WORKERS RENOVATING A SHOP IN ENGLAND DISCOVER A SECRET FROM THE WORLD WAR 2 ERA

What would you do if you find something really extraordinary buried under the surface of the shop that has a very long history related to it? Probably, you would want to know more about its history and identity, right? And more than knowing about its history, you would want to know if it’s even worth something? But, why are we even asking you so many questions? It’s because few workers who were renovating an old historic shop discovered an amazing thing which surprisingly has a very long history and more than that, you’ll be surprised to know what value it has in the present time, moneywise obviously. Believe us, this discovery would be worth your time.

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The Old Shop

The Cotswold Outdoor chain located in the southern English city of Brighton has a very long and well-known history of which many people are aware of. This shop is believed to have been a tailor to the stars. But this has nothing to do with the discovery because renovators knew about the shop and didn’t even have any ideas of finding anything in the first place. They were there to complete the work, that’s it. But this discovery has opened new questions that needed to be answered. To whom does it belong? How did it end up here?

Let’s Go Back In Time

Before we can tell you more about the discovery, we need to go back in the time from where it all started. In the 1930s, Europe was living under constant fear of war. Memories of WWI were still afresh in people’s mind and nobody wanted another war. But the Nazis were growing, expanding the nation throughout the continent which increased the tension. And in August 1939, the British Parliament passed the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act, which allowed the government to impose all sort of rules and regulations they felt were feasible for the betterment of the country and most importantly winning the war at any cost.

The Declaration Of The War

Britain and France joined hands and decided to declare the war against Germany on 3 September 1939, in response to Germany’s act of capturing Poland. Before the real war started, the starting months of the war which are also known as the Phoney War typically made the way for the biggest war in human history. Meanwhile, Britain and France were planning out the war next steps, and on the other hand, Hitler kept on expanding his power.

Preparations Of The War

The Allied forces stuck together with each other with only one motive in their mind, Hitler’s defeat at any cost. Britain and France guarded the land with the forces deployed all over the continent and naval forces blocked the sea around Germany. They started recruiting every man in the army, where they relocated children somewhere safe. New rules like night-time light blackouts and collecting the rations of essential goods were made for the public.

Dark Times

Two days before the war Britain went completely dark. In the night the whole city looked like a big black spot when seen from the above. Streetlamps remained switched off, car headlights were covered, and people hung special curtains on the windows, with brown paper covering the edges blocking the light to go out. But why were they doing this? The main purpose was to confuse the German bombers. Sadly, this darkness also led to a great hike in the road deaths. It is believed that around a thousand people died because of that.

The Huge Military

Meanwhile, during day Britain was trying best to recruit as much as they could in the army to increase their strength. Compared to France where 5 million men were recruited, Britain could only recruit 900,000 men. So, a new law was passed which stated that every able-bodied man between the age of 18 and 41 would enroll themselves in the army. So basically, a form of National Service was made mandatory for men until 1963.

The Evacuation

Germany was already inside Poland and within three days 1.5 million British children were evacuated from the cities away from the Nazi bombing. They were moved near the countryside, without their parents, and to make the process easy, thousands of volunteers were appointed. The volunteers organized the evacuations and took care of the proceedings after they received the children to the camps.

After Moving

In June 1940, the British government started giving the food ration book to every man, woman, and child. This book contained coupons that could be used to buy basic food products like cheese, sugar, and meat. It was done because the government wanted to make sure that every person gets a fair share at a time when food supplies were limited.

All About The Priority

The rationing system was fulfilling people’s basic need but then even in this system, there were exceptions. Vulnerable groups which included children and pregnant women were always given the priority for products like milk and eggs. People were also encouraged to grow their own vegetables as importing became very difficult for the authorities. The food rationing process lasted post-war until it came to an end in 1954.

The List Only Grew

Not only food there were other necessities too which were in short supply. In 1939, petrol was also rationed and later in 1941, clothes followed in on the list and then soap the next year. And seeing the scarcity of the products the black market took over and they started selling the products for their own profit.

The Textile Industry

The textile industry was working under huge pressure because the government kept recruiting the soldiers and the textile industry was working day and night to produce the uniforms. The fabric was needed for the military and the civilian clothing and shoes took a toll because of that.

Why Rationing The Clothes?

Honestly, the British government wanted to fulfill the basic needs of common people and tried their best to distribute them fairly. To see that the production process of clothes doesn’t slow down, different items of clothing production were given “points value” depending upon the effort which was put in its production. Even the Queen, Princess Elizabeth, saved up her coupons to buy a proper wedding dress, just after the war ended.

Dress Well

Even the rationing of clothes couldn’t stop people from dressing the way they wanted. The British came up with a very creative way in order to dress in the best attire they could. People started making and even repaired their personal clothes. Parachute silk was a popular material which was used in to make underwear, wedding dresses, and night clothes. Women would paint their legs with gravy powder so that it looked that were wearing stockings. Women even drew a line up the back with the black pencil to make it look like a seam.

