1940s Further Back in Time for Dinner

Meet the Robshaws - Brandon, Rochelle, Miranda, Ros and Fred.

They've been back in time before

and experienced the transformation in our diets

from the 1950s to the 1990s.

That is just amazing. Look at them.

Now they're travelling further back in time

to the first half of the 20th century

to discover how changes in the food we ate...

Oh, my good Gawd. They're brains!

..the way it was served and how it was cooked...

-Yes, I'm cooking the pudding in the soup.

-Why?

..helped change the course of history.

Starting in the 1900s...

-Oh, my goodness!

-THEY LAUGH

..this Victorian house will be their time machine...

What is that? It looks like a giant hand grenade.

..fast forwarding them through a new year each day.

1941, everyone.

-From strict etiquette...

-I might practise my bowing.

..to new fads and flavours.

-Ah, eugh!

-It's not THAT bad, Dad!

-No, Brandon!

From far too much...

-I think I've got the meat sweats.

-..to not enough...

Doesn't look like a fried egg.

Oh, no!

-Can we eat that?

-No.

..as they discover how a revolution in our eating habits

helped create the modern family.

Last time, they lived through a decade of opportunity

that came to an abrupt end.

-RADIO:

-'This country is at war.'

This time, it's back to a diet of duty and determination...

It doesn't look like a fried egg.

AIR RAID SIREN

-..in the 1940s.

-Bit chewy.

MUSIC: A Chicken Ain't Nothin' But A Bird by Louis Jordan

It's 1940.

The family's final decade will be entirely overshadowed by war.

With all eyes on the war effort,

there's little sign of technological upgrades in the kitchen.

And there's no room for frivolity.

What luxury there was has been replaced by a more austere decor.

Social historian Polly Russell and I have come to see

that everything's ready for the Robshaws' war.

We're nearing the end of the experiment

but I think, for the Robshaws,

this is going to be the hardest decade yet.

In 1940, the threat of invasion of Britain was very real,

although, for them, the true war will be fought

at home at the dinner table.

They're going to have to deal with the reality that rationing

is going to go on for the whole of the decade,

so they are going to learn the virtues of denial and duty.

There's a lot less stuff, isn't there, than they're used to be?

There definitely is, compared certainly with the '30s.

The sort of consumer durables and kitchen equipment,

all those sorts of things, are no longer being produced.

Is this because the companies that make toasters

now start making guns or something? Is it that the technology industry

just moves across to the war effort?

Yeah, equipment, technology, but also,

all labour is focussed on trying to win a war.

This time, with rationing and all that,

there is a domestic front, isn't there? And it's in here.

To a large extent, the kitchen is instrumental in us winning the war

and rationing is really at the centre of that

because it allows the government to ensure that the nation remains fed.

This all looks a lot less fun.

I can't help noticing the cocktail trolley is gone.

Yeah, they will be sitting around this table, perhaps thinking

about others who are absent, people who are missing, fathers and sons.

And so, eating together as a family

is, perhaps, even more important at this time.

Every meal placed on every dining table in Britain

was controlled by the Ministry of Food.

Having learned lessons from the First World War,

a system of rationing was put in place, giving each family,

rich or poor, a fair share of limited supplies of food.

The data that we've got for this period is really revealing

about how the war impacted in the home.

You can immediately see that something major happened

between 1939 and 1945.

When you look at any statistics, there's always a gap.

Suddenly, the information stops.

The government departments are not collecting the same sort of detail

as they were prior to the war but, nevertheless, we can see

the before and after figures, so it's still very revealing

about what took place during the war period.

Meat consumption - that, in 1938, is at 377 million.

It drops right down in 1946 to 291.

And, in fact, it doesn't get back to pre-war figures until 1955

and it's rationed right up until 1954.

Interesting that rationing and imminent advance of Hitler's armies

has really focussed people's minds on food more than ever before.

The way that the government controls food

directly impacts on every single citizen living in this country

and comes right into the heart of the home.

MUSIC: Frenesi by Artie Shaw And His Orchestra

It's time for the Robshaws to step back to the 1940s.

I think, in terms of food,

we're going to see a reduction in what we have in the larder.

I think things that we would have had as everyday items

will just disappear.

I think it will be very repetitive meals,

just to keep you alive and keep you full.

I'm sure there will be things to look forward to.

I think, with the war, came a culture of standing together

and the famous Blitz spirit.

This is one where we are really living through world-shaping events.

I think it's going to be hard but I think it's going to be worth it.

-Oh, way!

-What have we got?

-We've got a gas cooker.

-But it's not staggeringly different, is it?

-No.

-Shall we see what's in the larder?

-I don't know.

I don't want it to be full of sadness.

-Oh, that is a bit different.

-Where's the chocolate gone?

-Where's all the good stuff? Where's all the milkshake stuff gone?

-Yeah.

Where's the juices?

In fact, speaking here, looking into it,

I'm aware of a slight echo that wasn't there before.

-Whoa!

-Ooh!

-Ah, lovely.

This is actually starting to look familiar.

We had a clock like that on the mantelpiece

with candlesticks either side.

It's really nice and light and bright, isn't it?

-It's quite homely, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Have you seen on the windows all the criss-cross tape

to prevent all the glass showering you if a bomb lands nearby.

This is the difference between this war and the Great War,

which didn't really land on our doorsteps, not really.

But this will.

Yes, literally on our doorstep.

'I'm back to give the Robshaws a heads-up

'on what the decade has in store.'

-Hello, Giles.

-Hello.

You didn't think the war was going to save you from seeing me, did you?

