Imperial War Museum Desk Diary 2013
Photographs by Cecil Beaton

The Second World War was the war of the black and white photographer. Although best known for his society portraits and fashion photography, Cecil Beaton (1904-80) became an official war photographer for the Ministry of Information and was sent on assignment to the Middle East, India and China as well as around Great Britain.
The photographs in this diary focus on Britain and his time spent with the British forces overseas and illustrate daily life behind the lines and on the home front.
The diary is week to view and includes a ribbon marker. It is available in desk and pocket formats.

SIR CECIL WALTER HARDY BEATON, CBE (14 January 1904 - 18 January 1980) was an English fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, style icon, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre. During the Second World War Beaton was initially posted to the Ministry of Information and given the task of recording images from the home front. During this assignment he captured one of the most enduring images of British suffering during the war, that of three-year-old Blitz victim Eileen Dunne recovering in hospital, clutching her beloved teddy bear. When the image was published, America had not yet officially joined the war - but splashed across the press in the US, images such as Beaton's helped push the American public to put pressure on their Government to help Britain in its hour of need. He later travelled as official war photographer to Middle East, India and China.