The 1940s, 50s and 60s Back in Time for Christmas

Meet the Robshaws.

They're about to embark on a whistle-stop tour of Christmas past.

For Brandon, Rochelle, Miranda, Ros and Fred...

It's Christma-a-as!

It's Christmas!

It's Christmas Day!

..it really will be Christmas every day.

Bang!

They're travelling back in time to celebrate six decades of festive fun.

-ALL:

-Oh!

Ho-ho-ho!

Oh, my Lord, look at that!

-From dinner...

-It's ox heart.

-..to decorations...

I think people might be quite impressed by that.

It's exploded in a tinsel time-bomb.

..and party games...

-Fat goose!

-..to presents...

He's got a Johnny 7!

-ALL:

-Whoa!

Fantastic.

Do you sometimes feel it's like the more you give them,

the more they want?

As they fast-forward through the changing foods

and fads of each era...

Oh, it's La-la!

..will the Robshaws discover the ingredients

of a perfect family Christmas?

Tah-dah!

# Let the bells ring out for Christmas. #

The Robshaw family Christmas is usually spent

at their home in East London.

# It's the most wonderful time of the year... #

For lecturer Brandon, it's his season to be jolly.

I really love Christmas. There's the giving presents,

there's all the traditions associated with it,

like the tree and the carols.

It's exactly what you need to cheer you up

in the middle of that dark, wintry time.

I think my favourite bit of the day is the morning

when you've just woken up and then you're a bit groggy and you think,

"Why am I up so early?" And then you remember and you go, "It's Christmas!"

I think we all like Christmas because we just get presents.

So, what's not to like?

But teacher Rochelle doesn't find it as easy

to get into the Christmas spirit.

Christmas makes me feel pretty stressed out.

I want to like it, but the best bit of Christmas is when it's all over!

# You better watch out You better not cry...#

Love it or loathe it, the way we celebrate Christmas

has changed enormously.

But how did our modern Christmas emerge?

To find out, I'm sending the Robshaws back in time to

celebrate 60 years of festive fun in six different period houses.

And what better place to start than the 1940s,

when people were experiencing some of the most austere

Christmases they would ever know?

# He sees you when you're sleepin'... #

I've sent the Robshaws to spend their first Noel

in a genuine 1940s home.

Oh, wow.

All their food, decorations and gifts will be inspired by recipe books,

magazines and diaries of the time.

It's very green, isn't it?

Wow!

Isn't it lovely?

Is this a radio? You'd listen to all the sort of war music.

They'd all huddle round that

and listen to all the war reports on the BBC.

AIR RAID SIREN

By December 1940, Britain had been at war for over a year

and the run-up to Christmas was conducted under fire

both abroad and at home.

-HISTORICAL NARRATOR:

-This is not the most cheerful Christmas

that ever came to England,

but everyone is determined to make it as cheerful as possible.

Along with social historian Polly Russell,

I'm bringing the Robshaws some basic supplies for their wartime Christmas.

Hi!

Rochelle, a big challenge for you

is going to be around food at Christmas,

because, of course, you're on full rations by now

at this point in the war.

So you have been saving over a period of months,

trying to make sure that you can hold back

a little bit of butter, a little bit of sugar,

so that you can actually provide a decent meal on Christmas Day.

It's not full, Fred, it's really not full!

-That's your bacon ration.

-Oh.

-That's your mince ration.

There's your fat, lard and butter.

-Bit of sugar.

-That's quite a lot.

Not to make too many mince pies and cakes, it's not.

-Luckily, still off ration, sherry.

-Oh!

So you have got a bottle of sherry.

-There's something.

-I'll probably drink that!

LAUGHTER

Do you think you can cope with that?

I'll give it a go and hope that nothing gets burnt.

I don't know. Yeah.

'But it wasn't just food in short supply.

'With decorations hard to come by,

'families were forced to make their own.'

It's pine cones! So you're going to make some glue using the flour,

and sticking Epsom salts to the pine cones

-to make them look like snowy pine cones!

-Frosty snow!

But, yes, that's going to decorate your lovely home.

For me, this Christmas is going to be serious privation.

-But I'm sure we'll have fun, won't we?

-Enjoy your 1940s Christmas.

Thank you very much.

-See you soon.

-ALL:

-Bye!

The Robshaws' 1940s yuletide is underway.

It's Christmas Eve!

And what better way to start than with their Christmas tree?

A tradition popularised by the Victorians.

"Here is an idea for the modern Christmas tree."

He's made out of all these triangular wooden shapes.

And then I guess you paint it green

and you've got a pretend Christmas tree.

With few real trees available,

enterprising families opted to do their best

with scrap wood.

Normally it would be just as much work, because we buy a tree,

we load it on the car, we bring it back, we put it in a tub.

-This is more fun, isn't it?

-Yeah.

All right. Well, that's all right as a tree, isn't it?

And it's not just Fred and Brandon.

Oh! That looks beautiful.

The whole family is embracing the make-do-and-mend philosophy.

This is the Christmas Day pudding.

The first Christmas pudding recipe was published in 1830,

but Rochelle's is a wartime version from Good Housekeeping magazine.

In here there is an apple, a carrot, a potato...

I don't know how that got in there, but...

It must have been really quite amazing,

the way people had to adapt to rationing.

Just making do and just making everything, sort of, like, last.

Introduced in January 1940 to save food supplies,

rationing meant that everyone, from dukes to dustmen,

survived on the same strict weekly allowance.

The festive season brought a few bonuses.

One and a half pounds of sugar, eightpenny worth of meat,

half a pound of sweets.

These are the extra Christmas rations.

