0:00:02 > 0:00:04Meet the Robshaws -
0:00:04 > 0:00:08Brandon, Rochelle, Miranda, Ros and Fred.
0:00:11 > 0:00:12Let's go.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14For one summer, this food-loving family
0:00:14 > 0:00:18is embarking on an extraordinary time-travelling adventure
0:00:18 > 0:00:21to discover how a post-war revolution in what we eat
0:00:21 > 0:00:23has transformed the way we live.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28That is just amazing. Look at them!
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Britain has gone from meagre rations
0:00:30 > 0:00:34to ready meals at the touch of a button in just 50 years.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36But how has this changed our health, our homes...
0:00:36 > 0:00:40- We've got a pull-out larder. - ..and our family dynamics?
0:00:40 > 0:00:43I can't do it any more. This is what would make a woman break.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47To find out, the Robshaws are going to shop,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50cook and eat their way through history.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52It's 1974.
0:00:52 > 0:00:53Whoa!
0:00:55 > 0:00:58- I think that is enough sugar now. - No, I hardly put any on.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Starting in 1950, their own home will be their time machine...
0:01:02 > 0:01:05- Oh, my goodness.- Oh, wow!
0:01:05 > 0:01:08This carpet hurts my eyes. Who designed that?
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Someone who's colour-blind.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13..fast forwarding them through a new year each day
0:01:13 > 0:01:16as they experience first-hand
0:01:16 > 0:01:19the culinary fads, fashions and gadgets of each age.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21HISSING
0:01:21 > 0:01:23- Catch.- Whoa!
0:01:23 > 0:01:26This week, it's back to the austerity of the 1950s...
0:01:26 > 0:01:28- What is it?- It's liver.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32We've just eaten the grimmest meal I think I'll ever eat.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36..as they discover how our changing relationship with food
0:01:36 > 0:01:38has shaped all of our lives.
0:01:38 > 0:01:39I'm just sitting here on my own.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42You know, it makes me feel like a bit of an outcast.
0:01:42 > 0:01:43Sweets...
0:01:43 > 0:01:45are off ration!
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Yes! Yes!
0:01:59 > 0:02:01On an ordinary British street,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04an extraordinary experiment is about to take place.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07The Robshaw family have agreed to give up their modern diet
0:02:07 > 0:02:11and spend the next six weeks eating only the food of the past,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13starting in 1950.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19But it's not just the meals that will be different.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22The entire ground floor of their own house is being ripped apart
0:02:22 > 0:02:26and remodelled to reflect the average family home of the era.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Their modern extension has been blocked off,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32leaving a kitchen half the size - too small for a dining table.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36There was no open-plan living in the '50s.
0:02:36 > 0:02:37Instead, the double reception
0:02:37 > 0:02:40has been divided into a cosy sitting room
0:02:40 > 0:02:41and a formal dining room.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46I'll be running the family's time-travelling adventure
0:02:46 > 0:02:49with the help of food historian Polly Russell.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52This is a very ambitious experiment.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54The way we eat has changed out of all recognition
0:02:54 > 0:02:55in recent living memory
0:02:55 > 0:02:58so by fast-forwarding the Robshaws through 50 years of history
0:02:58 > 0:03:01in a matter of weeks, we should get a very dramatic sense
0:03:01 > 0:03:03of how the way that we eat has changed
0:03:03 > 0:03:05and the way that it's affected every aspect of daily life.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10But now it's back to basics in 1950 -
0:03:10 > 0:03:13the year George Orwell died, Princess Anne was born
0:03:13 > 0:03:17and Attlee beat Churchill to win a second term in government.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Polly and I are taken aback by just how basic it is.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23Gosh, it's very low-tech.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28It's sort of like camping indoors. Everything is being done by hand.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30There's nothing saving you labour.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34It's a very basic kitchen in terms of equipment.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38So, what's, like, the biggest shock that Rochelle is going to have?
0:03:38 > 0:03:41First of all, it's the amount of time she's going to be spending working
0:03:41 > 0:03:45and I think the second thing will be, in here, there's no fridge.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50In 1950, only 3% of the population had a fridge.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Instead, the family will have to rely on the larder
0:03:53 > 0:03:55to keep things fresh.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00The Robshaws have signed up to eat only the food available at the time
0:04:00 > 0:04:03which, in 1950, means hardly anything.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Wow, so that is the proverbial cupboard that was bare.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Yep, it really is quite spare.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Very little relative to what we are used to now
0:04:13 > 0:04:17and with a marble shelf here, which helps to keep things cool.
0:04:17 > 0:04:18Really? Does it work?
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Well, it does work and you're buying food regularly,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24you're buying food on a daily basis, and what you also see
0:04:24 > 0:04:27is that there's no surplus money being spent on snacks,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29on the sort of treats that we're used to,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32and it's not somewhere where you would come to graze.
0:04:32 > 0:04:33No, lard or an onion, or something,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36is not what the kids want when they come home from school.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41In the 21st century, lecturer Brandon, teacher Rochelle
0:04:41 > 0:04:44and their three children enjoy eating everything
0:04:44 > 0:04:45from sushi to super noodles.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50But it's time to leave their modern habits behind
0:04:50 > 0:04:52and step back in time.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Older people that I've met have said that the '50s was better,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59that they had a good time, that the food was good,
0:04:59 > 0:05:00and I'm curious, really,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02to find out if it was true.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04I'm most looking forward to knowing
0:05:04 > 0:05:08what my dad would have had to do, or my grandma.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11I think it will be a great experience for the whole family.
0:05:11 > 0:05:12I often tell my kids about
0:05:12 > 0:05:15the "olden days" and what it was like growing up back then
0:05:15 > 0:05:17and I would just love them to live through it with me.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21My dad does most of the cooking.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24I think that my mum would find stuff like the cooking tricky.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27She might get a bit... She might get a bit stressed.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30I don't know how well I would cope,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34so that does fill me with a certain degree of apprehension.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40This is the family's first glimpse of their remodelled home.
0:05:43 > 0:05:44Oh, wow.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Look at this.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48Oh, here's where we eat.
0:05:48 > 0:05:49OK, this is so cool.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51This is so amazing.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55This is where we will eat. I think we're going to really enjoy it.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57SHE GASPS
0:05:57 > 0:06:01- Look at this.- We haven't got a television in here.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03- Oh, my God, no TV.- No TV.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Never mind. We can look at the Handy Reckoner.
0:06:06 > 0:06:07THEY LAUGH
0:06:09 > 0:06:11But the biggest change is in the kitchen.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14THEY GASP
0:06:15 > 0:06:18- Oh, my goodness me.- Oh, my God. - Oh, my...
0:06:18 > 0:06:21- Oh, my goodness me. - I did not expect this.
0:06:21 > 0:06:22It's astounding.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26It's just a completely different atmosphere, isn't it?
0:06:26 > 0:06:29It seems so kind of bare and stark.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32I'm surprised that it is as basic as it is.
0:06:32 > 0:06:33It feels like a real utility room.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36It's not the sort of room you'd kind of hang around in.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38No, I'm not hanging around in it.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40I think you'll find you are, actually!
0:06:42 > 0:06:44- Where's the fridge? - That IS the fridge.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46SHE GASPS
0:06:46 > 0:06:49A larder! With pork dripping.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Yeah, that is dripping. We'll have that in the morning.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Well, actually, there's not much else to have, is there?
0:06:54 > 0:06:56That really isn't much, is it?
0:06:56 > 0:06:58I've got no idea what we're going to eat tonight.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01I think we'll have to go and get pizza!
