0:02:35 > 0:02:38No, never underestimate the power of women.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Secretly, men always think they can do things like this better.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49But are they absolutely certain?
0:02:50 > 0:02:53Are they quite positive?
0:02:53 > 0:02:57And what about the more classical female attributes?
0:02:57 > 0:02:59That celebrated leg, for instance,
0:02:59 > 0:03:01female calf, it's practically pure muscle.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06All the same,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08they do seem to have mastered the difficult art of walking.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11And whether the show is up-to-date or down-to-earth,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14there's no doubt the lady is going to get there in the end.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08ALARM CLOCK GOES OFF
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Time to get up.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12Alarms are going off all over Britain.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17It's the start of another working day for millions
0:04:17 > 0:04:21and today, in Britain, nearly eight million women go out to work.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Pat Rossiter has a job that many girls dream about -
0:04:24 > 0:04:26she's an air hostess.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29One of well over a thousand employed on British Airlines.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41But like many other girls,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44she starts her working day with a bus ride.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51She's got used now to the half-curious, half-envious glances
0:04:51 > 0:04:53of women doing more routine jobs.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55After all, there's some excuse for thinking
0:04:55 > 0:04:58that an air hostess has a glamorous life.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00A life of travel, excitement, and perhaps romance.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Pat Rossiter came to England from Oakland, New Zealand.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08She became an air hostess three years ago.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11She had six weeks intensive training to start with
0:05:11 > 0:05:13and has been hard at work ever since.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15She earned just over £10 a week at first
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and, of course, her uniform was provided.
0:05:20 > 0:05:21The day before the flight,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24hostesses check the stores they'll need.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28- That's three maps and the first aid, publicity, service trays, two.- Yes.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Tea towels, dish cloths and soda siphon.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35- Yes.- Soap, soap powder.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Aerosol fresh air, cotton wool.
0:05:37 > 0:05:38Serviettes, paper cups.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41- Oh, paper cups are in the canister. - Oh, thank you.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45- Barley sugar, baby food, biscuits, Bovril.- Yes.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49- Sauce, tomato sauce.- Yes.- Salad cream.- Yes.- Pickled onions.- Yes.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53- Salt and pepper.- Yes. - And soup, assorted.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56- Yes, and sick bags. - Check sick bags.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Once the plane is on its way and the passengers comfortably settled,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16the meals have to be prepared.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18And serving 40 or more hot meals in 15 minutes takes some doing,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21especially in such a small space.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24It's just a matter of keeping cool and teamwork.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Serving drinks up and down a narrow gangway is no joke,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39especially when you clash with the restless type.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Excuse me, please.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47The washing up is done mainly by the catering staff at the airport,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51but on a busy flight, it's just another job for the hostess.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Another flight over, and the hostess is the last to leave the plane.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04To her, one airport looks very much like another.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06And Pat doesn't find this one exciting.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09No sign of those romantic sheikhs that some girls dream about.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13But away from the airport, time off in Benghazi can be fun.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01There's some other girls who annually join the Women's Services,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04in this case, the Women's Royal Air Force,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06girls who are trained
0:08:06 > 0:08:09for men's jobs on RAF stations at home and abroad.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Any sort of job, except flying or navigating a plane.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14More than a quarter of a million WRAFs
0:08:14 > 0:08:16served with the RAF during the Second World War.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27Today, with the Duchess of Gloucester as their Air Chief Commandant,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31they're a force of over 6,000 doing 80 specialised jobs.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35They report for initial training near Grantham, Lincolnshire.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39They take an oath of allegiance to the Queen, and are sworn in the RAF.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Being ladies, they're given three weeks to change their minds
0:08:42 > 0:08:44and go home if they want to.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48But after that, they have only two honourable ways of leaving the service -
0:08:48 > 0:08:51by buying themselves out or by getting married.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Every year, incidentally, some 800 WRAFs get married.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07In uniform now, the new recruits go through a basic six-week course.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11RAF history and lecture rooms.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13The main reason for this basic training
0:09:13 > 0:09:17is to make them want to be a part of and enjoy a community life.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19But personal likes and dislikes,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22such as favourite hairdos, are not forgotten.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33To every 18 WRAFs in the service, there is one WRAF officer.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38As WRAF cadets, with white flashes on tunic lapels and hats,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41they take a three to six months course.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Apart from specialised training, much of the course is concerned
0:09:44 > 0:09:47with human relations and living conditions,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49for a WRAF officer is expected
0:09:49 > 0:09:51to add the homely touch to service life.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55For ceremonial evenings, flowers can be important.
0:09:58 > 0:09:59In contrast, the course
0:09:59 > 0:10:02also includes mountain expeditions with the RAF,
0:10:02 > 0:10:03where the going can be rough
0:10:03 > 0:10:06and nights are spent under canvas on the hillside.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13These girls may become secretarial officers,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16join the education or equipment branches,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19specialise in catering or technical subjects.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Bur first, they'll be officers of the WRAF,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25holding the Queen's commission and responsible for the air women on their station.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Yes, this is certainly a girl's life.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35And it all goes to show that, in the world of today,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38there are few jobs in which women can't compete with the men.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10'Girl, aged 16, five feet seven inches, reported missing from home.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12'MT over.'
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Message received. Alpha four out.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Relatively few policewomen are members of the CID.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21There are only about 60 in the whole London area
0:11:21 > 0:11:23and small groups in other forces.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25They train with the men,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28doing a ten-week course in every aspect of crime detection
0:11:28 > 0:11:31at a detective training school.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33Here, trainees are having an observation test.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Later, they might be questioned as well
0:11:39 > 0:11:41on the appearance of the inspector training them.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Once she's trained, a policewoman in the CID can take on
0:11:46 > 0:11:49any detective job which is reckoned within her ability.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52But no woman has yet headed a murder hunt.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58It's routine for a woman to investigate the burglary of a private house.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Whatever job she's doing, and whatever rank she holds,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04a policewoman gets only 90% of the equivalent pay of a policeman.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09The reason given is that she works a 7.5-hour day against his eight,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12but this, say the women police, is true only of patrol work.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17A woman detective, for instance, may often work long hours on a case.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21Dusting for fingerprints is routine on a case like this.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31A scrap of wool may have come from the burglar's coat.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Off duty, policewomen and policemen
0:12:39 > 0:12:42spend time together on occasions such as this.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44At the Glamorgan Police social club,
0:12:44 > 0:12:48a policewoman shows off her new summer uniform,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50in which Glamorgan leads some of the other police forces.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06The girl a policeman dances with one night
0:13:06 > 0:13:08may be working with him the next.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15In London, policewomen do a good deal of night patrol work
0:13:15 > 0:13:17in the club areas, such as Soho.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20One of their main jobs is to prevent young girls getting into trouble.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24If there's a suspicion that teenagers are roaming around without their parents' knowledge
0:13:24 > 0:13:28or frequenting places where purple hearts or reefers can be bought,
0:13:28 > 0:13:30a policewoman calls for a police van.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33The girls and their escorts are rounded up from a cafe
0:13:33 > 0:13:35and are taken off to the police station.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Then, the police get in touch with their parents
0:13:38 > 0:13:40and ask them to come and take them home.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48In country areas, or the outskirts of a city,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52patrols are often done in cars or small vans or on scooters.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Policewomen keep a special lookout for small children
0:13:55 > 0:13:57who may be wandering or lost.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Women police do regular street patrols, just like the men.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15And the policewoman must always be ready
0:14:15 > 0:14:17to do anything in an emergency.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19Anything, in fact, that a policeman would do.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22She doesn't normally direct traffic in a town
0:14:22 > 0:14:24if a policeman is available.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28But if he shouldn't be, and she can see a traffic jam building up, she takes over.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Which all goes to show that the arm of the law
0:14:31 > 0:14:34doesn't have to be masculine to be effective.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Venus never had it so good.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06If the ancient sculptor who created her
0:15:06 > 0:15:08could have seen what goes on today,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10he'd have cast her in solid gold.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Beauty contests are big business in Britain.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18The female figure is the draw in an industry estimated today
0:15:18 > 0:15:20to be worth about £5 million a year.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30No matter how you look at it,
0:15:30 > 0:15:32the suffragettes never knew what they were starting
0:15:32 > 0:15:35when they demanded votes for women.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Votes can mean thousands of pounds to the queens of the beauty game.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49For Britain's seaside resorts, beauty is more than skin-deep.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51It brings the crowds, or helps to.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53It's part of the holiday,
0:15:53 > 0:15:55but not for the girls.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58For them, it's an earnest game, where the stakes are real,
0:15:58 > 0:16:00where vital statistics can change into bank accounts,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04trips around the world, modelling contracts and jet flights.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Where, with a bit of luck and the right curves,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09a girl can get in the 2,000 to 3,000-a-year class
0:16:09 > 0:16:12without the attentions of tax inspectors.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Winnings aren't earnings,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17even if many a taxman would get a kick out of checking the figures.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26It's a competitive world, a clothes-off world,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29in which a girl's best friend is a tape measure.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Out of all this might come the chance of a model's job
0:16:38 > 0:16:40showing off the latest fashions.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45But, for now, clothes are out, all that counts is real girl.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Padding in swimsuits is against the rules,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50but this contestant needs no artificial aids anyway.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Make-up is important and hairdos and cosmetics
0:16:56 > 0:16:59are among the main items in every beauty queen's accounts.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02Here, complexion might mean just the difference between winning
0:17:02 > 0:17:05and lining up as just another also-ran.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07For this is a game in which everyone, more or less,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09is built on the right lines,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12in which every rival has what it takes.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15Their battle is on, the battle to please.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17For a few brief hours, they are in the spotlight -
0:17:17 > 0:17:19secretaries, typists, hairdressers,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22schoolteachers even, from all parts of Britain.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Here, nature reaps its own rewards.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27It's all a matter of simple arithmetic
0:17:27 > 0:17:29and Maureen Gay has come from Bristol
0:17:29 > 0:17:33with some figures that add up nicely - 37, 24, 36.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41The curves count, but so does personality and deportment.
0:17:41 > 0:17:42Whatever you call it,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45it doesn't need spelling out for the amateur judges in the audience.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49But the judges whose votes count have different ideas
0:17:49 > 0:17:51about what makes a beauty queen.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Women judges go more for the sweet and quiet girls.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Men give more marks for sex appeal.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01And now, it's Patricia Bush from Chingford - 36, 24, 36.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04But this is Patricia as her neighbours know her.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07And that walk of hers took the eye of a models agent,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10so she can now expect offers of work in the fashion world.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14In the beauty queen game, many a Miss is a Mrs.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16She's already an illustrator of children's books,
0:18:16 > 0:18:21so with husband and baby as well, Patricia looks like being kept busy.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24The beauty game's a world away.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28But now, we're back, in the world of wiggles and gleaming smiles.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Some will have come a long way just to lose,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34some travel a thousand miles a month from one contest to another,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37from heats to finals, and sometimes, to a new career.
0:18:39 > 0:18:40Now, who's won this time?
0:18:44 > 0:18:47It's number 14, Margaret Boardman.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Another queen enthroned for another year.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52Another queen in a world of queens,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Miss Thames, Miss England, Miss Scotland,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58Miss United Kingdom, Miss World, Miss Universe, to name just a few.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01In America, they've even got a Miss Seafood Princess.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03For Margaret, another title
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and back to the workaday life of Lancashire.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10Already, as a result of an earlier contest, she's a professional model,
0:19:10 > 0:19:12working in Manchester, but living in Molesey.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21At first, her modelling job was part-time. Now, full-time.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24A job that looks easy but takes a lot of doing,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27that requires stamina and discipline as well as glamour.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29Training, as well as the right figure.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Thousands of girls earn their living as fashion models,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52and thousands more would like to.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56And every girl who goes in for it wants to be a top model.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58More often, they end up like this,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00working in a good wholesale dress house.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03And only about 20% of their time is spent modelling.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10So they switch to several other jobs in the fashion house as well,
0:20:10 > 0:20:12such as sewing on labels...
0:20:14 > 0:20:16..keeping fashion records...
0:20:18 > 0:20:21..helping to cut out, and even delivering garments.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29But a few reach the world of the top fashion designers
0:20:29 > 0:20:31and then, they model all the time.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35Like Jennifer Yates, who works in London's Savile Row for Hardy Amies.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Hurry up, Jennifer, you're going to be late, here's the boss.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Models don't just sit around and look beautiful.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Top photographic model Marla Scarafia fits in movement lessons
0:20:46 > 0:20:49with a leading Swedish theatrical teacher.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51They help her, she says, both in her modelling work
0:20:51 > 0:20:54and as an actress, when she becomes Marla Landi.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Every freelance model's life is governed by the telephone.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01More often than not, it's her agent
0:21:01 > 0:21:04letting her know about an unexpected appointment.
0:21:04 > 0:21:05It may be a modelling session
0:21:05 > 0:21:08at the studio of a famous fashion photographer.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Whether you're a mannequin wearing garments at a fashion show or a model being photographed in them,
0:21:13 > 0:21:15you've got to be a quick change expert.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17Marla has got it down to seconds.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34So now you know how those glamorous fashion pictures are made.
0:21:36 > 0:21:37Jen's in a hurry too.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Her next appointment is in less than half an hour.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42So lunch is a sandwich in a taxi.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45And whether she's modelling a diaphanous nylon ball gown
0:21:45 > 0:21:47in a warm and cosy studio
0:21:47 > 0:21:50or posing outdoors in a swimsuit with an east wind blowing,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53a model must always look as though she's enjoying it.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Every girl who wants to become a model
0:22:05 > 0:22:09dreams of being like Barbara Goalen, the greatest of them all.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11Barbara Goalen, like this girl,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14started by going to see this model agent in Chelsea.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16This girl is being told that,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18even if she doesn't make a photographic model,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21training should turn her into a mannequin.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24So off she'll go to school.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27The head of this one is a well-known mannequin herself.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29Here, the model-to-be will learn grooming
0:22:29 > 0:22:32and how to present and sell clothes.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44The peak of every mannequin's career is to model clothes before members of the Royal Family,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47as here, at Rudding Park, near Harrogate,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49beautiful home of the Radcliffe family,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53in the presence of the Duchess of Gloucester and 1,100 other people.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Top mannequins earn, on the average,
0:23:02 > 0:23:0440 to 50 guineas a week in the season,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07and there are about 200 top girls today.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09On the photographic side,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12top models earn at least that every week.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15But they're an exclusive company, perhaps about 30-odd.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17That's a pretty far cry, girls,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20from the hundreds who work in wholesale fashion houses
0:23:20 > 0:23:23and sometimes don't earn as much as a typist.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38But if a model can look like this in a wedding dress,
0:23:38 > 0:23:41do you wonder that so many of them make such very good marriages?
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Though the season doesn't officially exist,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20debs like Wendy Don, daughter of a former American diplomat in Britain,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23and Anna Collins, whose father made a post-war business fortune,
0:24:23 > 0:24:25go through a ten-month stint
0:24:25 > 0:24:28which will cost 400 parents anything up to half a million pounds.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Only a handful nowadays have titles, like Lady Mary Gaye Curzon,
0:24:33 > 0:24:35daughter of Earl and Countess Howe
0:24:35 > 0:24:37and granddaughter of the famous racing motorist.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Most debs are within a few months of 18,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43about half have been to school together.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Parents of about a third are friends themselves.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Most debs go to Royal Ascot,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53for the way a girl is known to be coming out
0:24:53 > 0:24:55is simply to be seen around...
0:24:55 > 0:24:57in the right places, of course.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01You couldn't do the season for much under £500.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Parents splashing it about a bit could put £5,000
0:25:04 > 0:25:06into the national kitty.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Apart from that small cash question, any girl can be a deb,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12given the right sort of friends to go along with.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Like Ascot's royal enclosure,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17the deb world is no longer hard to enter.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20When the presentation parties at the palace ended,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24so did the need for a sponsor who'd been presented in her time herself.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26It's still necessary, though, to have someone around
0:25:26 > 0:25:29who knows the form and can train the girls.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31The pace of the season needs stamina.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35There are 200 slap-up dances in the season.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38Usually four on summer Saturday nights
0:25:38 > 0:25:41and as many smaller hops and chattering cocktail parties.
0:25:41 > 0:25:424th June at Eton,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46when the school turns itself into a summer garden party,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49is another checkpoint in the deb's long rally.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Like racing at Ascot, the cricket here is only wallpaper.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Meeting people - school friends, new faces, possible partners,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59is the main thing.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09And strawberries and cream and gossip.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Without friends to start off with, you couldn't deb at all.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Not all debs have relations at Eton, but their friends probably have.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18In this way, acquaintances snowball,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21invitations start to roll in and dances become possible.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24The web will go on spreading all through the season.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29The early planning started at those innumerable February tea parties,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32when the girls, urged on by zestful mums,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35got out their diaries and started filling in dates for dances,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37parties and weekends.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39And started to swap lists, both of eligible young men
0:26:39 > 0:26:43and of the bad lads, dangerous in taxis.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Most deb men are between 19 and 25,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51usually ex-public school and working in business or the City.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54There are fewer blimpish young officers around nowadays
0:26:54 > 0:26:57and boyfriends' backgrounds are at last gradually widening
0:26:57 > 0:27:02to admit eccentric youths who write, paint, photograph or even pop sing.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06But the good hostess always tries for 25% more men than girls
0:27:06 > 0:27:08to minimise the wallflowers,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12those unhappy debs for whom the season has floundered.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Like the party, the season is finally over too.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28Generally overglamorised,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31it's a circus of mutual expensive entertainment
0:27:31 > 0:27:33within a very limited set.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35Often, newly rich parents are the real promoters,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38pushing debs forward into the set they think is smart.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Sheer snobbery, of course.
0:27:40 > 0:27:41For the pretty girls
0:27:41 > 0:27:43and the eligible bachelors, it's one long giggle.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46In the words of one deb, "It's a bit of fun, love,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49"between school and the old nine till five
0:27:49 > 0:27:51"and the looming kitchen sink."
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd