0:00:00 > 0:00:06Hi. Len Goodman here for another '50s foxtrot around my decade.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27They say of the '60s that if you remember them,
0:00:27 > 0:00:29you weren't really there.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32But it was the optimism of the '50s that gave us
0:00:32 > 0:00:34that psychedelic decade.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37So what's on offer today?
0:00:37 > 0:00:40We were told we'd never had it so good
0:00:40 > 0:00:44and our car industry was booming.
0:00:44 > 0:00:50We got around in mass produced cars, Morrises, Austins and Rovers.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55We see how the 1950s folk enjoyed their time off.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01And it's doors to manual and crosscheck with the '50s jet set.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Don't forget, all this really kicked off in 1952
0:01:07 > 0:01:11with the dawn of the new Elizabethan era.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15And I don't believe it! Annette Crosbie is here to tell us
0:01:15 > 0:01:16it was just so.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19- It's lovely to see you. - Thank you.- Fancy a foxtrot?
0:01:21 > 0:01:23No, calm down!
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Now, I can remember going hop picking in Kent
0:01:26 > 0:01:29with the family as a leper. We had a ball.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33It was one way of enjoying yourself that didn't cost you a penny.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35In fact, they paid you.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40And the idea of the weekend was a whole new kettle of fish.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43# Crazy, man, crazy
0:01:43 > 0:01:45# Crazy, man, crazy... #
0:01:47 > 0:01:51In '50s Britain, a woman's work was never done,
0:01:51 > 0:01:55from making dinner to cleaning house and looking after the children,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58the chores didn't stop for the weekend.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03So if anyone was profiting from our increased leisure time,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05it was '50s men.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10The most popular pastimes reflected the gender divide,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12fishing, football and racing.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Racing dogs, racing bicycles, cars, horses,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18in fact any kind of racing.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20It was a man's world all right.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28I won my first race at 16 at a club called Castle Ray.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Often associated with flat caps and hobnail boots,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35pigeon racing was a popular hobby among working-class men,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37as pigeon fancier Ronnie Johnston remembers.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Belfast at the time just exploded with pigeon racing into the '50s.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46The majority of fanciers were Belfast people who maybe worked
0:02:46 > 0:02:49in the shipyard, worked in the linen mills, the roadworks
0:02:49 > 0:02:52and this was a way that they could have a hobby which
0:02:52 > 0:02:55took them through the week and then they had the racing on the Saturday.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57Having been brought out to the country by train,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01the pigeons would be released to find their own way home.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Owners like Ronnie waited anxiously in their backyard
0:03:03 > 0:03:06for the first pigeons to head back.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08You just don't know when they're going to arrive.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11The adrenaline starts flowing as you start your watch
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and you know the times, actually coming up
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and one does come round and I can tell you it's an experience.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19Only a pigeon man can tell you.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22And then, if you win the race, you can guess what it's like.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24It's like winning the lottery now, probably.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26# Oh, he's football crazy
0:03:26 > 0:03:28# He's football mad
0:03:28 > 0:03:31# And the football it has robbed him Of the wee bit of sense he had. #
0:03:31 > 0:03:35But pigeons weren't the only pursuit '50s man could enjoy.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39Then, as now, one of the most popular sports was football.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Arthur Price was a devoted Liverpool fan.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47It wasn't a rich man's sport.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50When I first went to watch Liverpool, I paid nine pence.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56Going in the turnstile, you paid your money or you'd have a ticket,
0:03:56 > 0:04:01it was a ticketed match, and then you had to walk up about 50 steps
0:04:01 > 0:04:07to get into the Kop area, where we all stood in the Kop area.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10You couldn't move sometimes. You couldn't move.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16When you had 27,000 fellas standing there, they were just fanatics
0:04:16 > 0:04:20and they used to sing and some of the jokes used to come out with,
0:04:20 > 0:04:22I couldn't even repeat them.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26The rivalry between fans was mainly friendly back then.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30The street I lived in were all football mad, you know.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32They were Evertonians and Liverpudlians
0:04:32 > 0:04:34and we used to go and play football.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37A football match lasted an hour and a half.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39We'd be playing football for about four hours.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45I used to hate it when it wasn't football season.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52A man who would gladly have given new odds on football
