The Baby Boomer Generation E-Book

Paul Feeney

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 295

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Do you remember washing in a tin bath by the fire, using outside lavatories and not having a television? Did you grow up in the 1950s and were you a teenager in the swinging sixties? If the Festival of Britain, food rationing and the Queen's coronation are among your earliest memories then you belong to the post-war baby boomer generation. How did we end up here, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, when it all just seems like yesterday? In this fascinating new trip down memory lane, Paul Feeney remembers what it has been like to live through the eventful second half of the twentieth century. This nostalgic journey through an era of change will resonate with anyone who began their innocent childhood years in austerity and has lived through a lifetime of ground-breaking events to the much changed Britain of today.

Leseprobe

To all the baby boomers we lost along the way

Contents

Title

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

One 1940s – Victory and the Post-War Baby Boom

Two 1950s – Childhood Austerity and Innocence

Three 1960s – From Gymslips to Miniskirts

Four 1970s – Kipper Ties, Shagpile and Discontent

Five 1980s – 30-somethings in Leg Warmers

Six 1990s – Pass the Reading Glasses

Seven Into the Twenty-first Century

Copyright

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people and organisations for giving permission to reproduce photographs in this book: pages 4 (bottom), 5 (top), and 7 (top) Author/Remington Images. Pages 1 (top), 5 (bottom), 11 (top), and 16 (top and bottom) Getty Images. Page 2 (bottom) Gwen Lippingwell. Pages 3 (top) and 6 (bottom), Elizabeth Wallace. Page 4 (top) Picture Post/Getty Images. Page 6 (top) Gwen Lippingwell and Denise Baldwin. Page 8 (top) Josh Reynolds. Page 9 (bottom) John Gay/English Heritage, NMR/Mary Evans. Page 10 (top left) Mary Evans Picture Library/Bill Coward. Page 13 (bottom) Mary Evans/The Watts Collection. Page 14 (top) Illustrated London News/Mary Evans. All other pictures and illustrations are from the author’s collection. Every reasonable care has been taken to avoid any copyright infringements, but should any valid issue arise then I will look to correct it in subsequent editions.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.

Preface

It would take a lifetime’s work and a volume of books to explain the complete history of life in Britain post-1945. This book is intended to provide a condensed insight into the life and times of those who were born in the years immediately following the Second World War when there was a sharp increase in the birth rate, known as the baby boom. There was another baby boom in the early 1960s and because of that the period from 1946 to 1964 is often referred to as the baby boom period. However, the term ‘post-war baby boomer’ is used to describe the generation born between 1946 and 1952. This book covers the period from 1945 to 2012 and I hope it will act as a valuable lesson in British social history for young and old alike. More importantly, I trust it will serve to jog memories of times gone by for anyone who was around in the days before television took control of our lives and the nation became obsessed with modern-day consumerism. Above all, this trip back in time will touch each and every member of the post-war baby-boomer generation and remind them of their own journey through life, from as far back as their childhood in the austere Britain of the 1940s and 1950s, through to the smart technological age we live in today. The country and our whole way of life have changed beyond recognition and there is no going back, but we need to remember the past and learn from it, and some of us just need to wallow in the joys of nostalgia from time to time.