Now, Brandon, you are obviously too old to go and fight

but you'll be useful at home as an air raid precaution warden,

which means you'll be going around checking that people

are conforming to the blackout regulations,

responding when there is an attack.

Rochelle, you'll be fighting a war on the home front, in the kitchen.

You'll be needing to feed your family on the ration book.

-Brandon, there's your manual.

-Thank you.

-Oh, and of course there's Fred.

-Yeah.

You'll have noticed from the windows and the tape and everything

that London's a very dangerous place for small people like you.

-Yeah, but it's fine, isn't it?

-It's fine, is it?

-Yeah.

Well, it's going to be very fine

cos we're going to evacuate you to the countryside.

And to take you there, cos you can't be sent alone...

Oh, yes. THEY LAUGH

It's Debbie. Debbie, the war has liberated you,

finally and forever, from domestic service

and you'd be in the WVS, the Women's Voluntary Service,

doing all sorts of useful things, like escorting endangered young men,

like Fred, to the countryside. Say goodbye to your family

you're not going to see, possibly till the end of the war.

Oh, Fred. Fred. He's off to the countryside.

By 1940, the Germans had used aerial bombing

to terrifying effect across Europe.

Churchill's government predicted they would drop

700 tonnes of bombs a day on British cities.

Fearing massive loss of civilian life,

more than three and half million people, most of them children,

some as young as five, were evacuated.

They were often just given a packed lunch and a stamped postcard

to send home to let their parents know where they were.

Obviously, the threat of bombs in London,

but I think it must have been really, really difficult.

And to keep a sort of brave face on it

and to smile and to pack their bags

and then to not really know where they were going to be going to.

It must have been an extraordinarily heartbreaking decision to have made

and not to know when you're really going to be seeing them again.

Basically, each of these forms one arch.

The rest of the Robshaws would have had to rely

on a self-assembly Anderson shelter,

supplied free by the government for protection from aerial bombing.

-Is that right? Four of them?

-No, three.

It should be three, shouldn't it? So, why have we got four?

Rochelle is making their first dinner under rationing,

using the wartime cookbook What's Left In The Larder?

Like many of the recipes,

this one's designed to resemble a familiar favourite.

So, this is imitation brawn. Um...

I'm not absolutely sure what brawn is.

But it doesn't matter cos it's an imitation of it,

so I won't worry about that.

This recipe uses half a pound of meat cooked in stock

with semolina, flavoured with onions, cloves and lemon rind.

Before the war, we imported half our meat

from South America and New Zealand.

It was one of the first things to go on ration,

with a weekly allowance of half a pound per person.

Compared to what we've been eating...in the other decades,

this amount of meat seems particularly meagre,

so there's semolina in the recipe as well, I suppose,

just to sort of bulk it up a bit.

Wartime cookbooks championed the use of bland off ration ingredients

to give substance to dishes,

with tips like using lemon rind to add flavour.

Shall I do it...? I'm tying it and then you can do it with the thing.

-Oh, God.

-The semolina, I thought, would be sort of, like, thin.

-MIRANDA LAUGHS

-But it's gone into like a kind of

an absolute kind of...mush.

Dinner's ready.

It's supposed to look like a meat terrine, served cold and sliced.

-Oh, Miranda, did you lay for five?

-Yeah.

-That's really sad.

-I know.

-Oh.

I'll put it down there.

-This hasn't set, so it's just lumps of semolina with meat.

-OK.

-So, it's just...

-That's a novelty.

-Yes, it is.

-Can I have some salad?

-Yeah.

-What do you think?

-Bit chewy.

I like it. I don't think it's that bad.

When you think about what it must have been like.

A member of the family absent.

We haven't finished building the shelter.

We're sitting here eating this kind of rather unfamiliar diet

that, a year ago, we wouldn't have been eating food like this.

Life has changed so drastically,.

You'd feel so insecure, wouldn't you?

It is a bit chewy though, isn't it?

THEY LAUGH

MUSIC: Imagination by Glenn Miller

The threat of air raids meant putting up your blackouts

became part of the nightly routine.

I did feel that, for many housewives,

they may have felt that they needed to...

..do their duty in the only way that they could

and that was to keep their families healthy.

So, you would just have to think up ways

of really trying to make the food stretch

and how to use up absolutely every scrap of food.

MUSIC: Annie Laurie by Deanna Durbin

1941, everyone.

# Maxwelton braes are bonnie... #

For Rochelle, the upside of rationing

is that meals were often simple affairs,

like today's breakfast - tomatoes on toast.

Oh!

I burnt the toast. But I'll scrape it.

I can't throw food away - not now.

I'd feel like maybe one of my neighbours would start

going through my bins and report me.

-TELEVSION:

-'Don't do that.

'Do you know that if every family in this country

'wastes only half a slice of bread each day of the year,

'that's enough bread to feed everyone in Great Britain

'for a whole week?'

By 1941, wasting food had become a criminal offence,

punishable by fines or even imprisonment.

There. Look as good as new. No-one would know.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Breakfast.

-Thanks.

Well, tomatoes on toast. That's nice.

-Yes, but with an extra added something.

-Really?

-Yes.

-Dripping?

-Yes.

-That's good. I like dripping.

-I know you like dripping.

That's why I gave you a lot of it.

With butter rationed from the start of the war, dripping -

the fat left over from roasting meat - was a popular alternative.

-Oh, blimey!

-What?

-The Japanese have declared war.

Oh, it was the port of Pearl Harbour.

-VIDEO FOOTAGE:

-'The United States of America

'were suddenly and deliberately attacked

'by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.'

