16/4/24
This book is a social History of Britain from the end of the WW2 till the book was written. .
I only made notes on the period ending in 1963 the first 230 pages.
I needed an understanding of the 1950s when I was a kid and my Dad returned from 5 years of war to home in Johannesburg , South Africa.
Prologue
Anybody who experienced the years of shortages, queues , rationing should not dismiss the triumph of shopping and consumerism. PM Neville Chamberlin's peace in our time made him a national hero, until Hitler turned him into a national fool. Clement Attlee and Author Greenwood, were solid for fighting on and not negotiating with Hitler.
The War changed Britain physically and industrially. The parliament in 1945 was the same one elected in 1935 a Commons frozen in time.
Green England's grip on the national imagination should not be under estimated, but he global economy of cheap grain from the US prairies between 1830 and 1940 resulted the workers leaving the countryside forever.
1933 with the depression a quarter of the British workforce was unemployed. Every town had different trades, Staffordshire pottery, Leicester boots, socks and typewriters. Nottingham female workers in lace, Bradford wool and was strongly influenced by German Jews, Coventry cars and Sheffield cutlery, Dundee jute. Coal was still primitive pick digging and was a mass of underinvested companies.
Before the war 60,000 German Jews arrived in England .William Beverage set up the Academic Assistance Council to help Jewish refugees from the Nazis, with public donations 2600 escaped to to UK and later 20 of those won Nobel prizes. Irish were arriving and they found jobs as there was such a scarcity of workers. Ireland was neutral during the war. By the end of the war 120,000 Polish soldiers who did not want to return to their Russian occupied homeland remained.
American movies and music arrived long before the GIs. Chain stores selling brighter clothes and more American influence. There was a yearning for a government that worked to end unemployment. The war made democracy fashionable. Even when the war ended the Brits were fighting somewhere. Greece, Cyprus, Palestine , Korea , Malaya ,Iraq, Ireland, Falkland. These maintained a level of patriotism in the 'silent majority'.
British government both Labour and Tory duly got rid of the empire and refocus as a junior partner in the cold war.
Britain's performance providing for the wellbeing of its people, brought employment , a safety net, and brought people out of poverty, despite the ferocious economic conditions.
Recently we have seen the retreat of faith and ideology replaced by consumerism.
During the war 256,000 men died and 60,000 civilians as opposed to the million lost during WW1 in action.
Britain after the War
1945 Never has military success be so personally associated with one civilian leader, and Churchill was at his peak with triumph. Many Tories believe that the military foisted socialism on the troops . Of 22 MPs killed fighting only 1 was not conservative. The Labour conference is remembered for its youthful delegates including Roy Jenkins and Denis Healy and they gave out a blueprint of what they intended to do after the end of the war. Churchill campaign was against sinister socialism conspiracy and the British Gestapo it would established. This suggestion was grossly offensive. All Churchill could offer seemed suitable for post the Boer War. He also realized that better Labour deal with the disappointments to follow the war.
Clement Attlee, Herbert Morrison and Ernest Bevin were the 3 prominent Labour leaders. Attlee went straight to the Palace where the fiercely conservative king handed him control. Attlee would become the nation changing PM in modern time. He changed the health and welfare structure of the country and the UK became more dependent on the US ties. He understood early that the dying imperium meant that the Brits were no longer a world power.
1946 Families were so crowded many in homes of parents, or sibling and then 45,000 the moved into the abandoned army camps. Of a total of 60 million ,38 million had changed address during the war and 75,000 new homes were needed.
1945 Sept. Truman ended the Lend Lease program, resulting in Britain not having enough $ to feed the county. The Brits were victors but circumstances were more like losers. They had been early to enter the war and the manufacturing economy was not for export but for munitions. By the end of the war effort everything including food was coming from the US. Maynard Keynes went to American and wanted a $ 6 billion interest free loan and only got $3.75 billion at 2% which was finally paid off in 2006.
Labour had to deal grapple with the Indian Independence crises in Greece, Cyprus, Palestine, demobilization.
Ernest Bevin was the most influential Trade Union leader and Labour leader. He is remembered for stopping the Exodus from landing Palestine in 1947 to appease the Arabs as the British needed Arab oil. In the first year after the war Labour passed 70 bills. They were Patriots first and Socialists second. Labor would used the lessons from war to work in peace. They understood that they had to turn the waning empire into a free association of independent democratic states.
The Admiralty now ended and it became part of the Defense Ministry. Of 8800 people working for the navy at the end of the war only 1800 ere left 2 years later. Dockyard ship builders were now all needed to build housing. The US had proved that the navy needed aircraft carriers and so most naval ships were sent to the scrapheap or converted to other uses.
1947 The King was no longer Emperor as India was independent. It was a clever move sending Lord Mountbatten a Royal not a politician to be the last Viceroy. They never managed to keep India whole whereas if they had given it Independence before the war might have. 55000 British had to return home. In the 30s there were 8000 Indians in the UK 10% of them doctors and there were no Indian restaurants.