Paul Feeney

Victory and the Post-War Baby Boom

At 7.40 p.m. on Monday 7 May 1945, BBC Radio reported that Germany had surrendered to the Allies and the war in Europe was over. It was declared that Tuesday 8 May would be an official day of celebration and a public holiday, which would be called Victory in Europe (VE) Day. The prime minister, Winston Churchill, was to make an official announcement the following afternoon. A whole week had gone by since news had reached us that Hitler had shot himself in the mouth and the British people were growing increasingly frustrated because, as yet, there had been no official broadcast from 10 Downing Street, and now Churchill was going to make everyone wait another day. There were rumours that German delegates had visited Field Marshal Montgomery’s headquarters in Lüneburg Heath in northern Germany to surrender their armies to the Western Allies, but we knew nothing for certain. There was a shroud of secrecy over events and we didn’t know what was delaying the official announcement. The British people were not told at the time, but there were very good reasons why the war had dragged on for those extra few days. One reason was that the Allies were insistent they would only accept an unconditional surrender from Germany and nothing less. Then there was the problem with the German troops who had chosen to continue fighting the Russian Red Army on the Eastern Front rather than being captured by them, because they feared that the Russians might seek cruel retribution for the atrocities committed against their people during the German invasion of Russia. The final delaying factor was that the Allies had bowed to Russia’s insistence that the unconditional surrender be kept secret until Wednesday 9 May, but this agreement was scuppered by the Germans when they broke the news to their own people on German radio at 2.27 p.m. on Monday 7 May, and word of it soon spread around the world. Hence, everyone knew the war in Europe was over but the British public needed to hear it first-hand from the prime minister himself.

Meanwhile, throughout Britain, shop windows had been decked-out with tri-coloured rosettes and banners in anticipation of Churchill’s imminent declaration of peace in Europe. At least the public now knew that they only had to wait one more day to hear Churchill’s official broadcast. The interim news report of Germany’s surrender was enough to trigger an immediate release of the tension that had been building up for several days. It was a big relief to everyone; it was as if people suddenly felt able to breathe again and the feeling of liberation produced a spontaneous outpouring of emotion. The public could not contain their overwhelming feeling of joy and they made it clear that they had no intention of waiting until the next day to begin celebrating their victory in Europe. All at once, a sea of red, white and blue began to spread across the nation; bunting was hung in criss-cross patterns along the streets and Union Jacks were draped from upstairs’ windows and lampposts. Although the mood in the country was a mixture of jubilation and sombre reflection, there was an irresistible desire for everyone to celebrate. The public outburst of pent-up emotion was not confined to a number of brash exhibitionists playing to an audience of onlookers; the news was so good that it inspired thousands of ordinary men and women, who would not usually say boo to a goose, to temporarily shed their inhibitions and dance in the street alongside complete strangers.

In London, where the biggest celebrations took place, the street scenes portrayed an atmosphere of unbridled happiness, which created a mood of genuine friendliness among people from all walks of life. Thousands of revellers besieged the areas around Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and the noisy festivities continued on throughout the evening. As night fell it became quite dark because there were no streetlights due to the blackout rules, but this did not deter the revellers. Adopting their typical wartime ‘make do’ attitude, the crowds used newspapers to build small bonfires on the pavements to supplement beams of light emanating from night buses, which were slowly weaving their way through the hordes of high-spirited people filling the main roads. Even the overnight storm did not dampen the ever-increasing euphoria generating from the growing crowds. The police estimated that by midnight there were 50,000 people packed into Piccadilly Circus and celebrations were continuing to gather pace throughout London, and in every other town and city around the country. That evening, for the first time since the war began, the BBC was allowed to broadcast the weather forecast and it promised good weather ahead.

The merriment carried on overnight and Tuesday 8 May, VE Day, turned out to be a glorious summer’s day. People wore their Sunday best and women added to the cheerfulness of the day by sporting brightly coloured summer dresses. Newspaper headlines shouted ‘Germany Surrenders’. In London, there was hardly a cloud in the sky: perfect weather for the thousands of people who had crammed themselves into Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square and other public areas around central London to hear the King’s speech, which was to be relayed on specially erected loudspeakers. The country was very loyal to King George VI and the people undoubtedly shared the sentiment shown in his heart-rending ‘Thanksgiving’ speech that day, but it was the words of Prime Minister Winston Churchill that they were most eager to hear. Their patience was eventually rewarded at 3.00 p.m. that day when Churchill made his famous ‘End of War in Europe’ speech to the nation, broadcast live from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street. In it, he announced that Germany had signed the act of unconditional surrender at 2.41 a.m. the previous day at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in Rheims, France. Churchill confirmed that the ceasefire was already in place and that hostilities would end officially at one minute past midnight that night. The assembled crowds cheered loudly and waved their flags even more vigorously when they heard Churchill say the words ‘God bless you all. This is your victory!’ Hearing this touching phrase sparked renewed outbursts of loud cheering and enthusiastic flag-waving from the crowds of proud and happy people who had congregated in open spaces in every town and city across the length and breadth of the country. Church bells rang out throughout the land to mark the momentous occasion.

