The lamps are going out
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
statesman Sir Edward Grey on the eve of the First World War. It is also variously quoted as "The lights are going out all over Europe and I doubt we will see them go on again in our lifetime", and "The lights are going out all over Europe: we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime". It is not certain whether Grey, who was the Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
, in fact made such a statement. Nevertheless it has earned considerably historical and popular attention as an expression of popular perception of the war.
Authenticity
It is not certain if the comment can be confidently attributed to Grey, however he is generally accepted as the most likely source. His own memoirs mention the remark as taking place on 3 August 1914: "We were standing at a window of my room in the Foreign Office. It was getting dusk, and the lamps were being lit in the space below on which we were looking. My friend recalls that I remarked on this with the words: "The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." In 1937, George Macaulay Trevelyan in his biography of Grey attributes the remark to him confidently.Norman Davies
Norman Davies
Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :...
, in Europe: A History describes the events of Monday 3 August 1914, in Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
: "After a long speech in the House of Commons, Sir Edward had just helped the Prime Minister, Henry Asquith, to draft an ultimatum to be sent to Berlin if Belgium were invaded. It must have been 8 or 9 p.m., for he remembered the lamplighter turning up the gaslamps in the courtyard below. He turned to a friend who was with him and who later recalled his words."
Allusions in subsequent culture
Grey's quotation has been used as a popular summation of the war in numerous historical works. Historian Ludwig Reiners published an account of World War I in 1955 entitled The lamps went out in Europe. Grey's comment is followed by the assertion that "the mistakes that have been committed in foreign policy are not, as a rule, apparent to the public until a generation afterwards." Samuel Hynes began his 1990 A War Imagined with a paragraph covering the quotation, referring to it as the most remembered quotation on the war. Historian of music Glenn Watkins used the quotation is a metaphor for the "sputtering in the world of music."The World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
song "When The Lights Go On Again" was written as a direct counterpart.
In the 1963 Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
play Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War! is an epic musical originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop in 1963...
the lines are given to an un-named Englishman. In the 1969 film adaptation
Oh! What a Lovely War
Oh! What a Lovely War is a musical film based on the stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop created in 1963,...
they are spoken by the character of Grey, portrayed by Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
.
In the Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
Series Three finale "The Sudden Storm", which concerns the beginning of the First World War, the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP Richard Bellamy (David Langton
David Langton
David Muir Langton was a British actor who is best remembered for playing Richard Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs.-Early years:...
) tells his daughter-in-law Hazel Bellamy (Meg Wynn Owen
Meg Wynn Owen
Meg Wynn Owen is a Welsh actress, who is best known for her role as Hazel Bellamy, née Forrest, in the television series Upstairs, Downstairs....
) that he was in Grey's presence when he said it the previous day (3 August 1914).
The quote is sometimes referenced in discussions of current events. For instance, The Nation asked "Are the lights going out all over Nigeria?" in response to the 2010 Nigerien coup d'état
2010 Nigerien coup d'état
A coup d'état occurred in Niger on 18 February 2010. Soldiers attacked the presidential palace in Niamey under weapons fire at midday and captured President Mamadou Tandja, who was chairing a government meeting at the time...
.
The Divine Comedy (band)'s song, 'When The Lights Go Out All Over Europe' from the Promenade album (1994) is a paean to the cinema stars of the 1940s and 50s.
External links
- Foreign News: The Lights Go On from TIME Magazine