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December, 1941,

killed 2,400 Americans.

The next day, the US declared war on Japan.

With almost every country in the world now at war,

transporting produce from one place to another

was fraught with difficulty.

Essential foods, like meat and wheat,

would be in even shorter supply.

It turns it into something mammoth, doesn't it?

It turns it into a global war. It does, it does.

MUSIC: A String Of Pearls by Glenn Miller

Out of harm's way in the countryside,

evacuees like Fred and his friend Andre were often put to work,

taking on some of the jobs done by farm labourers

who'd gone off to fight.

That's a lot of eggs.

For city kids, one positive was ready access to dairy produce,

eggs and fresh fruit and vegetables.

Though their diets were greatly improved,

there are accounts of some asking their hosts for chips and beer.

Me living here now, it's better

than me living at my house with my family, just mainly for food.

I don't think it would be more enjoyable,

just because I wouldn't have known anyone,

but I think I'd definitely have a better standard of living.

-I think it would be a lot better to be in the countryside.

-Yeah.

In cities, fresh produce was harder to come by

and people were encouraged to "dig for victory"

in allotments and back gardens.

I'd sent Miranda and Rochelle a well-known wartime recipe

and a basket of home-grown veg.

"Dear Rochelle, it's 1941 and we are two years into the war.

"Your Minister of Food, Lord Woolton,

"is taking further measures to ensure that there is no waste

"and that people are eating nutritious food throughout the war.

"He has commissioned a chef at the Savoy to prepare a dish

"that makes a virtue of available vegetables.

"The dish produces a meatless pie

"that is becoming known as Woolton pie."

I've hard of that. Well, I think you can do that.

-Aren't you going to help me?

-No, I think you are ready to make the pie.

Goodbye and good luck.

Woolton pie consists of four different vegetables

with a pastry lid and brown gravy.

This actually looks quite substantial.

There's a massive pot of vegetables.

I think this will probably fill us up

more than last night's dinner did.

POTS HISSES AND MIRANDA LAUGHS

As Minister of Food, Lord Woolton did more than just convince

the nation of the virtues of meatless pie.

Previously the managing director of Lewis's department stores,

his valuable experience with both suppliers and consumers

helped keep the nation fed.

I'm meeting biographer William Sitwell

to find out more about the challenges Woolton faced.

Before the war, Britain was importing 70% of its food,

but with Europe occupied, imports had to come from North America,

and merchant shipping was under attack.

This map is fascinating because it's completely filled with pinpricks

and every pinprick represents the position of a convoy,

the kind of naked fleets out there, bringing food to Britain.

What this map really brings to life

is the vulnerability of our little island here.

The size of the job in hand, certainly.

There was an awful lot of ocean.

-VIDEO FOOTAGE:

-'Undoubtedly one of the most formidable assets

'of the Axis powers in the present phase of the war is the U-boat.'

Hitler's explicit aim was to strangle British supplies

and starve the country into surrender.

His U-boats sank thousands of ships,

sending millions of tonnes of food to the bottom of the Atlantic.

Hitler said if you starve a country, it collapses, morale collapses,

anarchy ensues.

And it had worked in the First World War,

where people didn't plan and we nearly starved.

Yes, and so the whole point of rationing

was that it learnt the lessons of the First World War.

So, Woolton introduced rationing before rationing was needed,

so that they staggered it.

So, there was a kind of drip-feed

from jam to butter to ham to, you know, milk.

So, how did he manage to keep the nation on board?

He appealed to the British cook.

He encouraged them to become thrifty, economic,

resourceful, ingenious, so it really made them feel

that they were as important at fighting the war.

Woolton's ministry produced thousands of leaflets

and hundreds of Food Flash films to guide the wartime cook.

-FILM FOOTAGE:

-'Thanks to the weather -

'yes, old man - and the grower,

'we have wonderful supplies of green vegetables just now.

'But don't murder the poor vitamins, will you?

'Boil quickly in very little water.

'And one other thing - that's it.'

MUSIC: A Man And His Drum by Harry Roy

With wheat in short supply,

one of Woolton's tips was to add mash potato to pastry.

I think you'd feel really proud of yourself if, in wartime rations,

you were able to serve up a huge golden pie to your family.

You'd feel like you'd been really thrifty and done really well.

AIR RAID SIREN

-Is that the siren?

-It is.

-Quick!

During the worst period of the Blitz,

air raid sirens sounded the warning of imminent attack

for 57 consecutive nights.

How do you think you'd have felt if this had been real?

I think I would absolutely have hated it.

To hear that noise, that wailing,

and sort of be on your guard all the time.

Get yourself and your family into the shelter as quickly...

-You'd feel jumpy.

-You would.

-Cos you'd never know...

Yeah, I think it would be scary to be on your guard all the time.

That's what I wouldn't like.

By the summer of 1941, after nine months of bombing,

millions of homes had been destroyed and 43,000 civilians killed.

Even in the face of such fear, daily routines endured.

While dining rooms sat empty,

families huddled in Anderson shelters to eat their evening meals.

-Whoa.

-Oh, what an amazing pie!

-That is fantastic, Miranda.

-Look, you've done an M on it for Miranda.

-That's fantastic!

-Thanks.

-Eight, as it is your pie...

-Are you going to do the honours?

-Well...

-Well done.

-Dad, is that enough?

-That'll do.

-Mm. That's a really good pie.

-It's quite nice.

-It's a fine pie.

It did feel very cramped in the Anderson shelter and I think,

in reality, I don't really know how you would make that feel normal.

