Mighty Midgets help Britain through the Blitz

In 1939 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Hitler's Germany collapsed as the country declared war on Germany. It wasn't long before the Luftwaffe's planes were bombing London and other major cities across the United Kingdom. Many families were forced to forego the comfort of their beds for the safety of air raid shelters, either at the bottom of their gardens or with other families in a communal facility, including London Underground stations. This was very scary for children. Many parents did what they could to make the whole experience into an adventure - with a little help from Woolworths and tiny little Mighty Midget  books.

The outbreak of war saw many of the firm's staff volunteering or conscripted to serve in H. M. Forces, with everyone under forty-one eligible to serve. The firm's Chairman, William Lawrence Stephenson, who was rather older, was no exception. He was called on to give an extra special service to the nation. Lord Beaverbrook, the media mogul behind the Daily Express became Britain's Minister for Aircraft Production during World War II. He invited Stephenson to join the Air Ministry which, he believed, would benefit from the Woolworth man's organisational and project management skills, as it raced to produce Spitfires for the RAF. Stephenson was honoured to serve. He remained in charge at Woolies, but delegated day-to-day decision-making to his Managing Director, Louis Denempont.

Stephenson's new job gave the chance to influence government and to give an occasional helping hand to 'FWW'. He persuaded Lord Beaverbrook to make supplies available to the company for some special morale-boosting products. Paper and cardboard was arranged for Lumar Jigsaw Puzzles, as well as patriotic miniature comic booklets for children called Mighty Midgets. Beaverbrook also interceded to persuade the Ministry of Food to keep ice-cream and restaurant meals off the ration, so long as Woolworth sent all of the available ice-cream stock to the cities suffering the worst enemy bombardment.

The 32-page books measured just 3¾ inches by 2½ inches (10 x 7cm) and were sold at the artificially low price of threepence. The cover price was subsidised by a full page advertisement on the back. Some of the books contained traditional stories liked Cinderella, while others were specially written with patriotic titles like Munich for Tonight and I captured a U-Boat. They were printed in the East End of London by W Barton (Publishers) Ltd., of Central Street, EC1.

There were titles for both boys and girls. The scripts aimed to be uplifting, with positive endings and brave children playing an important part in many of the stories. The goal was to distract the reader from the drone of aircraft overhead. The small books fitted neatly into pockets so that they could be kept to hand in case the sirens sounded in the dead of night.

Today these booklets have become highly collectable, often fetching upwards of £5 each at collectors' fairs, meaning that the original threepenny books have appreciated in value by 400 times!