How to get them? All the details are in food packs

in your paper this week.

Every Christmas from 1940 to 1954 would be constrained by shortages.

All the time I have to be thinking about substitutes.

And believe me, it's quite a problem!

# Every little girl would like to be

# The fairy on the Christmas tree...#

The war will be over, won't it, by the time the pudding's done!

# Every little boy has lots of fun...#

Actually can't believe how we've just transformed

a few old bits of wood into this!

Actually, do you think we should do this every Christmas

-in our real house?

-No.

I mean, it doesn't look like a pudding at the minute,

but it might come together.

Christmas decorations date back to the Dark Ages,

and the family is ready to embrace tradition.

-What is it?

-It's Just Like Real Snow.

To make sure their home is a proper winter wonderland,

I've given the Robshaws one popular product from the time.

# Oh, the weather outside...#

The only thing is, have a look at what it's made out of!

Asbestos!

-Which we now know to be a deadly poison.

-It's made of asbestos!

-Yeah.

-Do people die from asbestos poisoning?

-Yeah!

# Let it snow, let it snow Let it snow. #

But Fred doesn't need to worry -

the snow I've given them is asbestos-free.

-That looks great!

-Yeah...

Unless there's some strange new use

of the word "great" I hadn't come across before.

I like the tree, I think it's really cool.

You know when you have, like, fake trees that are trying to look real?

I like it that it's fake and it knows it's fake.

I'm feeling quite festive now.

-I'm getting in the mood.

-For what?

-Christmas.

-Oh, right!

As Christmas Eve draws to a close,

it's time for Rochelle and Brandon to put up their blackout blinds.

# Have yourself a merry little Christmas...#

Quite a significant gap on that side.

If you were in a bomber thousands of feet up in the air,

could you possibly see that?

-I'm not taking the risk!

-All right, I'll see what I can do.

You put it up and suddenly the room becomes a little bit ominous.

# ..will be out of sight...#

-That's for Father Christmas, is it?

-Yeah.

-Good night. Good night, darling.

-Good night, Fred,

Good night, darling. Good night.

-When you wake up it'll be Christmas morning.

-Good night, dear.

Good night, mate, try and get to sleep. No sneaking downstairs!

CHRISTMAS BELLS JINGLE

'Ho-ho-ho!'

It's Christmas!

# Here comes Santa Claus Here comes Santa Claus

# Right down Santa Claus Lane

# Vixen and Blitzen...#

Oh, stockings!

-Yes!

-There you go.

-See what you got.

Oh, wow! Oh, look!

You do realise that an orange would have been quite a precious gift

-in the 1940s?

-I did think that.

-Is that it?

Look, I got a sixpence!

That was probably worth about a pound in today's money.

You could buy a few sweets with that.

Fred, do you like your stocking?

Let's just skip to the presents!

With toy factories requisitioned for war work, gifts were hard to come by.

So I've asked the family to hand-make their presents.

-It's a top!

-Spinning top!

-Give it a spin, then!

Look how cool my pattern is that I drew on it.

Oh, that is cool, isn't it?

Oh, it's great, Fred.

What is it?

It's a seed drill, you make little holes in the earth

and you can put the seeds in.

-Do you know what it is? It's carrot fudge!

-Is it?

Miranda's carrot fudge is a wartime housewife's creation.

-I'm really scared.

-Try, go on, it can't be that bad!

It's made from grated carrots and gelatine,

all flavoured with orange squash.

-You don't like it?

-No!

Of course you like it, let me taste a bit.

It does taste more like carrots than like fudge.

But it's nice! It's all right, isn't it?

It's all right. It's not unpleasant.

You don't HAVE to like it!

LAUGHTER

I think it's really touching, really,

just those sort of few gifts without any razzmatazz.

-I think it's been a great Christmas.

-I think it's really cute.

It is cute! That's right.

And I think we've done really well with the little we've got.

# Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...#

The main event on Christmas Day was still the dinner.

The girls are making the stuffing from scratch.

What is stuffing normally made of?

-This.

-Is it?

-Yeah, just breadcrumbs...

-Is it always veggie?

-Yeah.

Chicken and turkey were expensive luxuries,

and rationing wouldn't stretch to a traditional joint.

For at least one wartime family,

unrationed offal provided something special for supper.

And like them...

Wow!

..the Robshaws have ox heart on the Christmas menu.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh!

It's as dead as anything, isn't it?

All right, let's just stuff it and get it in the pan

and then it will just, sort of... that will be the end of it.

-That, is that a vein?

-We don't know.

-Push it right in, that's it.

-Oh!

I mean, it's not like, "Oh, that will be really nice."

But maybe it will be sort of OK.

It would be nice if there was a turkey for dinner.

Or chicken.

I would love it if we did have a turkey.

With no fresh cream available,

Miranda and Ros are rustling up a wartime substitute.

"Bring half a pint of water to blood-heat,

"adding three tablespoons of household milk powder."

This looks really tasty.

-Can we put more sugar in?

-Yeah.

Oh, no! We've went into the blizzard!

Don't do the blizzard on me! Do the blizzard over there!

Go, move! Look!

-Here we go.

-He's hungry.

-Here we go.

-Oh, my Lord, look at that.

-Wow.

Look at that, but what actually is it?

-FRED:

-Is it turkey?

-It's ox...

-Ox.

-..heart.

-Heart.

-Yes.

-Oh, wow, I don't want to know.

Oh, all right. Let's carve this into slices.

OK.

Dinner might be on the table... DOORBELL RINGS

..but I've got other plans for Brandon.

-Brandon.

-Yeah?