The Phoney War

The Phoney War ended in May 1940, when Germany entered Western Europe. The month of May also saw Winston Churchill taking over as the Prime Minister of Britain. His wartime efforts made him the Greatest Ever Briton in a poll conducted in 2002 BBC poll. It was his leadership and effort which gave them the victory over Hitler.

Wartime Hero

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born in 1874 in the city called Oxfordshire. His father’s family line goes back to being the first Duke of Marlborough, who won the title in the early 1700s when a conflict between Britain and France was on the peak. Churchill’s mother was an American, who was the daughter of a New York financier.

Young Churchill

In 1908, Churchill married Clementine Hozier and their marriage lasted for 56 long years until she died. They had five children together, and Hozier supported Churchill even in his lowest points of life. She actively campaigned for the humanitarian causes that she felt were important back then, even when Churchill opposed her actions.

Before Politics

Before entering into politics, Churchill was in the army. Even in his political career, he switched sides between the Conservative and Liberal parties and then back again in the Conservative party. He was a very controversial figure, and after he took the blame for the failure of the Gallipoli campaign in WWI, he resigned from the government so that he can serve the nation on the frontlines.

Unheard Warnings

Churchill warned the government about Hitler long before in the 1930s. But it was the time when the policy of appeasement was extended by then prime minister Neville Chamberlain which failed terrifically and the Parliament looked for a potential leader who could unite the country again and bring it back on its feet. It was time for Churchill to show the way.

Link Between Churchill And Discovery

You must be thinking why are we even talking about the horrific episodes of WWI and WWII. There is a reason behind it because the thing which was discovered in that old shop has a very deep connection with the most famous Prime Minister Of Britain. As we already told you that this shop was a tailor to many stars back then and it is believed that Churchill and his wife favored Bradleys and Bradley Gowns as their tailor. Today, the building is known as The Cotswold Outdoor store. So, what was the discovery? Let’s find out…

Present Times

In present times, The Cotswold Outdoor store is owned by Russ Davis. While he was renovating the house he tore up the damaged carpet and other broken things inside the house. It was then, he saw something buried underneath the ancient floorboards. He thought it was just a piece of old wood. He took the lump and broke it into two pieces, and little did he know that he was about to find the most amazing thing in the world. It was £1 bill. But what’s so special about a £1 bill? Keep reading to find it out…

Special Bill

At first, it was really hard for Davis to make anything of the block, but soon he was able to understand what it actually was. A £1 bill, which was last used in Britain in the year 1988. And what was more interesting was that it was blue in color instead of green colored notes that were commonly in circulation back in the past. So, what does it mean?

Blue Color Mystery

You must be thinking, so what if a note was blue in color? The thing is that the blue color was chosen by the Bank of England as its emergency currency back in 1941. The bill belongs to a very important period of British history. The country as a whole was almost on a verge of collapsing, and it was Churchill who was in charge.

War Story

During WWII, the German had a secret plan called Operation Bernhard. This operation was all about by disturbing the British economy by forging and circulating the £5. For a very long time, Britain was using the same currency and it was easy to forge the bills. And as a result, millions of fake currency were produced.

Counter Measure

So, to counter the Operation Bernhard the Bank of England created an emergency £1 bill. The note was blue in color and had a metallic thread which made its design a very unique and hard to copy. Two years later, bills of higher value than £5 were infused in the economy and in the 1970s the £20 bill was circulated in the market.

There Was More

Russ was able to discover more than one WWII bill buried under the Cotswold Outdoor shop. He found out around 30 bundles of £1 and £5, each worth of around $1,500. Though some of them were massively damaged, covered in dirt, the metal watermarks were still visible. But even then they were still valuable.

Total Worth

Talking about the bills’ total worth, which is valued at more than £1 million, or nearly $1.3 million. But the real question was how did these bills end up in this place? What was the reason behind hiding the money under the floor? Davis said to BBC, “could have come from a bank robbery, or been stashed during the war by someone who died.” The answer to this mystery lies in the Bradley Gowns.

The Mystery Of The Bills

Bradley Gowns was in operation at the Brighton site between 1936 and 1973. As we already told you, the shop was a branch of Bradleys. This company was behind creating the “guinea gown” for those section of people who couldn’t afford expensive clothing but still wanted to look smart and dress well. And they were Winston and Clementine Churchill’s personal tailor and the shop even provided services to Brigitte Bardot and the members of the royal family. So could this be the real reason behind the stack of money which was found here?

The Store’s History

Samuel Bradley Sr. established the first Bradleys store in the 1860s, in Chepstow Place, London. It majorly stocked ladies furs. Later in 1896, they changed its name to Bradley and Sons Arctic Fur Store and again in 1912 it was renamed to juts Bradleys. Back then it was Europe’s biggest fur specialist about which The Financial Times even ran a story featuring its relaunch and its journey so far.

The Empire

During WWI, Bradleys were the major producers of the troops’ uniform. And in the 1920s there was around 600 staff working for the company and they also had their own fashion designer. Bradleys became a brand and the company’s popular coats were really expensive, costing around $100,000 in today’s money.

