Preview: The Best Horse in Our Stable – Lord Haw-Haw and the Nazis

It is 75 years to the day today, that the Daily Mail carried this picture. It is, arguably, one of the most interesting covers ever in the long history of this newspaper.

History still regards William Brooke Joyce (1906 – 1946) as a traitor who actively supported Hitler’s ‘Third Reich’ in its war of aggression against the free world. His legacy is assured in the public consciousness by his frequent portrayals in film scripts, novels, plays, and radio programmes. Frustratingly for historians, Joyce left few personal papers, making it a difficult task to depict his complex personality. There is even a historical debate on his actual date of birth, numerous sources suggesting the birth year as being 1904 or 1906.

To make matters more complicated, Joyce constantly lied to enhance his public image. Fascist propaganda was not unique to Germany and Joyce. Italy had their own ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ in the form of James Strachey Barnes (1890 – 1955) who broadcasted programmes from the Italian Fascists’ perspective.

Read more about this subject in Scott Caldwell’s article about ‘Lord Haw-Haw’, in the June issue of RadioUser.

(Source, and with permission of, Scott Caldwell; Mike Edwards, Daily Mail Archives).

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