UK life in the 1950's - 45-min documentary

[chanctonbury63]

Where is this?

[maccagrabme]

Life seemed ridiculously simple then. I thought we had it better today? That guy has the whole beach to himself!

[procrustesuk]

Wow, 45 minutes in the fifties only lasted ten modern minutes, no wonder everyone looked so old when I was a kid.

[IlanBoy2]

No sound because they're using either Standard 8 or possibly Super 8 cine cameras. No capacity for sound you loaded the film into a cine camera or inserted a Super 8 cassette. Less than 10 mins filming time and of course one needed to get the film developed which took several days and cost quite a bit. Then one needed an 8 mm film projector. Happy Days

[DurexDurpaneu2]

Wow ... Technology changed us so fucking much in such a short time! Next twenty years and we won't recognize this world anymore lol

[biffthebass1]

I think this is the 1960's as well. One of the cars gave it away. There was a VW there which could have been 50's or 60's, a Ford Prefect 100E which was manufactured between '53 to '59, but the clincher was the Ford Anglia 105E with the rakeback rear window parked up facing us in the film. That didn't come out until late 1959 for the 1960 season.

[jimmyriddles]

This is the mid 60's I am certain of that, I would say between 1965-66.

[spilsby88]

That woman is definitely scratching her back in the style of the seventies.

[christichic]

um, no sound??

[rojman123]

Wrong decade there buddy

[clemstevenson]

That Dusty Springfield trademark hairstyle wasn't even invented until about 1961 (in the USA), so this has to be the sixties.

[arickett68]

Definitely not the 1950's - nobody was taking trips on aeroplanes then - we had rationing still

[snowfield667]

@arickett68 Rationing ended in 1953. So obviously it didn't last long.

[chanctonbury63]

Where are the beach and cliff?

[atreewithnolife]

yeah defo the 60s

[Jagooar]

Cool footage, thanks.

[vinylseat]

Regarding the date of the film I would say that 1965 as mentioned by David is probably spot on. The Ford 100E car, 737 BTJ was registered in Jan 1960 and a Ford Anglia 105E is seen in the car park and these were not produced before 1959Still a very interesting bit of film that has stimulated some good responses. J.

[staypress]

london is a black islamic shitole now well done enoch

[YogibearGB]

It cannot be 1955, the ford 105e wasnt launched until 1959

[sammipink]

i remember the 1950 s well we were all hard up and did not have colour tv only a day trip to brighton but we seemed to be happier than we are now. Every body was more friendly as we were all in the same boat

[secretsrevealed1]

its still d same den as it is now but its 10 times worse now

[DavidRayner1947]

If this film is supposed to have been taken in January, 1955, the weather looks unusually sunny and warm, and why are the women sporting 1960's hairstyles? 1965, more likely.

[xbl2010]

@DavidRayner1947

because this was uploaded in 1955!

[vinylseat]

This may portray a family that were better off than most of us in the 50's. I arrived in 1948 into a post war age of austerity unimaginable to anyone born after 1960 but we still had odd days at Brighton and visits to my Grandparents at Middlesborough via the steam train. We certainly enjoyed ourselves and the modest holidays were paid for in cash. A far cry from todays image greedy society not satisfied unless it has had at least five fly away breaks in a year and none paid for out of savings.

[Zushoo]

so would you say that harold macmillan was wrong when he said 'life has never been so good'? unless he really was supplying a warning of a future of austerity

[vinylseat]

The average working man certainly had never had it so good. He probably owned a television, had paid holidays and could afford a few of the basic domestic appliances that made life a little easier. Women also were being liberated from a lot of the hard daily household work. I don't think austerity exists today as such. It really was a very difficult period after WW2 that few young people say born after 1960, that could cope with today. We now consider quite friverlous items as essentials. J.

[tbase26]

They had a colour camera to record it all - says all you need to know about their social class I imagine.

[vinylseat]

It may have biased it that way but all 8mm film movie cameras from around 1952 onwards used colour spool film. It was not that expensive but agree it was not on the general shopping list of your average bus driver. J.

[vinylseat]

A school mate of mine's dad had a choice in 1946 of a second hand movie camera or a carpet square for the living room. They decided to buy the camera as they said that movie of their new family could never be caught in the future and they could buy the carpet at a future date. How glad I am that they decided on the camera. The film today is priceless showing my mate as a baby and builders repairing bomb damage to their home. In those days you had to make a choice, Credit was never considered.

[UngratefulSwine]

The camera was indeed the right choice. I still have some film that my parents shot in the early sixties. It included a little of me as a tiny baby :)

[vinylseat]

@UngratefulSwine Yes it certainly was! Thank goodness it was invented at such an early period. History owes a lot to it.

[UngratefulSwine]

@vinylseat Indeed it does. The films I have have outlasted the projector we used to watch them with. I shall have to bring the films in somewhere to have them transferred to a more modern format :)

[sturdle]

@UngratefulSwine bet all the kids hair is still the same colour......loved it, put more on...

[staypress]

@vinylseat where did you come from in 48??

