Austerity Britain, 1945–51 (110 page)

Estate of James Lansdale Hodson 1945,
The Way Things Are
, copyright
Estate of James Lansdale Hodson 1948, and
Thunder in the Heavens
, copyright
Estate of James Lansdale Hodson 1950, on behalf of the author’s Estate; extracts from
The Kenneth Williams Diaries
, copyright
The Estate of Kenneth
Williams 1994, on behalf of the author’s Estate; extracts from
Love is
Blue
, copyright
Joan Wyndham 1986); Mike and Trevor Phillips (
Windrush
); Allan Preston (Kenneth Preston); The Random House Group Ltd (
Dear Tom: Letters from Home
by Tom Courtenay, published Doubleday); Alison Ravetz; Marian Ray and Robin Raynham (Marian Raynham); Basil Streat (Sir Raymond Streat); Valerie Tedder; Paul Thompson; Barry Turner (
When Daddy Came Home
by Barry Turner and Tony Rennell); Graham Turner; Geoffrey Tweedale; Roxana and Matthew Tynan (
Letters of Kenneth Tynan
); UCL Library Services, Special Collections (Hugh Gaitskell); University of Wales Swansea, Library & Information Services (South Wales Coalfield Collection); Nigel Watson; Seymour J. Weissman (Evan Durbin); The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine; Phyllis Willmott; Colin Wilson; Bill Wyman; Emma and Toby Young (Michael Young); Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska.

I am indebted, in many different ways, to archivists, librarians, fellow-historians, friends and relatives. They include: Sarah Aitchison; Helen Arkwright; Martin Banham; Nicola Beauman; Elizabeth Bennett; Piers Brendon; Sophie Bridges; Steve Bunker; Peter Cain; Terry Carney; Mark Clapson; Nigel Cochrane; Rob Colls; Fiona Courage; Heather Creaton; Seán Damer; Patric Dickinson; Marguerite Dupree; Joy Eldridge; Amanda Engineer; Angela Eserin; Alexandra Eveleigh; Robert Frost; Andrew George; Elizabeth Hennessy; Len Holden; David and Val Horsfield; Bill and Gisela Hunt; Caroline Jacob; Harriet Jones; Jacqueline Kavanagh; Bill Lancaster; Valerie Moyses; Jonathan Oates; Erin O’Neill; Stanley Page; Anne Perkins; Andrew Riley; Simon Robbins; Richard Roberts; Richard Saville; Dennis Sherer; Dorothy Sheridan; Emma Shipley; Adrian Smith; John Stevens; David Taylor; Richard Temple; Deborah Thom; Alistair Tough; Jenny Uglow; John Wakefield; Andy Ward; David Warren; Tracy Weston; Yvonne Widger; Melanie Wood; Christine Woodland.

Since 2001 I have been a visiting professor at Kingston University, where I have enjoyed the company and stimulation of Gail Cunningham and her colleagues in the Faculty of Art and Social Sciences.

The following people kindly read all or part of the various drafts: Julian Birkett; Brian Brivati; Mike Burns; Juliet Gardiner; John Gross; Lucy Kynaston; James Lappin; David Loffman; Sara and Steve Marsh; Glen O’Hara; Dil Porter; Harry Ricketts; Phyllis Willmott. I owe much to their comments, encouragement and often salutary sense of perspective.

My greatest debt, of course, is to those who have been most intimately involved in this project: Amanda Howard for transcribing my tapes; Andrea Belloli for her copy-editing; Libby Willis and Patric Dickinson for reading the proofs; Douglas Matthews for compiling the index; my agent Deborah Rogers and her assistant Hannah Westland; my editor Bill Swainson and his colleagues at Bloomsbury, including Nick Humphrey for his help with pictures and Emily Sweet for putting the book to bed; and, above all, Lucy, Laurie, George and Michael at home. Their belief in me and what I am trying to do has made all the difference.

New Malden, autumn 2006

Picture Credits

VE Day celebrations in Lambert Square, Coxlodge, Newcastle upon Tyne (
NCJ Media Ltd
)

The Tory candidate addresses an election meeting in Bethnal Green, June 1945. Photograph by Kurt Hutton (
Picture Post, Getty Images
)

Aneurin Bevan in Ebbw Vale during the 1945 election. Photograph by Ian Smith (
Time and Life, Getty Images
)

The Haymarket, Sheffield, 1946 (
Local Studies Department, Sheffield
Central Library
)

Museum steps, Liverpool, 1946. Photograph by E. Chambré Hardman (
NT/E. Chambré Hardman Collection
)

Mrs Francis, Christmas Street, off the Old Kent Road, 1946. Photograph by Charles Hewitt (
Picture Post, Getty Images
)

The Gorbals, Glasgow, 1948. Photograph by Bert Hardy (
Picture Post,
Getty Images
)

‘Mr Browning’s Winning Team’: West Sussex, 1947. Photograph by Marjorie Baker (
Henfield Parish Council
)

England versus South Africa at Lord’s, June 1947 (
Reproduced from
John Arlott’s
Vintage Summer: 1947)

Margate, June 1948. Photograph by Chris Ware (
Picture Post, Getty
Images
)

Holidaymakers outside Waterloo station, July 1948. Photograph by James Wilds (
Topham Picture Library
)

Elephant and Castle, December 1948. Photograph by Bert Hardy (
Picture Post, Getty Images
)

Mrs Lilian Chandler and the President of the Board of Trade (Harold Wilson) discuss the housewife’s plight, December 1948. Photograph by Bert Hardy (
Picture Post, Getty Images
)

Durham Miners’ Gala, 23 July 1949 (
Gilesgate Archive (M. Richardson)
)

Reading the small ads, London, 1950 (
The Museum of London
)

Blackpool, 1949. Photograph by John Gay (
English Heritage, National
Monuments Record/heritage-images
)

The
Ark Royal
, Birkenhead, 1950. Photograph by E. Chambré Hardman (
NT/E. Chambré Hardman Collection
)

The Pool of London, autumn 1949. Photograph by Bert Hardy (
Picture
Post, Getty Images
)

The car dealers of Warren Street, autumn 1949. Photograph by Charles Hewitt (
Picture Post, Getty Images
)

The victorious Newcastle team returns from the 1951 Cup Final (
NCJ
Media Ltd
)

A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR

David Kynaston was born in Aldershot in 1951. He has been a professional historian since 1973 and has written fifteen books, including
The City of London
(1994–2001), a widely acclaimed four-volume history, and
WG’s Birthday
Party
, an account of the Gentleman v. Players match at Lord’s in July 1898. He is currently a visiting professor at Kingston University.