The Hidden Life of the British Sailor

'No need for alarm' is not a soothing headline for a newspaper. It was how the Daily Herald chose to tell its readers, on September 21st, 1931, that Britain had gone off the Gold Standard. Not surprisingly, it was written at a time when the official version of events was greatly at variance with the Government's own view of what was happening.

Privately, the Cabinet and Government officials believed that Britain was on the verge of a large-scale uprising, planned and organised by the sailors of the Atlantic Fleet of the Royal Navy. Two days earlier, one of the Staff Officers of that Fleet had written a panic-stricken note.