© National Portrait Gallery, London
Dame Cicely Veronica Wedgwood
by Sir Lawrence Gowing Click on the links below to find out more
oil on canvas, 1944
17 3/4 in. x 14 in. (452 mm x 355 mm)
Given by Jacqueline Hope-Wallace, 1997
- Sir Lawrence Gowing (1918-1991), Painter and art historian. Artist of 3 portraits, Sitter in 5 portraits.
London is hit by the V1 Flying Bomb. This weapon, developed by the German Luftwaffe and colloquially known as the 'Buzz Bomb', or 'Doodlebug', was the first guided missile and was used for attacks on targets in England and Belgium.
Art and science
Laurence Olivier's epic film version of Henry V
is released. Olivier directed and starred in the film, which was partly funded by the British government in recognition of its morale-boosting patriotic appeal. The cast included service men as Henry's army.
France is liberated from German-occupation following the Battle for Normandy. Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of occupied-France led by Field Marshall Montgomery, was the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million soldiers crossing the channel from England to France. Troops landed on the 6th June (D-Day), and Paris was liberated in late August.