Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

1900s, Blogging, tweeting and podcasting, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Post-blogging the 1909 scareships: thoughts and conclusions

That’s it for the phantom airship scare of 1909. It’s been interesting for me, as I haven’t looked closely at this material since I did my 4th year thesis some time ago (the 1913 scare made it into the PhD, but not 1909). It didn’t last very long, only a couple of weeks. At first, […]

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Poetry, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Tuesday, 1 June 1909

The new Fortnightly Review (actually a monthly, of course) is out today. Each issue opens with a review of ‘Imperial and foreign affairs’, which is usually written by J. L. Garvin, editor of the Observer and a figure of great influence in Conservative politics. Assuming that it is he who penned this Review‘s review, Garvin

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Monday, 31 May 1909

No scareships today. But the Standard carries a short article (p. 3) which shows how the airship menace could lie at the nexus of propaganda, advertising and entertainment. This summer’s weekly Brock’s Benefits, a free fireworks display produced by Brock’s Fireworks at the Crystal Palace, will present ‘a scene of an invasion drama of a

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Saturday, 29 May 1909

This week’s issue of Flight carries a short piece about ‘Phantom airships and scare headlines’ (p. 318). It’s scornful of the credulity of ‘a certain section of the Press’, since ‘it was evident from the very first that either a practical joke was being played or that a bold advertising scheme was on foot’. The

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Friday, 28 May 1909

There was nothing about phantom airships in yesterday’s papers. Nor is there anything in today’s, for that matter. But there is a curious story in the Globe concerning the ‘Wokingham airship’ (p. 11): A mysterious and closely-locked shed near the large public school at Wokingham has for some time past given rise to rumours of

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Wednesday, 26 May 1909

The mighty Punch weighs in on the phantom airships today. Above is a rather wonderful full-page cartoon by Bernard Partridge, playing on the notion that the stories are part of the annual ‘silly season’ (usually in summer, still a month away): The sea-serpent: “Well, if this sort of thing keeps on, it’ll mean a dull

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Monday, 24 May 1909

The reaction against the airship stories which started on Friday continues. For the first time in over a week, there’s nothing about any phantom airships themselves. Instead, both the Manchester Guardian and The Times have summaries from their Berlin correspondents of German press reaction to the outbreak of British nerves. (This is in fact the

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships, Rumours

Saturday, 22 May 1909

Today is Saturday, when a number of the weeklies in my sample are published. Two of them are clearly sceptical, and don’t devote much space to the mystery airships; one, from the heart of scareship country, is much more open-minded and has half a page of reports and analysis. This is the Norfolk News, which

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