It was one of the main ways of reaching people, through billboards and on public transport." "The poster was a major medium in a way that it isn't now," says Professor Jim Aulich, an expert in propaganda art at Manchester Metropolitan University. The poster was just one of hundreds produced by the Ministry of Information during the war to influence public opinion. "Our website broke down under the strain, the phone never stopped ringing and virtually every member of staff had to be diverted into packing posters." Sales remained modest until 2005, when it was featured as a Christmas gift idea in a national newspaper supplement. We refused all offers but eventually we decided we should get copies made for sale." "Lots of people saw it and wanted to buy it. We both liked it so we decided to frame it and put it in the shop," explains Mr Manley. "I didn't know anything about it but I showed it to my wife. The message was all but forgotten until 2000, when a copy was discovered in a box of books bought at auction by Stuart Manley, a bookseller from Northumberland. Two-and-a-half million copies of "Keep Calm" were printed, to be distributed in the event of a national catastrophe, but remained in storage throughout the war. These featured the crown of King George VI set against a bold red background, and three distinctive slogans - "Freedom is in Peril", "Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory", and "Keep Calm and Carry On". In 1939, with war against Germany looming, the Government designed three posters to steady the public's resolve and maintain morale. The simple five-word message is the very model of British restraint and stiff upper lip. Now the message has taken on a new lease of life in our troubled peacetime. Millions of copies of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster were printed on the eve of World War II, but never displayed. The greatest motivation poster ever conceived?
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