If you can make sense of a wheel chair bound octogenarian with one leg and violent sciatica, hence scrawl, Good Luck!
Social - Them and us. 80% lived not far above the bread line
15% lived well
5% very well
Trains – Third class wooden seats. Buses - wooden seats and open tops, good in summer, dreadful in winter. Air travel - non-existent except for cross channel. We had bad train disasters and they didn’t always run on time. Cars – about 1,500, 000/2,000, 000, very little congestion, cars now 7000 000 plus!
For the mass if any money left, Blackpool, Bournemouth, hop picking.
30, 000 went abroad (guessed at, probably lower) Now over 6,000. 000. Holiday period 7 t0 10 days. Working week Monday to Saturday morning.
National Health – Unknown
Drug Habits – Unknown
Transplants – Unknown
Antibiotics – Unknown
Cloning – Science Fiction?
Totally English for the mass (them!) Roast meats, potatoes and badly cooked veg. Fish and Chips, Beer, what was wine? I mention with nostalgia those delicious pints which came through the hedge from the ‘Battle Axes’. Got six for it too!
Super Markets – non-existent
Choice seasonal, but limited.
Limited to 3R’s for the mass
Higher standards at Public Schools, Grammar and Church. Entrance to University very limited except for payed and scholarship. Now everyone can go.
Corporal punishment rife, pretty harmless except for scarred backside!
Never heard of them though we tried hard enough.
Marriage ‘de rigueur’ God help you if you weren’t. Stigma on you and children.
Mainly dominated by the Conservative Party, obsessive and traditional for all parties. Imperial Britain was to the fore. Media confined to newspapers, mags and radio, controlled by vested interests. Thinking conditioned by the great depression of the 30’s and the General Strike. A period of isolationism apart from Empire.
The rise of Sir Oswald Mosely and the British Union of Fascists.
Pubs. Public Bar for ‘them’ and ‘saloon’ for us! Clubs for ‘us’, not in Night Clubs. Youth Clubs unknown. Cinemas crowded.
C of E dominated but attendances dwindling in all denominations.
I’ve done hooligans. Generally much more disciplined, instilled by fear, which we called ‘respect for the law’!
SEX no change
French were ‘froggies’. Italians – ‘wops’. Germans ‘huns’. Coloureds hardly ever seen.
Clothing – For the mass pretty horrible. 50 shilling tailors. Cloth caps and waistcoats. The girls with tightly permed hair, often platinum blond, badly dressed. Pierced noses and belly buttons were left to a later generation.
Only Chinese women wore trousers!
The fashions at Henley were just as ridiculous as they are now!!
Appliances - The following were all unknown:- TV, Washing Machines, Mobile telephones, Dish washers, Videos, Computers, Atomic energy, Hovercraft, Microwave ovens,
Calculators, Chip watches, Internet, Space travel.
Personally I am quite undistinguished. Academically poor. At Aldenham I was a conscientious objector not through conviction, but found out I could get Friday afternoons off, which was devoted to the TA. Subsequently I joined up at the outbreak of war, spent 7 years in the Army and finished up as a Staff Officer. My great friend at Aldenham was Leslie Manser who won the VC in Bomber Command. We spent 3 months together at Monte Carlo just prior to the war. He is sadly missed. My uncle, Marshall of the Royal Air Force, Sir Arthur Harris (Bomber) was Commander in Cheif of Bomber Command. A cousin Cannon Collins of St Paul’s, started the CND with Bertrand Russell. Anti bomber!
Another cousin James Cassel, GOC Rhine Army, GOC Korea and finally Chief of the Defence staff. A further cousin was Admiral of the Fleet, Dick Omslow (4 x DSO’s), Commander in Cheif Western Approaches.
My sister was SOE and served as an agent in France. Last year at 85 she went paragliding!!. I cannot remember Hitler Youth visiting Aldenham, it may have been after my time. I am probably the last Englishman who shook hands with Hitler. In 1936 I was in Schnau just by Berchtesgaden with my sister. We were invited to visit a Hitler Youth Camp. Hitler came down from his Eagle’s Nest to visit the camp and as the only two English there we were introduced. I wish I had known what the b…. was going to do!!
I am a fortunate man with three splendid daughters. My wife died 15 years ago.
I wish Aldenham well. I enjoyed my stay and look back on it with affection.