![]() ![]() 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.Īs the economy began to boom, wages soared and unemployment almost disappeared, everyday life became more comfortable. 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. At the beginning of the 1950s, after all, Britain had been threadbare, bombed-out, financially and morally exhausted. Even at the time, most people preferred to enjoy the fruits of consumerism rather than worry about the future. ![]() It is no wonder that we rarely remember what Macmillan really meant by his famous phrase. ‘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?”‘ Macmillan meant them not as an expression of complacency, but as a warning. ![]() Yet like so many political quotations, they are often misunderstood. ‘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. Finally, there is an opportunity to consider film sources as interpretations of these events in relation to the documents by following the links to Pathé and the BFI provided here.įor many people, the 1950s were a golden age. For example, there are cabinet papers relating to the death penalty, taxation under the conservatives, immigration and the National Health Service. Students could also use more documents from our Cabinet Papers website. Alternatively, teachers may wish to use the collection to develop their own resources or encourage students to ‘curate’ their own ‘exhibition’ of the most significant sources on the topic. The documents should offer them a chance to develop their powers of evaluation and analysis and support their course work. Students could work with a group of sources or source type on a certain theme or linked themes. Please also note that in a couple of cases sources relating to the same topic appear in the same popup window so it is necessary to scroll from side to side to explore them in detail. The documents themselves are arranged according to theme, so that sources are grouped together rather than following a strict chronological order. The purpose of this document collection is to allow students and teachers to develop their own questions and lines of historical enquiry on the political and social aspects of 1950s Britain. ![]() Photo: Auckland Museum / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.Download documents and transcripts Teachers' notes In that spirit, this list looks at some other expressions from the Great Depression that might be worth reviving. Slang from the Great Depression almost all concerns poverty, alcohol, and criminal activity of some kind. This isn't entirely surprising, as many people in poverty turned to either alcohol or crime to escape their dire straits.īut none of that means the language of the day is obsolete. On the contrary, the 1930s was also a time of great comic genius that produced some of the cleverest quips in American English. We still use some of 1930s expressions today, such as referring to prison as the "big house," or calling a gun a "gat" (originally short for "Gatling gun"). A huge amount of retro slang from the 1930s shows the country was anxiety-ridden and nervous, but chose to make light of its fears with clever turns of phrase. This great change gave birth to a host of 1930s slang terms. This post-Roaring '20s economic depression era brought a new way of life that shaped the rest of the century for many Americans. The 1930s were a unique time in American history. ![]()
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