You just sort of wonder how people managed, how...

..us, as ordinary people,

would really have coped in such an extreme situation.

MUSIC: Ave Maria by Schubert

MUSIC: Afternoon Of Basie-Ite by Lester Young Quartet

In 1942, the Ministry of Food introduced

a new import from America.

I've got a tin of dried egg here and it's pure fresh egg,

with nothing but the moisture removed.

We didn't like the dried egg at first but we got used to them

and it's going to be very hard to do without them.

Rationing allowed each person one fresh egg a week.

Now, 19 million tins of dried eggs went on sale in stores

and Ministry leaflet number 11 suggested what to do with them.

So, we're going to make mock fried egg,

which needs an egg reconstituted,

two slices of wholemeal bread and salt and pepper.

It doesn't look like a fried egg.

Also launched this year was the National Loaf.

Off ration and made with wholemeal flour,

by 1942, people were getting 20% of their daily calories from bread.

I don't think Brandon's going to like this at all.

Some families consumed more than six slices per person per day.

I think, during wartime rationing,

people must have thought about food all the time.

They must have thought about the food that they couldn't get.

What I would really like would be a proper full English breakfast.

I would like bacon and I would like fried eggs and I would like toast,

maybe grilled tomatoes and some mushrooms and, perhaps, a sausage.

That would make me happy.

Well, it is an egg but it's not an egg as we know it.

It would have been a bit dispiriting if everything you were serving up

was just kind of unpalatable or just not the real thing.

Then you're just going to feel

like you're not giving your family the best,

because you just haven't got it.

What we got? Oh.

-BRANDON LAUGHS

-Oh, my goodness me.

How strange. All right, let's try this powdered egg.

-It's quite interesting.

-It's all right.

-I think that's all right.

# There'll be bluebirds over

# The white cliffs of Dover... #

By 1942, thousands of evacuees started to return to British cities.

Despite warnings of future attacks,

many felt the worst of the bombing was over.

Here's Fred!

With Fred back from the countryside, I'm giving him the chance

to put his newly-acquired rural skills to good use.

-ROS:

-"In honour of Fred's return,

"here is a book that might help you put a little more flavour

"onto the dinner table and it's called They Can't Ration These.

"I hope you unearth some treats in Britain's hedgerows.

"It's all for free. You just have to find it."

OK, "Beetroot, corn salad, spine cabbage..."

Making the most of nature's larder was one way to liven up

your wartime diet, with delights like stewed starlings,

roast sparrows and squirrel tail soup.

MUSIC: Strictly Instrumental by Harry James

The Ministry of Food published leaflets on foraging

and herb committees organised large-scale collections -

foxgloves for pharmaceuticals and rosehips for syrup,

a wartime dietary supplement high in vitamin C.

Argh!

All Fred and Ros can find in the local park is stinging nettles.

I can definitely understand why people would have gone out

and picked stinging nettles, just for the fact of, like,

sometimes you might want a bit of...

A bit of greenery and if this is the only thing you can find...

-If this is the only thing you can find.

-Yeah.

-Something's better than nothing, right?

-Yeah.

-Ooh.

-Got a basket of nettles.

-What else?

-That's all we've got.

-Just nettles?

-Yeah.

"Wash, dry and boil till tender

"then you chop finely, toss them in a pan over the fire

"with some butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

-"Pile on rounds of buttered toast."

-What a lot of nettles.

I know, I don't think we need to cook that many.

-Ooh, ouch.

-We know it hurts.

-That really hurts!

-Yeah, I know!

-I'm going to cut the bread, Ros.

-OK.

-Look.

-Oh!

-Will it sting me?

-No, cos we cooked it all.

It's not that bad.

-It's like wet leaves, isn't it?

-I think it's amazing.

They just went out and they picked these nettles,

so we've got a free evening meal that cost us nothing.

MUSIC: At Last by Connie Haines

I went to market and I bought some huge strawberries.

I went to market and I bought some huge strawberries

and some bread.

Having Fred back does make me happier

and it must have been so difficult for mothers to send their kids away.

I don't know how people did it.

-Some bread.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Some bacon.

-Yeah.

-Some steak.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-A tin opener.

-Yeah.

MUSIC: Let's Beat Out Some Love by Buddy Johnson

1943.

I'd sent the Robshaws details of another government initiative

to improve their self-sufficiency.

-Look, we got a letter.

-Hmm.

"Dear Rochelle and Brandon,

"you've probably been accumulating potato peelings and vegetable waste.

"Now you have a use for them.

"Collected waste was formed into a nutritious pudding

-"called Tottenham cake."

-Well, I never!

-It sounds absolutely horrible, doesn't it?

-What's in it?

"Once boiled, allow the food to solidify.

"Once cold, add water and serve to the pigs."

-Oh, we don't eat it.

-We feed pigs with it.

I thought we were going to eat it.

I was going to say. It sounds absolutely revolting.

-You wouldn't invite your neighbours round for that!

-Oh, right.

-FILM FOOTAGE:

-'A-one, two.'

# No bacon for breakfast Let us make haste

# Haste, haste, haste

# Then back to the farmer they raced Raced, raced, raced

# There's valuable victuals in waste... #

The Ministry of Food encouraged people to collect their food scraps

and deposit them in communal bins on the street.

BRANDON KNOCKS ON DOOR

-That's brilliant. Thanks very much.

-Thank you.

-Here you are, darling. Look what I've got.

-Lovely.

-A bucket of scraps.

-Lucky pigs.