-There's a delivery for you.

-Oh.

Oh, my goodness me!

-What is it?

-"Dear Brandon, the war doesn't stop for Christmas.

"This is your call to service in the Home Guard.

"Please report to your local defence volunteer headquarters...

-"immediately!"

-Oh!

-"Quick march!"

LAUGHTER

I'll take one of these.

Have a lovely Christmas, everybody! Duty calls.

OK, bye, dear.

-Bye. Bye, everybody.

-Bye!

# I'll be home for Christmas...#

I do feel a bit sad, a bit, sort of, like...

If you think about all the families where the,

sort of husband, father, was gone.

You'd have Christmas of just the women and the children.

# Sweet as snow... #

Over five million Brits fought in the war,

and many families had empty chairs round their Christmas table.

At 53, Brandon would've been too old to serve abroad,

but would've been expected to do his bit with the Home Guard,

even on Christmas Day.

The rest of the family

will be eating their way through that succulent roast ox heart,

they'll be eating those crispy, golden potatoes.

-SHE GASPS

-Oh, it's quite good, actually.

Then they'll probably have Christmas pudding after that,

while I'm standing here in the cold.

But I don't begrudge it, cos I'm doing it for my country.

Rochelle is serving up her potato, carrot and apple pudding

with the girl's emergency cream.

Oh, what's that weird taste in my mouth?

-Mm, that's very salty, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Mm, that's very strange, isn't it?

That was SALT on the table,

you didn't use that instead of the sugar, did you?

-GIGGLING

-No!

THEY LAUGH

-Are you sure?

-Yeah, we did!

THEY LAUGH

-I...

-Oh...

-UKULELE MUSIC

-# Mmm...

# Dee-dee-dee-dee-dee... #

One thing I do miss is the food, because...

we haven't had anything... really treaty.

# Won't you please say hello... #

'So, something more like mince pies would be really nice.'

I was quite shocked when I saw the heart.

I felt kind of like, eurgh, like really,

all my skin was going all, like, icky and stuff.

'But, um...

'it actually tasted quite nice.'

AIR RAID SIREN

-That's the air...!

-Is that the..?

-Yeah.

Well, let's get out of here.

Get to the shelter.

OK, out, quick.

In the run up to Christmas,

Britain had endured 57 days of constant air-raids.

Christmas Day had seen an unofficial break in bombing,

but it was short-lived.

On Sunday 29th December, 1940,

more than 100,000 incendiary bombs set the capital alight.

It became known as the second great fire of London.

The Robshaws have rushed to a genuine shelter in north-east London.

Oh...

Oh, gawd.

It's horrible.

I really don't like it down here.

It would've been, really, a most unpleasant experience.

But you get used to anything, don't you?

Once they'd been doing that for a few nights or a few weeks,

you'd start to think, this is just how life is, you'd adapt to it.

# Hail Lord we greet thee... #

Christmas saw shelters decorated

and sing-alongs were popular to keep up the blitz spirit.

-Oh, my goodness me.

-Hello!

Oh, how amazing.

Fellow east Londoner, Lionel Blair,

was one of the many children spending Christmas

sheltering from the bombs.

Oh, an air raid shelter.

-I remember this well.

-Does it bring it all flooding back?

It brings it all back to me, it really does.

-Particularly these paper chains.

-Yeah.

We used to make them, my sister and I, we used to do them...

AIR RAID SIREN

Oh, God.

Your stomach turns over, now.

-It's a chilling sound.

-It was chilling.

Chilling. And we could hear lorries with guns on,

shooting at the planes.

Going to shelters was,

you won't be alone.

That was the terrible thing of just

being alone and walking in the street in the blackout.

-You wanted to be with people.

-People wanted to huddle together.

-You really did.

-Yeah.

You didn't want to be alone.

-We were near Manor House Tube Station...

-Yeah, we know it, yeah.

..and we went there with all our bedding.

Was the atmosphere quite pleasant down there?

Oh, it really was. I mean, everybody would be talking and knitting,

or doing whatever, children would be playing.

The kids, I think, found it fun.

-And the Tubes would come in...

-Oh...

..and often, you'd see kids get on the Tube,

go up a few stops,

then cross to the next platform and come back again.

THEY LAUGH

Yes!

And then there were people with ukuleles,

and my sister and I would get up and sing and dance for them.

So, my first tour in this business was the Piccadilly line.

-Really?

-Yes!

And that's how your career began.

And that's how my career began, absolutely, yes.

THEY LAUGH

# We'll meet again

# Don't know where

# Don't know when

# But I know we'll meet again Some sunny day...

All together now!

# We'll meet again

# Don't know where

# Don't know when

# But I know we'll meet again Some sunny day. #

I can actually say I've sung a duet with Lionel Blair.

Can't believe it! Amazing.

It was lovely to meet you.

'I think Christmas meant an awful lot to people in the 1940s.'

I think people were doing their absolute best

to try and make the best of it.

You can see how Christmas must have been a kind of beacon

of hope and of light and of possible peace in the coming year.

All right, OK, let's play.

-I'll start.

-I'm not ready!

Oh, jokers are only...

Christmas would've probably felt, like, a lot fairer.

Especially when you're little and you go to school,

I got this for Christmas, I got this for Christmas. But in the '40s it would've all been the same

and everyone would've been in the same situation.

-One trick.

-How's that coming along?

I think it's looking better and better.

SHE LAUGHS

-Do you know what it could be? It could be a pair of pants.

-Yeah.

I think this kind of no-frills Christmas

has made me realise you actually don't need to spend a load of money,

you don't need to be that lavish to enjoy it

and get the best out of it

and I think we've had a good Christmas in the '40s.