In London, the tightly packed areas around Whitehall echoed with the sounds of rapturous shouts of approval, which rebounded off the walls of government buildings and tall office blocks. On hearing Churchill’s words, ‘This is your victory!’ the crowd roared back, ‘No, it’s yours!’ in acknowledgement of Churchill being the hero of the day. Everybody starting kissing one another and some formed themselves into lines to have a knees-up and sing popular pub songs like ‘Knees Up Mother Brown’ and ‘The Lambeth Walk’. All of a sudden, from out of nowhere, musicians began to arrive on the scene, playing all kinds of musical instruments, from accordions to barrel organs. Upright pianos were dragged out of local pubs into the street and groups of British and Allied servicemen and women, arm in arm with civilians, gathered around to sing their favourite wartime songs. They belted out their own renditions of ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ and ‘Roll Out The Barrel’, many sounded like a cats’ chorus but nobody cared. With rolled-up trousers and hitched-up skirts, men and women frolicked in the fountains of Trafalgar Square. The lower ledges of Nelson’s Column were full to overflowing with excited onlookers while others sat astride each of the four monumental bronze lions, flag-waving and cheering. Fathers carried their young children shoulder high to protect them from the crushing crowds. All over the country, in the local backstreets there were thousands of children’s street parties in full swing, with youngsters laughing and grinning in between mouthfuls of cake and jelly: party food they had only ever before dreamed of. There was a great show of pride and patriotism throughout the nation. Everybody wore something in colours of red, white and blue; even small children and babies had tri-colour ribbons in their hair and pet dogs were tagged with patriotic rosettes and decorative bows. Back in London, as evening fell, more and more people converged on the area around Trafalgar Square to see London’s great monuments illuminated, floodlit specially for the occasion. There were firework displays all around the capital and effigies of Hitler were burned on bonfires. Then, after six long years of blackout, the streetlights came on. This was another welcome sight to highlight the fact that the war in Europe really was over. Some people found the party atmosphere too manic and the crushing crowds too hard to bear. And so, having set off early to travel into the capital from the outer suburbs of London and the Home Counties, they went home. When they got there, some joined in with local celebrations while others allied themselves to the many who had chosen to spend their time at home in quiet reflection. All around the country, people marked the day in many different ways, but everybody went to bed that night knowing that they could at last sleep in peace. There would be no air-raid sirens and no bombs to fear, but they would never forget what had gone before.

During the war, few British towns or cities escaped the bombardments from enemy aircraft, with Bootle, Hull, Birmingham and Coventry being among those that suffered the most. But, from the start of the Blitz in September 1940 and throughout the war, it was London that took the brunt of the incessant German bombing raids and suffered the most destruction and the highest number of casualties. Now, at long last, people would no longer need to fear the terrifying buzzing sound of approaching German V-1 flying bombs or Doodlebugs, as they were commonly known, and the newer and even more terrifying V-2 rockets, which travelled faster than the speed of sound and gave no warning before impact. Nevertheless, residents in urban areas of the country were haunted by recollections of the sheer terror they had experienced during the war. The enormous amount of destruction and the indiscriminate killings these missiles inflicted on innocent civilians were all too fresh in their memories. Those who were fortunate enough to have escaped any bodily damage still carried the mental scars of war: vivid memories of enemy attacks and the loved ones they had lost, the sound of victims’ cries for help coming from beneath the rubble of bombed and collapsed houses, and the horrible smell of burning buildings and powdered brick dust that regularly filled the air. It had only been six weeks since the very last German V-2 missiles had fallen on London, on 27 March 1945, one having made a direct hit on Hughes Mansions in the Stepney area of London, killing 134 residents and leaving 49 seriously injured. On that same day, the final V-2 had landed in Orpington, Kent, killing housewife Mrs Ivy Millichamp, who was the last civilian to die as a result of enemy action over Britain during the Second World War. The horrors and torment of war were indelibly stamped upon everyone’s mind and nerves remained very raw. Despite this, there were few who could suppress the happiness they now felt in the knowledge that those six long years of wartime destruction and misery were now at an end. At last, Nazism had been defeated.