0:07:01 > 0:07:02THEY LAUGH
0:07:04 > 0:07:06- Hello. Wow!- Hi.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09'Luckily, I've brought them a survival guide
0:07:09 > 0:07:10'to life in the 1950s.'
0:07:10 > 0:07:12So, this is your 1950s manual.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Your guide to how to live in the 1950s.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18There's a guide to your roles, the things you'll be able to do.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20If you wind the clock back to a less enlightened time,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24you'll go to work and come back and want to know what's on the table,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26and you'll have cooked it and you'll be serving it
0:07:26 > 0:07:28and there's no real getting around from that.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31The war was over, the women came back from the work they'd been doing
0:07:31 > 0:07:33- straight back in the kitchen.- Right.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36There was a thing called the National Food Survey
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and it records the exact meals that people actually ate in the 1950s
0:07:40 > 0:07:41and you'll be replicating them.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44What they really were eating was suet puddings,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47a lot of potatoes - potatoes from yesterday, for example.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Bread and dripping, boiled things.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55Established by the government in 1940, the National Food Survey
0:07:55 > 0:07:59recorded what 8,000 families ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner
0:07:59 > 0:08:01for one week every year.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04The survey continued until 2000
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and the meticulously kept diaries of housewives
0:08:07 > 0:08:09provide a remarkable window into the changing diets
0:08:09 > 0:08:13of ordinary families over the decades.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16It will guide what the Robshaws eat for the next 50 years.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18You've got no fridge, you've got no microwave.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20You haven't got much of an oven.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24- It's quite daunting in many ways. Quite brave of you.- Right, yeah.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27No, it looks like something I probably won't be able to manage.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29- Any regrets?- Yes, loads.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31- THEY LAUGH - Well, don't bring them to me.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33I can't help you with them.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36- I can give you the manual. - Right, OK, thank you.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38- Good luck in the 1950s. - Right, thank you very much.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40- I hope you survive.- Thank you.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45I feel... I don't know if the word is like overawed, underawed?
0:08:45 > 0:08:48I can't work out what part of "awed" I'm at.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50I feel sort of actually quite nervous
0:08:50 > 0:08:54cos it's sort of the thought of the limitation of food.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57So, I'm feeling a little bit anxious.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04The reality of life in 1950 is beginning to sink in.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Five years after the end of the Second World War,
0:09:07 > 0:09:08food was still rationed.
0:09:10 > 0:09:11Cheap food imports
0:09:11 > 0:09:14that had kept the nation going during wartime had ended
0:09:14 > 0:09:15and our post-war agreement
0:09:15 > 0:09:18to send crops to the starving population of Europe
0:09:18 > 0:09:21meant supplies of many foods remained under government control.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25It's far worse now than it was during the war
0:09:25 > 0:09:27and if we get much less, there'll be none at all.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33To ease teacher Rochelle in gently to austerity cooking,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36she's making a simple National Food Survey tea
0:09:36 > 0:09:39that a 35-year-old housewife made for her tailor husband
0:09:39 > 0:09:41and two teenage sons in 1950.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46- WOMAN:- 'National bread, dripping,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48'pilchards, tomatoes,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52'potatoes, tea, milk and sugar.'
0:09:52 > 0:09:53Ooh.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Gosh, it looks like honey.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Dripping - the fat saved after roasting meat -
0:10:00 > 0:10:02was a free, flavoursome alternative to rationed butter.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06I think if people had to eat this every day,
0:10:06 > 0:10:08it might be pretty tough,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12but a lot of people did and a lot of people enjoyed it.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15It's a bit unusual for us, because we don't have it.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19I'm going to try and open the pilchards.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24This is going to be a problem. I've got no idea how to work it.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29The government subsidised the canning of pilchards,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32a mature sardine, to make the country less dependent on imports
0:10:32 > 0:10:34and they appear as a regular feature
0:10:34 > 0:10:37of families' diets under rationing.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39No. Do you think you stab it in?
0:10:39 > 0:10:41How did they do it?
0:10:41 > 0:10:43There must be a knack.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Oh, dear, I've made a hole in it!
0:10:48 > 0:10:50I don't know what...
0:10:50 > 0:10:54I'm going to hyperventilate.
0:10:54 > 0:10:55We'll be starving to death
0:10:55 > 0:10:59and there'll be an unopened tin of pilchards found on the table.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07The National Food Survey records that many families
0:11:07 > 0:11:09supplemented their rationed diet
0:11:09 > 0:11:11with fruit and vegetables they'd grown themselves,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13a habit adopted during the war.
0:11:15 > 0:11:16So, Brandon and ten-year-old Fred
0:11:16 > 0:11:19have come to the allotment I've arranged for the family.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21Loads here.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Aren't they beautiful? These are the treasures of the earth.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26In the supermarkets, it always says "new potatoes".
0:11:26 > 0:11:28- But these are really new.- Yeah.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31We could be eating these the same day we dug them up.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34Can you get your shears right round that green bit at the end?
0:11:34 > 0:11:35Not my finger.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38- Catch.- Whoa!
0:11:38 > 0:11:41That is one big marrow, isn't it? Isn't it fantastic?
0:11:41 > 0:11:43In the 21st century,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Brandon does the lion's share of the cooking at home.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48But following the rules of the experiment
0:11:48 > 0:11:51means he's exempt from kitchen duties.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54I think it will be a bit frustrating to not be allowed in the kitchen.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56I'm not even ALLOWED in the kitchen.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58That seems a bit extreme to me.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02But, having said that, if this is what I get to do as an alternative,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04if I get to come to an allotment and dig
0:12:04 > 0:12:07and get fresh vegetables out of the ground and then take them home,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10I think there's something quite fulfilling about that.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16Back in the kitchen, Rochelle is still battling with ancient gadgets
0:12:16 > 0:12:19and calls for reinforcements from youngest daughter Ros.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22- See these pilchards.- No-o-o.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24I can't open the tin, Ros.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26What makes you think I'll be able to open it?
0:12:26 > 0:12:28I think you've got that sort of brain.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31- I have no idea what this is. - It's a tin-opener.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33I don't know how to open a normal tin. I'm really sorry.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36I'll buy you something, if it wasn't austerity years.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39That can't possibly pierce the tin.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41It must go round the edge, but I don't know how to...
0:12:41 > 0:12:43You're better off asking Miranda.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46- Hello!- Can you help with the pilchards?- I can try.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49I've managed to make a hole, but I can't get anything out.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51- Do you know how to do it?- No.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54If I knew how to do it, I wouldn't ask you, would I?
0:12:54 > 0:12:57- Oh, God.- I don't think we can have the pilchards tonight.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Look what we've got.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05Brandon and Fred are back from the allotment,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08eager for their first '50s tea.
0:13:08 > 0:13:09That is so wonderful.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11- I can't tell you how happy I am to see these.- Yeah.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15If you could open the pilchards. I'm having a bit of a problem with...
0:13:15 > 0:13:16All right, I'll have a go.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19- From what I remember... - Be careful. Be careful.
0:13:19 > 0:13:20Course I'll be careful.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23- I think just try and work it all the way round.- Really?
0:13:23 > 0:13:26- Cutting as you go.- Oh.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28Well, we're not doing that well, are we?
0:13:28 > 0:13:30You're going round over the top, Brandon.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Well, I'm doing it in a slightly irregular manner.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Whoever designed this bloody tin-opener...
0:13:38 > 0:13:41It's like the worst bit of design.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48That's probably open enough that you can dig it out with a spoon.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51- Do you think that's how they did it?- Yes, I do.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53I just feel cross that I was defeated by a can-opener.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56And I haven't even made a cup of tea yet.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Ugh.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06- Shall I talk you round the bread plate?- Yes, please.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08- This is bread and butter.- Yes.
