I FIRST saw one of those famous Keep Calm And Carry On posters about five years ago and was impressed by its quiet British under-statement that suggested courage under duress.

It was originally designed and printed before the start of the Second World War in 1939 by the Ministry of Information to boost morale. Two others, created at the same time, were ‘Freedom Is In Peril. Defend It With All Your Might’ and ‘Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory’, but they don’t have the same tabloid ring to them.

All three had been forgotten until the Keep Calm poster re-surfaced in a book shop in Northumberland 12 years ago. During the recent period of recession it has found a new resonance and been embraced by thousands.

The motto can be found on mugs, table mats, T-shirts, aprons, clocks and mobile phone cases, as well as posters.

The Welsh rock band Stereophonics released an album with the same name.

Promoters of the Nectar loyalty card used it as part of an advertising campaign.

There is even a rather splendid website that allows you to create your own version. Log onto Keep-Calm-o-matic and write your own slogan. I have. I thought Keep Calm And Drink Beer rather appropriate, but other variations include Keep Calm and Love Saxophones as well as straight alternatives such as Freak Out And Throw Stuff.

The Foresters pub in Honley has a Keep Calm And Curry On poster in the bar that leads to the Pink Elephant Asian restaurant that adjoins it, which I think is rather neat.

This is not the first time an image from war has gained new life in popular culture. Lord Kitchener, proclaiming Your Country Needs You, featured on a First World War recruitment poster. It was seen as so powerful that it was copied around the world. Uncle Sam, in America, struck the same pose for the same purpose.

It resurfaced 50 years later when the shop called I Was Lord Kitchener’s Valet opened in the Portobello Road in London selling Victorian uniforms to the fashion conscious young men of the Swinging 60s.

Clapton, Hendrix, Brian Jones and the Beatles were customers. Mick Jagger bought a red Grenadier Guardsman’s jacket, wore it that night on Top Of The Pops and the shop sold out of stock the next day.

The age was one of optimism and youth. Roger Miller sang: “England swings like a pendulum do.” OK, not the most grammatically correct of lyrics but you get the idea and London was the centre of the universe.

It’s ironic that 50 years on, Kitchener’s image has been by replaced by a Second World War poster urging courage and the spirit of the Blitz at a time when youth is unemployed and optimism is draining down Blighty’s plughole.

Never fear. That stiff upper lip spirit will undoubtedly see us Keeping Calm and Carrying On. Or, perhaps, Keep Calm And Drink Beer, might be more appropriate?