0:04:52 > 0:04:55or pigeons was George Carrigill.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59We used to say give it a name, we'll give it a price.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01Welcome to the illicit world of '50s betting.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Whatever I was earning as a journalist
0:05:05 > 0:05:07I was losing the bookmakers.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13And then I decided when I was 21 to have a go at being a bookmaker.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17All George had to do now was to find premises for his shop.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20All of the betting offices in those days were on the first
0:05:20 > 0:05:23or second floor, they weren't on the high street.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26They were down little backstreets
0:05:26 > 0:05:30and people furtively used to sneak into them and not be seen.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34He found the perfect place above a rather genteel hair salon.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38Hair clientele were ladies, elderly ladies who came
0:05:38 > 0:05:42in chauffeur driven cars, Bentleys and so on,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44and they were there for wigs.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48These poor old dears, losing their hair or they'd lost their hair
0:05:48 > 0:05:52and my customers had to go through her salon
0:05:52 > 0:05:55and of course the old dears were absolutely terrified.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00In the 1950s, three quarters of us regularly had a flutter,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02mainly on the GGs.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Not big bets because there wasn't a lot of money in those days.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08It was almost exclusively horseracing.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12If there was no horseracing, you wouldn't open the office at all.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16It was a way of life.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19George was doing a roaring trade but cash betting in the '50s
0:06:19 > 0:06:24was illegal and there was always the chance he'd be raided by the police.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26They stormed up the stairs,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30there would probably be 30 people or so in the office, smoke-filled.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34They were terribly smoke-filled places in those days.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Two people opened a window and shinned down a pipe.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41The butchers across the road phoned the Fire Brigade,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45they thought the place was on fire, smoke was bursting out.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47And it was utter confusion.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51I was fined £5 and each of the punters, the customers,
0:06:51 > 0:06:56were bound over in the sum of four shillings.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Everyone knew it was illegal
0:06:58 > 0:07:00but no-one was bothered in the slightest.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05George isn't a betting man himself.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08He runs the shop more as a hobby than hard work.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13It's not just the winning and losing,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15it's everything which is happening in horseracing,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19the personalities, it's colourful, it's vibrant.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22And you get hooked on it.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Now, I remember going hop picking but that was very localised to Kent.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Yes, it was. We don't have them.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34- No, you didn't have many hops where you came from.- No.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37But we used to get on the old charabanc, go down to Southend
0:07:37 > 0:07:41or Margate, or if it was a posh one, we'd go to Broadstairs.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Were your swimming costumes woollen?
0:07:43 > 0:07:48My Nan used to knit my... Every Christmas I got a jumper
0:07:48 > 0:07:53and in the summer, for my birthday, 25th April,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56she'd knit me a swimming costume.
0:07:56 > 0:07:57- Yeah.- Yeah, dreadful.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00And of course they were all right, they looked quite glamorous
0:08:00 > 0:08:04- until you got wet.- Until you got in the water.- Then they'd swell up.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08And there would be this huge thing dangling down here. Awful.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Now what about you? What's your earliest holiday memory?
0:08:12 > 0:08:17My dad should have been a mechanic or a carpenter but he wasn't,
0:08:17 > 0:08:20he was a postman for a bit and then he was an insurance agent.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24During the war, he used to get bronchitis so he wasn't called up
0:08:24 > 0:08:28and he built his own caravan and that's what we had our holidays in.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31The top half folded down over the bottom half.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34It was built of balsawood so it was very light
0:08:34 > 0:08:36so it could be pulled by a Hillman Minx.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39- Do you remember those? - Yeah, the tiny Hillman Minx.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42We'd drive all the way down to Keswick.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46And he'd drive it into the caravan place which was just a field.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49And there would be other caravans there.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53And he'd wind the top up with a starting handle
0:08:53 > 0:08:57while a little crowd gathered and it was called Jock's Lodge
0:08:57 > 0:08:59and that's what we had our holidays in.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03- What about if it got a bit windy? Was it quite stable? - Oh, yes, it was, yeah.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06- What a marvellous man your dad must have been.- Yeah, he was.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12- Built his own caravan?- Yeah. - My nan had a caravan in Clacton.
0:09:12 > 0:09:18- It was a permanent structure.- Right. How many did it sleep?- Four.
0:09:18 > 0:09:19Yeah, four.
0:09:19 > 0:09:25- But every Sunday we used to have to go down there to air it out.- Oh!