0:14:08 > 0:14:09- This is bread and dripping.- Yes.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13- This is bread and pilchards. - I'm not looking forward to it.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16- Fred, have you tried the bread and dripping?- No.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18- I think you should.- No!
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Look, in the '50s, they had to just eat what was there. Try it.
0:14:25 > 0:14:26Well?
0:14:26 > 0:14:28- Eurgh.- You don't like that? OK.
0:14:29 > 0:14:35It's just, like, salty, weird jelly spread on weird bread.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37- It's a good job we got these tomatoes.- Yeah.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39- Otherwise, there'd be nothing that was fresh or colourful.- No.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43If you'd been out working all day, this just doesn't seem...
0:14:43 > 0:14:45not quite...enough.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47It's not kind of fortifying enough.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53'I'm actually still hungry after dinner.'
0:14:53 > 0:14:55I ate, like, potatoes and bread.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57It sounds quite filling, but it wasn't
0:14:57 > 0:15:01because it's bread and potatoes and I don't really want to eat that.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04'I would rather starve than eat rationed food.'
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Eurgh!
0:15:06 > 0:15:12Really was quite austere and pretty sort of basic, really.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14You can imagine after going through the war
0:15:14 > 0:15:19and then suddenly finding your condition has not improved one bit.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21I'm surprised there wasn't a revolution.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33In this experiment, each new day heralds a new year.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36So, for the Robshaws, it's 1951.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Usually, Brandon would make the kids' breakfast
0:15:39 > 0:15:40but it's Rochelle's duty now.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45It will probably be 1954 by the time this boils.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49She's making the same breakfast as a 45-year-old housewife made
0:15:49 > 0:15:52for her decorator husband and four children.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57'Weetabix, toast and dripping, tea, milk and sugar.'
0:16:01 > 0:16:03In 1951, the majority of households
0:16:03 > 0:16:06were eating the subsidised national wheatmeal loaf.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11Introduced during the war to stretch Britain's limited wheat supplies,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13the bread used flour made from the whole grain,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16including the husks, and was fortified with extra vitamins.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21With a portion of our wheat crop now being sent to Germany,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23the gritty and rather indigestible loaf
0:16:23 > 0:16:25again became a staple of the British diet.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30WOMAN: Honestly, I'm beginning to dread each new day.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Just when we're getting used to a bit of white bread,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35back we have to go to wartime loaves.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40It's taking a bit of a while.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Compared to a toaster, it would probably be done by now.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50- Thank you.- Just... That's not all yours. Just take a bit!
0:16:50 > 0:16:52THEY LAUGH
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Ugh. It's making me feel sick.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00The thing about the national bread is, though,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03that it's quite filling, isn't it?
0:17:03 > 0:17:04It is hard work to eat
0:17:04 > 0:17:07and you get a bit fed up with it, don't you?
0:17:07 > 0:17:08Imagine having that every day.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11This is going to sound a bit pretentious,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13but in Henry V, there's a bit where he talks about
0:17:13 > 0:17:16somebody going to bed crammed with distressful bread
0:17:16 > 0:17:17and I kind of know what he meant.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21It's how I feel. Yeah, I'm crammed with distressful bread.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23I know we're not supposed to waste food,
0:17:23 > 0:17:25but I am quite happy to waste that.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33- Bye, Rochelle. - Bye, Brandon. Work hard.- I'll try.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35Usually, Rochelle would be heading out to work
0:17:35 > 0:17:38- with the rest of the family. - Have a nice day.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42Bye.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44I feel a bit sad.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46Go back to an empty house.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54But as a 1950s housewife, she's got a full-time job at home,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58when domestic chores took an average 75 hours a week,
0:17:58 > 0:18:00compared to just 18 hours today.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04There's nobody to talk to
0:18:04 > 0:18:08and it does feel slightly trapping for me,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11but that is, for many women, how it would have been.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13It must have been extremely frustrating
0:18:13 > 0:18:16for women who had been at work during the war.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19I think it's OK if you don't know you're trapped
0:18:19 > 0:18:22and you've always lived that life, but if you have tasted that freedom
0:18:22 > 0:18:24of being out with other women and working,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26it must have been quite hard.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31But there's no time for Rochelle to dwell.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33With no fridge, she needs to shop every day.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37Rather than the 25,000 products
0:18:37 > 0:18:40stocked by the average modern supermarket today,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42her choice is severely limited.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44And food is expensive.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47In 1951, British families spent, on average,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50an astonishing one-third of their income on food
0:18:50 > 0:18:52compared to as little as 12% today.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55There's your ration for the week.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57- Oh, gosh, that's for the week?- Yeah.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Although the war has now been over for six years,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04meat, eggs, butter, cooking fat, sugar, tea and sweets
0:19:04 > 0:19:06are still all on ration.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10So, that's just one egg for five people? Wow.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14And things are about to take a turn for the worse.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18'It's a double problem today for the butcher and the housewife.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22'Not much meat and much of what there is makes the butcher blush.'
0:19:22 > 0:19:24That's your ration for the week. There's no more.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26- Is this all?- That's the lot.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28What am I supposed to do with that?
0:19:28 > 0:19:31In 1951, Britain refused to pay higher prices
0:19:31 > 0:19:34to its main meat supplier, Argentina,
0:19:34 > 0:19:38so the meat ration hit an all-time low of 5oz per person, per week.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42One little bit of steak on Friday
0:19:42 > 0:19:44and, blimey, we've had it for the rest of the week, then.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48What does a man live on? Elevenpence of meat? Disgusting!
0:19:48 > 0:19:50I've come for my liver.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53So, it's 5oz per person. Shall I cut you 5oz?
0:19:53 > 0:19:56- Yeah, let me see what that looks like. Yeah.- No problem.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59And you don't do anything on the black market, do you?
0:19:59 > 0:20:01- Erm, no.- No!
0:20:01 > 0:20:03Just trying to get a little bit more.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07The individual meat ration was the equivalent
0:20:07 > 0:20:10of just over one quarter-pound burger a week.
0:20:10 > 0:20:11There you go - there's your 5oz.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13Right, that's quite small, isn't it?
0:20:20 > 0:20:23Most families ate their main meal, dinner, in the middle of the day
0:20:23 > 0:20:26and Rochelle now needs to prepare Brandon's.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29She's making a meal first made by a 45-year-old housewife
0:20:29 > 0:20:31for her train conductor husband.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Fried liver, onions, potatoes,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40cauliflower, national loaf, dripping.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Experienced housewives would spread their ration through the week,
0:20:46 > 0:20:47but novice Rochelle
0:20:47 > 0:20:51has bought the family's entire meat ration in one go.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Concerned about keeping it fresh, she's cooking it all at once.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58Cut so thin.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00I don't want it to be like a bit of shoe leather.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07In 1951, 60% of men came home for their midday meal,
0:21:07 > 0:21:09so Brandon's doing the same.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Oh, God, I'm starving. What have we got?
0:21:12 > 0:21:15- We've got liver and potatoes. - All right.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19I have to check myself not to go into the kitchen.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Normally, it would automatically be the first place I would go to.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26And now, I find myself sitting in this quiet little room
0:21:26 > 0:21:28waiting for somebody to bring me a meal.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30It's a completely different experience.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Maybe I'll get used to it. At the moment, it feels a little strange.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37- Here you go.- Oh... Good, thank you.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45- Do I need to ask what this is? - You're getting grumpy.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47It's just... I'm sorry.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51It's just this national bread - I can't face it any more.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53You know the sort of feeling you get
0:21:53 > 0:21:55when you just know that your body
0:21:55 > 0:21:58doesn't want any more of a particular kind of food?
