Sometimes governments lie to their citizens, and sometimes those lies are necessary. During the Second World War, in an attempt to conceal the existence of their radar technology from the enemy, the British government told newspapers that British fighter pilots had excellent night vision because they ate so many carrots. Propaganda posters encouraged the public to do the same.
Another lie, far grimmer this time, was the attempt to cover up the Bethnal Green Tube disaster, which is thought to be the UK’s largest single loss of civilian life during the Second World War. More than 170 people fleeing an air raid were crushed to death when the dimly lit entrance to the station became blocked. Joan Martin, who as a young doctor received the dead and wounded as they arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children in east London, spoke many years later about the attempts to silence those who had witnessed the tragedy: “I suppose the government didn’t want to look as if things were out of hand. The newspapers said nothing.”
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