Browse content similar to 1960s. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Meet the Robshaws - Brandon, Rochelle, Miranda, Ros and Fred. | 0:00:03 | 0:00:08 | |
Let's go! | 0:00:11 | 0:00:12 | |
For one summer, this food-loving family is embarking | 0:00:12 | 0:00:15 | |
on an extraordinary time-travelling adventure to discover how | 0:00:15 | 0:00:19 | |
a post-war revolution in what we eat, | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
has transformed the way we live. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
That is just amazing. Look at them! | 0:00:24 | 0:00:28 | |
Britain has gone from meagre rations to | 0:00:28 | 0:00:30 | |
ready-meals at the touch of a button in just 50 years. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
Blip, blip, blip, blip, blip. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:34 | |
But how has this changed our health, our homes... | 0:00:34 | 0:00:36 | |
We've got a pull-out larder! | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
..and our family dynamics? | 0:00:39 | 0:00:40 | |
Can't do it any more. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:41 | |
This is what would make a woman break. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:43 | |
To find out, the Robshaws are going to shop, | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
cook and eat their way through history. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
It's 1974! Whoa! | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
I think that is enough sugar now though, darling. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
No, I only put hardly any on! | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
Starting in 1950, their own home will be their time machine... | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
Oh, my goodness! | 0:01:03 | 0:01:05 | |
This carpet hurts my eyes. Who designed that? | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
Someone who was colour-blind. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
Fast-forwarding them through a new year each day, | 0:01:10 | 0:01:14 | |
as they experience, first hand, the culinary fads, fashions | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
and gadgets of each age. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:19 | |
Last time, the family lived through the austerity of the '50s. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
No! | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
No, in the '50s, they had to just eat what was there. Try it. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:31 | |
This week, they enter the 1960s space age... | 0:01:32 | 0:01:36 | |
Oh, my goodness! | 0:01:36 | 0:01:38 | |
Look, look, look at them! Have you seen 'em? | 0:01:39 | 0:01:42 | |
..as they discover how our changing relationship with | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
food has shaped all of our lives. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:48 | |
Dog food. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:49 | |
No, it's a poo ring! | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
The food was pretty strange. It was still pretty British. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
It's '62, come on, can we not get some flavour? | 0:01:58 | 0:02:00 | |
It's the second phase of our time-travel adventure | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
and the Robshaws' functional '50s house has been transformed | 0:02:15 | 0:02:19 | |
into a comfortable 1960s home, | 0:02:19 | 0:02:21 | |
full of mod-cons that speak to Britain's booming economy. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:26 | |
The kitchen has even expanded to reflect the average family | 0:02:26 | 0:02:30 | |
home of the era. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:31 | |
Food historian, Polly Russell, and I, are back to see what the | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
'60s holds in store for the Robshaws. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
No, we've come to the wrong house. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
This is it and isn't it an improvement? | 0:02:44 | 0:02:46 | |
This is not a place that you'd mind spending time in. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
No, as long as you didn't have a problem with baby blue. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
It's just not such a cell, with just a sort of different use of space. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:56 | |
Yeah, that's right. | 0:02:56 | 0:02:57 | |
It's all been organised to be much more ergonomic. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
Just look at the number of journey's she's making. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:05 | |
Scientists actually mapped how far women walked | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
when they were preparing food. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
Look out! The milk's boiling! | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
There, not bad, was it? | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
Not bad? It was dreadful. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
I counted 20 journeys. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
And the kitchen is fitted, isn't it? | 0:03:19 | 0:03:21 | |
It is fitted and the design of this kitchen is supposed to be | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
helping the woman and making her life much more easy. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:30 | |
New plastic surfaces and utensils make keeping kitchens clean | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
much easier and there are advances in other areas too. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:37 | |
There's a significant increase in the amount of food that's | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
-available... -Oh, is there? -So have a look in the cupboard. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
-Quite a lot more processed branded food. -Uh-huh. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
So, lots of, sort of, tinned beef and pasta and beans and an awful | 0:03:46 | 0:03:51 | |
lot of meals which can just be opened from a can and served. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
Yeah, you're right. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:55 | |
This is the era of technology coming into the kitchen to save labour. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:59 | |
You've got an electric kettle and an electric toaster, even a | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
great ham-fisted clutzy old bloke can make toast in a thing like that. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:05 | |
Yeah, I'm not sure how much he would make toast, cos, obviously, | 0:04:05 | 0:04:08 | |
it's better if you can get someone else to do it for you. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
And what's Rochelle going to do with all this free time? | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
Well, although she's got the gadgets, | 0:04:13 | 0:04:14 | |
although she's got the convenience food, she's still spending | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
seven to nine hours a day cleaning and cooking and making sure | 0:04:17 | 0:04:22 | |
the kitchen keeps looking as perfect and pristine as it does now. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:26 | |
After her 1950s experience, kitchen drudgery will come as no surprise to | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
Rochelle, who worked 11 hours a day to feed and look after her family. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:37 | |
15-year-old Ros and big sister, Miranda, were expected to | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
follow in their mum's footsteps. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
And university lecturer, Brandon became a classic '50s dad, | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
waited on at every meal. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:49 | |
Now it's time for the Robshaws to step into the '60s. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:54 | |
I want to see what happens next, | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
I want to see how the role might expand. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
I'm really looking forward to having more interesting foods, | 0:05:03 | 0:05:07 | |
having a little bit more freedom. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
I'm looking forward to the '60s. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:11 | |
I'm hoping that I'll have a chance to be in the kitchen. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:15 | |
For six weeks, the Robshaws are swapping their modern | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
diet for the food of the past. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:20 | |
This time they're eating strictly '60s style, | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
with every day bringing a new year and a new experience. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:26 | |
Whoa! | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
It looks like I'm dead and stuffed! | 0:05:35 | 0:05:37 | |
We've got a TV. Wow! Oh, gosh, that's just like the one I had. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
Ah, we've got some singles, as well. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:45 | |
Oh, The Beatles. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:47 | |
Singles were small. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:48 | |
It does feel lounge-y, doesn't it? | 0:05:48 | 0:05:50 | |
-That's cos it's a... -Lounge! | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness! | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
This is just brilliant! | 0:05:59 | 0:06:00 | |
It's so much brighter than the '50s, isn't it? | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
And it's fitted, it's fitted. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:04 | |
All these surfaces are very shiny, aren't they? Shiny and new. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
In fact, it's hurting my eyes a bit. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
Oh, isn't that clever, a hand-held blender than we've got here. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:14 | |
-Wow! -Ooh! | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
There's considerably more in there than in the '50s. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
That is the food cupboard of a more affluent society. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:26 | |
What I'm looking for and what I can't see, is the fridge. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
So I'm still quite surprised that it's 1960 | 0:06:30 | 0:06:33 | |
and there isn't a fridge, not even a tiny, tiny fridge. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:37 | |
