Was the Second World War a surprise to the British public?

Was the idea that the Second World War came as a surprise mainly a matter of public memory?

Many people appear to have expected war during the 1940s. The surprise lay more in its exact timing than in the prospect of another conflict.

Surprise at the outbreak's precise timing differed from surprise that another war was coming. Family recollections offered here describe people expecting war during the 1940s after years of mounting danger. September 1939 could still arrive suddenly in daily life even when the broader prospect was familiar. Public memory can turn uncertainty about when into a claim that the war itself came without warning.