and the entire family leaning in towards it."

"nobody move, and keep your hands where they are. No phones. No screens. One wooden radio in the corner of the room, and the entire family leaning in towards it. Hands up if your whole family has ever watched or listened to the same thing at the same moment — all of you, in one room. (pause — count the room by eye) Keep your hand up. I will tell you why in a moment."

"At three o'clock the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, came on the BBC. Nobody move. This is what he said."

"Germany had surrendered the day before. Around three in four British adults heard that broadcast — most of them at the very same moment. Hands down."

"The blackout curtains came down. People threw their windows open and saw their own street lit up for the first time in years. Strangers danced. Neighbours dragged tables into the road and strung paper flags across it."

"We are going to make that sound. When I drop my hand — cheer. Three. Two. One. (drop your hand · four or five seconds · hand up to stop them)"

The wave comes in two versions. Run the one for the hall you have, not both.

"Now the wave, and nobody stands up. Front row — both arms up, then down. Then the row behind. Then the row behind that, all the way to the back. That is exactly how the news travelled in 1945: street, to street, to street. (point at the front row)"

"now a race, and nobody stands up. Front row, both arms up and down — then the row behind you, then the row behind them, all the way to the back. I am timing it. How fast can this hall get the news from the front to the back? (time it properly — say the number out loud, then run it once more and beat it) That is exactly how the news travelled in 1945: street, to street, to street."

"By that night more than a million people were celebrating in central London alone — around Buckingham Palace, in Trafalgar Square, and in every town square in the country."

"The war was over in Europe. But a long way away the fighting carried on for a few more months. At home there were still ration books, and lots of dads and big brothers were not home yet."

"VE Day means Victory in Europe Day. Europe — not everywhere. The war in Asia was still being fought, and it did not end until VJ Day, the fifteenth of August 1945. Rationing carried on for years, and many fathers and brothers would not come home for months."

"But the bit they had all been holding their breath for — that was over."

Press → to reveal. Then ask the next two aloud — no slide needed:

"What were people not allowed to ring?" (a church bell) · "How many sweets a week?" (ten)

"Why were church bells banned?" (ringing them was the signal that Britain was being invaded) · "Who spoke on the radio at three o'clock, and what did he say?" (Churchill — the German war is therefore at an end)

"On Friday at twelve o'clock this school stops for two minutes, along with the rest of the country. No talking. No moving."

"And we are not only thinking about 1945. Somewhere in the world tonight there is a child still waiting for their own VE Day — still waiting for the bells, still waiting for someone to come home. On Friday, hold both."

"One last thing, and it is the only homework. This week, find somebody older than you — a grandparent, a neighbour, anyone — and ask them one question about 1945. Then listen."