0:09:25 > 0:09:27It had to be aired.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32So... and it was quite a novelty for the first two weeks
0:09:32 > 0:09:35or two months but then, every Sunday, winter and summer,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39we used to go down to Clacton to air out the caravan.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Well, there you have it.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Your holidays in your cardboard caravan
0:09:45 > 0:09:48and me down at my nan's, Clacton.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52- It's lovely to reminisce. It's lovely to see you.- Thank you.
0:09:52 > 0:09:58I can't believe how funny it is that our connection is going to be caravans.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02And whenever I think of you, I'm going to think of your dad
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and the balsawood caravan. Fabulous!
0:10:07 > 0:10:12Now, class ran through the whole of the '50s like Brighton does rock.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15There was a lot of us and them.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18I was definitely us, so let's take a look at them,
0:10:18 > 0:10:23a curious band of young and upper-class, privileged girls,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25the debutantes, the debs.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30Did you know they were the top toff totty of the day?
0:10:33 > 0:10:36'To Buckingham Palace yesterday afternoon were invited
0:10:36 > 0:10:40'over 1,000 guests for the season's first presentation party.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44'And each debutante was waiting for the moment when she was to make her two curtsies.'
0:10:44 > 0:10:48You go like that and then you go keeping very straight,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51very formal.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57And I think probably dropped my head, I can't quite remember,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59perhaps we did in case we caught her eye.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05Up until 1958, curtsying to the Queen and even to a ceremonial cake
0:11:05 > 0:11:08was the thing to do for upper-class 'gals'.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16At the age of 17, Mary, the only child of a military family,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18officially came out.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22'The honour being presented make this an especially memorable occasion.'
0:11:22 > 0:11:26And embarked on what was known as the season,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29a ritual which went back to the 1700s.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33And even in those days, a debutante's season had to commence
0:11:33 > 0:11:35with being presented to the monarchy.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38You could only be presented to the Queen if your mother had been
0:11:38 > 0:11:41presented herself or knew somebody who had been.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46And we all lined up and we had to queue in and out.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49And then off we trotted and did our curtsy to both the Queen
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and the Duke of Edinburgh so there were two curtsies involved.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57But it was happy, it was exciting. But it was fun.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02And the fun continued for the next six months.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06A dizzy round of parties, pretty dresses, dinners and dancing.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10If you were lucky enough, you had a dance given for you by your parents
0:12:10 > 0:12:13and they were astonishing.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16We were so spoiled. You know, the food was absolutely delicious.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20And poor, old fathers having to write cheques for drinks
0:12:20 > 0:12:22and God knows...and bands.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23Tommy Kinsman.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33And the point of all this privileged preening and primping?
0:12:33 > 0:12:34To bag a rich husband, if possible.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38My father didn't have a great deal of money,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41but he had enough to do this, sort of, launch me into the world.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46And, actually, it worked. So, it was a sort of investment, I suppose.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52But was it all as glamorous as it appeared to be?
0:12:52 > 0:12:54The dances were lovely, but alarming,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57because if you weren't absolutely sure
0:12:57 > 0:12:59that you were going to be asked to dance,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01you could have quite a difficult time of it
0:13:01 > 0:13:03because you couldn't ask them to dance with you.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05I had a programme I had to fill in.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09People would say, can I have the third one, or whatever it was,
0:13:09 > 0:13:13and you wrote it down with a little pencil attached in little book,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16like the, sort of, 18th century.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18And hoped it would be full.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24The highlight of the season was the Queen Charlotte's Ball.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30It was based on Queen Charlotte, George III's wife, her birthday.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35And we had to come down a long staircase, all of us, altogether.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37The cake, I think, was at the bottom of the staircase.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40And we had to curtsy to it.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44And then, somebody rather grand, a duchess or somebody, cut it.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47And then, I imagine, we were all given a bit of it to eat
0:13:47 > 0:13:49and then, we danced the night away.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56And all the young men wore white tie, actually, for that.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59I mean, dinner jackets, they could just wear to dances,
0:13:59 > 0:14:04but white tie was still what you had to wear to proper, grand dances.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08And who were these white-tied followers of fashion?
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Meet the deb's delights.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14They were mainly brothers, friends of brothers.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17They all had to be slightly checked.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Not safe in taxis was one of the things
0:14:20 > 0:14:23that mothers used to talk about. Not safe in a taxi.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24If you got into a taxi and he leapt on you,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27that was considered a bad idea.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35But let's face it, in truth, it was a highly competitive cattle market.
0:14:35 > 0:14:36I mean, there were some very pretty girls
0:14:36 > 0:14:40and some extremely rich girls and some very glamorous girls.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43It was competitive, like it just is anywhere, isn't it?