Meanwhile, the war against Japan in Asia and the Pacific continued unabated, but that war was also expected to end soon. It did so shortly after the USA dropped two atomic bombs, one on Hiroshima and the other on Nagasaki. Just three months after the Allied victory over Germany in Europe, the Japanese emperor, Hirohito, made a radio broadcast announcing Japan’s unconditional surrender. The Allies declared the historic day of Wednesday 15 August 1945 to be Victory over Japan (VJ) Day and it was to be marked by a two-day holiday in the UK, the USA and Australia. Once again the people took to the streets and the scenes of jubilation were repeated. For the British people, this was the ultimate celebration because it marked the end of the horrible world war. No more British servicemen and women need die in battle and loved ones could start to come home. The biggest conflict in history, the Second World War, formally ended on 2 September 1945, several days after the VJ Day celebrations, when the Japanese finally signed the surrender document on board the American battleship, USS Missouri, in Tokyo Bay.

Amidst the excitement of Britain’s victory celebrations, there were many people who had to face up to crucial and sometimes upsetting changes that the war had caused in their personal lives. There was a coming together of war-torn families, friends and sweethearts, and some of these reunions were not at all easy. Many child evacuees returned home as strangers to their parents, having spent their formative childhood years living with foster parents miles from home. Some never managed to adjust to their change in circumstances, rejecting their real parents and wanting to go back to their foster parents. After all, imagine a 12-year-old child returning to a war-torn inner-city home after having lived in a quiet country village as part of a loving adoptive family since the age of 6. It was hard for all concerned; the homecoming children often spoke with unfamiliar regional accents they had picked up from local people in the area they had been evacuated to, and their real home life was very different from what they had been used to when living in the country. For some, having spent such a long time apart, even their brothers and sisters were now strangers to them. Not all siblings had been evacuated during the war, however, many children stayed at home or returned home within weeks of being evacuated and so their family bond was not broken, unlike those who had spent years away from home. It was a very difficult and sad situation; there were parents who felt guilty for having sent their children away to the country and some children carried the mental scars of evacuation with them for the rest of their lives.

Then there were the problems of battle-weary servicemen returning home from war. Many had been changed physically or mentally, or both, by the effects and the long duration of the war. Young people in particular struggled to come to terms with each other’s new behaviour as time spent apart sometimes turned a one-time lover into a stranger. The young teenage boys who went off to war six years before were returning home as full-grown men, often shell-shocked and traumatised by the horrifying things they had witnessed. They longed to see their sweethearts who in younger days had sworn their undying love, but sadly, some were not waiting at home with open arms as they were expected to be. They too had experienced the strains of war, having been left at home to suffer the austere times and to witness all the wartime distress while, at the same time, living in an environment in which there was a distinct shortage of young men. A lot of these young women had found themselves living and working in strange surroundings, doing jobs they would never have dreamed of doing and having to live temporarily in places that were unfamiliar to them. To help the war effort, the majority of eligible women had worked in various skilled and labouring occupations that would have normally been done by men, from working in dangerous munitions factories to labouring for long hours in the fields as Land Girls in the Women’s Land Army. Most of the other eligible women either joined or were conscripted into one of the many women’s auxiliary services, like the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service), the Wrens (Women’s Royal Naval Service), the WAAFs (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force), the WTS (Women’s Transport Service) and the WVS (Women’s Voluntary Service). Some even did service overseas, particularly those special women who undertook highly dangerous roles in the SOE (Special Operations Executive). Women also served alongside men in the fire, police, air transport and air raid and anti-aircraft services. All in all, about 90% of women took an active part in the British war effort. This was one of the hidden consequences of the war, suffered by many families; everyone and everything had changed to some extent and people had to get to know one another again.