Wey-hey. Welcome to the '60s. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
And you all look amazing. I've never seen so much polyester in one place. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:45 | |
It is, sort of, fairly scary | 0:06:45 | 0:06:46 | |
if you get too close to this new toaster, you might melt. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
What do you think's going be best about the '60s? | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
More sweets. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:53 | |
More sweets, that's true. And there'll be more sugar. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
That's a fairly key thing, you can probably get chocolate bars | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
and various kinds of sweets. | 0:06:58 | 0:07:00 | |
And as you know, I've got your manual here and it's going to be | 0:07:00 | 0:07:03 | |
all about the national food survey and what people were really eating. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:07 | |
Each year, from 1940 to 2000, thousands of families | 0:07:10 | 0:07:14 | |
recorded every meal they ate over the course of a week | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
for the national food survey, providing an extraordinary | 0:07:16 | 0:07:20 | |
window into Britain's changing eating habits. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
The survey will guide the Robshaws through their 1960s diet. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
So what sort of meals are you expecting? | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
Well I'd kind of hoped as the '60s goes on, we might get some | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
more adventurous kind of foods, you know, like foreign foods. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:40 | |
And what about you? | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
More flavour, cos really the only flavour in the | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
'50s was like salt and pepper. That's not really a flavour. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
It's not that exciting yet. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:50 | |
It's gammon and Brussels sprouts and stewing steak and potatoes | 0:07:50 | 0:07:54 | |
and sort of, you know, fairly straightforward ingredients. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
Quite a lot of cooking. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:58 | |
It's about making your kitchen the lair of a domestic goddess. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
Do you think you're up to that? | 0:08:02 | 0:08:04 | |
Well, I'll give it my best shot. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
Like 70% of married women in 1960, Rochelle will be a full-time | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
housewife, while Brandon's kitchen duties are limited to tea making. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:17 | |
It's really nice you're making me a cup of tea, Brandon. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
Well, that's all right, darling. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:21 | |
I've waited ten years. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
Well, everything comes to her who waits. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
It's time to cook dinner and Rochelle and Miranda | 0:08:28 | 0:08:31 | |
are lifting the menu straight out of the national food survey. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
OK, this is a family. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:37 | |
Mum, 32, dad, 41, daughter, 13, | 0:08:37 | 0:08:43 | |
daughter, 11, son, nine, and a daughter of seven. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
In Bradford north in 1960. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:50 | |
Tea, corned beef hash, rice pudding, tea, milk and sugar. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:54 | |
Why doesn't it open? Why doesn't it...? | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
I'm not giving up. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:06 | |
This is the modern world now, isn't it? Oh! | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
Right, this time, I have this. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:15 | |
No tin is safe now. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
Don't need this stupid key. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
Right, we're just having vegetables. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:27 | |
Tinned meat was cheap and with food prices much higher than | 0:09:27 | 0:09:31 | |
they are today, it was a 1960s family staple. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
The national food survey shows that families spent 28% of their | 0:09:35 | 0:09:39 | |
weekly income on food, compared to as little as 12% today. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:43 | |
-God, it looks actually horrible. -Yeah. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:48 | |
Rice pudding was a big thing of my childhood. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:52 | |
I do think it's a good way to use up milk before it, sort of, goes off. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
But I don't know if mum did it cos we didn't have a fridge, | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
I don't know. | 0:09:57 | 0:09:59 | |
Maybe that's why a fridge means such a lot to me. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:02 | |
Oh, that looks nice and colourful. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
It does, it smells good. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:13 | |
This was made by a woman in Bradford. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:15 | |
I like the vegetables, but I don't like the meat. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:21 | |
-What, you don't like this lovely corned beef? -No. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
You could actually have this in the '50s. Yeah. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:27 | |
It's kind of the same. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:29 | |
There's been so sudden dramatic change. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
Same dinner, different dinner time. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
In the '50s, most people had taken their main meal at midday, but | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
in the '60s, more families shifted this meal to the early evening. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
That is another important social change, isn't it? | 0:10:45 | 0:10:48 | |
The fact that now, in the '60s we're all sitting eating together. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:51 | |
You're not, kind of, eating, behind my back like you did in the '50s. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:54 | |
I didn't eat behind your back. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:57 | |
I feel impressed with my new kitchen, I think it looks modern. | 0:10:57 | 0:11:02 | |
But I'm still in it. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
I'd be more impressed with my kitchen if I wasn't in it. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
To be honest, maybe it was good you being in the kitchen for longer, | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
because you can learn how to open the cans. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
The first meal we've had was pretty '50s, which you expect | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
because it didn't just change overnight, | 0:11:18 | 0:11:20 | |
but I hope that there'll be a much wider range of foods soon. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:26 | |
It's a new day which means a new year for the Robshaws. | 0:11:36 | 0:11:41 | |
So I've got one or two things here to make breakfast | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
-a bit more exciting. -Tony, the tiger! | 0:11:44 | 0:11:45 | |
Coco Pops 1961, that appeared. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
Do you want to have a butchers at the Coco Pops which comes with | 0:11:47 | 0:11:51 | |
-an exciting toy? -I just want that toy. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:54 | |
Yeah, go on, you try and find it. The toy's not actually in there. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
You only need to collect 15 tokens, which, in your case, | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
it'll be about 1985 by the time we get to the toy. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:05 | |
The reason that people started eating these things, | 0:12:05 | 0:12:08 | |
was because advertisers cottoned on, at that stage, | 0:12:08 | 0:12:10 | |
that the person to go for was the kids. You know, you lot. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
Hush, hush, what can you hear? You can't hear... | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
By targeting children directly, '60s cereal ads were playing a new | 0:12:16 | 0:12:20 | |
marketing game - pester power. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:22 | |
Rice Krispies, they're saying, | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
"We're fresh and we're crisp and we're nice Rice Krispies." | 0:12:24 | 0:12:29 | |
In the national food survey, there's strong evidence that people | 0:12:29 | 0:12:32 | |
were eating cereal for supper quite a lot, which is just sort of | 0:12:32 | 0:12:35 | |
what you do with a new food, that you've got to eat it all the time. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:39 | |
-Can we do that? -No. -Why not? | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
-Yeah, dad, why not? -You're being stern 1950s dad. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
Yeah, I'm being a bit austere. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:46 | |
Britain's cereal consumption soared by 47% over the decade, | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
along with children's sugar intake. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
-That's enough, Fred. -He's having a second bowl. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
Are you eating because you're hungry, | 0:12:57 | 0:12:58 | |
as people had done for the whole of human history up to this point, | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
or are you eating because this stuff is being sold to you hard | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
-with cartoon characters and lots of sugar? -Second one. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:09 | |
So it's not just sugary cereal that people got at breakfast. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
They got a new kind of bread. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:14 | |
This is squishy, white, sliced bread made by the Chorleywood process. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