1947 Winter was the bleakest 3 months ever. Everything froze and the power stations which produced 90% of electricity from coal which froze in heaps. Winding gears on the mines froze up and everything had to be rationed even bread which had never been rationed in the war years . This later gave Tories ammunition to turn Labour out. Roads and railways were blocked by snowdrifts and Vegetables were frozen till the weather warmed up.
The £ went into free fall as the world changed them for $.
What was happening in Palestine with the Irgun attacking the British caused anti-Semitic outbreaks in the UK with a synagogue burned .
1947 The Royal Wedding of Phillip and Elizabeth brought a lot of color to peoples lives. Phillips remaining 3 sisters were not invited they had all married Germans even Nazis. The wedding was a big radio event and later seen at the cinema.
1948 The country cheered up with the Olympics in London which was a triumph even though Britain won few medal she was now back. Athletes were put up in empty army camps.
1948 Washington now realized that demoralized west Europe was in danger of Soviet advances and brought in the Marshall plan. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and western Germany received aid.
Before the war 60% of Britain was working class. The war softened class differences with middle class women working in factories. Public school boys sent to work in coal mines. (Bevin Boys) Labour's Welfare State would now require hundreds of white collar workers. Parkinson's Law work expand to fill the time available. More children stayed at school now to 15 and even to 18. However the education reform was meant to help working class children , but first helped the middle class. There were too few teachers and a shortage of school furniture. Public Radio started bring music and literature to a wider audience.
Public school education still remained the key for anyone who wanted to go into the City or civil service.
Public housing outpaces private housing but there was very little material available and surplus percepts from airplanes started being used even for shoes. Aluminum was available for furniture and air force material was dyed and used as couch covers.
Cosmetics were not available and cities all smelt of coal smoke. Many wore coats to hide their rumpled baggy clothes and all wore hats A make do ethos and when teenagers outgrew their pants and ankle's showed.
Wartime rationing had increased the health of the working class and by 1945 children were growing taller. Rationing was as complex as moving armies around and there was an expansion of school meals. Meat continued to be rationed till 1954.
1948 Culturally there were a lot of Christian theme with the work of TS Eliot who won the Nobel prize for books like Murder in the Cathedral . CS Lewis his tales of Narnia were Christian allegories'. Divorced people were not welcome in court and smut and pornographic books were considered foreign.
1948 National Health NHS was implemented. Labour created the NHS and brought in welfare payments and state insurance "from the cradle to the grave" they nationalized coal and steel. They demobilized a vast army and changed the armament factories back to peaceful purposes. School leaving age was raised to 15 and sent troops to the Korean War.
Churchill and William Beverage never got on and when Beverage during the war nagged about the Welfare state he was told to do research on what was needed . He wanted to slay 5 giants poverty, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. He brought out the Beverage Report. A 100,000 copies of it were sold and it was spread amongst the troops. Churchill said it would be too expensive to implement but it boosted morale of the troops.
400, 000 German POW were in UK when the war ended and they provided 25% of agricultural workers. Officer were kept to de Nazify them. They had wanted to keep them till 1948. By the end of 1947, 250,000 were repatriated and the last returned home in Nov.1948, 24 thousand chose to remain in the UK.
Consumerism was regarded with disdain my ministers for American influence, but would erupt. Movies from Hollywood were taxed to encourage British cinema. Wonderful comedy movies were produced in this period at Ealing studios. There were 4,600 cinemas in the country at its peek. The British film industry was turning out a steady stream of movies of every genre, but was not able to compete with Hollywood. From 1957 to 1985 there was a box office tax on movie goers to subsidize British movies. Michael Balcon a Jewish entrepreneur was moving the British cinema ahead.
For protein horses were butchered. Whale meat, and tinned snoek were imported from South African the snoek (not a canning fish) turned powdery and was sold off as dogs food. South Africa was prepared to take £ while the $ for food from the US where in short supply.
Soldiers left the army with demob. suits hats and ties, and shoes showing prosperity was postponed. These suits were produced like army uniforms.
London theater carried a whiff of Oscar Wilde as Ivor Novella, Noel Coward, John Gielgud, Terrance Rattinger Beaton were all gay, Later on a number of the Cambridge spies were found to be gay which brought a lot of suspicion onto all gays. Homosexualism was long illegal but was not prosecuted unless acts with children occurred. Attacking homosexuals helped sell papers.
Because nothing new had been written for post war Shakespeare plays were put on and had a big comeback. Look back in Anger was a play by a new your writer John Osborn, Lawrence Olivier approached him and asked him if you could write a play for him. Osborn was bowled over, and this was Olivier's shrewdest move.
Harold Pinter Birthday Party baffled the public and almost failed till it was rescued by one review sending Pinter on to the greatest career.
The Cold War shaped post war Europe. Disorganized British industry could not compete with German organization. The the 1949 Marshall plan raised the economy by a tenth.
All the top Labour leaders and Tories were ill from long working hours and dying at a relatively you age from cigarettes and alcohol while Churchill with cigars and whiskey had great longevity. I'll heath and botched operations resulted in Gaitskell , Edan and Macmillan succumbing.
