For the first time in six years, floodlights cast shadows across London's streets, brightly illuminating Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, the great clock at Westminster and Buckingham Palace. The brilliance of the White Ensign, the Union Flag and the Blue Ensign on the Cenotaph contrasted with the grime-caked stones behind, a continuing reminder of Britain's industrial revolution. Despite the lateness of the hour, crowds still converged around the great monuments, and bonfires burned in many of London's open spaces, more than a few with effigies of Hitler sitting on top. The bells of churches across the capital continued to ring, competing with the sporadic fireworks and making sleep impossible, even if it were desired.

The eighth of May 1945 had been a full day for the Prime Minister, beginning in the early hours of the morning with his radio address to announce Germany's unconditional surrender. There had followed an attendance in Parliament for Question Time, a procession to the Church of St Margaret for an impromptu service of thanksgiving, further pronouncements in the House of Commons and then, at four o'clock, an audience with the King. Some hours later, the Right Honourable Winston Churchill stepped onto the flag-draped balcony of the Ministry of Health, causing an enormous roar from the crowds who had been waiting expectantly for their leader to speak. Wearing his war-worn boiler suit, his polished top hat balanced incongruously on his head, Churchill addressed them through a loudspeaker: ‘God bless you all. This is your victory!’ At this, many voices in the crowd interrupted to correct him, ‘No – it is yours’. The Prime Minister finished his evening sometime after ten o'clock with a return appearance on the balcony to lead the crowd in a roaring rendition of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’.

VE Day was a celebration in Britain, but the elation of Germany's unconditional surrender could not last long. Europe lay in ruins, Japan remained undefeated and the empire that had sustained Britain throughout its long war was showing signs of fatigue and restlessness. Even those with the greatest reason to rejoice could find little energy to do so. Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff and, as chairman of the Chief of Staffs’ Committee, Churchill's foremost military advisor, wrote in his diary on 7 May that he simply couldn't ‘feel thrilled’, instead experiencing ‘infinite mental weariness’.