Each and every family knew of some unfortunate person who had been killed during the conflict or had his or her home destroyed, and there was still a lot of grieving to be done. The young had been forced to grow up quickly and to do without many of the frivolities usually enjoyed as part of one’s youth. Everyone sacrificed a lot over a long period of time to help secure our country’s freedom and to create a safer world for future generations to live in. These young men and women now yearned for the dawning of a new Britain – one that would be filled with opportunities to improve their standard of living and provide a better future for all – and they had helped to lay new foundations on which their children could grow up and prosper without the dreadful burden of war hanging over them. Parents could now happily leave their new-born babies in prams outside their street doors to enjoy the fresh air without fear of enemy bombing raids and the resulting pollution. People were at last able to plan for the future in the knowledge that employment prospects were good, housing and social services were destined to improve, and the country was a safe place in which to live and bring up children.

There were lots and lots of new-born babies in the mid- to late forties. Most were either planned or allowed to happen but there were also many surprise and unwanted pregnancies. The country was in a triumphant mood and young adults had lots of pent-up tension to release at a time when methods of birth control were limited and unreliable. It was inevitable that there would be unwanted pregnancies and that some young couples, and principally young women, would have to suffer the consequences for their moment of unbridled passion. Sadly, countless numbers of young unmarried girls were left holding the baby, the fathers having either disappeared altogether or ducked out of their parenting responsibilities. In those days, there was a real stigma attached to an unmarried woman giving birth to a baby. Whether the father was on the scene or not, the child was still considered to be illegitimate and would be referred to as a bastard. It was regarded as shameful to have a child outside of marriage and it brought scandal on the whole family. As a consequence, pregnant young girls were often spirited away to ‘unmarried mothers’ homes where they would be pressured into giving up their new-born baby for adoption. This practice continued on into the fifties.

All in all, there was a huge increase in births after the war, peaking in 1947 when the annual birth rate rose to just short of a million. The increase went some way to repopulating the nation, which had been reduced by 450,000 during the war. By the end of 1947 the UK population was 49.4 million, rising to 50.2 million by 1952. All those born from 1946 to 1952 were to make up what would become known as the first wave of the post-war baby-boomer generation. More baby boom periods would follow in the late-1950s and through to the mid-1960s, but the period immediately following the war is the time that most people associate with the birth of the baby boomers. It was these babies who were to become the innocent children of the fifties and the pioneering teenagers of the 1960s. Born to parents who had only known hardship and suffering for most of their lives, it was hoped that these baby boomers would grow up in a safer world that would be full of opportunity.

The nation was eager to get started on rebuilding the country’s damaged and worn-out cities and to help create the new dawn that had been promised for us all. However, within two months of Churchill being hailed as the hero of the hour, the British public turfed him out of office. In the July 1945 general election, the people of the United Kingdom decided that the man who had led Britain so well in war was not the man to lead the nation in peace, and instead they elected a new Labour Government into office. Clement Attlee became the new prime minister with a mandate to change the face of Britain, to maintain full employment and greatly enlarge our system of social services. Our parents and grandparents had now started the ball rolling. Their aim was to create a better future for us baby boomers. They didn’t know where it would lead but they wanted their children to have greater opportunities and to strive for more than they could have ever hoped for.