Hopefully, in the 1950s, there's no more rationing,

and there'll just be a lot more we can have and buy

and I'll get better presents.

# Well it's Christmas time once again

# Everyone's heart Is full of cheer... #

The Robshaws are leaving the war years behind

and stepping into the 1950s.

I'm sending them to celebrate this Christmas

in a home built in 1953,

with all the trimmings of the time.

Oh, wow. Look at it. It's absolutely amazing.

This is what I call a '50s kitchen.

You can understand why people have this idea of the '50s

as being, sort of pleasant, and the cooker looks fairly modern.

I mean, that great big industrial thing from the '40s

is sort of replaced by this sleek, modern-looking piece of furniture.

-What's all this?

-Oh, look at this.

We've got pineapple chunks, what have we got there? Corned beef.

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

By 1954, the shortages of war were over

and housewives were finally free to buy all the food they wanted.

As Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan declared...

we'd never had it so good.

TILL RINGS

That's a massive amount of meat, isn't it?

You can't put it in the fridge, cos we haven't got one.

-Feels like Christmas now.

-It's like we've emerged from the gloom.

Oh.

-Wow.

-This is colourful, isn't it? Really colourful.

Oh, wow, this is lovely. This is so bright, isn't it?

It's a little bit more...cheerful.

There's no blackout curtains, there's no...

No, that's right. It's like somebody's let the light in.

It's really, like, almost modern.

Do you know, this is just the sort of room

I can imagine sitting around and enjoying Christmas in,

sitting on that sofa, having a sherry, eating nuts.

-It's a room for relaxing, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-And forgetting the cares of work.

-Yeah.

-Unfortunately, you'll be in the kitchen.

-Yes!

# Jingle Bells, jingle bells

# Jingle all the way... #

The '50s were the decade of the decoration.

With the blackout a thing of the past,

in 1954, London's West End switched on its Christmas lights

for the very first time.

-NEWSREADER:

-Who could resist a spectacular show

of illuminated Christmas decorations

which festoon the streets and squares of the city?

To bring a bit of sparkle home,

fancy decorations mass-produced in the Far East

cost just sixpence each.

I've sent the Robshaws a basket of delights

to brighten up their home.

This is very different from those home-made paper chains in the '40s.

-It's better, isn't it?

-What do you prefer? This?

-This!

-This.

This is Christmas, isn't it?

-Oh...

-Don't let the tinsel go in the tea, though.

-It didn't.

-It did!

-It did not.

-It did.

You'll get tinsel poisoning.

You'll get tinsel-itis.

# Sleigh bells in the snow

# The snow...

# But then I, I, I

# Am dreaming... #

Real trees were back in the shops,

though demand often outstripped supply

and customers didn't always get the evergreen of their dreams.

Right, let's dress the tree.

It's more of a twig.

Can we put it all on the tree?

Yeah. The thing with Christmas decorations is you can't overdo it.

It's supposed to look kitschy and over the top, isn't it?

Just be, that's it, be firm with it, be decisive.

Oh.

I would've thought that in the '50s you would think

the war is over, this is what we fought for, we fought for

a kind of English family Christmas and we could enjoy it.

It's like a symbol of everything

that we were trying to kind of protect, isn't it?

To kick off their Christmas, tonight,

the Robshaws are having a quintessential '50s celebration.

A cocktail party.

# I'll keep you warm in December... #

Savoury canapes for Christmas.

Women's magazines were selling in their millions,

and were full of novelty nibbles designed to wow your guests.

"Such snacks offer brief gastronomical garnish to a social gathering,

"and happy chance that we have gone one better than the last friend we buffeted with."

Wow. In this time of goodwill,

it seems that I have to go one better in my goodwill gestures.

Oh...

Just why doesn't it...

Ugh!

I'm determined!

Ah...ah!

Oh! It's like...

Oh!

I'll get it out if it kills me!

SHE LAUGHS

Ooh!

Look at that. I'm a domestic goddess.

It's going well.

Alongside Spam, Rochelle's canapes include olives and anchovies -

exotic new ingredients

popularized by Britain's growing Italian community.

I don't know if that would impress my friends.

Perhaps they'll be too polite to sort of, say it's really horrible.

With the party prep finished,

there's just time to get changed before their guests arrive.

# Let's get away from sleigh bells... #

LAUGHTER

-This is Michael.

-Hello!

-Ooh, guests!

-Hi!

LAUGHTER

-Friends!

-Good to see you.

Now you're here, who wants a snowball?

-A traditional Christmas drink.

-It would be rude not to.

Thank you very much!

My gosh, it's actually metal!

If you don't like it, you can stab him.

LAUGHTER

Horrible!

-Cheers, everybody.

-Cheers, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, yeah.

Maybe I should offer a canape round.

-Oh, yeah, get those canapes out.

-OK.

This is spam, olive and anchovy.

Then we have cream cheese and olive.

-I'm going to try the...

-Yeah.

-..the olive.

For a change. Mmm.

-Brandon, would you like to try one?

-I certainly would. Thank you!

Just go for it.

Now, admit that was really nice!

It would be better if they took away the spam and the anchovy...

..and just had olives!

-LAUGHTER

-Very good!

-Is it?

I think these are fantastic canapes, I think you've done a great job.

-Thank you.

-Do you feel like the perfect 1950s housewife?

Yeah!

Having impressed her guests,

Rochelle is free to join in the party games.

LAUGHTER

# ..Christmas, baby, baby... #

'It was a really nice party.

'Snowballs are just one of my favourite drinks.'

