The politics of press astrology in wartime Britain, 1939–42

Abstract

This article explores the politics of popular press astrology between 1939 and 1942. Charting the astrological content of the News of the World, The People, the Sunday Dispatch, the Sunday Express and the Sunday Pictorial, it unearths connections between predictions and wider themes of morale and press freedoms during the war. The article argues that these predictions, which were largely aimed at female readers, were, on balance, morale-boosting. Fears over the impact of press astrology speak to anxieties over the influence of popular newspapers in wartime among officials and contemporary researchers.