Britain in the 1940s allowed few opportunities for young people to better themselves and so their ambitions were usually simple ones: to get a job and put food on the table, the same as it had been for generations. Some managed to break out of the mould but those with limited education would more often than not become industrial workers doing some sort of manual work, which would usually mean performing the same tasks on just one machine for the rest of their working lives. There was plenty of work available but where you lived often determined the type of work you did. If you grew up in a mining village then from an early age you were destined to go down the mines. A grammar school education was a route to a profession, but for most working-class people the idea of developing a career was not something they even thought about. When kids left school at the age of 14 or 15 their only concern was to get a job and to keep it; it was both a matter of pride and necessity to be in regular work. Family members of working age were expected to contribute a sizable proportion of their take-home pay towards housekeeping costs. Many youngsters gave their pay packet to their mum at the end of each week and she would give them back a small amount of money each day to pay for their travel and get them through the day; the rest would go towards the housekeeping. Even highly motivated young people found it very hard to carve out a worthwhile career. British employers were not particularly efficient in the way they ran their businesses. It was all very traditional, following a well-trodden path handed down from the generations before. Managers didn’t go to business school but instead learned their skills through their own boss. This was a hopeless situation because most business leaders were ex-public schoolboys who had no management skills themselves. Nepotism was rife in business and there was a huge gap between management and workers. Men ran industry and they employed men for any skilled and managerial jobs, while women worked on assembly lines, did the typing, ran errands and made the tea. The poor management skills and the short-sightedness of untrained people at the top set the tone for the way British industry was run and helps explained why, as a manufacturing nation, we were achieving such poor productivity. Our manufacturing industry was providing lots of jobs and producing all the right things, but we could not efficiently produce enough. It was difficult for business bosses to see where they were going wrong; many had blinkers on and were living in the past. At the same time, it was difficult for fresh blood to break through the glass ceiling put in place by the ‘old boys’ brigade and any new ideas put forward to change business practices were frowned upon.

It was a hard task for anyone from a working-class background to become a senior manager, and it was almost impossible for women. Many employers shied away from employing anyone who showed signs of having ambition. They tended to look no further than covering an immediate requirement for someone to perform a single task, like an office worker who could add up a row of figures or a girl who could type a letter. A supervisor would be used to keep an eye on workers and make sure they didn’t skive off or pinch anything, rather than devise ways to improve efficiency. A factory worker with initiative was seen as a hindrance rather than an asset; the boss just wanted someone who could operate a lever 1000 times a day. There were also no rules about equality in the workplace. It was quite legal for employers to specify exactly what type of person they were looking for when placing job adverts, including age, gender, colour, religion, height, weight or whatever. And, once employed, there was nothing to protect employees from bad employers other than the limited protection offered by the trade unions, which usually meant the threat of strike action. There were no health and safety rules and no legal requirement for employers to treat workers with respect or to pay them a reasonable wage. Membership of trade unions was an established part of working life in Britain and as our businesses struggled to compete in the post-war world, the trade unions became more aggressive and powerful. There was an invisible barrier between workers and management and there were no common objectives. Industrial workers felt they were hard done-by, often working in dangerous and generally bad conditions, poorly paid and with no job security.

In the 1940s city, the early morning street scene was of men and women trudging to work with smoke drifting from dog-ends hidden beneath hundreds of anonymous flat caps and scarves. Others on bicycles expertly weaved their way through the throng, many gripping roll-ups between their teeth and puffing away as they went. The rush to work was not spurred on by enthusiasm but the need to clock in on time. Work was a necessary chore and for most there was no expectation of job satisfaction at the end of each day and nothing better to look forward to at work the next day. Many had to endure awful working conditions; miners suffered dangerous, dark, dirty and cramp conditions underground, while factory workers risked life and limb on each shift by manually operating unguarded machines for long hours in overcrowded, noisy and dirty factories. A cushy office job wasn’t the perfect alternative, as office workers were closely supervised and often worked in cramped and untidy conditions, forced to breathe air that was usually filled with cigarette smoke. Accidents were an everyday occurrence in the 1940s workplace, especially for the industrial workers.