But I wasn't brave enough to try a spam and anchovy canape, so...

It would be nice to have some vol-au-vents or something!

'There was pressure, because I was responsible for all the food,

'that I should make it look as if'

people were going to talk about it on the way home.

They probably would talk about it on the way home, but probably for the wrong reasons!

It's Christmas!

RADIO PLAYS '50S EASY LISTENING MUSIC

Yay!

# A snow-covered house

SHE CHUCKLES

# On a hilltop

# Children playing... #

Whoo! Oh, it's the same thing as always.

-But...

-What do you mean it's the same thing, what have you got?

-What's this?

# Each one hoping... #

I think it's a sugar mouse!

-Aah! I love these!

-I'll swap flavours.

-I've got a coin.

-I have this coin.

This is an old English penny with George VI on it.

Do you want to swap?

-Chocolate!

-Catch.

-Ah, it's for me!

Consumer spending almost doubled over the 1950s,

meaning more presents under the tree.

And I've sent the Robshaws some typical gifts of the day.

-What is this?

-It's something that you don't get at Christmas,

it's something to help you learn.

LAUGHTER

Don't say it's rubbish, that's really useful!

Ooh, they're nice! Nice gloves. What's she got?

-Ooh... Is that like a headscarf?

-Oh!

-I think that looks really nice, actually.

-Does it?

-Really?

My mum used to wear a headscarf.

-Yeah, but your mum was a married woman, wasn't she?

-Yeah.

-You look like a...

-Lady.

-No.

-Elderly lady.

-Yeah.

-All right, let's do the next present.

-Yeah, me, me, me, me, me!

Oh, that's nice!

-It's like sort of junior...

-Ooh, wow, Fred!

Oh!

What are they? Pinnies?

Yeah! Just what I need to imprison myself!

LAUGHTER

"Lady Behave."

LAUGHTER

-Looks like a guide telling us...

-"A guide to modern manners."

So it tells you how to behave at dinner parties, how to serve wine,

banquet and formal table manners, how to be a guest at a wedding.

How to refer to the man in your life.

-Has it got anything about teenage pregnancy?

-LAUGHTER

-See what we've got here.

-Oh, it's a tie!

-Nice tie, see?

They're very, kind of, gendered presents, aren't they?

He's got this fretwork set,

and I've got these, kind of, manly accoutrements,

-and you've got something that tells you how to be a lady.

-Yeah.

You've got stuff to make, well,

stuff to help you work in the kitchen then look nice afterwards.

There's very definitely man presents and lady presents.

The Robshaws are celebrating in far more traditional times,

and '50s families were expected to take part

in all the social activities of the day.

It's time for church, everybody!

During the '50s, church membership grew,

and nearly three quarters of the population attended a service

at least once a year.

By 2013, only 4% of Brits were part of a Christmas congregation.

# Word of the Father

# Now in flesh appearing

# O come, let us adore Him... #

I do think there's something rousing

and moving about a Christmas church service.

Everyone feels...

-They feel part of something.

-Yeah,

and everyone's together.

-ROCHELLE:

-I found it really emotional.

It actually did feel that that was Christmas.

If I'd been Christian in the '50s, I would have wanted to go to church.

-It is a bit long.

-It wasn't that long, Fred.

-BRANDON:

-Actually, when I was his age,

a church service did seem really, really long -

-interminable.

-It seemed long to me.

That's the thing - all I want to do is go back,

have a Christmas dinner and mess around with my toolkit.

In the days before factory farming,

chicken and turkey were expensive luxuries.

Many families opted for a cheaper cut of meat.

I'm making peach-baked ham.

But with a tin of peaches,

even the simplest joint becomes something to celebrate.

It's a strange thing to do to peaches.

It feels like an odd dinner and dessert all in one.

It's food as fun rather than trying to make things stretch out.

Here it comes!

THEY LAUGH

-What's she laughing at?

-I don't know.

Oh, wow, it's on a trolley!

Here we go!

-You're off your trolley!

-Yes, I'm off my trolley!

-We have ham with peaches.

-Blimey.

Does no-one else find that really weird?

-It's an unusual Christmas dinner.

-It is, isn't it?

Well, it looks quite festive, doesn't it?

-Would you like to carve it?

-Shall I carve it?

-Yeah.

Oh, this is so easy to carve. It's so tender.

-FRED:

-And ox heart.

-Yeah.

Even if it's a bit weirder than ham,

-I feel like it's a bit more festivey.

-Hmm.

What they've done is they've got ham,

something that isn't festive,

and then thrown a bit of colour into it to make it festive.

-Taste is quite nice.

-Yeah.

I mean, it's got a really gross texture

cos it's all, like, slippery and slidey in your mouth.

-ROCHELLE:

-So are you saying you don't like it?

No, don't put words into my mouth!

-BRANDON:

-Well, I think the ham and peach combo

is very, very good, actually.

Do you want me to drive it out?

Is it really heavy? Or is it stuck in the carpet?

Slightly awkward on the carpet!

This is the most graceful exit from a room I have ever seen.

In the 1950s,

the average woman did over 75 hours of housework a week,

and Christmas was no exception.

-BRANDON:

-I'm sort of in two minds about this.

My kind of normal, modern self would feel guilty

about just sitting here and letting Rochelle do all the work.

But I think, just for the purposes of this kind of experiment,

I'm actually rather enjoying having the weekend off.

MUSIC: Empty Stocking Blues by Floyd Dixon

At this point in time,

I don't feel particularly festive at all.

I think I'm just sort of stood here at the sink.

Christmas is a man's holiday.

It's for men and for children.