0:21:58 > 0:22:00That's what I've got here.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04So, these are really quite small, thin slices, actually, of liver.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06You're eating the week's ration.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08- The WEEK'S ration?- Yes.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10So, you wouldn't get any more meat after that.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12It's not really enough, is it?
0:22:13 > 0:22:15Well, I suppose the thing about it is,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17there's no kind of zing or kick.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20There's no kind of herbs or spices.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23- So, it was kind of bland.- Right.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27To be told that it's bland and boring
0:22:27 > 0:22:30felt like a bit of a stab in my heart.
0:22:32 > 0:22:33- OK.- The National Food Survey
0:22:33 > 0:22:36shows that Rochelle's frustrations with rationing
0:22:36 > 0:22:38were shared by thousands of women.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41The 44-year-old wife of an ironmonger commented...
0:22:41 > 0:22:45'A little more butter and meat would make such a difference.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48'A hungry man is an angry man.'
0:22:48 > 0:22:50And then he's gone off to work,
0:22:50 > 0:22:55so it kind of feels, phwoof, you know, what am I going to do now?
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Well, wash up and then make another bland meal.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08But there's a good excuse to splash out.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10It's Ros's 15th birthday
0:23:10 > 0:23:12and Rochelle's using the week's sugar ration
0:23:12 > 0:23:15to make a pink layer party cake... with dried eggs.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19I've never cooked with dried eggs before.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22It's really odd. How can that be an egg?
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Bran's got absolutely no idea
0:23:25 > 0:23:29what it's like to be in the kitchen for the whole day.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35It's a bit soft in the middle,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38but perhaps we can just eat up to the middle and then leave the rest.
0:23:40 > 0:23:41The cake is filled with jam
0:23:41 > 0:23:45and topped with icing made with blancmange powder to save on sugar.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49It's too runny to go through a piping thing.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51I'll just drip it over the top.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54I wanted to try and ice her name in it,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57but that's not really happened.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Birthday girl Ros, Fred, and Miranda are back from school.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11As soon as I get home, I'd usually have something to eat
0:24:11 > 0:24:14and I'm actually really, really hungry.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18I'm missing crisps, chocolate,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21sweets, ice cream.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24Just everything nice.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Flavoured crisps haven't been invented yet
0:24:28 > 0:24:30so for Ros's birthday meal,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32they'll be eating Brandon's leftovers.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36With food in such short supply, not a crumb was to be wasted.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38So, they're going to have some of this cold liver
0:24:38 > 0:24:42which, I have to say, really doesn't look terribly appetising.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44It's gone a bit green.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47- Hello.- Here's your supper.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50What is it?
0:24:50 > 0:24:54This is the leftovers from Dad's meal. It's liver.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57- Urgh.- No?
0:24:57 > 0:24:58- Urgh.- It's got blood in it.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00You can just try a little bit.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02What do you think?
0:25:03 > 0:25:07- It's weird, isn't it? - It's disgusting.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09What part of it's disgusting?
0:25:09 > 0:25:12All of it. The bread made me feel sick all day today.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15- Literally, I didn't feel good all day today.- Really?
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Well, just eat the cauliflower, then.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20But it's cold.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24They really didn't like it. I mean, what was it?
0:25:24 > 0:25:28Potatoes, cauliflower and bits of liver - all cold.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31What's not to like? You know.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34But we'll see what happens with this cake.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37What is that?
0:25:37 > 0:25:41That is really nice. It's actually really nice. It's icing.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46We've just eaten one of the grimmest meals
0:25:46 > 0:25:49I think I'll ever eat in my life.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51I feel really sorry for Ros.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53It's been the worst birthday in the world.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56- ALL:- # Happy birthday to you... #
0:25:56 > 0:25:59My birthday really wasn't very good.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03I didn't actually eat any supper, because it wasn't very nice.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07I'm sorry, but I think about it, the liver is the bit of your body
0:26:07 > 0:26:10that processes all the things that your body doesn't want.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12So, why would you eat that?
0:26:16 > 0:26:18- Hello. I'm back.- Hello, Brandon. Hi.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21The Food Survey shows that many children ate tea with their mothers,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25while their fathers ate later, undisturbed.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27One of the drawbacks to being served in this way
0:26:27 > 0:26:29is that you kind of feel
0:26:29 > 0:26:31almost that you're not really part of the family.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34I missed out on Rosalind's birthday tea today.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Now they've all gone off and are busy doing other things
0:26:36 > 0:26:41and I'm just sitting here on my own, eating in this empty room.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44You know, it makes me feel like a bit of an outcast, almost.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51The mood within the family seemed to really dip.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55Those austerity years were extremely difficult.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Having to sort of keep going and make the best of things
0:26:58 > 0:27:02must have shown an enormous strength of resolve.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Housewives like Rochelle
0:27:16 > 0:27:18may have struggled to feed their families at home
0:27:18 > 0:27:20but the government was doing its best
0:27:20 > 0:27:21to ensure children had enough to eat
0:27:21 > 0:27:24through the compulsory supply of school dinners.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28By 1952, 50% of children
0:27:28 > 0:27:31were eating their main meal of the day at school.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35Polly and I have asked Fred's school
0:27:35 > 0:27:38to prepare a dinner for his class 1950s-style.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Obviously, they weren't eating burgers and chips
0:27:41 > 0:27:45and turkey twizzlers, so what dismal 1950s stuff was on the plate?
0:27:45 > 0:27:46I think when you read the menus,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48they don't read as being grey and dismal.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51They seem quite meat-heavy, from our perspective.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55A lot of roasts, boiled meat, pies.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Quite a lot of offal, so heart, liver, kidneys.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00There's always an emphasis on the protein.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Could the schools cook whatever they want?
0:28:02 > 0:28:05No, schools were given quite strict directives
0:28:05 > 0:28:08from their local authorities about what they could and couldn't cook.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11So, they had to provide 20g of protein a day
0:28:11 > 0:28:14and they even specify 400mg of calcium
0:28:14 > 0:28:16in recognition of a nation
0:28:16 > 0:28:20that's historically had terrible teeth, rickets, stunted growth.
0:28:20 > 0:28:21So, this project is really about
0:28:21 > 0:28:25building the health and the strength of the future generation.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29It all sounds very municipal and centralised.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31It seems a bit over-controlling.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34Well, it comes out of the idea of the state
0:28:34 > 0:28:37looking after the people, the country, the nation,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40and also that rationing sort of worked,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43that it equalled out inequalities in diet and health
0:28:43 > 0:28:45and so there was this imperative
0:28:45 > 0:28:48to continue that through the state feeding of children.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50We'll see how these pampered 21st-century school kids
0:28:50 > 0:28:52- get on with real cooking.- Exactly.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00We're serving up for Fred's class, the classic mince and dried peas,
0:29:00 > 0:29:01potatoes and boiled cabbage.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Right, children, your 1950s lunch is ready. Don't all hurry at once.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09It smells like sick. It looks horrible.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12- Come on, it's good for you. Do you want gravy?- Nice big helping.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24- What do you think of the food, then? - Not nice. Disgusting.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26This food isn't very nice,
0:29:26 > 0:29:28but this is probably a tiny bit better than my mum's.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32There's not much flavour in it and it's just plain.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Do you think this food is more or less healthy
0:29:35 > 0:29:37than the food that you eat?