A tax on shipping meant imports of animal feed had fallen dramatically

and, as a result, the number of pigs kept on farms had halved.

The Robshaws are at Deen City Farm

to find out more from one of Britain's most famous farmers,

Countryfile's Adam Henson.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Lovely to see you.

Nice to meet you, Fred. Good to see you.

Welcome to the pigs.

During the war, during the '40s,

of course the pig industry fell to its knees, really.

And so, very cleverly, there was the Small Pig Keepers' Council,

and they lobbied government to allow people to keep pigs

in their backyards and their gardens and on small farms.

And then groups in neighbourhoods got together and created pig clubs.

-And they'd all have a share in the pig?

-That's right.

And half of the carcass had to go back to the government

and then half was shared between the family.

And what they did to feed them was collected household scraps

and up in Tottenham, they used to process all this food

and bake it, and I understand that's what you've got here.

Look at that. Well, that's wonderful.

When you think about it, that was a fantastic social initiative.

And I suppose, to have a leg of pork or some bacon on the table

would have been an absolute luxury, a real treat.

-PIG GRUNTS

-Pig, pig, pig!

-HE RATTLES FOOD

-Here they come.

By 1943, there were more than 900 official pig clubs

across the country, all sustained on kitchen waste.

MUSIC: Run Rabbit Run by Flanagan And Allen

Meat was hard to come by but rabbit, never on ration,

became a wartime favourite.

Oh, my God!

I'd sent one to Rochelle,

but many families kept rabbits in their own backyards.

The rabbit's propensity to reproduce

could guarantee a regular supply of meat.

But it did mean doing all the preparation yourself.

"Cut into neat joints."

Oh!

I can't get its head off.

-Brandon!

-What's that? Ooh.

My problem is its head.

The head, you want... Don't worry.

-You want the head gone?

-I want the head gone.

-OK.

Oh, it's gone, it's gone.

Goodbye, bunny head.

Readily available,

you could eat as much home-reared rabbit as you liked

and even if you got it from the butcher's,

it was half the price of beef.

It now no longer looks like a whole rabbit. It looks like...

..a bit of meat boiling away.

And the perfect British-grown accompaniment was watercress.

Oh, brilliant. That looks fantastic.

I'm actually feeling quite excited now.

That's a nice big bit. Thank you.

-It actually tastes really nice.

-Oh, good.

I mean, if you compare this to nettles on toast...

Not that I'm knocking the nettles on toast. It was all right.

-But this is a feast compared to that.

-Yeah.

While the rest of the family says at home,

I'm giving the girls some respite from the war.

-Are you excited?

-Yes, I'm so happy to see you.

Miranda and Ros are going out with Debbie

for a night of dancing with the American GIs.

-Hi, ladies, how are you?

-Hello.

-My name's Joseph. Let's go dancing.

# Mr What-ya-call-em, what you doing tonight?

# Hope you're in the mood because I'm feeling just right... #

Wow! This is mad.

# .. a gay rendezvous... #

With more than one and a half million American servicemen

stationed in the UK, many British girls got their first taste

of swing music and brand-new dances, like the Lindy hop.

Change, rock step, outside, inside, change.

SWING MUSIC PLAYS

It wasn't just the latest dance craze the GIs could offer.

With more generous rations than their British counterparts,

American soldiers were famed for showering girls with nylons,

Coca-Cola and candy.

Mm, sweet.

-VIDEO FOOTAGE:

-'Fraternisation on the dance floor and off it.

'See what I mean?'

BAND PLAYS SWING MUSIC

I really loved the music and I loved how everyone was doing it together

and I thought it was really cool how they'd push you to do something.

BAND PLAYS SWING MUSIC

Completely exhilarating, hitting a step to the beat

and there's loads of other people doing it all around you.

-Everyone is happy, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-Everyone is.

-Yeah.

So, to come from a home where it's really dull and grey,

you're doing war work and there's rationing

and air raids every night, and you come in here

and there's so much splendour and red velvet

and chandeliers and music.

This must have just been like heaven.

BAND PLAYS SWING MUSIC

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

On June 6th, 1944, over 155,000 Allied troops landed

on the beaches of Normandy,

beginning the fight to take back Europe.

But the war was far from over and continued to change people's lives

in unexpected ways, especially for young women like Debbie.

With so many men away fighting, women had to take on their jobs,

from the farm to the factory floor.

Others volunteered with the Women's Voluntary Service,

running the mobile canteens, which provided hot food and drink

to rescue workers and people whose homes had been destroyed by bombs.

Polly's come to tell Debbie more about the vital role

the WVS played in the war effort.

-Hi, Debbie.

-Hello.

-This is amazing, isn't it?

-Yeah, it's very nice.

You know, for young women during the Second World War,

to have the opportunity to sort of drive something like this,

to be free enough to be able to drive,

would, for lots of them, have been pretty amazing.

Yeah, well, it was amazing for me and I DO drive,

so it must have been amazing for them as well.

At the beginning of the war, there are about 38,000 women

who had volunteered but, by 1944, a million had volunteered.

-A million - oh, my gosh!

-So, it's a huge organisation.

You would have felt, I don't know, part of something, almost.

It's nice to work for people in a house

but it's really different to work for your country, almost.

Yeah, and one of the really interesting things

was that it had very little hierarchy.

People had different roles but you just as well might find yourself

serving tea with a duchess as you would a charlady.

And it would have changed women's attitudes,

in terms of what they expected of their lives.

You wouldn't have done this during the war and then thought,

"I'll go back to domestic service."

No, I mean, I wouldn't like to anyway.