The '50s festive break

meant only Christmas and Boxing Day off.

And most men were keen to squeeze as much as they could

into their holiday.

I'm coming to take the boys out

to enjoy a Christmas day tradition dating back to the Victorian era.

-Hey, Giles!

-What do you think that is?

-Is it a football scarf?

-It's a football scarf! We're going to the football!

-Fred?

-Right, we're off to the football.

-Oh, right.

So, have fun. See you later!

-Bye.

-See you, girls. Bye!

You wouldn't get very far waiting for a bus on Christmas Day now.

-Not these days, no.

-But in the '50s, it was pretty much a normal service.

The great thing about there being buses

is you could have a massive Christmas dinner, get as drunk as you like -

not that people are worried much about it in the '50s -

and then not have to drive.

OK, jump on, Fred.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC PLAYS

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

'Christmas then wasn't the day off it is today.

'Post and milkmen still did their rounds

'and buses ran a regular service.'

'But as car ownership increased,

'the demand for public transport dropped.

'London buses ran their last full Christmas service in 1979.'

Hi there. Two adults and one child.

-Brilliant.

-There you go, my dear. Enjoy the game.

-Will do.

Thanks very much. Bye.

Good tackle.

-Happy Christmas! Amazing, isn't it?

-I think it's fantastic.

I think we've had a great Christmas dinner.

I feel kind of well fed, replete, happy

and now I'm watching the football.

I would say it's unimprovable.

Since the beginning of professional football, the 1880s,

that's what people did.

Christmas day in 1957, for example, 38 league games.

Tens of thousands of people at these football matches.

It was a massive tradition that ran for nearly 100 years.

It started to die out in the '50s.

The wives and girlfriends of the players

didn't like them being away on the day.

The wives of the spectators, a lot of female pressure,

"They should be at home."

The public transport died away so there was no way of getting to it.

And it just became a thing of the past.

They moved it to Boxing Day, and that became the big tradition

and there was a stricter division between family day and football day.

I think if you did this in modern times,

you just sloped off after Christmas dinner

to go and watch football, that would not be well received.

In the '50s, you can do it and not feel guilty about it

because it's expected of you.

But us boys don't get all the fun.

Back at the house,

I've arranged for the delivery of one last Christmas present.

Ooh!

At the start of the decade, less than 10% of families had a TV set.

By its end, nearly three quarters of all homes were tuning in.

And on Christmas day 1957,

families all over the country sat down

to witness the making of history...

Hey, Ernie, isn't it time for the Queen?

..the Queen's very first televised speech.

Oh!

-It's a house.

-I know, but it's the Queen's house.

-Do you really love her?

-I do love her.

-Why?

-I don't...

Just shh. Listen.

Happy Christmas...

Oh, look - look how lovely she looks.

25 years ago, my grandfather broadcast the first

of these Christmas messages.

-Oh...

-Do you think she wrote her speech?

Of course she wrote the speech.

BOTH: No, she didn't write the speech!

Did it make you feel Christmassy?

It does make me feel Christmassy. I...

I think of my grandparents when I watched that,

cos Grandma was like, "The Queen's speech is on!"

And we'd have to go and sit and watch it.

I think of my mum, cos I know she liked to watch it.

-Does it make you feel Christmassy?

-Not really.

-Me neither.

We never... I don't really associate it with Christmas.

For me, it would have made me feel very patriotic.

I would have thought,

"There she is, this young woman,

"with her family in photographs behind her."

It would have made me feel

that she's connected to my family in the same way.

So I would have felt strengthened by her.

Take a charade, Fred. All right, OK.

It's a film. How many words?

The Robshaws' 1950s Christmas is coming to an end.

The first word is "the"...

But there's still time for one last party game.

The hat... The Hat?

-The horn.

-The Queen's crown.

'I think the 1950s Christmas has actually been more fun'

than the '40s, and it was more colourful.

It just felt, like, a lot happier.

The King and I!

'It's been great. I've enjoyed it all.'

From the getting up in the morning with the presents

to going to church.

To the Christmas dinner, to the football.

And I've got to say, it looks like the men had the best of it.

-Throw.

-Jab.

-Right. What on earth is it?

-It was much nicer than the '40s.

The joint of meat was more recognisable as, like,

-modern-day food. Ben Howard!

-Ben Howard? How did you get that?

But I am happy to leave behind the spam canapes.

Fourth word sounds like...

I think it was fun, but I am looking forward to having more presents.

I guess, really, the more expensive option.

The Robshaws' next Christmas will be in a 1960s time capsule.

-Wow!

-Look at the space that!

It is stunning, isn't it?

The post-war boom continued into the 1960s.

97% employment,

steadily rising wages, and jobs for life meant more money to splurge.

Despite one of the coldest winters on record in 1963,

Brits were enjoying their most comfortable Christmases

since the end of the war.

It is a lovely work surface.

There's no trace of austerity in the Robshaws' hamper this

Christmas - I've given them plenty of luxuries.

-Chocolate!

-Leave it, leave it, leave it.

There's not an ox heart in sight.

-I can smell...

-A chicken...turkey bird.

Chicken turkey bird?

Look at the size of that! That's got to be turkey, hasn't it?

You could actually use that for weight training, couldn't you?

While we think of turkey as a Christmas staple,

it didn't become an essential part of dinner until the 1960s.

This young housewife is buying a Norfolk Manor Turkey.

It was a revolution in food production

that finally made turkey an affordable feast.

Before the war, one hand-reared bird would cost an entire week's wages.

But by the 1960s, factory farming meant 20,000 birds were

leaving the biggest turkey farms each week.

