Life In Britain 1950's

[emmie]

interesting piece, especially for those born around the same time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39235590

[Jackdaw33]

I was about 5 when I first saw a black man. A ship had come into port and one of the crew decided to visit one of the ladies who 'entertained' sailors who lived down our street. In my excitement I grabbed my mother and said, "Look, Mam, there's a real live n*****". She chastised me, saying,"You mustn't use that word. It hurts their feelings. You must say d.a.r.k.i.e instead".

[hereIam]

I also remember dogs used to roam around as well, they had homes, but people (including my parents) used to just open the back gate and let them out. They used to play with us and never caused any problems. It was just part of how it was.

[Baldric]

I was born in '51, we lived a mile from the nearest town and nearest neighbour was ¾ mile in other direction. On the upside the Family ran a Riding Stable so there were always other people around 7 days a week which did a reasonable job of socialising me.
My Mother was also a Piano Teacher so I learned to play piano and ride quite early in life, never did manage to combine the two though ;o)

[Jackdaw33]

You should have practised playing 'Sidesaddle' (Russ Conway).

[Peter Pedant]

// This business of "children don't play n the street anymore" seems to persist. //

yup because in the fifties 90% of the time children played was unsupervised and in the
2010s 90% is supervised

and no one knows what the effect will be - if any

the difficulty about the photogz is that they were taken with a view of context - so that the crying girl - the girl has hurt her arm ( but it may not occur commonly and if it is rare then it gets photographed ) is photographed because she is crying and not playing

[ the idea is that you are photographed in the fifties because the situation is out of the ordinary and NOT ordinary ] [ in which case you can conclude the photogz say nothing about ordinary life ]

[Tilly2]

I cried a lot in the Fifteies. I was always hurting myself or getting hurt. We played some rough games as children.

I seem to remember lots of stone and stick throwing.

[Peter Pedant]

// I also remember dogs used to roam around as well,//

my fathers dog used to roam ( uncastrated male ) and his girlfren' was penny up the road - who was blind.
so he would go up to penny's and bark outside the door ( my father's dog not my father )
and penny;s mistress would let penny out
and the two went for a walk

penny would walk in the gutter made by the kerb and the road and my dadz dog would use his shoulder to guide her

the whole town ( pop 800) knew it

Fifty y later when I asked my brother how my own dog seemed to know I had lost the sight in one eye - he replied because he sees you walk into things ....

[mikey4444]

I heard the word "darkie" as recently as 3 years ago, in a meeting in work. Before I could object, the Chair had shot up and asked for the speaker to withdraw the word....he did so with very bad grace, mumbling that everybody he knew used the word all the time !

After meeting him on a few occasions afterwards, I have no doubt he was right !

[Baldric]

That really does not have a lot to do with the OP imo

[Tilly2]

I'd forgotten about the dogs. Yes, there was always some dog or other joining us in out games and out treks across the fields and building sites.

Lots of white dog poo about as well.

[Togo]

It was all that chalk they ate in Stoke Tills. Ooh and that Embreys bread 99% bleach.

[dannyk13]

Life wasn't perfect in the fifties but there was respect for parents teachers and policemen in those days.

[Tilly2]

Embreys Bread. That was nice, toasted, Togo.

Had many a jam sandwich made with it too.

[emmie]

danny, there did seem to be, if you got a clout from a teacher you might have got one at home, if the school told the parents what you had done.

[Tilly2]

Danny, we were terrified of our local Bobby who lived at the bottom of the avenue. We used to duck down by the wall when we went past his house!

[dannyk13]

At least you could see a policeman on the streets in those days.

[Tilly2]

No, we never saw him. We just knew he lived there. Bobby Bentley he was called. I was threatened with him a lot. :-)

[Jackdaw33]

Park keepers. Remember them?

[Tilly2]

Our local parkie was horrible. He was always shouting at us for doing something or other.

[Togo]

He wasn't happy with us for playing "shot put" on the crown green. With the woods.