In June, 1944, Hitler began a new offensive,

launching long-range missiles from Europe.

EXPLOSION

This second Blitz destroyed 30,000 homes in London alone

and killed nearly 9,000 people nationwide.

The WVS and ARP wardens, like Brandon and Ros,

would have been called on to help.

Just round the corner from the Robshaws' house,

Hazlehurst Road witnessed one of the worst strikes

by a single V2 rocket, which killed 35 people.

Just boys at the time,

John and Arthur Keeley were among those that survived.

Can you tell us what happened on the morning of 19th November

and what you remember of it?

Well, I was in bed, asleep, and all of a sudden,

I woke up and I was looking up at the blue sky.

The roof had gone, there were holes in the wall.

And father was sitting there, with blood pouring down his face.

Um, he was in a hell of a state.

He had glass in his eyes and they had to remove them.

-My house was roughly round about this area.

-Mm.

It's shocking, isn't it, to think just one bomb did all this damage?

-All that damage.

-It's unbelievable, isn't it?

-Yeah, yeah.

So, when this happened and all the people came to help,

were the ARP there? Did they come and help?

Oh, yeah, almost instantly.

And how they got my dad down the stairs, I don't know.

Two blokes went up there and they managed to get him down.

Was there a real sense that there were people there to look after you?

-Yeah.

-Oh, yeah, yeah. You couldn't fault them.

I feel like, what I would have been doing,

bringing cups of tea to people,

would have made a massive difference,

cos they've lost their homes, they've had to move somewhere else,

and it would just be a bit of comfort

to know someone was there when they really needed it.

MUSIC: They Can't Black Out The Moon by Harry Roy

'But not everyone was so community-minded.

'After five years of war and rationing,

'the temptation to cheat the system was intense.

'I'm going to play spiv and offer the Robshaws

'a little bit extra on the side.'

-I've got some stuff in my basket.

-This is starting out well.

-We've got a lovely steak.

-Wow!

-Wow!

-Wow, that's a nice big one too.

We have some cheese, chocolate, and that's all for you.

-How do you feel about that?

-I feel delighted and excited.

-Have you any questions?

-Where did you get it?

-Where did you get it from?

-I'm so glad you asked.

Well, it's on the black market. It's against the law.

What would they do if they found you with this?

If they found you with it, you could be fined,

you could get two years in prison. What are you going to do?

-Are you...?

-This is a moral dilemma for us, isn't it?

Well, I don't know. For some people it would have been a moral dilemma,

-for others, it mightn't have been.

-Yeah, I think we'll take it.

THEY LAUGH

He'd already stolen the chocolate. He'd stolen the stolen chocolate.

He's got a promising future, hasn't he?

Speaking as head of the household, at this point,

I think we would take it and we would eat it and we would enjoy it.

And I think, if you're worried that a bomb's going to drop on your head,

at least you might sort of die knowing you've had a good meal.

That's it. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, we die.

This is very interesting because, obviously, by this stage, 1944,

people had been at war for five years

and I suspect that such moral positions as they had

must have ebbed away.

You've only been in it for four days, five days,

and already, you'll do anything for a steak or a piece of cheese.

-But really enjoy it and I'll see you later in the decade.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Cheerio.

-Bye.

STEAK SIZZLES

The continued success of rationing depended on the nation playing ball

and Lord Woolton appealed to patriotism

to counter black market dealing.

These food cheats are the enemies of the people.

Whilst there were organised criminals intent on profit,

the Ministry of Food estimated that nine out of ten households

had some dealings with the black market.

But with pieces of meat worth £6 selling for as much as £40,

most people could only afford the occasional under-the-counter extra.

There must be no dirty fingers in the people's food.

-Ooh, la, la, la, la.

-That's Brandon's.

-Thank you.

-Can I have the one underneath there, please?

-Wait a minute.

-CORK POPS

-Isn't that a beautiful sound?

Wouldn't it cheer people up to get a meal like this?

Mmm, this is so good.

MUSIC: Lili Marleen by Anne Shelton

It's 1945!

RADIO: 'Yesterday morning, at 2.41am,

'General Jodl, the representative of the German High Command,

'signed the act of unconditional surrender...'

That's it - unconditional surrender!

-We've won! We've won!

-Oh, hooray!

THEY LAUGH

My gosh, imagine how people must have felt,

after six years, to hear that.

CROWD CHEERS

On 8th May, 1945, war in Europe was finally over

and people everywhere poured out onto the streets to celebrate.

Streets that, for the first time in six years, were safe.

I think it must have been stupendous,

the relief that people must have felt.

Just such a simple thing as being able to look out of your own window

without fear at any time of day or night.

I mean, it's a return to normality but, after six years,

it must have seemed miraculous.

Slice the meat finely, not too fine but not too thick.

And put it on a nice plate.

Rationing is far from over,

but the Robshaws are preparing the same homecoming lunch

as one served on 11th May in Melton, Leicestershire,

to soldiers returning from war.

Vegetable soup, followed by cold beef and mashed potato,

trifle and cheese.

-Hello.

-Hello!

-Come in. Very pleased to meet you.

Dowie and Harry were boys during the war

but 94-year-old John served in North Africa.

I think, perhaps, we should have a little toast.

-Here's to the end of war.

-Oh, yes.

-Cheers, everybody.

-ALL: Cheers.

ALL: Cheers.

-This is vegetable soup.

-Thank you very much.

-You're a very good cook, if I may say so.

-You haven't tasted it yet!

THEY LAUGH

When you were in the army, was food rationed for soldiers

or did you actually get quite good meals in the army?