0:29:37 > 0:29:41I think it was healthy, but not very nice.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44They might have turned their noses up at the grub,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47but a combination of rationing and strict controls on school meals
0:29:47 > 0:29:50meant that in the '50s, the diets of children were healthier
0:29:50 > 0:29:53than at any other point in our time-travelling experiment.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57They all ate it, and even the ones who went, "Yuck!"
0:29:57 > 0:29:59actually ate it - they all finished their food.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02So, either these are very well brought up children
0:30:02 > 0:30:06or the 1950s, they really had something right about feeding kids.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17Although there was equality in what children ate at school in 1952,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20the subjects taught were rather less even-handed.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22Put some elbow grease into it.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24I've arranged for housekeeper Vanessa Littlejohn
0:30:24 > 0:30:27to give Miranda and Ros instruction in housecraft -
0:30:27 > 0:30:29part of every schoolgirl's timetable.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35It's vital as young ladies who, hopefully, will get married one day
0:30:35 > 0:30:37to be a very good housewife,
0:30:37 > 0:30:41and housecraft is one of the most vital bits of education
0:30:41 > 0:30:42a young lady will ever get.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47There were fears that after five years of war,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50with men away and women working outside the home,
0:30:50 > 0:30:52the tradition of mothers passing on knowledge
0:30:52 > 0:30:55of how to run a home to their daughters was disappearing.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58'Every branch of homemaking is taught.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01'In the kitchens, they learn simple cooking.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04'And in the laundry, the children are taught to wash and iron
0:31:04 > 0:31:07'exactly as they'll have to when they're grown-up.'
0:31:07 > 0:31:10So little effort there, young lady.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12Miranda and Ros both plan to go to university,
0:31:12 > 0:31:17but the chances of their doing that in 1952 were less than 1%.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19Those that could afford to
0:31:19 > 0:31:21were expected to give up work on marriage
0:31:21 > 0:31:23and become dependant housewives.
0:31:23 > 0:31:28Throughout the day, you would be cleaning, shopping, laundry.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30You wouldn't have had time for a job.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Being a housewife was a full-time job.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36Try not to bash the furniture.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38I hate the way that my future's being mapped out
0:31:38 > 0:31:40to be a good housewife.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43I just find it extremely boring
0:31:43 > 0:31:45and I don't think I'd be a very good one at all.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47So, I'd have to do something I wasn't very good at
0:31:47 > 0:31:50and I didn't like my whole life, and I wouldn't even get paid for it.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53FANFARE ON RADIO
0:31:55 > 0:31:59'Into the City of London winds the procession of heralds
0:31:59 > 0:32:01'to proclaim within her ancient walls
0:32:01 > 0:32:03'the coronation of our Queen.'
0:32:03 > 0:32:06In 1953, the nation was given a public holiday
0:32:06 > 0:32:10to celebrate the coronation of Elizabeth II.
0:32:10 > 0:32:11To mark the occasion,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14households were given extra rations of margarine and sugar.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18- Look at all this sugar! - Oh, you've got some supplies.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20Oh, my goodness me. Look at that.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22I want the family to put theirs to good use.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25"You'll have guests arriving at four."
0:32:25 > 0:32:28Well, I think you might have to get cooking, darling.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30Magazines were crammed full of tips
0:32:30 > 0:32:32on how to make perfect coronation displays.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Got to make a crown.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41If I put it on a scale of whether I could recreate this,
0:32:41 > 0:32:43I'd say probably one.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Without a fridge, setting the jelly for the crown's centre
0:32:47 > 0:32:49is going to be impossible.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53So, Rochelle has hit upon a solution shared by many '50s housewives.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59My plan is to see if there's anybody in the street
0:32:59 > 0:33:02who will let me set my jelly in their fridge.
0:33:04 > 0:33:05- Hi.- Hi!- Hi.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09Do you mind if I use your fridge, just to pop that in to set?
0:33:09 > 0:33:11Oh, sure. Yeah, that's fine. Come on through.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16A fridge cost around 11 times the average weekly wage,
0:33:16 > 0:33:20the equivalent of over £4,500 today,
0:33:20 > 0:33:22so it would be a popular neighbour that had one.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29Rochelle also needs to whip cream to decorate the crown.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37I'm just thinking I wish I'd married an American soldier.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Then I'd be in America with a whisk, an electric whisk!
0:33:41 > 0:33:44The lack of a fridge is also proving problematic
0:33:44 > 0:33:46in creating the crown's arches.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49Despite the fact that it is on a marble surface,
0:33:49 > 0:33:51the marg is really melted,
0:33:51 > 0:33:56so considering I'm making pastry, I'm not sure how great this will be.
0:33:59 > 0:34:00That's terrible.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05That's just terrible. It's just... Look at it.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08I don't think the Queen would want to look at this.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11I don't think it's the sort of crown she'd want to wear.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18With Rochelle making a royal mess in the kitchen,
0:34:18 > 0:34:20the rest of the family are in party mood.
0:34:20 > 0:34:21- What?- Like that?
0:34:23 > 0:34:26- Like that.- Really needs a good old clonk with something, doesn't it?
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Clonk with your head.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33FRED HUMS THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
0:34:33 > 0:34:37I think you might find that that's the American anthem.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42I think if the Queen could see this now, she'd be delighted.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48I know that it is a holiday,
0:34:48 > 0:34:50but it doesn't feel like a holiday for me.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54I'm still in the kitchen and I've been on my feet all day.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56So, it feels like the same sort of day,
0:34:56 > 0:34:59except I'm making slightly different things.
0:35:00 > 0:35:01Ohh.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06It's burnt...
0:35:06 > 0:35:08on one side.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10I left it in for too long and the heat was hot
0:35:10 > 0:35:15and the little medallion on the top is now, of course, stuck to it.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19But at least she's had the help of modern technology
0:35:19 > 0:35:21for that jelly.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25- Is that set? It's a bit wobbly. - It is very wobbly, isn't it?
0:35:25 > 0:35:27What shall I do? Shall I tip it out now?
0:35:27 > 0:35:29- Yeah, cos it's hot in here.- Yeah, OK.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Oh. Ah...
0:35:34 > 0:35:36It's not a crown - it's a beret!
0:35:38 > 0:35:39Oh.
0:35:39 > 0:35:41SHE LAUGHS
0:35:45 > 0:35:49- Shall we finish it off with this? - What is that?
0:35:49 > 0:35:51This is the biscuit.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53- So, this is supposed to look like that, right?- Yeah!
0:35:53 > 0:35:55- It's the same.- Look at that.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59Oh. There's absolutely nothing you can do with that, is there?
0:35:59 > 0:36:00There's nothing.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03So, it says, "Just follow the instructions and success is yours.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05"It's easy to make."
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Well, it's obviously a lie, isn't it?
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Wow, look at this, Fred.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14This is what a television set used to look like in the 1950s.
0:36:14 > 0:36:19While only 5% of British homes had invested in a fridge by 1953,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22almost 20% had found the money to buy a TV set.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24It made a click, but nothing's happening.
0:36:24 > 0:36:25- Oh, there we are.- There we go.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29I know it's only the test card, but I think it's not a bad picture.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32I love the idea of clustering round that and watching our noble Queen.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34I think that would be really fascinating.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39The crowning glory is finally finished
0:36:39 > 0:36:42- just in time for the guests... - There.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44..women from a local community centre
0:36:44 > 0:36:46who were all housewives in the 1950s.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50Oh, wonderful. This is wonderful.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55Oh! A larder. Oh, we had one just like this.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Cake tins.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00Lemons, everything.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Cereal. Oh, you've got it all. It's really wonderful.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05- I found it really difficult.- Yes.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08With the restriction of food that is available.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10- You didn't have enough stuff, did you?- No. No.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Because you had to make do with what there was available.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16But did you think that was good
0:37:16 > 0:37:18or did you know that it should have been better?