0:14:43 > 0:14:46When there are, you know, you're jostling for a chap
0:14:46 > 0:14:47or whatever it is.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51But Mary was the last of a dying breed.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53The Queen called a halt to court presentations
0:14:53 > 0:14:58and 1958 saw the end of the official debutante season.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03When the Queen decided, probably quite rightly, to stop it,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05it did seem to lose its point, really.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08I mean, the point was that you had lots of parties
0:15:08 > 0:15:10and met lots of people and got married.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14And lived happily ever after.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22Well, Annette, that is a blast from the past, truly.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27- What did you make of that?- Well, it was extraordinary and really...
0:15:27 > 0:15:29archaic.
0:15:29 > 0:15:30Well, it is archaic.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34And we'd just been through a war, it's absurd, the whole business.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Yeah, well, I guess that's why, gradually, it petered out.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41But, you know, did you find, up in Scotland,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44- it invaded your sort of world or...? - No, no.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46Because everybody in Scotland who wanted to be there
0:15:46 > 0:15:47went down to London.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53- That kind of thing did not go on in Scotland. We were far too busy.- Yeah.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55There was an old dance teacher called Josephine Bradley.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59- Oh, I read about her in the newspapers.- Really?- Yes.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Well, she was, I don't know if she was the official one,
0:16:01 > 0:16:07but she used to teach lots of the debs how to dance and how to curtsy.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10- Curtsy, that's it. - They'd come to her dance studio
0:16:10 > 0:16:13and there they'd be, and, of course, the deeper you could go, the better.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15But, of course, the deeper you went,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18- the more fraught with danger it became.- Getting up.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Yeah, you had to get up again.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23The bottom line is, I think, we're both glad that that era,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26- as far as the debs is concerned, is over.- Yeah.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28- I'm glad I missed out on that. - Yeah. I'm glad I did.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Although, I do look good in a white tie and tails.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34- Oh, I think, probably, we had a good time.- Yeah.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37So much of our free time was accompanied
0:16:37 > 0:16:39by this unmistakable noise.
0:16:39 > 0:16:40ENGINE STARTS
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Yeah. We started going places by car.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49My mate's car was a Wolseley Hornet and I can't tell you,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52the things we got up to in that car.
0:16:52 > 0:16:58The Wolseley Hornet was built by the British Motor Corporation
0:16:58 > 0:17:00and they were in their heyday.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03We were world-beaters in the '50s.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06So, for old times' sake, let's burn some more rubber
0:17:06 > 0:17:08and give it some welly. Go on.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11MUSIC: "Move It" by Cliff Richard
0:17:12 > 0:17:15# Come on, pretty baby Let's move it and groove it... #
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Two '50s petrol heads.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19# Well, a shake a baby shake...#
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Lou, who loved driving cars.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26We never bothered about motor safety in those days.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29You put your foot down and that went.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32And John who loved designing them.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36People wanted cars, would you believe?
0:17:36 > 0:17:39And so, that opened a whole, new vista for us.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Yeah, and the world was almost our oyster.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46It was all a big, big challenge.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49I know I was much younger in those days, but it was great.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56The start of the '50s was boom time for the British car industry.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04Wannabe car owners crowded the Earls Court Motor Show
0:18:04 > 0:18:07to ogle the latest models.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12Back in Sussex, farmer's wife Lou couldn't wait to get mobile.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16She didn't go to Earls Court to get her perfect car,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18but to Bognor Regis.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21So, we went down to the garage and they'd got nothing there.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23I was feeling absolutely sick.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27And there, on the kerb, stood this car.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31And I said to the salesman, "That's what I call a car."
0:18:31 > 0:18:33And he said, "You can have it if you want."
0:18:33 > 0:18:38Lou had fallen for an MG Magnette,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41but true love came with a hefty price tag.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43It was just over £700.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47An awful lot of money.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50And the payments, I believe, were £17-something a month.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53It was a struggle, but the trouble was,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56women couldn't get hire purchase in those days.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00So, it had to go in my husband's name.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03And the hire purchase agreement was in his name also.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06But I still had to pay it off.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08And, eventually, got it back into my name.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12In Birmingham, John, a young car designer, firstly for Alvis
0:19:12 > 0:19:15and then the renowned British Motor Corporation,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19had to bide his time before getting his hands on the wheel.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22We'd just about got a house, we'd had our first daughter
0:19:22 > 0:19:25and I thought we ought to go in for a car, you know,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28because both my wife and I used to run around on cycles.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32That was fun because it kept us healthy, but we wanted a car.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36So, my wife rather liked the look of the A30, an Austin.