Well, the army was a bit different because probably we were better off.

You did get a lot to eat but enough to fight,

if you know what I mean. It kept you fit.

Was there anything you were really looking forward to?

Like, when the war was over, you thought, "I can eat...?"

-Well, being alive.

-OK.

-LAUGHTER

-Really, you know, you used to...hope you got through it.

-Yeah.

-The heroes are down there.

-Right.

-Have no fear.

In '45, when the war ended,

was it a real mood of celebration, jubilation?

-Was everybody going wild?

-Oh, yeah.

-What was that like?

It was euphoric because everybody dashed out

and embracing in the streets, you know, and all this.

Then at night time, they had parties in the streets and, of course,

pianos came out and were playing and bonfires and, of course,

us kids used to get there with our spuds and put them in the fire

while mums and dads were dancing and boozing and all round the piano.

But it was a real good knees-up they used to have. It was fantastic.

CROWD: # Roll out the barrel

# We've got the blues on the run... #

There was widespread euphoria at the end of the war,

but Britain had been changed forever.

3% of the world's population had been killed

and many survivors had witnessed

some of the worst atrocities in history.

But peace brought real hope for the future.

CROWD SING

-Good health, all.

-Cheers.

I can't help you with the washing up

because I can't take my scarlet jacket off.

-No, no.

-That's my excuse.

-THEY LAUGH

MUSIC: Oh! What It Seemed To Be by Frankie Carle

It's so warm!

THEY LAUGH

The war might have been over

but rationing would continue for eight more years.

Despite that, with merchant ships now safe from attack,

some goods that had been absent for the duration

were finally reappearing.

-ROCHELLE GASPS

-Oh!

-Is it a banana?

-Oh, look!

THEY LAUGH

Do you know what it is? Remember? Hello, hello.

THEY LAUGH

In 1946, the Ministry of Food purchased 46,000 tonnes of bananas

from the Canary Islands, 40% of its crop.

They declared 7th January National Banana Day,

allocating a ration of one to every child.

-Would you like one?

-Yes, please.

-Splendid.

Isn't it lovely?

-Here's your gift.

-He gets the banana.

-Yay, thanks, Mum.

"Family, the war is over and it's time for a well-deserved break,

"but no sunny Spain for you.

"You are off on a holiday to the local park."

A government campaign encouraged people to make the best

in what were still austere times and holiday at home.

The Ministry of Food even suggested a menu for the week,

which included Cornish pasties,

pilchard and cabbage sandwiches and mock hamburgers.

-OIL SPITS

-It's spitting. Eurgh!

-MIRANDA:

-They look really nice.

In 1946, with meat still on ration,

"mock" would have meant tinned whale meat

or snook, a cheap mackerel-like fish from South Africa.

But Ros is using corned beef instead.

The holiday at home is a day out of the house

with sort of no fear of bombs falling,

starting to sort of reclaim your land.

MUSIC: London Calling by Queen's Hall Light Orchestra

Do you need a hand with that?

THEY LAUGH

Whoops!

-Happy?

-Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

The Robshaws have invited friends to join them on their holiday at home.

Who wants to try one of these little burgers?

-These are good burgers.

-Thank you.

Local councils promoted neighbourhood parks

by putting on entertainments,

like donkey rides, Punch and Judy and skittles.

THEY CHEER

You must have felt quite a sense of liberation.

Throughout the war years, quite often it was dangerous to go outside

and people would sort of huddle together

-and now it's like, "This is all ours again."

-Yes!

I think it must have felt like a real return to normality

and the possibility of having fun is back with us again.

Yeah, well done!

MUSIC: Near You by Francis Craig

Two years after the war,

government control of food supplies was more crucial than ever.

A harsh winter, followed by a poor wheat harvest

meant bread went on ration for the first time.

There was growing discontent. The British League of Housewives

organised a protest in Trafalgar Square.

Serving as an antidote to austerity,

better news was the announcement of the royal wedding

of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

Every single page of it is about the royal wedding

and, you know, it's very clear

that this was an event that was popular with the masses.

-Look at those crowds.

-What do you think this is?

The royal wedding cake was nine feet tall, but for most newlyweds,

cakes had to be made with what you could get on rations.

So, if you weigh the flour and then I'll sieve it.

Miranda and Ros are making a fruit cake, using boiled sugar,

butter and water in place of eggs.

With icing sugar in short supply,

people made paper decorations instead.

Even though we're making a cake, which is quite frivolous,

indulgent food, we still really haven't got quite enough

to finish it off and things aren't really back to normal.

-Look at this.

-Oh, wow.

-Oh, wow!

-Tea and cake.

-Are they flowers?

-Yeah.

-FRED:

-Are they edible?

-ROS AND MIRANDA:

-No.

-Sit down, sit down.

The Princess had all the real icing for the whole nation, didn't she?

I think this kind of tea and this kind of cake,

at this time of day, is a very British thing.

In 1948, the country was still rebuilding

but, thanks to the understanding of nutrition that informed rationing,

people were healthier than they'd ever been.

GP Dr Rangan Chatterjee is going to tell the Robshaws

how the government set about securing

the welfare of future generations.

Something good did happen in the 1940s,

which is the formation of the National Health Service.

And what happened is that, during the war, actually,

a minister, William Beveridge, was basically charged

with trying to work out what did the British people want after the war.

And he identified five areas, what he called five giants,

that needed to be addressed.

Things like poverty, squalor, ignorance, idleness.

But the fifth one was disease and disease was actually,

basically, what the NHS was set up to tackle that.