0:37:18 > 0:37:20- You accepted that.- Right.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Me, I was a... You accepted these things.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26'Now comes the State Coach carrying Her Majesty.'
0:37:28 > 0:37:30Nearly three-quarters of the population
0:37:30 > 0:37:33watched the coronation on television.
0:37:34 > 0:37:35Oh, look.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39Doesn't she look lovely?
0:37:39 > 0:37:43- She looks very kind of small and young.- She was.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46The weight of that crown must have been so heavy on her head.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48How does it not fall off?
0:37:48 > 0:37:51I expect she has to keep her head very, very still.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Well, she's certainly done long service for the country.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57..give it to Fred.
0:37:57 > 0:37:58It was nice to be with other people,
0:37:58 > 0:38:01because a lot of the time, I've been on my own,
0:38:01 > 0:38:06so actually having other people to talk to has been really nice.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08And I can imagine that people
0:38:08 > 0:38:12would really look forward to events like the coronation
0:38:12 > 0:38:13because it would just take them out
0:38:13 > 0:38:16of this rather mundane kind of existence.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20# Leaning on a lamp
0:38:20 > 0:38:23# Maybe you think I look a tramp... #
0:38:23 > 0:38:26The pit of my day was my dad playing the ukulele,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28cos it's just embarrassing.
0:38:28 > 0:38:29That's really embarrassing.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31# ..Oh, my
0:38:31 > 0:38:35# I hope the little lady comes by
0:38:35 > 0:38:39# I'm leaning on the lamppost at the corner of the street
0:38:39 > 0:38:43# In case a certain little lady comes by. #
0:38:43 > 0:38:45THEY CHEER
0:38:51 > 0:38:541954 brings the best possible news for British families -
0:38:54 > 0:38:58with food supplies increasing, rationing is finally over.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00'Queues are about to become a memory.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04'Meat - the last food on ration - has been freed after 14 years.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07'You can buy enough to satisfy the most demanding appetite.'
0:39:07 > 0:39:12To celebrate, I've given them some end-of-rationing goodies.
0:39:12 > 0:39:13- Oh!- I'm smiling.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15- So am I.- Look at this.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18- Oh, do you know, I've got goose bumps!- No wonder.- Oh, my God.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21How bizarre is that?! I've got goose bumps.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23- Fresh eggs.- Eggs.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26- And proper bread.- Wow.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28- And what's this?- I think this is...
0:39:29 > 0:39:30It's bacon!
0:39:32 > 0:39:34Sweets...
0:39:34 > 0:39:36are off ration.
0:39:36 > 0:39:37Yes! Yes!
0:39:37 > 0:39:41I can have as many sweets as I want and my mum can't stop me!
0:39:43 > 0:39:46This morning, Rochelle's making a Food Survey breakfast
0:39:46 > 0:39:49served by a 45-year-old housewife from the West Midlands
0:39:49 > 0:39:53to her husband and two teenagers on 15th October 1954.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02Eggs, bacon, white bread, tea, milk and sugar.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06I'm actually Jewish. I don't normally do bacon and eggs.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08But I do actually feel like eating this!
0:40:10 > 0:40:12With white bread now widely available,
0:40:12 > 0:40:16in the space of four months, sales of brown fell to almost zero.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23It's lovely.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27This bread is just so much nicer - you could just keep eating it.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30You wouldn't feel you'd had enough after half a slice.
0:40:30 > 0:40:31Feels extravagant, doesn't it?
0:40:31 > 0:40:35Just feels like there is just plenty and we can have as much as we want.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37This is the first meal that has actually been tasty.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39It's proper, it's tasty.
0:40:39 > 0:40:40That's cos it's, like, normal.
0:40:40 > 0:40:41It's modern food.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44I feel like the world is in two different colours.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46When it was rationed, it was all quite dark
0:40:46 > 0:40:48and now it's sunny.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51That was just a fantastic breakfast, Rochelle. Thank you.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54It's the first time you've thanked me for anything.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57Well, I must say I think it's the best meal we have had so far.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01CAR HORN HONKS
0:41:03 > 0:41:05- That is a sick car. - Oh, my...!
0:41:05 > 0:41:08- What do you think? - Rather nice, isn't it?
0:41:10 > 0:41:13To celebrate the end of austerity, the family is going on a picnic.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17Car ownership was just taking off,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20although there were only 2.5 million cars on the road
0:41:20 > 0:41:22compared to 32 million today.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25CLANKING
0:41:25 > 0:41:27LAUGHTER
0:41:27 > 0:41:28ENGINE REVS
0:41:42 > 0:41:45- Slow down.- You can't tell someone to slow down at 20mph.
0:41:45 > 0:41:46- Slow down.- Why?
0:41:46 > 0:41:49- Because, Dad, you are a terrible driver.- I'm not!
0:41:53 > 0:41:54This is a nice spot.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58These look like very good sarnies.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00- That's the corned beef ones. - OK. Nice.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03'Oh, it's fantastic. The end of rationing, honestly,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05'I feel like somebody has opened a door'
0:42:05 > 0:42:08and there is a bright, sunlit world beyond it - it's wonderful.
0:42:09 > 0:42:10LAUGHTER
0:42:10 > 0:42:12I think that really suits you.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14'I'm so happy, cos for the past, like, three days,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16'I haven't actually really eaten anything.'
0:42:16 > 0:42:20And now I can just eat stuff I want to eat,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22and all the chocolates and sweets and all that stuff.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26'After the last couple of days of just being enclosed,
0:42:26 > 0:42:30'it's really beautiful to be out in the open air.'
0:42:30 > 0:42:32It's almost as if I can breathe, actually,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35and my hands haven't smelt of dripping for, sort of, 24 hours
0:42:35 > 0:42:36which is really nice.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42Although rationing had ended, food remained expensive.
0:42:42 > 0:42:43But change was afoot.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47A transformation in farming
0:42:47 > 0:42:49that would start to bring the cost of food down.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52Old hedges are bulldozed out of the way,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55for the small fields of our grandfathers are uneconomical
0:42:55 > 0:42:57on the large modern farm.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01Determined Britain should never face the shortages of wartime again,
0:43:01 > 0:43:03the government launched a range of incentives
0:43:03 > 0:43:05to increase agricultural production.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Farmers raced to invest in modern equipment,
0:43:09 > 0:43:11new pesticides and fertilizers
0:43:11 > 0:43:15and wheat yields increased by nearly 50% across the decade.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17It was the start of a total transformation
0:43:17 > 0:43:19in the way food was produced.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25In 1955, a brand-new product,
0:43:25 > 0:43:27utilising the very latest manufacturing techniques,
0:43:27 > 0:43:29hit the shelves -
0:43:29 > 0:43:30the frozen fish finger.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36'I've come to Billingsgate fish market
0:43:36 > 0:43:38'to meet Peter Hajipieris from Birds Eye
0:43:38 > 0:43:42'to find out how the chance discovery of fast freezing
0:43:42 > 0:43:44'changed British eating habits forever.'
0:43:44 > 0:43:46The story is that Clarence Birdseye,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48who was the inventor of the whole process,
0:43:48 > 0:43:50he was a scientist...
0:43:50 > 0:43:52- He was a real person?- He was.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54- Was he a captain? - He wasn't a captain.
0:43:54 > 0:43:55- He wasn't in the navy at all? - No, no.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59- He wasn't like Captain Birdseye? - No, no, he was a scientist.