In 1961, baking scientists at Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
redesigned the humble loaf. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:25 | |
By adding extra yeast, fat and additives | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
and kneading the dough in high speed mixers, they slashed traditional | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
production times and created soft loaves that stayed fresh for days. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:37 | |
An instant hit, today, 80% of British bread, | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
brown and white, is made using the Chorleywood process. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
You can imagine someone, you know, arriving home in 1962, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
opening it up, wow, it's already sliced, it's really squishy, | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
it's really sweet, easy to put in the toaster. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:55 | |
It does look modern. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:57 | |
It's the sort of bread you'd take into space. | 0:13:57 | 0:13:59 | |
Yes. If I was taking a sandwich into space, yeah. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
-Which they had to! -Through the helmet, like that. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
-So, do you want to eat some? -Yeah. -Go on, tuck in. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:09 | |
The thing about this bread, though, it does make good toast, doesn't it? | 0:14:09 | 0:14:13 | |
How do you feel about the end of your daily walk to the baker's shop? | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
What am I replacing it with? What am I doing? | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
Cleaning. Yeah, maybe I'm doing more cleaning. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:22 | |
But there's no housework today. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:28 | |
I've arranged for Brandon and Rochelle to dine out at a restaurant | 0:14:31 | 0:14:34 | |
for the first time since their time-travelling adventure began. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
What do you think of the motor, then? | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
-I think it's lovely, Brandon. -It's beautiful, yeah. -Yeah. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:45 | |
Before the 1960s, eating out usually meant a simple meal at a pub | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
or a fish and chip shop. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
High quality restaurants were few. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
The 1961 Good Food Guide listed only 70 outside London. | 0:14:56 | 0:15:00 | |
But with a third of households now car owners and families enjoying | 0:15:02 | 0:15:06 | |
more disposable income, Britain's dining out habits were changing. | 0:15:06 | 0:15:10 | |
Hello! | 0:15:17 | 0:15:18 | |
Brandon's sister, Glynis, and her partner, Matt, | 0:15:18 | 0:15:22 | |
are sharing this foray into fine dining 1961 style at, | 0:15:22 | 0:15:25 | |
of all places, Newport Pagnell service station. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:29 | |
And welcome to glamorous dining 1961. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:34 | |
Hello, shall we go through? | 0:15:35 | 0:15:37 | |
Polly will be their hostess with the mostest. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
Back in 1961 when motorways were only three-years-old, | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
service stations were chic destinations, | 0:15:46 | 0:15:48 | |
complete with silver service restaurants. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:51 | |
So were you surprised being dropped off here, Rochelle? | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
Yeah, I was. | 0:15:57 | 0:15:58 | |
I mean, I could imagine going to, like, a Little Chef, | 0:15:58 | 0:16:00 | |
but I didn't, sort of, like equate that with a fine dining experience. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:03 | |
Well, in 1961, this was somewhere to come in your car on your modern | 0:16:03 | 0:16:08 | |
motorway to, sort of, display that you're part of the modern world. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:12 | |
This is the 1961 Newport Pagnell version of wine, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:18 | |
which disappointingly for you is non-alcoholic, | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
because service stations were not given licenses by local | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
authorities even though there were no drink-drive laws at the time. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:28 | |
So this would have been disappointing for people | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
coming out to dine here when they would have been used to | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
getting tanked up before having a nice drive. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:38 | |
-Enjoy the wine. -Thank you. Cheers everybody. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
-Cheers. -Cheers, guys. -Cheers, thanks, Brandon. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
That's your meal, probably the best meal you've ever | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
had in a service station, I should think. Enjoy your meal. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
-Lovely, thank you. -Thank you. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:52 | |
The last time I got taken to a service station, | 0:16:52 | 0:16:55 | |
I got an Eccles cake. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:57 | |
-So this is better? -This is better. -Vastly superior. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:02 | |
It does feel quite a, sort of, grand experience. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
I'm really enjoying it. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:09 | |
Well, it was a rare treat I would have thought. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
But it's meat with two veg. People are going out to, sort of, | 0:17:12 | 0:17:15 | |
eat familiar food that they could have had at home. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
It's acceptable to the British palate, isn't it? | 0:17:18 | 0:17:21 | |
It's not challenging. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:23 | |
-But it was very nice, wasn't it? -It's lovely. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
Fine dining continued to increase in popularity throughout the '60s | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
and by 1969, the number of fancy restaurants listed in the | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
Good Food Guide had nearly quadrupled. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
What do you think? | 0:17:40 | 0:17:41 | |
-Well, is this the sort of thing you'd now expect at home? -Well, yeah. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:46 | |
In an ideal world, yeah this is where I'm setting the bar. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:50 | |
Just got back from the service station for a meal | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
and it struck me that it must be like people going up | 0:17:58 | 0:18:03 | |
the shard these days and having a fantastic experience there. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:08 | |
It must have felt so modern. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
It's a new year and I'm sending the Robshaws the kitchen | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
appliance of their dreams, courtesy of a chef who remembers | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
the day in 1962, when this gadget changed his family's life. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:35 | |
-Hello. -Oh, wow! -You must be Brandon! -Yes, I am. | 0:18:35 | 0:18:39 | |
-You look great! -Thanks very much. -I'm Dave. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
-Are you Dave the hairy biker? -Yeah! -Welcome, come in. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
Yeah, can't wait to see your kitchen. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:46 | |
-Hello! Rochelle? -Yes, it is. -Dave. -Hi, Dave. -Pleased to meet you. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:52 | |
-Hi. -This must be Miranda? Hello, Dave, pleased to meet you. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
-Gosh, this is a complete time capsule, isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
It certainly is, yes. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:00 | |
-Oh, show us your pantry. -Oh, excuse me! | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
Funnily enough, it doesn't bring back too many memories | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
because I grew up in a two-up, two-down, | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
so my kitchen in 1962 was a bit primitive compared to this one. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
I was five-years-old and there was an event that happened | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
that changed all our lives and I think, you know, | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
we can do a bit more updating in this kitchen. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:21 | |
Do you want to go and get Rosalind and Fred? | 0:19:21 | 0:19:24 | |
Yeah, will do, OK. Fred! Ros! | 0:19:24 | 0:19:27 | |
Look, Fred, look who's here. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:29 | |
Well, have I got a surprise for you lot. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
Go on, cover your eyes up! | 0:19:32 | 0:19:34 | |
-Ta-da! -Oh! -Oh, wow. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
-Isn't it lovely? -Oh, my goodness me. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:41 | |
-That's nice. -That's so cool. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:45 | |
-Cheese. -Oh, look at that. | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
It's really going to revolutionise my life. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
Well, you're part of the lucky few, because in 1962 there was only | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
one household in three had a refrigerator. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:57 | |
I'll tell you what though, this looks over to you, Brandon, | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
-being the man of the house. -I think this is a job for the man, isn't it? | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
Rochelle, do you want to come with me and we'll discuss | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
-the art of cold cookery. -Oh, yes, please. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
