The 1950s ... that decade of optimism

 I am looking at one of those to do lists we all make from time to time.

And given this is summer it is not surprising that our list should feature what to take on holiday.

It all looks familiar until you spot the items listed as Identity Card and Ration Card and we are suddenly in a time long before now. A time when everyone was issued with an identity card which had to be carried on your person and a change of address had to written on the card and registered at the relevant centre.

And walking in tandem with the identity card was your ration card which is a hint that we are in the early 1950s. Both were a legacy of the last war and in the case of rationing the card would still be necessary till 1953 when the last foods came off rationing.

And I can pin the list to 1952 when it appeared in the News of the World's Household Guide to and Almanac.

It is a treasure trove of lost insight into the 1950s. 

Now the 1950s in some ways remain more interesting than the much lauded "Swinging 60s".

It was after all the first full decade of peace and saw the end of rationing, a growing level of affluence which brought with it the expectation that everyone might share in a better life

 Compared to the bitter 1930s characterised by mass unemployment and the Means Test and followed by a hard war the 1950s were the optimistic decade. 

But that growing prosperity stubbornly wasn't shared by all just as parts of Britain recovered more quickly from the Great Depression. 

So, while my grandfather never had a permanent job after 1931 till the war time economy saw him in full employment, by contrast during the 1950s he was never again out of work. 

Not that l was aware of much of this.  Having been born in 1949 l was just past my tenth birthday when the 60s began. 

So, the guide offers up those snip bits of a period many of which never get into the serious history books.

And along with our holiday list there is an advert for "Blighty" which was one of those lighted hearted periodicals aimed at men.

It had launched in 1916 went through several reinventions changing its name along the way and finally emerging as Parade.

Now Parade l knew because back in the 1960s it occasionally came in to the house by routes l never understood. 

It was a mix of pinups, light articles as well as jokes, and offered guides and suggestions to the lifestyle all young men sgould aspire to.

I know that neither father of mother would have sought out the magazine and l do recall sometime around 13 summoning up the courage to buy copies for one shilling from the newsagents.

And to my eternal shame when we moved house I dumped the lot. Some behind the shed wall and some into a cupboard for which the key had been lost.

I had almost forgotten Parade with its titles like "June is busting out all over".

Although I do still have my identity card and some of the family ration cards which somehow survived the accidents of decluttering.

I have to thank Debbie Cameron for the gems from the Housekeeping Guide with their insights into how we lived and how the editor thought we should live.  

So please keep them coming Debbie

Location; 1952

Pictures from; News of the World's Household Guide and Almanac, courtesy of Debbie Cameron