Bradley’s Family

Not just the company, Bernard Bradley’s family was also involved in WWII. He was the father of two sons, Eric and Victor. Eric was the older who turned 18 on 3 September 1939, the same day the war was officially declared to the citizens. Eric joined the Royal Air Force, while his younger brother became the pilot, and neither of them returned home until 1944.

The War Time

Shortly after the Bradley brothers departed for the war, things started to become bad for the Allies. British, French and Belgian troops were struggling hard to escape from the Germans who had them surrounded at the French port of Dunkirk. So privately owned ships sail from England to help the soldiers. By then, Nazis already occupied major parts of Europe.

The WWII

Britain was under attack and with full force, the Nazis almost took over the country. In the summers of 1940, whole Britain saw the skies filled with bombing aircraft as the Battle of Britain began. But by the end of October, it was Britain who won the battle. However, Germany was furious and Germany Luftwaffe went on a bombing spree over Britain which went until May 1941. This raid resulted in the deaths of 44,000 civilians and left many cities in ashes.

The Bradleys’ House

The Bradley house was one of many families who were left devasted after the war. Howard Bradley, the only heir of the house, told in the interview with The Argus in 2018, “My grandmother even had to be rescued from under a pile of rubble after a [a German V1 rocket] hit the building she was in. Maybe it was part of a getaway plan.”

The Reason Behind The Money

Maybe the money was a backup plan and the family hid it because they thought of using it in the most crucial of the times. The money was their escape plan and the only way to make sure that their family and friends remained safe during and after the war.

The Bombing

Just like other textile farms, the Bradleys also had to find ways to keep up with the rationing of the clothes. During the bombing, Bradley’s hat making production facilities were destroyed. It is believed that it was Bernard Bradley who invented the guinea gown who also forgot to patent it. This all made very difficult for the company to survive.

Transformation Of The Bradleys

After Bernard Bradley’s death, the business saw a transformation, and this time it took a turn towards dry cleaning and repair. The dry cleaning shop is situated in the Milton Keynes some 115 miles from Brighton. It is run by Eric’s son, Howard Bradley.

The Doubts

However, Howard Bradley is a little confused about the history of his family and shop. And when he was asked about the money, he had no idea about it. But he did believe that the money could belong to his grandfather who could have hidden the money as an escape plan.

Could Have Been A Millionaire

The theory which was given by Howard Bradley didn’t explain why nobody came back to take the money after the war? If someone would have exchanged the money in the Bank of England he could have been a millionaire. Right now, the money is with the police.

Where Else?

Churchill himself appears on the £5 note which was infused in the economy in 2016. On an orange-colored £10 not you can see Mattew Boulton and on a £20 purple note, you can find famous economist Adam Smith’s face. On the red £50, it is James Watt who started the Industrial Revolution.

Other Discovery

In April 2018, an anonymous man from New England discovered a gold coin that had a $5 denomination which was minted in San Francisco. It is believed that this coin is from the height of the California Gold Rush which was worth millions.

The WWII Period

WWII was a period of mass destruction in the history of wars. No war had caused such destruction which took millions of lives just like that. And it was the civilians who felt the destruction the most because it was they who had to struggle during and after the war to make sure that they and their families get to survive after the war. There are still several facts that we aren’t aware of.

Facts About WWII

Our generation can never even imagine the sight of WWII which happened and the after-effects of the war that are still afresh on some minds. Did you know? WWII was so destructive that it cost the country huge loss financially and there has been no other war that caused such destruction ever.

More Of WWII

The Battle of Bulge is the largest and deadliest battle in the history of the United States to date. The battle saw deaths of 80,000 Americans. It is estimated at around 1.5 million children died during the Holocaust. It was estimated that 1.2 million were Jewish and other were Gypsies.

Other Interesting Facts

It was during WWII the Enola Gay became famous for dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, but there are only a few people who have heard of the B-29 that destroyed Nagasaki. Not only bombs, people like Dr. Josef Mengele who is also known as the “Angel of Death.” It is said that he used about 3,000 twins which were Romany and Jewish children in his experiment of genetics. And only 200 survived.

Hitler’s Mindset In WWII

Hitler considered the Jewish race as a menace to themselves. Hitler tried to eradicate the Jewish Race and we all know it as the Holocaust. The Nazis even built concentration camps where they held Jewish people where they were starved to death.

The Concentration Camp

It is believed that around 12,000 Jews were killed daily in these concentrations camps. These camps were located in Poland and the biggest ones were situated in Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and the most infamous was in Auschwitz-Birkenau which killed over 2 million Jews.

Untold Stories

People have published several books and wrote diaries where they gave detailed information about the WWII era. They have told what all happened to Jews in Germany during WWII and how Germans made their lives a living hell. The most famous being the Diary of Anne Frank which was translated into 60 languages and also taught in schools.

The Bad Invention

During WWII, the atomic bomb was invented by the Americans who dropped it on Hiroshima city in Japan. This bomb destructive power wiped away 90% of the city like a snap and killed over 80,000 people. And three days later, the same bomb was dropped on Nagasaki which killed 40,000 people.

War Ended

On 14th August 1945, Japan surrendered to the allies and on 2 September 1945, US General, Douglas MacArthur, accepted surrendered and officially announced to the world about the end of World War II.