The plucker de-feathers eight or nine turkeys in 45 seconds.

We now gobble down ten million birds each Christmas.

I reckon this is a Christmas that is really going to

feel like a Christmas.

We can have a really big dinner and afterwards

we can sit down on our sofa in that lovely room, drinking wine.

I am really looking forward to this Christmas dinner.

To get the family in the Christmas spirit, I've arranged

a special seasonal treat that saw a new boom in the 1960s.

-We've got Christmas pantomime tickets.

-Oh, do you know what?

-You look excited!

-I love going to the pantomime!

-Oh, no, you don't!

Miranda's opted to stay at home,

but the rest of the family are heading off to a traditional

performance of a festive family favourite since the Victorian era.

A what?

LAUGHTER

I heard you the first time!

I've arranged for the Robshaws to meet one of panto's leading dames

to discover how the 1960s saw the traditional panto transformed.

-Hi.

-Christopher Biggins! Nice to meet you.

-And you, t.

In the '60s, pantomime became personality bound, so stars of the

pantomime or people that you knew from other fields, like singing.

Famous singers. Cliff Richard, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tommy Steele.

My late friend Cilla Black, she did pantomimes.

Thanks to the burgeoning popularity of both pop music

and television in the early '60s,

a whole new generation of celebrity faces was emerging.

Keen to capitalise on their success,

theatres invited these new stars to tread the boards in panto

for the very first time.

You've got to move with the times.

If you put a pop singer in as principal boy, it must be a success.

It's got to be a success with the teenagers.

They were really big stars, and that was an extraordinary time.

That was cos of telly, I suppose,

-people seeing all those famous people on television...

-Exactly.

..and now they could actually see them in real life,

must've been thrilling really.

It was thrilling, really, and it was a very good period for pantomime.

Hello! Thank you very much. This way, please.

Pantomime is great, because I'll tell you what's so good about it,

is it brings the family together.

It is all to do with audience participation

and, you know, joining in.

-"Oh, no, it's not." "Oh, yes, it is."

-Boo!

-So it's something to cheer up that dark, cold time of year.

-It is.

It's definitely a Christmas entertainment.

-ALL:

-We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

It's Christmas Eve!

In the age of science, the Robshaws no longer have to worry

about making a tree from scraps.

It doesn't smell like a Christmas tree, does it?

-It's the age of plastic.

-It is the age of plastic, you're right.

It's going to be artificial, isn't it?

It's artificial feelings and emotion.

Their glittering 1960s one is ready in three minutes.

I've got to say, that's the first thing about this '60s Christmas

that I don't actually like much.

The first artificial trees were created

by an American toilet brush company

and their mass production saw sales of natural trees plummet by 25%.

-Hey, look, we've got another fake tree!

-Another fake one!

Everything's fake. Everything's artificial.

-Teeny tiny little baubles!

-Another fake one as well.

When they first arrived in the UK,

the public rushed to buy the futuristic trees that last forever.

'In London, the heart of the city was gayer than ever.'

Do we decorate the tree with this tinsel?

I think you should put it all over the tree.

Today, 40% of us still opt for an artificial tree.

You've got your gnome decorations.

You've got the baubles, we've got the beads, we've got your tinsel.

I think it's making me feel quite edgy.

It's actually making me feel quite stressed out.

All these decorations, I'd call it cheerful bad taste.

That's what it is.

Let's see it.

Ooh, pretty!

LAUGHTER

-I really like it.

-I love it.

-I love it.

I just think it looks like it's having a great time.

-Yeah.

-You know what I mean?

-Yeah. If that tree invited you to a party...

-You would definitely go.

-That would be some party.

-You'd move heaven and earth to go!

-Yeah.

MUSIC: Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt

It seems like a massive leap, though, from the '50s,

cos even though we had a little bit of tinsel

and some paper chains, now it's just gone, "Bahh! Decorations!"

We've even got two little mini-trees as well as our tinsel tree.

Little gnomes... I just think it is great.

It's Christmas!

MUSIC: Jingle Bell Rock

LAUGHTER

Let's see what you've got, then.

-A comic.

-The Beano!

-The Beano!

-Yay!

Over the '60s, disposable income increased by 18%.

-SHE GASPS

-Sweeties!

-Let's have a look.

-Show, show!

-Sure that's not for me?

With more cash in their pockets,

families could afford to splash out at Christmas

and the presents piled up.

-Ohh!

-Is it an Etch A Sketch?

-Is it an Etch A Sketch?

I used to love my Etch A Sketch.

-Was that your favourite toy?

-Yeah, it was, after Buckaroo.

That is a very good toy, actually.

-How do you make it...? Can you get a gap?

-No.

You can't get gaps. It's got to be a continuous line.

Oh, so it's kind of difficult if you want to do a face, isn't it?

I've got so many presents here, I don't know where to start.

That one there.

-SHE GASPS

-Oh, Brandon!

SHE LAUGHS

-Special ladies fags, those are.

-Are they?!

By the middle of the '60s, almost half of all women smoked.

And Brandon would have been on around 20 a day.

Oh, it's fags for me as well!

Oh, that's a very nice...

-I could use that as an ashtray, couldn't I?

-Yeah... Yeah.

Cigarettes made popular presents for all the family.

-What is that?

-A super chocolate smoking set!

Yeah!

Cigarettes, ashtray, match and pipe.

Wow! Fags for all. We can all smoke together.

That's brilliant, isn't it?

Nobody would buy that for a child these days.

No, it would be a bit sick, wouldn't it,

-to get that for a child?

-It would.

-It just seems wrong.

-Yeah.

-But it felt so normal.