And we'll leave Brandon to wrestle with this. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
-Get your bike revved up. -See you later. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
All right, have fun. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:15 | |
So, now we've got to work out how to get that in there. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:19 | |
Will it, actually... | 0:20:21 | 0:20:23 | |
It won't actually... Will it fit? | 0:20:23 | 0:20:27 | |
It's fine there. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:28 | |
Rochelle's fridge comes with its very own cookbook, | 0:20:28 | 0:20:31 | |
a guide to making the most of this exciting new appliance. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:35 | |
What do you fancy choosing? | 0:20:36 | 0:20:37 | |
Well, I quite like the idea of the garland of peas, | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
cos I like the idea of a garland of peas, and the lamb in mint jelly. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:46 | |
There's green food colouring in that, | 0:20:46 | 0:20:48 | |
so it's going to look a pretty psychedelic table. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:50 | |
Right, so it's all going to be a green menu. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
-Look at that. -It's a bit of a clash. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:55 | |
It's like Kew Gardens, innit? | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
Right, we need... So shall we do everything as per the recipes | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
-and just see what...? -Yes. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
I'll get the lamb and chop it up. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
That's it. Shall I drain it? | 0:21:07 | 0:21:09 | |
Oh, yes, please. Oh, they're funny looking peas, aren't they? | 0:21:09 | 0:21:11 | |
Tinned peas. They'll go in then. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:13 | |
Peas go in ring. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:16 | |
How many would this have fed? Oh, oh! | 0:21:16 | 0:21:20 | |
Let's just all pour the peas down the hole. Hold on. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:25 | |
Both of tonight's dishes involve gelatine, | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
a setting agent that's quite hard to use without a fridge. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:31 | |
Put it under the freezer where it's colder, | 0:21:31 | 0:21:33 | |
my mother used to always say. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
Oh, it is cold, yeah. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
Rochelle, you're going to love this device. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
Now it's the '60s, | 0:21:39 | 0:21:41 | |
now all you've got to do is sit around for three hours while it sets. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
-How do you feel? -Well, I think to myself, what will I do? | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
What will I do in that time? | 0:21:47 | 0:21:48 | |
Perhaps I'll read a magazine or perhaps I'll crochet myself | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
a jumper or something. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:52 | |
So, maybe, the fridge is what brought women's liberation? | 0:21:52 | 0:21:56 | |
You get a fridge and then you burn your bra! | 0:21:56 | 0:21:58 | |
That's it. In the fridge, it would take a long time... | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
Well, the pop man used to come once a week | 0:22:03 | 0:22:05 | |
and now you've got a fridge, your pop will never be warm. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
How cool's that? | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
-Cheers, guys. -Cheers. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
Ew! | 0:22:24 | 0:22:26 | |
Maybe it'll taste nicer than it looks. | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
We used to make lollies out of this in the new fridge. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:37 | |
-Whoa! -Urgh! | 0:22:37 | 0:22:41 | |
-What is that, Rochelle? -Dog food? | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
-No. -What is appearing?! | 0:22:44 | 0:22:46 | |
- Smells like dog food. - It's a pea ring. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:50 | |
Actually smells like dog food. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:51 | |
And what's that? | 0:22:51 | 0:22:53 | |
This is from the cookbook. | 0:22:53 | 0:22:55 | |
It's show-off food, it's food with a bit of pizzazz. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:57 | |
- Oh, my God, that's weird. - Look at that. | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
-That's fantastic. -So you could never eat this | 0:23:00 | 0:23:02 | |
-before you had a refrigerator. -That's true. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:04 | |
-We'll be able to eat this all the time now. -Yeah. | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
-It's tasty. -I'm not a fan of the jelly, though. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
Like, at all. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:13 | |
I would certainly eat it again, | 0:23:13 | 0:23:14 | |
but it's probably quite a lot of effort to prepare, isn't it? | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
Surprisingly not. It's absolutely no effort whatsoever. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:22 | |
Even though the food was pretty strange, | 0:23:22 | 0:23:25 | |
it was still pretty British. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
Mint, maybe some lemon, you know, it wasn't | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
very exotic and I think my palate does want a change. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:35 | |
It's '62, come on, can we not get some flavour?! | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
# When the moon hits your eye | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
# Like a big pizza pie that's amore... # | 0:23:47 | 0:23:51 | |
Ros, what does it say for 1963 national food surveys? | 0:23:51 | 0:23:55 | |
Oh, that's so cool. Spaghetti bolognese. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
Ooh, fantastic. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
I guess it's our first foreign dish, isn't it? | 0:24:00 | 0:24:02 | |
It doesn't feel foreign, though. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:04 | |
Now it just feels kind of normal, but then it would have been exotic. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:08 | |
An upsurge in package holidays to the Mediterranean, kick-started | 0:24:08 | 0:24:12 | |
Britain's appetite for foreign cuisine. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:14 | |
By 1963, over 3.5 million people were heading | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
south annually for sun, fun and a whiff of exotic food. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
# When the stars make you drool | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
# Just like a pasta e fasuli that's amore... # | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
Back home, Elizabeth David's classic book on Mediterranean food | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
inspired adventurous cooks to recreate these flavours. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:34 | |
1950, that was first published. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
In the '50s, it would have been out of my league to, sort of, make | 0:24:37 | 0:24:41 | |
this kind of food. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:42 | |
I don't think I would have had access to the ingredients. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:47 | |
By 1964, all David's books were available in paperback | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
and the ingredients were becoming more accessible too, | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
although keen housewives still had to be resourceful. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
Olive oil was commonly used to treat earache | 0:24:57 | 0:25:00 | |
and most easily found at a chemists. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:03 | |
And buying Parmesan cheese | 0:25:03 | 0:25:04 | |
and garlic meant a trip to an Italian deli. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
It's interesting to be making something that's not British | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
and the fact that, you know, I'd have to go into, like, Soho or | 0:25:13 | 0:25:19 | |
the west end to actually get hold of the ingredients, would be | 0:25:19 | 0:25:24 | |
a really, really big, you know, thing to be doing. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
Today, it's Miranda who's venturing into Soho. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
In 1963, the majority of teenage girls left school at 15 | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
and in a golden age of nearly full employment, | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
most walked straight into full-time jobs. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
17-year-old Miranda is about to start a shift at one | 0:25:51 | 0:25:53 | |
of Britain's new, hip '60s hang-outs, an Italian coffee bar. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:58 | |
Black Americano. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
There are two different generations going on at the moment. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
There's my mum who's still in the kitchen, | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
then there's her daughter, me, and I have much more freedom. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:11 | |
'60s teenagers had money too. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:15 | |
A massive 70% of their wages was disposable income, | 0:26:15 | 0:26:19 | |
more than at any time before or since, which they spent | 0:26:19 | 0:26:23 | |
freely on music, fashion and going out, creating a new youth culture. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:28 | |
This is yours, this is mine, shall we? | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
-Urgh! -Mmm, what do you think of that? | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
-The first time drinking espresso? -It's really horrible. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
-Really? Oh, my God! -OMG! | 0:26:39 | 0:26:43 | |
You've had coffee before? | 0:26:43 | 0:26:45 | |
Yeah, I've had coffee but it's really strong. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
-Well, that's why it's espresso. -OMG! | 0:26:48 | 0:26:50 | |
OK, cafe latte, small takeaway. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:52 | |
Even to me, having been born in the '90s, | 0:26:52 | 0:26:55 | |
that cup of coffee was like nothing I've ever tasted. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:57 | |