0:19:36 > 0:19:37So, I said, "OK, we'll have that."
0:19:42 > 0:19:46After nearly 60 years, Lou's car is still on the road
0:19:46 > 0:19:49and has served her, and even the farm animals, well.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52It's had several years of farm life.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57I've even had a six-month-old Hereford hobbled on the back seat.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01That was all right until I was pushing it a bit and "plonk",
0:20:01 > 0:20:05he fell off the seat. and hit the back my seat.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08So, I had to get out and try and get him off the floor
0:20:08 > 0:20:11and get him back on the seat again, but I got home.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17And he was none the worse for wear and neither was the car.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23Rising car ownership put more places within reach of motorists,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26eager to see more of their surroundings.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31This freedom of the road was massively expanded
0:20:31 > 0:20:36by the building of Britain's first motorway in 1958.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39# Come on, pretty baby Let's move it and groove it... #
0:20:41 > 0:20:45The motorways, when they opened, they were going to be a godsend, no doubt.
0:20:45 > 0:20:46We needed them, for goodness' sake.
0:20:46 > 0:20:52And my in-laws had both retired north of Blackpool
0:20:52 > 0:20:55and it was a tedious journey.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58And when they opened the first motorways, ah!
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Oh, gosh, I well remember that.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02You could just put your foot down,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05I don't remember looking at the clock, I just went.
0:21:05 > 0:21:06It was great.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10On one occasion, it was rather funny
0:21:10 > 0:21:12because what should be in front of us,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15but the new Farina Magnette, the Mark 3.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20Down went the toe. Whoosh. Bye, bye, Farina.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Just left it standing.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31The glory days of Birmingham's car industry are long gone.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34But, before the strike-torn '70s and '80s,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38John recalls what made thousands of '50s workers clock in
0:21:38 > 0:21:40to make motors.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42We'd got the innovation,
0:21:42 > 0:21:48we'd got the people who lived for motor cars.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52They were mechanics, they didn't mind getting their hands dirty and oily.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54They weren't particularly interested in the money,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58it was making a car, for goodness' sake, look what we've done.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05And for Lou, she's still moving it and she's still loyal to her MG.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09It's been a faithful, old companion. It's had a hard life
0:22:09 > 0:22:12and it's done about 380,000 miles.
0:22:12 > 0:22:18Well, this car has been with me so long, I would never part with it.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21In fact, I've told everybody I want to be buried in it.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Because I would hate to see it go into anybody else's hands.
0:22:26 > 0:22:27And I mean it.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Well, it's lovely to be joined by you, Lou. Nice to see.
0:22:35 > 0:22:36Well, it's nice to meet you.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Well, how's the old Magnette going? Is it still going strong?
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Very, very well indeed. Starts on the button,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46- even when it's been sitting dormant for a week or so.- Really?- Yes.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48And what sort of speeds does that get up to?
0:22:48 > 0:22:49You a bit of a speed freak?
0:22:49 > 0:22:56- Well, dare I say it, it's been a ton-up.- Really?
0:22:56 > 0:23:00Oh, yes. In the days when you could get proper petrol, five star,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03110 octanes, the engines were built for that.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06- And it's been over 100?- Yes. I have proof of it as well.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Oh, I believe you. Yeah.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14And have you still got the same engine or has it been reconditioned?
0:23:14 > 0:23:15It's had another engine in it, yes,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18cos the first engine, its crankshaft broke.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20But they were proper cars, weren't they?
0:23:20 > 0:23:22With the starting handle and everything, it's all there.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25- Couple of cranks and off they go.- Yes.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27I don't know why they got rid of the starting handle.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30- Neither do I. People wouldn't know how to use them today.- No.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34What about you, Annette? What's your first memory of a vehicle?
0:23:34 > 0:23:38- It was my dad's old Morris 1000. - Oh, there's another cracker.
0:23:38 > 0:23:39- Ah, I loved it.- Yeah.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Do you know, we knew a man who put cement in the floor of his
0:23:42 > 0:23:44- and the car still went.- Really?- Yeah.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47- What? He sort of concreted it over? - Yeah.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Yeah, well, it saves on mats and things.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51My dad's greatest joy was taking it all to bits
0:23:51 > 0:23:53and putting it back together again.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Yeah, you could do that in those days cos they were simple.
