Nothing to be Alarmed About

In ‘the book’Nothing to be Alarmed About’ I describe some of the background to the book: who I am, and what I thought I was doing in turning it into a book, etc. Here are a few further thoughts.

1 The 1938 outbreak was not of any great historical significance. In the history of the disease in Britain. It was totally overshadowed by the epidemic of 1947. Nevertheless, it happened, and as it happened people were alarmed. In many parts of the country, schools were closed, hospitals re-opened and funds sought to purchase newly-manufactured iron lungs. Having stumbled across the outbreak by accident, I decided it was worth investigating further.

2 Nobody had asked me to undertake the research on which the book is based. I had no funds and spent very little money on it, just a lot of time. There was no deadline. As I dipped into one online source after another, I was faced with a constant supply of novel issues, questions and ‘undiscovered’ evidence.

I had made four attempts to complete a book before deciding in 2025, once more, that I would close my mind to any further questions. I was pleased when finally I was able to hand over to my friend, Tom Cheesman, a complete draft of the book. Even then, I found myself re-writing Chapters 5 and 7.

3 I am an amateur historian, untrained and with limited access to the relevant academic literature. I am not employed by a university or institute and there are no managers or publishers breathing down my neck, hoping I’m going to hit the headlines. In writing the book I have not sought to alarm you or excite you over unexpected revelations. Rather I have simply sought to gain and retain your interest. It is a complex story and at times you may feel bored by some of the statistics. I’ve tried hard to keep them fairly straightforward and concise. But feel free to glide over them and then, perhaps, go back to consider what the various numbers actually represent.