I was like, whoa! | 0:26:57 | 0:26:58 | |
That's probably what latched people onto it, | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
cos it's such a different flavour. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
Back home, Rochelle's also stirring up a pot full of foreign flavour. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:09 | |
She's following in the footsteps of one of the national food | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
survey's more adventurous cooks, | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
a 48-year-old mother of two from the posh London suburb of Twickenham. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:19 | |
Supper - spaghetti bolognese, home-made cake, tea, milk and sugar. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:26 | |
There is now the sort of range of flavours that I'm using which | 0:27:26 | 0:27:30 | |
I haven't been using, sort of, before. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
Like particularly the garlic and the basil and the olive oil | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
and the spaghetti, of course, and the Parmesan. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:37 | |
Actually, half of it. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:39 | |
Ooh! Bolognese! | 0:27:39 | 0:27:40 | |
-Oh, wow. -Got to say that looks... | 0:27:40 | 0:27:42 | |
It's spaghetti! Is it spaghetti bolognese? | 0:27:42 | 0:27:45 | |
-Yes, -it is. I'm just so excited. -Are you? -I really am. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
But wait a minute, Fred, wait till we've... | 0:27:48 | 0:27:50 | |
We've got to wait. But, honestly, my mouth is watering. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
-Can we start? -Can we start? | 0:27:53 | 0:27:54 | |
I hope it's nice. | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
It's lovely. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
Do you think it's lovely, because it's the first meal | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
we've had that tastes different? | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
Yeah. Olive oil, garlic, Parmesan cheese. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:05 | |
-And spaghetti. -Lovely rich flavours, aren't they? | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
-Yeah. -And they're flavours we haven't had. -Yeah. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
-For the last 12 years. -Yes. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:13 | |
I can see why this became a typical British family favourite. | 0:28:13 | 0:28:17 | |
That's how good it is, people are actually scraping the dish. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:20 | |
I can imagine just eating boring food and then to suddenly have that, | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
must have been amazing, it must have been a taste revolution. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:28 | |
And I think from here on in, is the start of more interesting foods. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:33 | |
I feel like the '60s have really begun and it does feel like a big | 0:28:33 | 0:28:36 | |
shift from the early '60s and the '50s now. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
Another day, another year. | 0:28:45 | 0:28:48 | |
Time for the revolution in what we ate | 0:28:48 | 0:28:49 | |
and where it came from, to really get going. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:52 | |
Until 1964, food suppliers controlled the price of their goods, | 0:28:54 | 0:28:58 | |
so wherever you shopped, the cost of food was broadly the same. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:02 | |
But the Resale Prices Act passed in this year, abolished | 0:29:05 | 0:29:08 | |
the suppliers' control and price wars began. | 0:29:08 | 0:29:10 | |
This gave real advantage to big buyers, ie supermarkets. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:16 | |
They were able to drive down prices. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:18 | |
It meant that small buyers, | 0:29:18 | 0:29:20 | |
individual retailers could not compete. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:23 | |
Prior to 1964, supermarkets were thin on the ground | 0:29:23 | 0:29:26 | |
and Rochelle has used only small local shops. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
Until now. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:32 | |
-Hi. -Great to see you. -Yeah, you too. | 0:29:34 | 0:29:38 | |
Welcome to shopping 1960s style, a completely new experience. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:44 | |
-I've got a shopping list. -Yes, at the minute, it's small, | 0:29:44 | 0:29:47 | |
but it might grow as I walk round the aisles. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:49 | |
Yeah, you'll be tempted by all the new products. OK? | 0:29:49 | 0:29:52 | |
Better take a wire basket. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:53 | |
There's just so much to look at, isn't there? | 0:29:56 | 0:29:59 | |
Isn't there just so much to look at. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
It's absolutely extraordinary. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:03 | |
Given Rochelle's experience in the '50s, I think | 0:30:04 | 0:30:07 | |
she's going to enjoy being able to make her own choices, | 0:30:07 | 0:30:11 | |
having the freedom to take what she wants. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:14 | |
Does this feel really different? | 0:30:14 | 0:30:15 | |
Well, yeah, because when I went to the local shops | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
and asked for whatever you wanted and they'd bring it to you, | 0:30:18 | 0:30:21 | |
but this way, I am actually choosing what I want myself. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:25 | |
There's so much choice. Yay! | 0:30:25 | 0:30:27 | |
No, you're being silly now. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:30 | |
-That's silly. -I'm going to stock up. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:32 | |
I'm guessing we're going to be able to keep about 1% of this. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:35 | |
And already I'm feeling tempted by other items that | 0:30:35 | 0:30:39 | |
I might not have bought. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:40 | |
So that means things like this. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:43 | |
I think, oh, maybe I'll buy that as well since I'm here. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:46 | |
Does this bring back any memories of going shopping when you were a kid? | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
-Well, I remember going to the first big supermarket with my mum. -Do you? | 0:30:51 | 0:30:55 | |
-Yeah, I do. -It must have looked really dazzling | 0:30:55 | 0:30:57 | |
-the fact that you weren't used to it. -Yeah. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
If you've just been going to a corner shop where you know | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
the person inside the shop and they're saying, you know, | 0:31:02 | 0:31:05 | |
"This is what I've got for you today, Mrs Robshaw," | 0:31:05 | 0:31:07 | |
or, you know, "This is your usual." | 0:31:07 | 0:31:11 | |
And then suddenly there's nobody to give you your usual. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:15 | |
Usual is it? In the back room? | 0:31:17 | 0:31:21 | |
Tesco and Sainsbury's were at the forefront of Britain's 1960s | 0:31:23 | 0:31:27 | |
self-service boom, when numbers of supermarket stores shot up from | 0:31:27 | 0:31:31 | |
fewer than 600 to nearly 3,500 by the end of the decade. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
At the same time, a fifth of independent grocers closed, | 0:31:37 | 0:31:41 | |
unable to compete with the choice | 0:31:41 | 0:31:43 | |
and prices on offer in the supermarket aisles. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:46 | |
-Hey, look what I've found. Frozen chicken. -Wow. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:51 | |
Look at that, that's the first time we've had it in this experience. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:54 | |
It is. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:55 | |
Supermarkets didn't just supply the demand, sometimes they created it | 0:31:55 | 0:31:59 | |
by making once unattainable foods, affordable for all. | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
Not many years ago the chicken was an expensive | 0:32:04 | 0:32:07 | |
luxury for special occasions only. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
But today, it's an easily available | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
and comparatively cheap food ready to be popped into the oven. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:15 | |
Chicken became an everyday item in the '60s after Sainsbury's | 0:32:17 | 0:32:21 | |
engaged a handful of poultry suppliers to transform | 0:32:21 | 0:32:24 | |
small-scale British chicken farming into a massive industry. | 0:32:24 | 0:32:28 | |
I'm meeting John Maunder, one of the original suppliers | 0:32:31 | 0:32:34 | |
challenged by Sainsbury's to up production. | 0:32:34 | 0:32:38 | |
The introduction to volume production of chicken was | 0:32:38 | 0:32:42 | |
an American idea brought over to this country by Sainsbury directors. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:48 | |
They saw the opportunity of a pre-packaged product | 0:32:48 | 0:32:53 | |
such as a whole chicken, as being something that would | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
fit in to this new style of supermarket, self-service store. | 0:32:56 | 0:33:00 | |
And they led you to believe that as many chickens as you could | 0:33:00 | 0:33:03 | |
-produce, they could sell? -Yes. | 0:33:03 | 0:33:04 | |
The concept was, that if we produced it in large enough quantities, | 0:33:04 | 0:33:08 | |
we could reduce the unit price. | 0:33:08 | 0:33:09 | |
If we reduced the unit price, then people would be able to | 0:33:09 | 0:33:13 | |
afford it and if they could afford it, they would buy more of it. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:16 | |
And it was true, of course, because no sooner had | 0:33:16 | 0:33:19 | |
we offered these affordable chicken, the demand grew. | 0:33:19 | 0:33:26 | |
The new cheap chicken cost a third less and sales leapt from | 0:33:26 | 0:33:29 | |
ten million chickens a year to 150 million in the space of a decade. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:33 | |
And our love affair with chicken has continued to grow. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:39 | |
Today, Britons eat around 800 million annually, | 0:33:39 | 0:33:42 | |
accounting for more than half our total meat consumption. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:46 | |
Closer to home, there was another source | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
