One of the most bizarre war games produced during the conflict was rushed out just after war had been declared, in October 1939, called ‘The new M.P. Topical War Card Game – Who’s Who or Food for Thought FOR EVERYBODY’. It was designed as a gastronomic novelty card game for all the family and was produced with the Christmas market in mind, retailing at 1/- (one shilling) per pack. The game consisted of a small blue nondescript box with fifty-four cards in it and an instruction booklet. Produced by M. P. Lambert (the ‘sole distributor’), the idea behind the game, which was modelled on rummy, was for children to collect sets of cards and in the process learn the names of Members of Parliament (MP) and the enemy in a fun and entertaining way. The cards came in three sets of eighteen, labelled ‘ABC 1 – ABC 18’, each using word play to spell out a rhyming sentence about a leading MP or one of the Nazi leadership. Those featured in the cards ranged from the prime minister at the time Neville Chamberlain to General Gort commanding the British Expeditionary Force then in France, and on the enemy side Adolf Hitler and Marshal Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe.
The ‘A’ cards were printed with the name of the MP or Nazi leader, the ‘B’ cards with an incomplete rhyming sentence and the ‘C’ cards with an item of food such as a peach or tripe which completed the rhyme. Each set scored a number of points, the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain scoring the highest with 20 with Himmler’s Gestapo the lowest with 5 points. The winner was the first player to collect enough sets to get an agreed total score such as 100 or 200 points. The eighteen completed sets read as follows:
• NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN is resolute, let Nazis SCREECH, his policy’s one that none can im-PEACH. (20 points)
• SIR CYRIL NEWALL’S bombers tell Germans if Hitler-LED, in a very short time they’ll be without BREAD. (20 points)
• GENERAL GAMELIN is directing the whole of the SCRAM, he’ll soon cause one big Nazi mechanised JAM. (20 points)
• SIR JOHN SIMON saves money, the Nazi SCRAPES, we live on food they exist on sour GRAPES (15 points)
• SIR KINGSLEY WOOD will protect us you’ll SEE, if we follow the rules of his A.R. PEA. (15 points)
• WINSTON CHURCHILL shows he is the true fighting TYPE, ignoring all Nazi scandalous TRIPE. (15 points)
• GENERAL GORT with his army is in France just in CASE, our French pals need help to hold Nazis in PLAICE. (15 points)
• C.H. MIDDLETON counters Nazi “Strength through JOYS,” with rows upon rows of home-grown SAVOYS. (15 points)
• ADOLF HITLER is head of the Nazis BUT – there isn’t a doubt he’s cracked in the NUT. (10 points)
• SIR WALTER MONKTON censors our press news and MEANS to make the enemy “spill” the BEANS. (10 points)
• HORE-BELISHA see Tommies do drill and dig HOLES, clothes, feeds and trains them, also cares for their SOLES. (10 points)
• W. S. MORRISON sends Hitler a “pound” for his FLEET, that can well be spared from our rations of MEAT. (10 points)
• HESS contrives finances by twisting the SCREW, but in spite of it all, he is still in a STEW. (5 points)
• JULIUS STREICHER in prison must end his jew-BAIT, he’s due to “burst” like a ripe POMEGRANATE. (5 points)
• RAEDER sends his U boats to sink cruising SHIPS, but our navy is blowing his crafts to CHIPS. (5 points)
• MARSHAL GOERING bids Germans with hoarding to GRAPPLE, displaying a tummy as round as an APPLE. (5 points)
• RIBBENTROP signs pacts Goebbels spreads lies everyWHERE, together they work like a swindling PEAR. (5 points)
• HIMMLER’S GESTAPO puts all behind GATES, who do not shout “Heil” on Adolf’s victory DATES. (5 points)
The next year saw a lot of the key personalities on the cards scoring 20 or 15 points fall from grace, many of whom were among the ‘guilty men’ later held responsible for failing to stand up to Hitler. The Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain despite his cards was impeached, being forced from office following a vote of confidence in May 1940 and died six months later in November. Sir Cyril Newall, Chief of the Air Staff, was forced into retirement following the Battle of Britain. General Gamelin, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, was removed from his post following the fall of France in the summer of 1940 and put on trial by the Vichy regime for treason. Sir John Simon, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was forced from office in May 1940 before becoming Lord Chancellor under Churchill. Sir Kingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air, stood down in April 1940 for health reasons but later became Chancellor of the Exchequer briefly under Churchill. General Gort was demoted following the fiasco of the British Expeditionary Force in France which ended with the humiliating retreat at Dunkirk.
Only Cecil Henry Middleton (1886–1945) and Winston Churchill (1874–1965) emerged from the pack as winners. Churchill became Britain’s greatest war leader and is generally considered to be one of the greatest Britons of all time. Cecil Henry Middleton was the only nonpolitician or soldier in the pack and the only person to emerge smelling of roses, being a gardener. Middleton was a writer and media personality who headed up the famous Dig for Victory campaign during the war, becoming the first ‘celebrity gardener’. He said ‘These are critical times, but we shall get through them, and the harder we dig for victory the sooner will the roses be with us.’21
A bizarre card game called Who’s Who or Food for Thought used word play to spell out a rhyming sentence about a leading MP or one of the Nazi leadership, culminating in an item of food.
The Nazi leaders also had their cards marked, at the end of war only two not committing suicide or being sentenced to death, the deputy leader Rudolf Hess and the head of the navy, Eric Raeder. The real irony of Who’s Who or Food for Thought was that most of the food items featured in the cards would soon be in short supply as panic buying set in and the shelves emptied. Worse still, from January 1940 many of the items were rationed including jam, meat and even bread.