Britain in The 1950s Documentary Life in the 50's❤️

Britain in The 1950s a Fascinating Documentary of life in the UK in the 50s
Is YOUR Soulmate 1-Click Away? ❤️ https://bit.ly/2I6qTjn

For many people, the 1950s were a golden age. ‘Let’s be frank about it,’ declared Harold Macmillan in July 1957: ‘most of our people have never had it so good.’ Almost immediately the Prime Minister’s words became a symbol of the age, capturing the optimism of a nation basking in the sunshine of the affluent society. Yet like so many political quotations, they are often misunderstood. Macmillan meant them not as an expression of complacency, but as a warning. ‘What is worrying us,’ he went on, ‘is “Is it too good to be true?” or perhaps I should say “Is it too good to last?”‘

It is no wonder that we rarely remember what Macmillan really meant by his famous phrase. Even at the time, most people preferred to enjoy the fruits of consumerism rather than worry about the future. At the beginning of the 1950s, after all, Britain had been threadbare, bombed-out, financially and morally exhausted. Its major cities were still bombsites, it was almost impossible for many families to borrow money, rationing was harsher than ever, and there was an acute shortage of decent housing. Yet within less than ten years, everything had changed; indeed, perhaps more than any other post-war decade, it was the 1950s that transformed Britain’s social and cultural landscape.

As the economy began to boom, wages soared and unemployment almost disappeared, everyday life became more comfortable. Towns and cities were reshaped by council estates, tower blocks and shopping centres. Supermarkets transformed families’ shopping habits, while the television began to make inroads into their leisure time. Millions of people tuned in especially for the Coronation in 1953, with neighbours crowding into the houses of those lucky few who owned or rented sets. Inspired by the groundbreaking Festival of Britain, the design of the typical home, self-consciously upbeat and forward-looking, marked the transition to what contemporaries optimistically called the Space Age. And even the nation’s roads reflected the new spirit, symbolized by the opening of Britain’s first motorway, the Preston bypass, in 1958.

It was this extraordinary economic growth that paved the way for everything that followed. In particular, the youth culture of the day was entirely based on the emergence of a new teenage generation. Better housed and educated than ever before, the generation of Cliff Richard and Adam Faith enjoyed unprecedented financial independence. They watched television and read comics; they bought records and danced to rock music. In their carefree hedonism and economic assertiveness, they often shocked their elders: when ‘Rock Around the Clock’ reached Britain in 1955, there was much anguished talk of ‘rock and roll riots’. In truth, though, most teenagers were fairly conservative, individualistic and materialistic – just like their parents.

Yet as the reaction to rock and roll suggests, there was a thick vein of anxiety beneath the surface of the affluent society. Despite the apparent complacency of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan, many politicians were worried about Britain’s economic prospects. And though historians still argue about the extent of the famous ‘Butskellite’ consensus, epitomized by the moderate figures of R. A. Butler (Conservative) and Hugh Gaitskell (Labour), Britain’s political direction remained the stuff of ferocious debate. Inside the Labour Party, Aneurin Bevan’s resignation over the imposition of prescription charges in 1951 set the tone for a decade of bitter faction fighting. Inside the Tory Party, meanwhile, the abortive ‘Robot’ scheme to set the pound free a year later offered a hint of the emerging free-market doctrines that would eventually culminate in Thatcherism.

Видео Britain in The 1950s Documentary Life in the 50's❤️ канала The Retirement Report