of culinary inspiration - television, | 0:33:50 | 0:33:54 | |
as millions tuned into watch Fanny Cradock take the nation's | 0:33:54 | 0:33:58 | |
cooking skills in hand. | 0:33:58 | 0:33:59 | |
Jenny, do you know how to cook chips? | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
Oh, yes, you just prepare the chips and fry them in boiling fat. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:09 | |
-It's entertaining, isn't it? -Yes, it's like '60s Nigella. -Yeah. | 0:34:10 | 0:34:14 | |
You must have an increased amount of leisure in order to, sort of, | 0:34:14 | 0:34:18 | |
sit and watch this. | 0:34:18 | 0:34:19 | |
Later in the series, her husband, Johnnie, used to appear | 0:34:19 | 0:34:22 | |
and he used to be like her, sort of, kitchen helper, | 0:34:22 | 0:34:25 | |
but she just kind of like bossed him about. | 0:34:25 | 0:34:28 | |
Where are my egg whites? | 0:34:28 | 0:34:29 | |
-Tried looking? -Well, since you're here, | 0:34:30 | 0:34:32 | |
will you pour them into the bowl for me, please? | 0:34:32 | 0:34:35 | |
Right. | 0:34:35 | 0:34:36 | |
Now vanish. | 0:34:37 | 0:34:39 | |
And so on with the lot. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:42 | |
Bossy, but much-loved, Fanny was Britain's first TV celebrity chef. | 0:34:42 | 0:34:47 | |
TV chefs are able to, sort of, get in this gap in the market | 0:34:48 | 0:34:53 | |
because everyone's got a little bit more food and more | 0:34:53 | 0:34:56 | |
labour-saving gadgets and they're like, "Oh what can I do with it?" | 0:34:56 | 0:34:59 | |
And now there's this gap and TV chefs can come in and be like, | 0:34:59 | 0:35:02 | |
"Yes, I can show you how." | 0:35:02 | 0:35:04 | |
Since the start of this experiment in 1950, | 0:35:11 | 0:35:13 | |
the Robshaws have been locked into the stereotypical roles of the past. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:18 | |
Dad brings home the bacon... | 0:35:18 | 0:35:19 | |
..and mum cooks it. | 0:35:21 | 0:35:22 | |
But a big screen icon was sowing the seeds of change. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:28 | |
In 1965, Michael Caine played spy | 0:35:30 | 0:35:32 | |
and gourmet Harry Palmer in the hit film, The Ipcress File. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:36 | |
In Palmer's hands, food was the ultimate tool of seduction, | 0:35:38 | 0:35:42 | |
which helped entice men into the kitchen. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:44 | |
I'm here to initiate Brandon into the joys of the culinary arts. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:49 | |
This is a moment where we're going to have a slight | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
revolution and things. | 0:35:54 | 0:35:55 | |
So, this is going to be your first crack at cooking something. | 0:35:55 | 0:36:00 | |
Brilliant. I feel absolutely delighted. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:02 | |
I'm really looking forward to cooking. | 0:36:02 | 0:36:03 | |
You're going to make a two-course meal for Rochelle, | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
who's going to disappear and do something feminine. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:10 | |
Oh! Oh, good luck in the kitchen... | 0:36:10 | 0:36:12 | |
-Thanks very much. -..with your gadget. -Thank you. | 0:36:12 | 0:36:15 | |
Excellent. | 0:36:15 | 0:36:18 | |
In their modern lives, Brandon regularly cooks family meals, | 0:36:18 | 0:36:22 | |
but tonight's menu is very much dinner a deux. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:24 | |
Blended vegetable soup. Chicken in a creamy sauce. Fresh asparagus. | 0:36:26 | 0:36:32 | |
Potatoes, white wine. | 0:36:32 | 0:36:35 | |
OK, so have a chop of that. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:36 | |
There's no directions on, you know, how to chop it up, so... | 0:36:36 | 0:36:41 | |
You're not going to even peel the onion? | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
What do you suppose your father would have been | 0:36:43 | 0:36:45 | |
doing in the kitchen in 1965? | 0:36:45 | 0:36:46 | |
Oh, my dad couldn't do anything in the kitchen. | 0:36:46 | 0:36:48 | |
I think he made coffee sometimes. | 0:36:48 | 0:36:51 | |
He couldn't cook, he wasn't happy at all cooking, | 0:36:51 | 0:36:54 | |
so he never got into that. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:55 | |
He didn't know modern scientific things like peeling an onion? | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
-No, this isn't working as well as it... -No, no, it's fine. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
So, listen, all these clearly defined roles that we've got in | 0:37:01 | 0:37:04 | |
the '60s, has it been affecting your marriage in any way? | 0:37:04 | 0:37:07 | |
No. No, I don't think it has. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:09 | |
The only thing, I think, that it has affected, you know, | 0:37:09 | 0:37:12 | |
Rochelle has been saying that she does actually need to spend | 0:37:12 | 0:37:15 | |
less time in the kitchen now. | 0:37:15 | 0:37:16 | |
So she's becoming dissatisfied as a result of things improving? | 0:37:16 | 0:37:19 | |
In a sense, I think she is. | 0:37:19 | 0:37:21 | |
I think she's just thinking, well, I've got all this time | 0:37:21 | 0:37:23 | |
on my hands, I could do something, you know, more interesting. | 0:37:23 | 0:37:26 | |
Rochelle, what would you like me to do to your hair today? | 0:37:26 | 0:37:29 | |
Well, I think I probably would like to go high. | 0:37:29 | 0:37:34 | |
Yeah, I just... As high as you can get it. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:37 | |
-Right. Like Dusty high? -Dusty, high, yeah, yeah. -OK. | 0:37:37 | 0:37:42 | |
In the '50s, women's magazines had focused on dispensing | 0:37:42 | 0:37:45 | |
housekeeping advice. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:47 | |
Now beauty tips were just as important. | 0:37:47 | 0:37:49 | |
Between 1959 and 1966, the value of Britain's beauty market | 0:37:52 | 0:37:56 | |
soared by 165% and many women used the housekeeping time | 0:37:56 | 0:38:00 | |
they were saving, to make regular trips to the hairdresser. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:04 | |
Roles and stuff are changing, | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
like in the '50s you wouldn't have just been sitting in a salon | 0:38:07 | 0:38:09 | |
having your hair done and you're doing that now. | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
She's getting her hair done, she's not working. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:14 | |
-No, she's getting her hair done. -Yeah. | 0:38:14 | 0:38:16 | |
It's just having leisure time. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:18 | |
Yeah, leisure time to make herself look good for Dad. | 0:38:18 | 0:38:21 | |
Not to, sort of, go out and be her own woman. | 0:38:21 | 0:38:24 | |
Do you think, I mean, probably then, as now, that cooking's | 0:38:24 | 0:38:28 | |
different for men than it is for women? | 0:38:28 | 0:38:30 | |
Yes, I suppose so. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:31 | |
I think that when men cook, they're showing off and I think | 0:38:31 | 0:38:35 | |
when women cook, then they're not doing it to be impressive | 0:38:35 | 0:38:37 | |
they're just doing it to put a meal on the table. | 0:38:37 | 0:38:39 | |
-That will certainly have been true of then... -Yeah. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:41 | |
The idea that the men... | 0:38:41 | 0:38:42 | |
I think, you know, that the man would cook some delicious, | 0:38:42 | 0:38:45 | |
sort of, chicken in a velvety sauce with a glass of wine | 0:38:45 | 0:38:47 | |
-and he's expecting something in return. -That's right. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:50 | |
-I think we know what it is. -I think we know what it is! | 0:38:50 | 0:38:52 | |
These styles were sometimes known as marriage-wreckers | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
because once you're in bed, you don't want to mess your hair up. | 0:38:57 | 0:39:01 | |
I wonder what Brandon will think of that | 0:39:01 | 0:39:04 | |
after he's cooked a nice dinner. | 0:39:04 | 0:39:07 | |
He won't cook again, will he? | 0:39:07 | 0:39:09 | |
I'll have another ten years in the kitchen | 0:39:10 | 0:39:12 | |
because I changed my hairstyle. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:14 | |
-OK, you ready to see it? It looks amazing. -I'm ready. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:20 | |
-Look. -Oh, my goodness me! That's absolutely fantastic! | 0:39:20 | 0:39:25 | |
Wow, no, I can understand why they're called marriage wreckers. | 0:39:26 | 0:39:30 | |
No-one's getting their hands on this. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:32 | |
Don't want to mess that up, yeah. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:34 | |
# The look of love... # | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
-So here's to your success in the kitchen. -Cheers. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:40 | |
-Here's to your success in the hairdressers. -Yeah. | 0:39:40 | 0:39:42 | |
Where'd you go, anyway? | 0:39:42 | 0:39:44 | |
Oh, I went to a little place round the corner. | 0:39:44 | 0:39:46 | |
How did you find the kitchen? | 0:39:46 | 0:39:49 | |
I actually found it hard work. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:52 | |
That cooker's not that easy to use, there's only two rings really | 0:39:52 | 0:39:55 | |
you can use and they just get super-hot. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:57 | |
I am actually really impressed with how you've dealt with all that, | 0:39:57 | 0:40:01 | |
just got on and cooked some great meals. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:03 | |
I think that's really what women do though, isn't it? | 0:40:03 | 0:40:05 | |
-That's what women do. -They don't start complaining about the cooker. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:08 | |
You're right, whereas I've just spent ten minutes going on | 0:40:08 | 0:40:11 | |
and on about what I... | 0:40:11 | 0:40:12 | |
-I'm going to go and get the soup now. -Right, OK. | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
Oh, I haven't taken this off yet. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:17 | |
POTS CRASH | 0:40:22 | 0:40:24 | |
Brandon! You all right? | 0:40:24 | 0:40:27 | |
Very, very nice to have a meal cooked for me for, sort of, | 0:40:29 | 0:40:33 | |
after what feels like it's been like a really, really long time. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
-Do you want me to serve you? -Yeah, please, yeah. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:40 | |
I've been feeling still quite pulled down by the kitchen | 0:40:40 | 0:40:46 | |
and getting my hair done and then coming back and somebody | 0:40:46 | 0:40:50 | |
actually doing something for you, did have this enormous lifting effect. | 0:40:50 | 0:40:57 | |
-Look at that. -It's ages since I've had an After Eight. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