0:23:56 > 0:23:57- Yes.- Yes.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00You looked to the engine and you... Not that I'm mechanical,
0:24:00 > 0:24:01but you sort of knew what was what.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04You look at a car now, you lift up the bonnet
0:24:04 > 0:24:07and you haven't got a clue of what anything is anymore.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09My mate had this Wolseley Hornet,
0:24:09 > 0:24:13open-top thing, two-seater with a dicky thing in the back.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17- Oh!- It was a proper, proper vehicle.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20And we used to go, and he used to wear a deerstalker, my mate.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24And when we went up a hill, he had, in the side,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27he had a little fishing rod and a carrot.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29And he used to say, "Get the carrot out."
0:24:29 > 0:24:36And he'd put it over the top, going up the hill with this carrot.
0:24:36 > 0:24:43We had so many laughs with this car, all right. Oh, it was such fun.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47- Not so much traffic either. - Well, no traffic, really.- No.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49You know, we used to drive, nothing.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Coming up into London or going down the seaside.
0:24:53 > 0:24:54Lovely.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59Well, Lou, I've got to say, I congratulate you on keeping that car
0:24:59 > 0:25:01and I bet it's still in pristine condition.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Now, on your way home, I don't want you speeding along,
0:25:04 > 0:25:06you've got to calm down, dear.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09- I will do as I'm told. - Do your best.- Will do.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Now, I became, I don't want to think about it,
0:25:12 > 0:25:17an apprentice engineer in the '50s and I hated every minute.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20Luckily, I found my dancing feet.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22I can barely cope with computers now,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25so Lord knows how I would've dealt with the threat of them
0:25:25 > 0:25:27way back when.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35In the heady days of fifties' full employment,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38they started them young on the treadmill of office work.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45I was 16 when I started and I remember, to this day,
0:25:45 > 0:25:50that I joined on the 18th August 1950.
0:25:50 > 0:25:56I was 14 years old and I started working January 1946.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Brian Pierce was a clerk in a bank.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02We had to wear dark suits and stiff collars.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05And the stiff collars were separate from our shirts and,
0:26:05 > 0:26:06after a little while,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09I realised there was a company called Collars Limited
0:26:09 > 0:26:11that took these collars away every week
0:26:11 > 0:26:13and laundered them and we got them back.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16And when they wore out, they replaced them for nothing,
0:26:16 > 0:26:17that was part of the laundry charge.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Margaret Studwick's first job was an office junior
0:26:20 > 0:26:22in a distribution company.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27The idea was that you were given different types of jobs to do
0:26:27 > 0:26:32and if you were any good at them, OK, they sort of thought,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35well, you can do that, now we'll try you on something else.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37The new work may not have been back-breaking,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40but there was a price to pay for sitting in a warm office all day.
0:26:40 > 0:26:46It was a job for life and you just worked through, for year after year,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49and, now I look back on it, numbingly boring years,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53until, with a bit of luck, you might have become a branch manager,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55probably in your early 40s.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04By the mid-'50s, Margaret had risen to become a typist,
0:27:04 > 0:27:06but, as a woman, she faced other problems.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09There was no question of ever furthering your career,
0:27:09 > 0:27:10you could not.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12Young men could go on and do their examinations
0:27:12 > 0:27:16and they were able to get onto a ladder, if you like,
0:27:16 > 0:27:17to further their career.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20But we were never offered anything like that.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22And some of the girls were very cross
0:27:22 > 0:27:25because they knew they weren't getting anywhere near
0:27:25 > 0:27:28a reasonable rate as far as they were concerned.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32Before the computer, all office work had to be done by hand.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Business was paper-driven, dull and repetitive, though it was.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39We wrote up the ledgers by hand and then,
0:27:39 > 0:27:44we had to transfer the items to the customers' passbooks.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47And some customers would bring their passbooks in,
0:27:47 > 0:27:49not having been in for two months or so
0:27:49 > 0:27:53and then, we had to write in two months' entries while they waited.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56In those days, you had carbon copies
0:27:56 > 0:27:59and you always had a number of leaves behind the top one.
