As I try to unpick the relationship between the people and the politicians in post-war Britain I’m reflecting on some of the key events when the populace had a chance to express their opinion. Labour Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, had enjoyed five years of leading a majority government, following Labour’s landslide victory just two monthsContinue reading “A chance to be heard”
Author Archives: Isabella Muir
From top down to bottom up…
To help me get into the mindset of my fictional characters I have spent the last few years researching recent history. Those of you who are familiar with my novels will know they are all set during the iconic decade of the 1960s, a time when Britain experienced a significant cultural shift. To explore theContinue reading “From top down to bottom up…”
Calm your nerves…
Originally posted on Outset Publishing:
With the knowledge we have now about the dangers of smoking, it’s hard to believe that in 1940s Britain even doctors might advise lighting up as a way of calming a patient’s nerves. It would be a common sight to see GPs smoking in a surgery, doctors and patients smoking…
What’s a teenager?
Originally posted on Outset Publishing:
It might be strange to think about a time not so very long ago when the term ‘teenager’ didn’t exist. Now we accept it, but in 1940s Britain young people aged between thirteen and nineteen lived a very different life to the life they might live today. School leaving age…
Don’t stop for breath
Originally posted on Outset Publishing:
Factories offering no protection to their workers might be something we associate with Dickensian Britain. Workers subjected to long hours in harsh, polluting conditions – surely this belonged to the 19th century? Sadly, no. Thousands of factory and mine workers in 1940s Britain were subjected to dangerous working conditions that…
What’s your number?
Originally posted on Outset Publishing:
Nowadays telecommunication is considered so vital that even some children have mobile phones. Yet in 1940s Britain a landline telephone was so rare that barely ten percent of households had one. And if you did decide to have a phone installed you might choose to have a shared line to…
Combatting polio
Originally posted on Outset Publishing:
There were many horrors to contend with in 1940s Britain and cruelly it was often children who suffered, despite adults’ overwhelming desire to protect them. For during the latter part of that decade there were annual polio epidemics, striking down thousands of people in Britain – many of them children.…
No more than 2.4
Originally posted on Outset Publishing:
I’m sure there are many things that might trigger a rise in the birth rate – but consider these particular influencing factors for post-war Britain: couples were finally able to celebrate the end of six years of war wives and girlfriends could welcome the return of a loved one from…
This will do nicely…
Originally posted on Outset Publishing:
Consider how it must have been after the Second World War for millions of families who were all desperate for somewhere to live – somewhere ‘fit for purpose’, many having lost everything during the wartime London Blitz and similar devastation across the country. House building on a grand scale was…
Lessons to learn
Originally posted on Outset Publishing:
‘A landmark has been set up in English education’ Times Educational Supplement, 1944 Such was the general reception to the Butler Act of 1944. The paper’s editor went on to comment that ‘there shall be equality of opportunity, and diversity of provision without impairment of the social unity’. So why…
Isabella Muir 