0:43:59 > 0:44:00Very keen on exploration
0:44:00 > 0:44:03and he was in Canada on a fishing expedition
0:44:03 > 0:44:05and he left some fish and went back
0:44:05 > 0:44:07and realised that the sub-zero temperature
0:44:07 > 0:44:09was immediately freezing the fish.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12What surprised him, actually, was when he got back,
0:44:12 > 0:44:14he defrosted the fish and it tasted just the same
0:44:14 > 0:44:16as the fish in the fresh form.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19What he then tried to do was replicate that back in the lab,
0:44:19 > 0:44:21he was in labs for years, experimenting,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24until one day, he invented something called the plate freezer.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27He patented it and there was born the fish finger.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30And thus a tea-time legend was created.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35To convert cod into appetising fish fingers
0:44:35 > 0:44:36takes no time at all.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39No sooner shaped than fried.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43Fish fingers were produced
0:44:43 > 0:44:45at the biggest quick-freezing factory outside America,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48in Great Yarmouth, and they flew off the shelves,
0:44:48 > 0:44:50selling 600 tonnes in the first year.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Is it a bit surprising that the fish finger caught on
0:44:55 > 0:44:57in homes that didn't have freezers?
0:44:57 > 0:44:59I don't think it is surprising.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02This is one of the first great convenience foods.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05It was healthy, nutritious, great fun for the kids.
0:45:05 > 0:45:06And of course, in those days,
0:45:06 > 0:45:08they had the slogan when they launched,
0:45:08 > 0:45:11"No bones, no smell, no waste, no fuss."
0:45:11 > 0:45:14And the convenience factor was very attractive
0:45:14 > 0:45:17for housewives in those days, hence why it succeeded.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26I've sent the Robshaws their first taste
0:45:26 > 0:45:28of the convenience food revolution.
0:45:30 > 0:45:31Wow.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34That's really nice.
0:45:35 > 0:45:40The product is very convenient - I heat it up and that is it.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43Nothing to do, nothing else to do, it's fantastic.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51By 1956, the average wage had nearly doubled
0:45:51 > 0:45:54since the start of the decade, to over £11 a week.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Many Brits had disposable income for the first time ever.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02Britain was riding the crest of an economic wave.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08"Cleaner and more efficient than gas - it's electric!
0:46:08 > 0:46:12"Now there is no need to wait to purchase your new electric cooker -
0:46:12 > 0:46:14"ask for hire purchase.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18"Talk to one of our representatives at your local showroom today."
0:46:21 > 0:46:23Domestic appliances were hugely expensive,
0:46:23 > 0:46:26but the recent lifting of restrictions on hire purchase
0:46:26 > 0:46:28put them within easy reach of the masses.
0:46:31 > 0:46:32Consumer culture was born
0:46:32 > 0:46:37as newfangled electrical goods were snapped up, on credit.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40Mrs Harrison, what have you bought on HP?
0:46:40 > 0:46:43There's the mixer, the fridge, the washing machine,
0:46:43 > 0:46:46the dishwasher and the polisher.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Why do you keep buying all these things?
0:46:49 > 0:46:51Well, I know I shouldn't really say this,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54but I like to see all the envious looks of my friends.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59Manufacturers used a variety of techniques
0:46:59 > 0:47:01to sell these shiny devices,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04particularly saleswomen who could extol their virtues.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07The only bending-down cleaning jobs -
0:47:07 > 0:47:10the bottom and the top of the oven.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14I've sent the Robshaws to meet a familiar face
0:47:14 > 0:47:17who worked as a demonstrator in the 1950s.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21- Ah, it's Mary Berry! - Nice to see you.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24How lovely, lovely to see you! Fantastic.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27I worked for the Electricity Board in the 1950s.
0:47:27 > 0:47:32And I really loved my job because I was trained in domestic science,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35but I had to learn the technical side
0:47:35 > 0:47:39and a technician would go out and put this in a village hall,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42with a table, and I would arrive and do the demonstration.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44And it was really such fun.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47I would be telling people all about the virtues
0:47:47 > 0:47:49of the modern electric cooker.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54The electric oven in the '50s was revolutionary.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58With the development of the National Grid,
0:47:58 > 0:48:0186% of households were wired for electricity.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05It was promoted as a clean, efficient alternative
0:48:05 > 0:48:07to dirty coal gas cookers.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10It's nice, isn't it, don't you think?
0:48:10 > 0:48:12It's lovely - it does look very beautiful, doesn't it?
0:48:12 > 0:48:15Well, people would say, "I could never afford that",
0:48:15 > 0:48:18and you would say, "But you could have it on hire purchase
0:48:18 > 0:48:20"and it would only cost you £10 a week."
0:48:20 > 0:48:23And then they'd sort of get interested.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27Hire purchase was absolutely new then and, eh...
0:48:27 > 0:48:29You know, people thought it was sort of sent from heaven.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34One of Mary's demonstration techniques
0:48:34 > 0:48:36was to make a Victoria sandwich -
0:48:36 > 0:48:40the benchmark of perfect 1950s baking.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44So we have got 8oz of butter in here, then 8oz of sugar goes in,
0:48:44 > 0:48:46and you'd cream it together.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48In the past, people would have done it with a wooden spoon,
0:48:48 > 0:48:50and that took a long time.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53But we had these wonderful mixers.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55MIXER WHIZZES
0:48:55 > 0:48:58And if I was in the showroom doing a demonstration,
0:48:58 > 0:49:02people would walk by and you would see through the glass it rising.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04People thought it was magical.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06- Does that look good?- Wow.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08In goes the cream
0:49:08 > 0:49:12and that is the classic Victoria sandwich.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17It's so light - it just feels like it is made of a cloud or something.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20So are you tempted to buy an electric cooker?
0:49:20 > 0:49:22I'm not just tempted, I'm sold on it.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24I want one - I want two!
0:49:24 > 0:49:26Oh, that's good.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29Ker-ching! That's another sale for Mary.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31I think the oven will transform my life,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34simply because it does look so new.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37It looks better than the functional oven that I've got at the minute
0:49:37 > 0:49:39that looks like a furnace.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51In 1957, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
0:49:51 > 0:49:54declared that "Most people have never had it so good",
0:49:54 > 0:49:56and women across the country were falling for the latest
0:49:56 > 0:49:58must-have kitchen gadgets.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00Hello.
0:50:00 > 0:50:01GASPING
0:50:01 > 0:50:05The Kenwood Chef is a piece of magic, really.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07This is every woman's best friend
0:50:07 > 0:50:11and is going to save many, many hours of her labour,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14because it was so versatile.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18It could beat your eggs, make cakes, knead dough,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21chop up vegetables, liquidise soup.
0:50:23 > 0:50:24Appliances like the mixer
0:50:24 > 0:50:27were marketed to women with idealised images of the home.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31With new labour-saving devices, cooking was no longer a chore,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34but something for housewives to celebrate and take pride in.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39It's got this futuristic American design.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41So it is promising something about the future
0:50:41 > 0:50:43rather than looking back to the past.
0:50:43 > 0:50:44It's not like your mangle,
0:50:44 > 0:50:47- which looks like an instrument of torture.- Yes.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49This looks like an instrument of pleasure.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52For me, coming from early '50s to having one of these
0:50:52 > 0:50:56would be the most extraordinary thing to have.