0:27:59 > 0:28:00So, if you made a mistake,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04it was an awful faff to try and get it sorted out.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07So, mostly, you tried not to make too many mistakes.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10But that was just one part of what we were doing
0:28:10 > 0:28:14and they were your invoices. And lots of filing went on.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17One of my jobs was to list all the cheques that were paid in.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20And the cheques were delivered to us
0:28:20 > 0:28:22and we had to list them on an adding machine
0:28:22 > 0:28:24which simply had a handle
0:28:24 > 0:28:26and we'd just pull the handle down all the time.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28So, there was no mechanisation.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32But while Brian was relying on his little adding machine
0:28:32 > 0:28:37and Margaret was filing for England, down in London, in 1951,
0:28:37 > 0:28:38something big was being developed.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43It was brewed up in a most unlikely place.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45Lyons Corner tea shop.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50Lyons had nearly 200 tea shops, scattered through the country.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53The daily orders for new stock of tea and cakes
0:28:53 > 0:28:55were all done by pen and paper.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59'Each manageress has a standing order
0:28:59 > 0:29:00'depending on the day of the week.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03'After lunch each day, she considers her stock,
0:29:03 > 0:29:04'weighs up local conditions
0:29:04 > 0:29:08'and decides what variations, up or down,
0:29:08 > 0:29:09'she will make to her order.'
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Lyons thought the time had come to streamline their business.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15They hired Ernest Kaye, a young electronic engineer
0:29:15 > 0:29:19to work on a new project they'd cooked up.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23They heard about these peculiar machines
0:29:23 > 0:29:27that were being developed in America called computers.
0:29:27 > 0:29:33And, being interested in all the latest developments,
0:29:33 > 0:29:36they sent a team of people out to the States
0:29:36 > 0:29:39to find out what this was all about.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43They returned home, brimful of new ideas.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46Ernest got down to work on building a computer for Lyons.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51It was called LEO, short for Lyons Electrical Office.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54It was a revolutionary idea
0:29:54 > 0:29:59and everyone on the team was enormously enthusiastic.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03I must say, I've never worked so hard in my life.
0:30:03 > 0:30:08I spent days and nights designing electronic circuits,
0:30:08 > 0:30:12till they came out of my ears.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14The result was unbelievable.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18LEO was a gigantic machine.
0:30:18 > 0:30:24It was colossal, it filled a room 5,000 square feet.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28Half the room was taken up by nine-foot-high racks
0:30:28 > 0:30:31full of electronic equipment,
0:30:31 > 0:30:36the other half of the room was taken up by the printers
0:30:36 > 0:30:42and the tape readers and also a huge power supply.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47The machine contained over 6,000 valves.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52Used to get very hot and had to be air-cooled.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57Lyons used LEO to plough through vast amounts of clerical work,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01which had been done by hand, such as payroll for their 10,000 staff.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05It was soon being used for all sorts of other calculations too.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09'LEO worked out the shortest distance by rail
0:31:09 > 0:31:11'from each station to all the other 4,000.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15'This would have taken 50 clerks five years.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19'For the Chancellor, LEO worked out the PAYE tables for '55 to '56
0:31:19 > 0:31:21'and printed them off in one night.'
0:31:21 > 0:31:26But although LEO was the world's first business computer, soon,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30others caught on and, eventually, it was outgunned by the Americans.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34We applied, at one time, to get a government grant
0:31:34 > 0:31:39to help us develop the computer business.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42And there was a letter saying,
0:31:42 > 0:31:48they didn't think there was a future in computers.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52- Well, Sir Brian, it's lovely to have you here.- Nice to be here.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55- May I call you Brian?- Certainly. - Oh, that's much easier.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Well, what did you make of that? And how did you cope back in the '50s?
0:31:58 > 0:32:00Oh, it's interesting to look at it now, at this stage,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03because it was amazing. Even in those days,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06we had a lot of work to cope with, lots of people on the staff.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10I was in a branch in Liverpool with 70 staff
0:32:10 > 0:32:14and we had just begun to bring in mechanised machines
0:32:14 > 0:32:17to post some of the major accounts.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19All the others were still on ledger posting,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22quill pens, by the way, and ink.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25And passbooks that we had to complete each day
0:32:25 > 0:32:28to bring them all up-to-date for our customers.