1949 Labour produced NATO as a way to deal with Washington.
1951 Cultural Festival was a great success for the Labour party a farewell and a flourish that marked to end of the Hungry forties.
1953 Ian Fleming first James Bond book Casino Royale. The defection of the Cambridge spies did a lot of harm to the Conservative party and MI5 and Ian Flemings books were to restore that confidence with James bond capable of everything and his up to date gadgets. The movies were later made by Hollywood money and were a great financial success. Bond was supposed to have been a Public school boy but Sean Connery who acted the first 5 movies was a Scott of working class background.
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1951 The Tories took over to a Land of Lost Content . Tories were grey conformist and gave 13 years of misrule. Of the 16 all males in Churchill cabinet only 2 were not public school boys, and later with Macmillan 35 of 85 minister were related to him. Churchill was only interested in war and the Cold war and tried to bring the powers together to negotiate after Stalin died. he first used the word "summit". After the war he was not adverse to a fully political united Europe.
1952 the pound under Chancellor of Exchequer was cut free and floated boosting British exports for a short while.
1957 Private homosexualism was legalized between consenting adults above the age of 21.
Every woman was a housewife who wore corset and hats and never trousers. Men shirts were bought separate from collars. National service replaced conscription and lasted till 1963.
1963 there were 250,000workers in domestic service. There were major British companies in oil, tobacco, shipping and finance. People were openly patriotic and per capita the UK was the second richest country in the world.
Antony Edan met Nasser briefly and lectured him in Arabic. Suez was supposed to return to Egypt in 1968 but Nasser took it in 1956. The discussions on the war in cabinet can't be known as no records were kept and notes destroyed. Large numbers of the public for the first time in history protested against the going to war. Antony Edan Should have been a very good PM but as he had to wait so long to get the job he was too old
Alex Issigonis a son of Greek immigrant who fled from Ottoman Smyrna designed the Morris Minor car. With the petrol shortages after the Suez crises he was commissioned to design the Mini Minor. The unique thing of the mini was that its engine faced sideways to fit it into the bonnet space. It was sold for £350 and eventually 5 million were sold. It sales however only came after Lord Snowden and Princess Margaret were seen whizzing in it around London as well as other celebrates and it became an emblem of cool chic youthful impertinence but not a working class car.
Railway lines that never paid were cut and roads started being build and trucking was in private hands and roads and highways began to be build. Premium Bonds came as in a form of motional lottery.
1956 P&O had 366 vessel and was the worlds largest shipping company. Triumph motor bikes were a big seller and Marlin Brando starred in The Wild Bunch on a 1954 Triumph. However after that Yahama , Honda and Suzuki entered the race of motor bikes.
1957 The treaty of Rome. This was the beginning of the EEC Europe Economic Community a customs union between Belgium France Italy West Germany, Luxembourg and Netherlands. Britain could have joined but she believed she was more part of the British Commonwealth and English speaking world.
1958 First parking meters introduced into London as well as yellow lines, roundabouts and flyovers. Ernest Maple did not promote the railways as he had a conflict of interest he owned a motorway construction company. So the motoring age came about.
In periods when Labour was in opposition it fell into gangs that seem to tare itself apart.
1960 Macmillan speech in Cape Town "winds of change " was noted not because of what he said but because it took place in a white supremacism South African parliament. The speed of scuttling of Britain's possessions in Africa happened were remarkable little debate at home.
The rules to immigration to Britain then were first be white, if not be small in number. West Indian migration did not come to open restaurants but to work for wages. It was mostly men sending home remittances. The NHS and London Transport sent agents recruiting, drivers and nurses. The alternative was going to the US which closed down in 1952 to West Indians
Mandy Rice Davis was asked in court about Lord Bill Astor's denial of sex with her she replied "He would say that wouldn't he" The assumption that the rich and powerful men were liars, this caught the nations mood.
At the start of the 60s France swapped the great Catholic families for the intellectual elites, German industrialist cooperated to assault world markets. In the US the grand Ivy league Collages joined with Washington and Wall Street.. Democracies elites required prestige to succeed by the British elites failed the tests and Britain's output was growing more slowly.
1962 The Commonwealth Immigration Act limited immigration to 40,000 immigrants a year with rights of immigration of dependents. Irish Republic was a bone of contention as it had be neutral during the war but they still got a better deal than the others. 50 thousand a year from India and Pakistan and 20 thousand from Hong Kong.
1964 As a result of the Profumo scandal Labour won by 4 seats in the election.
13 years of Tory rule were wasted according to Harold Wilson but this was followed by 15 years of Labour where modern British rose and failed.
1964 The Brits were considered well manners and lawful, this was the year that execution by hanging ended.
1965 More than 8 thousand people were being killed on the roads. Barbra Castle Safety Act brought in breath analyses and seat belts because as soon as pubs closed in the evening the hospitals could expect drunk driver to arrive. Britain's roads after that were congested but safe.
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