Walk Short Distances and leave room for those who have longer journeys
A cartoon pony wears a lace-up shoe as a saddle-cloth beside the slogan 'Go by Shanks' Pony', an old idiom for travelling on foot. The homely joke and everyday idiom present a rationing-era transport request as ordinary common sense, and the text asks readers to leave room for longer-distance travellers.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of War Transport and Ministry of Labour and National Service; artists Lewitt-Him; printed for HMSO by Haycock Press
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Theme
- Home front
- 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
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Ministry of War Transport and Ministry of Labour and National Service; artists Lewitt-Him; Haycock Press for HMSO, c. 1941-1945. U.S. National Archives, RG 44.
Text on the object
Go by SHANKS' PONY ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF WAR TRANSPORT AND THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE WALK SHORT DISTANCES and leave room for those who have longer journeys LEWITT-HIM PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY HAYCOCK PRESS. LONDON. 51-5006