[vinylseat]

I was born near Wimbledon. We lived 1946 to 1956 in a third floor flat above a garage. No heating or hot water. No washing machine, fridge, or in fact anything of convenience. We had a radio and a wind up gramophone, that was our entertainment. My dad was a bus driver for London Transport. Mum had a hard life untill things brightened up in the mid 50's to 60's. We had it very hard but there were many thousands far worse off than us. It was an interesting period to live through. J.

[SamPD2]

@vinylseat, So I see that you are in your 60's vinylseat. Well, if anything, from what I hear, the times were good to live in, except for the Cold War and all.

But hey, I am a kid who was born in 95.

And it is rather intresting to hear someones thoughts on the time when they lived in that era. Heh, I bet I will be telling these comments in the future...

[vinylseat]

Yes Sam, 61! When your 18 you could NEVER imagine being 60... I must admit at times I wish I had been around 20 years earlier. I was a radio and television engineer all my life, a job now sadly obsolete. I also drive heavy lorries but that's another story. Cheers, J.

[SamPD2]

@vinylseat, Those jobs? Indeed they are obsolete, since the internet has taken over most of the entertainment mediem.

I am suprised to see someone from your era to use the internet, since most people don't catch up to the decade once they are in their 60's or 70's. But thats just me.

[vinylseat]

Yes I can see what you mean. I owned a radio and television sales /repair business for around 40 years so I have always been around new technology so computers were just another learning curve. When I started we had a 405 line mono television service with only 2 stations. 625/ colour/ stereo,widescreen/flatscreen, the skys the limit today! I have very wide interests particularly 20th century social history and road transport. Never bored. J.

[SamPD2]

@vinylseat, Really now? And what do you think of the new entertainment that has gone up by the users of YouTube?

And the reputation of WMG, which I should note, that has muted many videos here on YouTube.

[vinylseat]

Utube is a truly fantastic site. Certainly entertaining but more importantly educational. I have seen many things on Utube that I doubt I would have experienced without it. Truly fantastic! I may be old fashioned but I deplore the foul language used on many of the comments. Completely unnecessary, and futile but of course you will always have idiots that have nothing to offer other than insults and bad behaviour,,They rarely post anything of value. A real window on the World! J.

[UngratefulSwine]

@SAMPD2. There are a few exceptions: I have an uncle who is 73. He is a retired mathematics professor. He has always liked to keep up with advances in math and science, and still contributes articles to math journals. He also has never had any problem adjusting to advances in technology. He has told me that he does not experience nostalgia, which is indeed quite rare. :)

[SamPD2]

@UngratefulSwine.... Really?

That is rather hard to believe. So he can operate all this advance tech like it is nothing?

[UngratefulSwine]

Well, this varies somewhat, I suppose, but he does maintain his curiosity about it. He has a GPS in his car, and a palm-pilot type device. He also has both a recent PC and Apple. His mind is as sharp as ever. He has always been very active.

My father, on the other hand, was intimidated by a VCR, lol! :D

[UngratefulSwine]

Also, he is a Jesuit living in a Jesuit residence, so all household chores, as well as all cooking and laundry are done for him, which frees up a lot of time for him to pursue and develop his interests. He attends a fair amount of mathematics, science and theological conferences as well.

[snowfield667]

@vinylseat Harold Macmillan quoted for Britain in 1957 "You've never had it so good" because everything just came into our hands so quickly. 1953 everything stopped rationing and then by 1955, we were in the same boat as Americans.

[UngratefulSwine]

There was food rationing for quite a long time after the war.

[vinylseat]

@UngratefulSwine There certainly was rationing long after the war. Incredible as it may seem sweet rationing was still in force in 1953 8 years after the end of WW2

It was lifted just before the Coronation so that the kids could have a few sweets to celebrate. As a child born in 1948 sweets were a real treat and a packet of chrisps was a relished luxury. It seems a long time ago and I suppose it was but I can still recall many detailed periods of my young years.

[UngratefulSwine]

@vinylseat. Nice gesture to lift the rationing for that occasion.

I remember my father saying that oranges and bananas were considered exotic treats at Christmas time. He was from Germany.

[eatdogshitforlunch]

@vinylseat shut up you old fart

[nakedmambo]

@eatdogshitforlunch You shut up you little worm.

[boazrg]

It looked too good to be true. I have the distinct feeling that on would have to be a tory to own a boat or to be frolicking on a beach in 1950's Britain. Life was no bowl of peaches in the states either if you were not well off.

[polskich]

life in the 50s for the middle class, the working class did not have a pot to piss in and lived in poverty

[inyasp69]

Not surprised it doesn't remind you of brixton! Most of it was filmed in Dublin and Bray Co. Wicklow, Ireland.

[ChifleyLIB]

not quite as I remember life in the 1950s in Brixton

[rockchick89]

ahh thank you, this was a great help, i am writing a story for my english coursework, I needed an idea of life in the 1950's such as fashion, places, entertainment,

this was the perfect insight,

thank you !

[dogTag911]

not ver good at all:(