The homes that many of us early baby boomers were born into in the late 1940s were very simple in comparison to today. Apart from the noticeable absence of any labour-saving machines and electronic devices, there were only a small number of people with television sets; only about 400 wealthy households in and around London had one. At the time, the service from the Alexandra Palace transmitter in North London only covered a radius of 40 to 100 miles on a good day, and even the wealthy families who had bought a television when transmissions first began in 1936 had not been able to switch them on since war broke out in 1939 because the transmitter was shut down and the BBC’s television service only resumed in 1946. The service was extended to cover the Midlands in 1949 but the rest of the country had to wait a few more years. It didn’t really matter because televisions were a real luxury item: too expensive for most wage earners. There was also a newly introduced television licence fee to pay. The television may be today’s main instrument of home entertainment but it was not part of home life in the late 1940s Britain. As our mothers sat cradling us new-born babies in their arms, their only distraction was the soothing sounds coming from a huge valve wireless set on top of the sideboard. Mum’s fireside cuddle and the deep comforting tones of radio were all that were needed to send us off to the Land of Nod.

Houses were by no means cosy, but in between fighting off drafts from every corner of the house our parents did their best to make our early years as comfortable as possible. Having practiced a ‘make do and mend’ way of life for the past six years, they now wanted more for themselves and their children. The restrictive 1940s lifestyle had been forced on them at a very young age and they missed out on so much of their youth. Many of them were still at school when war broke out in 1939 and they were never able to properly enjoy their teenage years. However, the war was now over and they were still young, many in their late teens and early twenties and with their whole lives ahead of them. Times were still hard and rationing was on going but things could only get better. Everybody knew that the country was up to its neck in debt to America and almost bankrupt, so they had no real idea what the future held for them. It was difficult to understand how we were going to get out of debt while at the same time rebuild the country. There were a lot of big hurdles to overcome and it seemed a mountain of a task that would take years to achieve. Although grateful for what they had, they wanted to see improvements in their overall standard of living and as soon as possible. The government wasn’t going to give away any hand-outs and the only option was for them to work hard, even if they hated the job they did. Anyway, the idea that anybody could be privileged enough to live the dream – a job they loved doing in a workplace they looked forward to going to each day and a comfortable home to return to each night – was just a fairy-tale to the post-war working classes, but they knew there had to be a better way of life ahead.

Baby boomers who were born before midnight on 4 July 1948, when the National Health Service (NHS) first came into operation, were more of a worry to their young parents than those born after. Before the start of the National Health Service, there was no free health care. Apart from the elderly and mentally ill who were looked after by local authority-run hospitals, only people with jobs were entitled to free medical treatment, which was made possible under a workers’ health insurance scheme, but the free treatment often didn’t cover other members of the family, even their children. It wasn’t all plain sailing for the workers who were covered under the scheme; they had to pay upfront and claim it back afterwards. Wealthy people could afford to pay for the best treatment or, alternatively, they could choose to take out expensive insurance to protect their families. Everyone else had to save up enough money before they could get treatment, otherwise they had to rely on charities or do what most people did – resort to home remedies, many of which were questionable and sometimes dangerous. There were charity doctors but they usually only gave their services free to the poorest patients; others had to find the money or do without. Those with poor eyesight could buy their spectacles at Woolworth for sixpence. For the pre-NHS baby boomers, surviving the first year of life was a feat in itself, with one in twenty babies dying before their first birthday. And, if the freezing cold houses of wintertime didn’t kill you, there were always the infectious killer diseases like pneumonia, meningitis, tuberculosis, diphtheria and polio. It must have felt like Christmas when the National Health Service finally became operational. It was a great relief to everyone, particularly to women with young children.

On that first morning there were long queues of people waiting for doctors’ surgeries to open. People with long-term medical problems could at last seek help and the nations’ young mothers could now better protect their children’s health. Our health! – the post-war baby boomers: the first generation to enjoy the benefits of the National Health Service.