During the war, the government had used

dietary supplements to boost the nation's health.

Now these would form part of the NHS plan

to not just treat disease but also to prevent it.

-FILM FOOTAGE:

-'Unless, of course, you want a rickety child,

'a bendy, knock-kneed, large-headed, pale and rickety article,

'cod liver oil prevents all this.'

I think it was routine amongst families

to have a spoonful of cod liver oil every day.

We should set an example, shouldn't we?

I think YOU can set the example.

THEY LAUGH

-Oh, my Lord!

-THEY LAUGH

BRENDON CHOKES AND COUGHS

That is disgusting!

-Is it really that bad?

-Really that bad!

Before the war, despite some free provision,

many Britons had to pay for their medical treatment.

The new NHS promised comprehensive healthcare

entirely free of charge for everyone.

-FILM FOOTAGE:

-'This leaflet is coming through your letterbox

'one day soon, or maybe you have already had your copy.

'Read it carefully.'

By the time it was launched in July, 1948,

94% of the population had signed up.

It was 100% paid for by taxation -

doctors, hospitals, dentists,

ambulances, midwives, even opticians.

These were all suddenly free of charge.

It's absolutely amazing, isn't it?

To receive this, it's like a sort of prize, almost.

Now that we've won the war, we'll give you this.

To celebrate the formation of the NHS,

Rochelle's cooking up a hospital meal from 1948.

Whilst hospital food had to adhere to rationing,

sometimes supplemented by a vegetable patch in the grounds,

it was a model of nutritional balance -

like this meal of cod, mash potato and green vegetables.

-Ne-na-ne-na.

-What have we got?

-THEY LAUGH

Ooh, actually, this looks rather good.

This is a 1948 hospital meal.

-Mm, mm.

-Mm.

That's nice.

-If you got food like this in an NHS hospital in the 1940s...

-Yeah.

..you'd be queuing up to go in, wouldn't you?

Yeah, I wonder if, after a major war,

there are always social improvements.

-It does kind of cause an upheaval of the social order, doesn't it?

-Yes.

And it kind of makes sense that, once the dust has settled,

it reassembles in a different way.

Yeah, that's very well put. What a great metaphor.

-ROS:

-I bet you stole that out of a textbook or something.

-MIRANDA:

-No.

MUSIC: Destiny by The George Melachrino Orchestra

I did think it was really interesting

to think about the legacy of rationing

and how important it really became at the end of the war

to establish a welfare system in which everybody could benefit.

MUSIC: All My Love by Patti Page

-It's 1949.

-ALL:

-Yay!

So, this is our final 1940s' breakfast. How do you feel about it?

I think I'm ready to go back to my contemporary life.

To see the decade off in style,

the Robshaws are pooling rations with their friends and neighbours

and having a tea party at the local church hall.

# Salagadoola mechicka boola Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo

# Put 'em together and what have you got?

-# Bibbidi-bobbidi

-Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo... #

Polly and I are joining the party to find out

how the Robshaws and Debbie fared in the 1940s.

# Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo... #

How did it feel to be a young woman in the 1940s?

It was just nice to sort of feel equal with Ros and Miranda,

to get to dance with them.

And it was nice to sort of feel on par with them.

You guys have obviously survived the war,

so the 1940s was a success, as a decade.

How did it feel when the war was over,

that there was still rationing?

Initially, you would have felt so relieved

that you weren't being sort of bombed out of your home,

but then for that to go on and on and on and on,

I think they must have been able to sort of carry on

because they hoped the future would be better.

You've lived through these momentous global events

but in a very, sort of, domestic setting.

What's that told you about how people

lived their lives through those times?

If the government goes to war,

it has an impact on every single person.

And it was fascinating to see how great political events translate

into directly impacting somebody's life.

So, after the war, the Attlee government came in

and all sorts of changes were made - the health service, welfare state.

Do you have a sense of an upbeat, optimistic finish?

I think the last years of the 1940s,

one did feel that society was actually moving in a good direction.

I think that life became better for more people.

I think that that is progress.

The number is...53!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The Robshaws have lived through an epic half century

of British history, punctuated by two world wars.

They've gone from a world of social divisions,

strict etiquette and dining tables groaning with food,

to rationing, raised hemlines and a sense that anything is possible.

And it's food, more than anything,

that reflects the changes that have shaped modern family life.

It's been really nice living through the decades with my family.

Our five separate lives, for one summer,

have kind of combined into one,

and I suppose the place that we have come together

has been the diner table.

It's incredible the changes that have occurred in just 50 years

and I think food is a really good indicator

of what's going on in society.

Affluence followed by austerity, peace followed by war -

it's an absolute rollercoaster, those five decades.

But the thing that pulls us through, I think, is the rhythms of life.

You just keep going.

You get up, you put food on the table and, you know, you carry on.

Living in the history adds a new depth

but it's just given me a new light on that I take so much for granted.

I don't really realise that what I have is so good.

Since we're eating off old plates and old cups and saucers,

you kind of hope that those feelings

that are in all those plates and cups

somehow get into you somehow,

so that you understand history as something that has been lived

and it's people that make history.

-Next time...

-That is really nice!

..the Robshaws look back on their time travel...

Oh, my... Wow!

..and discover the roots of our modern mealtimes.

Sitting round the table and eating together -

that is a deeply significant thing to do.

# Forget your troubles Come on get happy

# You better chase all your cares away

# Shout hallelujah Come on get happy

# Get ready for the judgment day

# Shout hallelujah Come on get happy

# Get ready

# Get ready

# Get ready

-# For the judgment day

-Hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah. #