So sophisticated, isn't it? Who knows what will happen after eight? | 0:41:00 | 0:41:05 | |
A new day and a new year. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:14 | |
It's 1966 and like 32 million people across the UK, the Robshaws | 0:41:17 | 0:41:22 | |
are getting ready to watch England play Germany in the World Cup final. | 0:41:22 | 0:41:26 | |
That looks good. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:29 | |
To help them celebrate the occasion, I've sent another | 0:41:29 | 0:41:32 | |
'60s food forged in the white heat of technology. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:34 | |
Ew, it's meat! | 0:41:37 | 0:41:39 | |
-Oh, my goodness, yes. -Oh, my goodness! | 0:41:39 | 0:41:43 | |
These are Vesta meals. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:44 | |
These are dried meals that you can make in 20 minutes. | 0:41:44 | 0:41:48 | |
There's loads of 'em! | 0:41:48 | 0:41:50 | |
It's a totally new kind of food, isn't it? | 0:41:50 | 0:41:52 | |
This is the chef... | 0:41:53 | 0:41:55 | |
and cook the paella and it took him four hours. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:58 | |
Vesta meals used a technology first developed for army rations. | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
Food was freeze-dried into tiny pieces that only needed water | 0:42:01 | 0:42:05 | |
and heat to reconstitute. | 0:42:05 | 0:42:07 | |
This is the wife who cooked and served that wonderful Vesta | 0:42:07 | 0:42:10 | |
paella and she did it all in 20 minutes. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:13 | |
An instant meal and an instant hit. | 0:42:13 | 0:42:16 | |
In 1966, Sainsbury's alone sold nearly half a million boxes. | 0:42:16 | 0:42:20 | |
Look at that, that's our meal. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:25 | |
It's not cooking, it's opening and stirring. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:27 | |
Yeah. | 0:42:27 | 0:42:29 | |
Right. It's modern, it's clean, it's like... | 0:42:29 | 0:42:31 | |
It just seems fast, like a really fast transition. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:35 | |
-What's that? -Oh. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:37 | |
And the type of food we were cooking and now suddenly we're doing this. | 0:42:37 | 0:42:41 | |
-It happened quite fast. -That's Bobby Moore there. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:44 | |
There's two Bobbys? | 0:42:44 | 0:42:46 | |
Rochelle and Miranda are preparing beef curry and chicken chow mein | 0:42:46 | 0:42:50 | |
for six, as Fred's cousin, Joe, has joined them for the match. | 0:42:50 | 0:42:55 | |
For many British people, Vesta meals provided their first | 0:42:55 | 0:42:59 | |
taste of non-European food. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:00 | |
And look, that's how I remember it. Look at that! | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
Look at them! | 0:43:09 | 0:43:11 | |
-Look, look! Look at them, have you seen 'em? -Yeah. | 0:43:11 | 0:43:16 | |
Look at it, seriously! That has just made my day. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:20 | |
Supposed to be convenience food, it's not very convenient for me. | 0:43:20 | 0:43:23 | |
It'd be more convenient for me to make a sandwich. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:25 | |
No, but the thing is, it's probably quicker than any food | 0:43:25 | 0:43:29 | |
they had then, even though it takes, like, half an hour. | 0:43:29 | 0:43:32 | |
I must say this is the longest 20 minutes I've ever sat through. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:35 | |
There's Bobby Moore, look. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:36 | |
How could we mess up a Vesta meal? | 0:43:39 | 0:43:42 | |
Look, that needs to be in a different pan, doesn't it? | 0:43:42 | 0:43:45 | |
I didn't realise it could be so complicated. | 0:43:45 | 0:43:47 | |
Well, the match will be over by the time this is served. | 0:43:47 | 0:43:50 | |
Looks quite nice though, doesn't it? Want to try a bit? | 0:43:50 | 0:43:55 | |
-Why not? -I just don't. -Why not? -I just don't! | 0:43:55 | 0:43:59 | |
-Go on. -No! | 0:43:59 | 0:44:00 | |
I bet you it's quite nice. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:03 | |
-Is it? -No. | 0:44:05 | 0:44:08 | |
-Oh. -Oh. Oh, wow. -Thank you. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:13 | |
-It doesn't look as... -Don't worry about that, just get it in here. | 0:44:13 | 0:44:17 | |
-What's... -What have I got? Get off! -Leave off! | 0:44:17 | 0:44:20 | |
We need to get Heidi out. | 0:44:20 | 0:44:22 | |
But it's not as nice as takeaway. | 0:44:22 | 0:44:24 | |
We didn't really have takeaways back in the '60s, | 0:44:24 | 0:44:27 | |
except for fish and chips. | 0:44:27 | 0:44:29 | |
Oh, look! What's that dog doin' in here? | 0:44:29 | 0:44:32 | |
< Miranda let the dog in. | 0:44:34 | 0:44:35 | |
What do you think of this meal? | 0:44:38 | 0:44:41 | |
I think the chow mein works better. | 0:44:41 | 0:44:42 | |
This beef curry is actually a little bit dry and powdery. | 0:44:42 | 0:44:45 | |
Are you disappointed? | 0:44:45 | 0:44:47 | |
I am disappointed, actually. Was it fun to cook? | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
Well, it took up a lot of pans, actually. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
It doesn't look like an instant meal. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:54 | |
-It certainly wasn't instant in time. -Exactly. | 0:44:54 | 0:44:57 | |
Missed half the match. | 0:44:57 | 0:44:58 | |
What? They've scored? | 0:45:00 | 0:45:02 | |
Did that ball cross the line? They've given the goal. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:05 | |
From my angle, I could see that that didn't go in. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
< Mum can see round the TV! | 0:45:08 | 0:45:10 | |
I'm sitting on the side and I can see that, that didn't go in. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:17 | |
It makes a change to be eating in front of the telly, though. | 0:45:17 | 0:45:21 | |
Don't you think it's a bit casual? | 0:45:21 | 0:45:22 | |
Just cos we've got used to sitting and eating round the table. | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
Now people aren't even listening to me when I talk. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
What is more important, the World Cup, | 0:45:28 | 0:45:30 | |
a Vesta meal or what I'm about to say? | 0:45:30 | 0:45:33 | |
I just don't see how watching the World Cup final and eating, | 0:45:33 | 0:45:37 | |
how can that not be good? | 0:45:37 | 0:45:39 | |
Yeah, some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over! | 0:45:39 | 0:45:42 | |
It is now. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:43 | |
And he just scored at exactly the right moment. | 0:45:43 | 0:45:46 | |
Oh, my God. That's just amazing. | 0:45:46 | 0:45:48 | |
So that means they won fair and square after all. | 0:45:48 | 0:45:51 | |
Yeah, cos they got an extra goal that was legitimate. | 0:45:51 | 0:45:53 | |
Oh, I am pleased. | 0:45:53 | 0:45:55 | |
Honestly! I really feel quite relieved. | 0:45:59 | 0:46:01 | |
Increasingly, people were also enjoying international flavours | 0:46:06 | 0:46:09 | |
when they ate out. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:10 | |
Chinese restaurants designed their menus for the British palate, | 0:46:12 | 0:46:16 | |
offering omelette and chips alongside chop suey. | 0:46:16 | 0:46:19 | |
And they were the '60s runaway hit. | 0:46:21 | 0:46:24 | |
By the end of the decade, there were nearly 4,000 restaurants | 0:46:24 | 0:46:26 | |
nationwide, compared with only 300 just over a decade earlier. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:31 | |
Mmm. Mmm, mmm. | 0:46:31 | 0:46:34 | |
We went to a Chinese restaurant which was really fun. | 0:46:36 | 0:46:39 | |
The food was nice, great colours and different shapes | 0:46:39 | 0:46:43 | |
and completely different from what we'd been having. | 0:46:43 | 0:46:46 | |
The change within 15, 16 years, is enormous. | 0:46:46 | 0:46:51 | |
The sense of the foreign, which was completely | 0:46:51 | 0:46:56 | |
absent from the food of the '50s. | 0:46:56 | 0:46:59 | |
Can you hear that? | 0:47:09 | 0:47:11 | |
-They're doing it. -A bit. -They're doing it. | 0:47:12 | 0:47:16 | |
TELEPHONE RINGS | 0:47:16 | 0:47:17 | |
Hello? Yeah, hi. | 0:47:17 | 0:47:21 | |
Bye. | 0:47:21 | 0:47:22 | |
What was the message? | 0:47:25 | 0:47:26 | |
It was a message from Giles. You'll never guess. Want to guess? | 0:47:27 | 0:47:31 | |
-OK, I'm moving out. -Leave it out! -I am. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:34 | |
-No, you're not. -I am! -You're not! | 0:47:34 | 0:47:39 | |
Where are you going? I feel like crying. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:41 | |
How can you just tell us this over the table?! | 0:47:41 | 0:47:44 | |
What have we done to make you want to go? | 0:47:44 | 0:47:47 | |
We're not good enough for you? | 0:47:47 | 0:47:48 | |
You're just going to pack a bag and like walk out? | 0:47:49 | 0:47:53 | |
You're not pregnant are you? | 0:47:53 | 0:47:55 | |
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! | 0:47:55 | 0:47:58 | |
By the late '60s, the social and sexual rule book was being torn up | 0:47:59 | 0:48:03 | |
and many young people were leading lives unimaginable to their parents. | 0:48:03 | 0:48:08 | |
This, ladies and gentlemen, is London. | 0:48:08 | 0:48:11 | |
Swinging London it's been called, | 0:48:11 | 0:48:12 | |
though some people might find a different adjective. | 0:48:12 | 0:48:16 | |
Magazines encouraged women as young as 16 to leave home | 0:48:16 | 0:48:20 | |
and live independently and landlords happily split large | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
houses into bedsits to accommodate them. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:25 | |
Ros has come to help Miranda settle into her new bedsit. | 0:48:28 | 0:48:31 | |
-Oh, it's really nice. -It's so nice. | 0:48:31 | 0:48:36 | |
-Ah, this is so cool. -It's lovely. | 0:48:36 | 0:48:39 | |
-Oh, is this the cooker? -Cool! -Oh, my God, that looks dangerous. | 0:48:39 | 0:48:43 | |
You can make fried eggs. Oh, look at this. | 0:48:43 | 0:48:47 | |
That's good. | 0:48:48 | 0:48:50 | |
Oh, I've just moved in and you've already started destroying it. | 0:48:50 | 0:48:56 | |
I know how to put it back up, don't worry. | 0:48:56 | 0:48:58 | |
Well, you do it then. | 0:48:58 | 0:49:00 | |
-Where are you going to put the milk? -I have no idea. | 0:49:00 | 0:49:04 | |
Maybe we just put it out the window. | 0:49:04 | 0:49:06 | |
You don't put milk out the window! | 0:49:06 | 0:49:08 | |
-I reckon it's better off out there than in here. -No, it's not. | 0:49:08 | 0:49:12 | |
You're stupid and I don't care if you get milk poisoning. | 0:49:12 | 0:49:15 | |
So, what do you want to make tonight? | 0:49:15 | 0:49:19 | |
If the shops are shut, we can only use the stuff we've got | 0:49:19 | 0:49:22 | |
and we haven't got very much. | 0:49:22 | 0:49:25 | |