0:50:56 > 0:50:57One of the ways they sold it
0:50:57 > 0:51:01was by saying the reason that American women looked so young
0:51:01 > 0:51:03is because they have food processors.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Rochelle's got the gadgets.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Now she faces the ultimate test for the perfect '50s housewife -
0:51:13 > 0:51:16Brandon's boss is coming for dinner.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20She's attempting a three-course meal,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23including souffle and an apple and orange tart
0:51:23 > 0:51:25from the most popular cookbook of the day -
0:51:25 > 0:51:29Cordon Bleu bible, the Constance Spry cookery book.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32Oh..."Turn half of this mixture into a buttered souffle.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36"Break the four eggs carefully into the four little nests."
0:51:37 > 0:51:40There are 15 different steps to the dessert alone.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42I'm feeling immense pressure.
0:51:42 > 0:51:47It's just having to do all of it in one go, it's too much to do.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52Remaining true to his '50s role,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55Brandon's staying out of the kitchen and building a bookcase.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00With the boss coming for dinner, I've put a lot on Rochelle
0:52:00 > 0:52:02and she'll have to rise to the challenge.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06Oww! Ah!
0:52:07 > 0:52:09In the kitchen, there's still the main course
0:52:09 > 0:52:11of beef Stroganoff to prepare.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15Cut the meat, cut the meat, cut the...
0:52:15 > 0:52:17- Are you going mad?! - Yes, cut the meat...
0:52:18 > 0:52:20Hello, Mr Steaky!
0:52:22 > 0:52:25I think my mum in the kitchen is going a bit deranged -
0:52:25 > 0:52:27she's laughing for long periods of time,
0:52:27 > 0:52:30she is repeating the same things over and over again.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33It's the classic signs of insanity.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37Rochelle is discovering that the idealised vision
0:52:37 > 0:52:40of the modern housewife, aided by her new gadgets,
0:52:40 > 0:52:42isn't all it's cracked up to be.
0:52:46 > 0:52:47I'm working harder with the devices
0:52:47 > 0:52:50because I have given myself that much more to do.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53With this, it's like loads and loads of different preparations,
0:52:53 > 0:52:57different steps - it's an extremely complicated procedure.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00And I can imagine there must be many women
0:53:00 > 0:53:05who might feel they are not reaching that level of perfection
0:53:05 > 0:53:07that is desired of them.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12Under pressure to project an image of the perfect housewife,
0:53:12 > 0:53:14it's not just the food that's got to look good
0:53:14 > 0:53:17as Brandon's boss Chris and his wife Jenny arrive.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19Great to see you.
0:53:19 > 0:53:20Hi, nice to meet you.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23- Hi, lovely to meet you. - You, too.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26ALL: Wow!
0:53:26 > 0:53:30- That looks delicious. - These are souffles?- Yes.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32Oh, this looks incredible.
0:53:35 > 0:53:36That was good, wasn't it?
0:53:39 > 0:53:41- That's lovely. - Oh, that's very good.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a machine in the future
0:53:47 > 0:53:48that did the dishes?
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Oh, that's just science fiction, darling.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53LAUGHTER
0:53:55 > 0:53:57That looks really good.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02This is an apple and orange tart with a sabayon sauce.
0:54:02 > 0:54:08It just shows how much eating habits changed in just eight years.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11Cos that sort of thing just wouldn't have been conceivable in 1950, 1951.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13We wouldn't have had the ingredients, anyway.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16It is absolutely delicious, it's really light.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22- LAUGHING:- I'm going to collapse with my legs up in the air.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25'I'm really pleased, that really seemed to work.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28'I think Brandon's boss was genuinely impressed.'
0:54:28 > 0:54:30He might give me a job.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32SHE LAUGHS
0:54:34 > 0:54:37'I think Rochelle played a blinder.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40'I think it was a fantastic menu, perfectly executed,
0:54:40 > 0:54:43'you could see they were enjoying it.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45'Rochelle came good when it mattered -
0:54:45 > 0:54:47'she's had some struggles'
0:54:47 > 0:54:49but when the heat was on, she was equal to the occasion.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53- That was excellent. - So nice.- Really good.
0:54:53 > 0:54:55THEY LAUGH
0:55:03 > 0:55:05The end of the decade has arrived.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09Polly and I are joining the Robshaws and their friends
0:55:09 > 0:55:10for celebratory cocktails
0:55:10 > 0:55:13to discover how the family have found the 1950s.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20You can tell I'm a real mixologist, can't you?
0:55:22 > 0:55:24There's one family member who won't be sad
0:55:24 > 0:55:25to say goodbye to the period.
0:55:25 > 0:55:31There no iPad, there's no computer, there's no nice sweets...
0:55:32 > 0:55:33The list goes on.
0:55:35 > 0:55:36- Cheers. - ALL: Cheers.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39Here's to the end of the 1950s.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44Over the decade, they've eaten 24 meals,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47most of them unrecognisable to a 21st century family.
0:55:50 > 0:55:51I've learnt that, you know,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54I can actually live without snacks all the time
0:55:54 > 0:55:56which is a bit of a shock to me.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59Generally, the food didn't have as much flavour
0:55:59 > 0:56:01and it was all quite heavy,
0:56:01 > 0:56:05but it probably was quite healthy because we didn't eat much sugar.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09One of them is the celery Farsi.
0:56:13 > 0:56:17Though I didn't particularly rave about all the food,
0:56:17 > 0:56:20it is healthy food, and at the end of the week,
0:56:20 > 0:56:22I must say, I am feeling quite good.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27That was the food. But what about the impact on family life?
0:56:29 > 0:56:31In contrast to their 21st century roles,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33Rochelle's been in sole charge of the kitchen -
0:56:33 > 0:56:37cooking all meals from scratch, shopping every day
0:56:37 > 0:56:39and doing 75 hours of housework.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43There are elements of being a '50s housewife
0:56:43 > 0:56:46that...that are appealing.
0:56:46 > 0:56:51It is nice to sort of create a meal and put it on the table.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55But I have missed Brandon's support
0:56:55 > 0:56:59and the isolation between me and Brandon
0:56:59 > 0:57:02makes me feel quite lonely.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06Rochelle in the kitchen all the time,
0:57:06 > 0:57:08most of the time us eating separately,
0:57:08 > 0:57:10I feel we've lost something there
0:57:10 > 0:57:13and I feel, for this week, I've sort of lost a friend.
0:57:15 > 0:57:16I'm not at all surprised
0:57:16 > 0:57:19that a family as modern and emancipated as the Robshaws
0:57:19 > 0:57:21are delighted to leave the '50s behind.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24I had looked at it previously through rose-tinted spectacles -
0:57:24 > 0:57:27I thought the '50s was maybe some glorious, traditional time of family
0:57:27 > 0:57:29and everyone being together after the war.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32But clearly, you can see from Rochelle, she is ground down by it -
0:57:32 > 0:57:34no respite from the grimness of life apart from sleep.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38Brandon also clearly doesn't like not being allowed into the kitchen.
0:57:38 > 0:57:40He feels cut off from his family.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44From the experience of the Robshaws, it seems that the family was quite a fractured thing in the 1950s.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54Older friends have said life is better in the '50s
0:57:54 > 0:57:58and they are obviously lying.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00It's obviously not true.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04So I'm happy to leave the '50s behind.
0:58:04 > 0:58:06I want to move on.
0:58:12 > 0:58:13Oh, my goodness me.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18Next time, the Robshaws experience the swinging '60s.
0:58:18 > 0:58:19Look at that.
0:58:19 > 0:58:21It smells like dog food.
0:58:21 > 0:58:22Ta-dah!
0:58:22 > 0:58:26Have you seen 'em? Don't you think that is just exciting?
0:58:26 > 0:58:28CLANGING
0:58:28 > 0:58:31Oh, look - what's that dog doing in here?!