-Wow!

-What's he got?

Oh, my goodness, don't tell me!

He's got a Johnny Seven! He has actually...

And I never ever got one of those.

Every year, I'd go, "Can I have a Johnny Seven?"

-Look at it.

-Seven guns...

Seven guns in one. It's a complete weapons system.

'Your squad is ready for you to lead them through.

'With Johnny Seven OMA, you charge.

'Fire a grenade...'

-"Push grenade release button."

-Where's the grenade release button?

-Illustration 2B.

-Whoa!

Fantastic! Look at that!

Every year, I said, "Mum, Dad, can I have a Johnny Seven this year?"

And they never got me one.

But all these years later, now,

I've got a Johnny Seven in my living room!

But you haven't got it, though. He's got it. It's not yours.

-Yeah, but I can play with it.

-Ahh...

They're presents that are very clearly stereotyping him

-as the young male, isn't it?

-Yeah.

You know, he's going to grow up to be a smoking,

gun-toting sort of civil servant or something, isn't he?

-I remember getting one of those for Christmas.

-Yeah.

That's lovely, isn't it?

Oh, what's she got? What you got?

-Jerry and the Peacemakers.

-Pacemakers, I think you'll find!

LAUGHTER

Do you reckon they're like the One Direction?

Rochelle has not been left out of the extravagant haul of gifts.

-Ta-da!

-Oh!

-Goodness! Oh!

-Isn't that lovely?

-A beautiful new hoover.

-I think I'll start right away.

My new slippers and a fag... That's exactly what I need, isn't it?!

This has got a number of shooting actions, Frederick, as well.

You wouldn't know what I can do with this.

The thing is, they've got presents that are for themselves,

their own books, their own music, to enjoy for themselves.

-But you've got something that's for others.

-Yes, it's to serve.

-Yeah.

-Yes, I am here to serve. Yeah.

While the family relax and enjoy their presents,

Rochelle is getting stuck in to their first Christmas bird.

Is that...? What end is that?!

What end is that?

God, I'd be a terrible gynaecologist.

Oh... I think that was his head.

Brandon's getting to grips with something infinitely more exciting than a turkey.

So, the great thing about this is you can play with another person.

Because another person can have that while you have this.

So you can actually have battles with it.

I mean, I don't really approve of these kind of military toys.

I don't think...

..I'd feel comfortable about buying this today.

In the '60s, we grew up in the shadow of the Second World War.

Toy shops were full of war toys.

You were just absolutely surrounded by this kind of war culture.

And, you know, soldiers were heroes in the 1960s.

So it was probably a more glamorous sort of toy then than it would be now.

Fire!

-I'm busy.

-HE CALLS OUT

Having worked out the turkey's head from its tail,

Rochelle is ready to serve up the family's third Christmas dinner in a row.

-Here we go.

-Whoa! Look at the size of that bird!

What a creature! Ready, steady...

-Yes!

-Do your own one!

You think the turkey's been around forever, but I suppose this was a new thing in the '60s.

-You can have the first turkey.

-Thanks very much.

Oh, yeah, give me a devilled horseback. Thank you.

-It's like a Sunday dinner, isn't it, like a roast dinner?

-Yeah.

You wouldn't have that, particularly, on a Sunday dinner.

So there's a start of something a little bit extra creeping in.

And, obviously, you wouldn't wear hats!

-And also, you wouldn't have a bird that size.

-No, no.

I mean, many, many...

-This is enough, isn't it?

-Best one so far.

-Yeah, that's true.

This is like the prototype Christmas dinner from whence it all started.

And then all the little bits,

like your cranberry sauce and your bread sauce

and your sort of additions start adding into this.

-This is your baseline.

-Yeah.

Here's to Rochelle, and merry Christmas to everybody.

-Merry Christmas.

-Cheers!

Polly and I are popping in for a drink and some festive fun and games.

They'll think we're carol singers and not open the door.

-Giles and Polly!

-Happy Christmas.

-Happy Christmas.

Cheers!

Cheers, Polly. Cheers, Giles.

The '60s, to me, that seemed to be when Christmas has finally arrived at a recognisable form.

-That's Christmas as I know it.

-Green, left foot.

There's more happiness

and it just feels a lot more like a holiday.

In the '40s, it didn't really feel like a special day,

because you just had some carrot fudge and a spinning top.

But now it definitely does feel like Christmas

cos we've got the mulled wine, the mince pies, and tinsel everywhere.

Come on!

People have just spent more on Christmas.

It's been a bigger deal

and slowly become less of a Christian festival

and more of a celebration.

If you're very religious,

I think it takes the idea of Christmas away a little bit.

But if you're like me, who's just in it for the presents,

I think it's great.

If you kick me in the nose, I will literally end your Christmas.

I can see that, after the war years,

that having a little bit of colour and a little bit of tinsel

and more food on the table is obviously really nice for a family.

But I can only assume that from this point onwards,

consumerism goes beyond the Christmas scale.

Nobody fart.

I feel nervous.

The '60s are starting to feel like a modern Christmas

and it's also starting to feel more individual to the family.

I'm looking forward to more Christmases, actually.

So far, every year, it's only got better.

-There you go!

-Ho-ho-ho!

Next time, the Robshaws continue their journey through Yuletides past.

I never thought of deep-frying an avocado before,

but it seems like a good idea at the time.

-This is the Vic at Christmas time.

-Ooh!

It's the dog!

Will it bring them any closer to the perfect family Christmas?

-Tinky Winky!

-That'll do. Pull him up now.

-My arm's going to come off!

-Pull him off!

MUSIC: Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade