In the Blackout - To Hail a Bus or Tram Shine a Torch on to Your Hand
A gloved hand lit by a torch beam against a dark ground, under the heading 'In the Blackout' and the instruction to hail a bus or tram by shining a torch on to the hand. The tell is the London Transport roundel lending institutional authority to a practical blackout instruction; the poster makes no claim beyond the instruction.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- London Passenger Transport Board (London Transport), artist Hans Schleger (Zero), printed by The Baynard Press
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, Security and surveillance
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision (UK wartime poster, c. 1939-1945)
London Passenger Transport Board (London Transport), artist Hans Schleger (Zero), printed by The Baynard Press, National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-241.
Text on the object
IN THE BLACKOUT To hail a bus or tram shine a torch on to your hand [signed:] ZERO [imprint:] The Baynard Press. 243/1801/1500.