With no more than a single ring to cook on, | 0:49:26 | 0:49:29 | |
life in a '60s bedsit didn't always swing. | 0:49:29 | 0:49:31 | |
I've arranged for Katharine Whitehorn, | 0:49:32 | 0:49:35 | |
author of bestselling '60s bedsit survival guide, | 0:49:35 | 0:49:38 | |
Kitchen In The Corner, to share some tips. | 0:49:38 | 0:49:40 | |
There was no question of having a fridge anywhere near, you | 0:49:40 | 0:49:44 | |
had to keep the milk more or less cool out on the windowsill, which | 0:49:44 | 0:49:49 | |
was all right, unless it got knocked over by a pigeon or something. | 0:49:49 | 0:49:52 | |
I don't know whether you're thinking of doing much | 0:49:52 | 0:49:54 | |
-cooking in your bedsitter? -Yeah, we are really. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:57 | |
We were going to have some people over for dinner tonight, | 0:49:57 | 0:50:00 | |
but we don't know what to cook. | 0:50:00 | 0:50:01 | |
What kind of food do you like cooking? | 0:50:01 | 0:50:04 | |
Or perhaps I should say, like eating best? | 0:50:04 | 0:50:06 | |
In our bag of things, we've got a lot of vegetables. | 0:50:06 | 0:50:10 | |
-Oh, that's terrific. -Yeah. | 0:50:10 | 0:50:12 | |
You could make a ratatouille out of that. | 0:50:12 | 0:50:14 | |
You cook everything together in one pot. | 0:50:14 | 0:50:16 | |
Did you find that because there weren't as many takeaways, | 0:50:16 | 0:50:20 | |
that you were forced to do more cooking? | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
Mostly, if you wanted to eat you had to cook it, | 0:50:23 | 0:50:25 | |
however badly you did it. | 0:50:25 | 0:50:27 | |
And everybody is going to be so amazingly impressed that | 0:50:27 | 0:50:30 | |
you've managed to cook them anything at all, that, if it isn't quite | 0:50:30 | 0:50:33 | |
as marvellous as if they'd taken you to the Ritz, it doesn't matter. | 0:50:33 | 0:50:38 | |
-Two onions. -Yeah. | 0:50:38 | 0:50:39 | |
Two pimentos. | 0:50:39 | 0:50:41 | |
The girls are following Katharine's recipe for one-pot ratatouille, | 0:50:41 | 0:50:45 | |
a nod to Britain's growing confidence with foreign food | 0:50:45 | 0:50:48 | |
which doesn't create much washing up. | 0:50:48 | 0:50:51 | |
What I'm not really too keen on, is the fact that we're | 0:50:51 | 0:50:54 | |
cooking in my bedroom. | 0:50:54 | 0:50:56 | |
I don't like that idea and in future, I really don't think I'll | 0:50:56 | 0:50:58 | |
cook, sort of, onions and garlic as an evening meal. | 0:50:58 | 0:51:03 | |
Or even at all, because why would you want that in | 0:51:03 | 0:51:07 | |
-where you're about to sleep? -I know. | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
It just seems so dangerous to have this little, like, fire thing here. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:14 | |
If you were a teenager in the '60s, it would be something very | 0:51:15 | 0:51:19 | |
desirable, to do the whole bedsit thing. | 0:51:19 | 0:51:22 | |
I feel much more independent than I did in the '50s. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:25 | |
There's a massive difference, it's like two different lives. | 0:51:25 | 0:51:29 | |
For me, I don't think this has been a terrifically good decade. | 0:51:31 | 0:51:36 | |
The world feels that it is changing very, very fast | 0:51:37 | 0:51:42 | |
and not for people of my generation. | 0:51:42 | 0:51:46 | |
I think as a woman in the '60s in middle age, | 0:51:47 | 0:51:51 | |
it does feel like a very defunct position to be in. | 0:51:51 | 0:51:54 | |
-So cool. -So what's cooking? -It's ratatouille. | 0:52:02 | 0:52:06 | |
Cool! Awesome. | 0:52:06 | 0:52:08 | |
Yeah, and I'm actually really proud of us | 0:52:08 | 0:52:11 | |
because we cooked it in that, on that, with that. | 0:52:11 | 0:52:18 | |
I'm just curious to know, though, how many people would have actually | 0:52:18 | 0:52:23 | |
-bothered to make a ratatouille in their bedsit. -It's nice. | 0:52:23 | 0:52:26 | |
-It is nice, actually. -Is this the bread? | 0:52:26 | 0:52:29 | |
-Yes. -That's cool packaging. Urgh, it's mouldy! | 0:52:29 | 0:52:32 | |
-Did you know it was mouldy? -No! | 0:52:34 | 0:52:37 | |
You're a terrible host. | 0:52:37 | 0:52:39 | |
I've had it since 1962, so, to be honest, it kept pretty well. | 0:52:40 | 0:52:45 | |
The family are seeing the swinging '60s out in style with a | 0:52:59 | 0:53:02 | |
party celebrating Britain's growing hunger for all things foreign. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:06 | |
It's in honour of an event celebrating European harmony that | 0:53:08 | 0:53:12 | |
began only 11 years after World War II, | 0:53:12 | 0:53:14 | |
the Eurovision Song Contest. | 0:53:14 | 0:53:16 | |
And in 1969, British hopes are pinned on Lulu | 0:53:18 | 0:53:21 | |
and her Boom Bang A Bang. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:23 | |
-Hello Robshaws, hi. -Hi, Giles. | 0:53:25 | 0:53:27 | |
Nice to see you, I'm glad the '60s have changed hugely | 0:53:27 | 0:53:30 | |
-the role of the women in the home. -As you can see, yep. | 0:53:30 | 0:53:32 | |
Your hair is having an exciting time. | 0:53:32 | 0:53:34 | |
My hair is really having a great time, yeah. | 0:53:34 | 0:53:37 | |
I'm keeping the lacquer business in business, yeah. | 0:53:37 | 0:53:39 | |
-So you're coming to the Eurovision party? -I'll come to the party. | 0:53:39 | 0:53:42 | |
I'll drink whatever fancy foreign cocktails you're making | 0:53:42 | 0:53:45 | |
-and have a sniff, at least, of the canapes. -Can I get a cocktail? | 0:53:45 | 0:53:48 | |
Yes, you can have lots and lots of alcohol, | 0:53:48 | 0:53:51 | |
cos in 1969, there was a special exemption for ten-year-old boys. | 0:53:51 | 0:53:54 | |
-Wa-hey! -Can't wait. | 0:53:54 | 0:53:58 | |
Every Eurovision buffet dish comes from a popular cookbook of the day. | 0:53:59 | 0:54:03 | |
Everything in the '60s moved very fast. | 0:54:06 | 0:54:09 | |
It moved fast when we were living it, compared to the '50s | 0:54:09 | 0:54:12 | |
and I think that's just because there's a lot more to do. | 0:54:12 | 0:54:16 | |
-Hello. -Hi. Hi, Polly. -How are you? -All right, thank you. | 0:54:19 | 0:54:23 | |
Getting ready for a party? | 0:54:23 | 0:54:24 | |
Yes and you've arrived just in the nick of time. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:27 | |
-We have got, it's a, like, Europe theme. -Right. | 0:54:31 | 0:54:35 | |
So for Spain, we have, like, devilled eggs | 0:54:35 | 0:54:37 | |
which is just eggs with mayonnaise in, I think. | 0:54:37 | 0:54:41 | |
So what's the authentic Spanish ingredient that you put in it? | 0:54:41 | 0:54:44 | |
-Paprika. -Anything else? -Nothing else. | 0:54:44 | 0:54:46 | |
So have you started to see in the '60s, | 0:54:46 | 0:54:48 | |
more influence of foreign food? | 0:54:48 | 0:54:51 | |
Yeah, went out for a Chinese, a couple of years ago. | 0:54:51 | 0:54:54 | |
And we had spaghetti bolognese, that was really nice. | 0:54:56 | 0:55:01 | |
Even though we'd only been living in the '50s | 0:55:01 | 0:55:03 | |
and '60s for not very long, all the change, | 0:55:03 | 0:55:05 | |
it felt exciting, it was just nice to just have new flavours. | 0:55:05 | 0:55:10 | |
Isn't that a cheerful sound? | 0:55:10 | 0:55:11 | |
-Hello. -Hello! -Oh, hello. | 0:55:14 | 0:55:15 | |
-Oh, my! -So how was the decade for you? | 0:55:23 | 0:55:26 | |
Yeah, I think after the greyness of the '50s, | 0:55:26 | 0:55:29 | |
it just felt like everything had kind of sprung to life. | 0:55:29 | 0:55:31 | |
We're becoming more Europeanised. | 0:55:31 | 0:55:34 | |
I do feel just a general, sort of, broadening of horizons, | 0:55:34 | 0:55:36 | |
which is good. | 0:55:36 | 0:55:37 | |
And what about Fred? I mean, how's he coping? | 0:55:37 | 0:55:40 | |
I think he found the '60s easier than the '50s. | 0:55:40 | 0:55:42 | |
He's always been energetic, perhaps a bit hyper | 0:55:42 | 0:55:44 | |
and he was probably more so in the '60s. | 0:55:44 | 0:55:48 | |
Now I don't know whether that was because the clothes themselves | 0:55:48 | 0:55:51 | |
were sort of more informal and casual or whether it was the food. | 0:55:51 | 0:55:54 | |
There's a lot more sugar in his diet. | 0:55:54 | 0:55:56 | |
The 1960s saw the beginning of Britain's love affair with sugar. | 0:55:57 | 0:56:02 | |
The National Food Survey reveals that our consumption | 0:56:02 | 0:56:05 | |
of biscuits, cakes and pastries soared and we sprinkled | 0:56:05 | 0:56:08 | |
nearly half a kilo of sugar on our food and drinks every week. | 0:56:08 | 0:56:11 | |
And how's it been for you generally, the '60s, Rochelle? Can you tell me? | 0:56:12 | 0:56:16 | |
I've personally found the '60s really hard. | 0:56:16 | 0:56:19 | |
Whereas the '50s was about labour and about working, | 0:56:19 | 0:56:22 | |
here in the '60s, you've got these gadgets, you've got the free time | 0:56:22 | 0:56:26 | |
and you don't quite know what you're going to be doing with the free time. | 0:56:26 | 0:56:31 | |
So, it's felt a very, sort of, uncomfortable decade for me. | 0:56:31 | 0:56:35 | |
# Boom bang-a-bang bang | 0:56:35 | 0:56:37 | |
# Boom bang-a-bang bang I love you... # | 0:56:37 | 0:56:42 | |
OK, look this is the results. | 0:56:45 | 0:56:46 | |
That's us! | 0:56:50 | 0:56:52 | |
I think Lulu's won! | 0:56:55 | 0:56:58 | |
Hooray, get in. | 0:56:58 | 0:57:00 | |
Ah, she's so cute! | 0:57:02 | 0:57:04 | |
So how do you think the '60s have been for the Robshaws? | 0:57:06 | 0:57:08 | |
Well, surprisingly, I think it's been great for the kids | 0:57:08 | 0:57:12 | |
and for Brandon, but really not great at all for Rochelle. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:15 | |
Why not? She's got a beehive, she's got flowery dresses. | 0:57:15 | 0:57:18 | |
What more could a woman ask? | 0:57:18 | 0:57:19 | |
I think she's feeling trapped and depressed and slightly oppressed. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:22 | |
You think it's actually grinding her down really, real Rochelle? | 0:57:22 | 0:57:25 | |
I think it is, actually, and I just think she feels a bit sidelined. | 0:57:25 | 0:57:29 | |
The biggest defining feature of the '60s for me, has been | 0:57:29 | 0:57:33 | |
the generational gap. | 0:57:33 | 0:57:35 | |
Because I really did feel like I was living a different | 0:57:35 | 0:57:39 | |
life to the one my mum was. | 0:57:39 | 0:57:40 | |
However glamorous she looked, | 0:57:40 | 0:57:42 | |
she was still in the kitchen cooking and that was her job. | 0:57:42 | 0:57:45 | |
This is the time for the young. | 0:57:47 | 0:57:50 | |
It's like kicking off everything that went before, it's a | 0:57:50 | 0:57:53 | |
totally different feel... | 0:57:53 | 0:57:55 | |
That anything is possible, except me getting out the kitchen. | 0:57:56 | 0:58:00 | |
Next time, the Robshaws groove into the 1970s. | 0:58:12 | 0:58:15 | |
-Oh. -Oh. | 0:58:17 | 0:58:19 | |
I'm not really sure what it tastes like. | 0:58:19 | 0:58:22 | |
Where does the flour come out of? Oh! | 0:58:22 | 0:58:24 | |
Got flour that comes out of heads, pickled onions with faces. | 0:58:25 | 0:58:30 | |
It's like the whole kitchen is mocking me. | 0:58:30 | 0:58:32 |