0:32:28 > 0:32:29Some were left in the branches,
0:32:29 > 0:32:31some, they came and took them every night.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Some, for the bigger customers, very big passbooks indeed,
0:32:34 > 0:32:36that we had to complete, pages of them.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38And then, we had to add them all up.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42Funnily enough, it was easier to add them up in our heads
0:32:42 > 0:32:44- because we'd got used to that.- Yeah.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47But there were beginning to be Burroughs Adding Machines
0:32:47 > 0:32:49where we could put the numbers in
0:32:49 > 0:32:52and then pull a handle as we went through.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55But that, actually, took longer than adding up a whole row of figures.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59We were better using our noddles, as it were.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02- Maths was better than in those days, really.- I think it was.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05I mean, when I look back on it, of course,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09we had no aids at school, we just trawled through paper and so on.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12- Yeah.- But we had to improvise quite a lot.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Not really to do with paper, but, rather amusingly,
0:33:15 > 0:33:17we had to move big volumes of coin.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19The branch I was in, had all the coin
0:33:19 > 0:33:23from the Corporation of Liverpool paid into it.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25And we had to get it to the head office of the bank,
0:33:25 > 0:33:27which was about 500 yards away.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32There wasn't a motorised vehicle that was big enough
0:33:32 > 0:33:34and had sufficient suspension
0:33:34 > 0:33:37to, actually, carry the coin at that time.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39So, what we used to do, once a week,
0:33:39 > 0:33:43we used to rent a Threlfall's brewery dray cart.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45And one of the cashiers sat on the front
0:33:45 > 0:33:47and we'd put all the coin on the back.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49The other junior and I sat on the back with the coin
0:33:49 > 0:33:51and we trundled off and went along Dale Street in Liverpool
0:33:51 > 0:33:52to deliver all this coin.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55- On a horse and cart. - On a horse and cart.
0:33:55 > 0:33:56Rather more interestingly,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59from a security point of view, coming back...
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Very few people had bank accounts,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03very few personal customers had bank accounts,
0:34:03 > 0:34:05and we had some pretty big customers
0:34:05 > 0:34:10who would draw large volumes of cash to pay the wages.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13And we would come back with suitcases and, at certain times,
0:34:13 > 0:34:18we'd have £300-350,000 worth of cash in suitcases
0:34:18 > 0:34:22- on the back of this horse and cart. - And nobody tried to take it?
0:34:22 > 0:34:25- And we never even thought we would be challenged.- No.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28We looked round and admired the view.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30- Yeah, and off you go with your suitcases full of lolly.- We did.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33- Amazing.- It's quite amazing. - And what about you, Annette?
0:34:33 > 0:34:35You got any paper stories for us?
0:34:35 > 0:34:38When I was on holidays from drama school,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41I used to do secretarial work
0:34:41 > 0:34:45because my mother had insisted I have something to fall back on.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47So, she sent me to a secretarial college
0:34:47 > 0:34:51and I worked at the Coal Board, which was close to my home in Edinburgh.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55And I remember my first day there and I typed out this,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58I don't know what it was, some kind of report with about six pages
0:34:58 > 0:35:00and I got them all stencilled together.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03And I was terribly proud of it and carried it into this man
0:35:03 > 0:35:05and all he had to do was sign it.
0:35:05 > 0:35:06And I left them and I went back to my...
0:35:06 > 0:35:10And I got the, "Could you come in here a minute?"
0:35:10 > 0:35:13So, I scuttled back in to see what I'd done wrong.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17And he pointed to the top one and he said, "Where do I sign?"
0:35:18 > 0:35:20I said, "Well, on the last bit."
0:35:20 > 0:35:23He said, "Right. Well, bring them back to me with just the last page.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25"I don't want to be turning pages."
0:35:25 > 0:35:30- Really? Oh, dear. - Took me a long time to get over that.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Well, it's amazing.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36- Brian, it's been lovely to talk to you.- Thank you.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41Now, things were hotting up on all fronts in the '50s,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43not just with computers.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47The decade also gave us the Jet Age.
0:35:47 > 0:35:54America might have had the Boeing, but, in Britain, we had the Comet.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58This great, silver bird was launched in 1952
0:35:58 > 0:36:03and the jet set couldn't wait to get on board.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07# Straighten up and fly right Straighten up... #
0:36:07 > 0:36:11There's Talbot, who was radio officer.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15There's me, there's Captain Alabaster.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18And something quite unusual
0:36:18 > 0:36:23and that is, they all have moustaches,
0:36:23 > 0:36:24apart from me.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29Audrey Iliffe was an air stewardess on the inaugural flight
0:36:29 > 0:36:31of the Comet jet aeroplane.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33British-designed and manufactured,
0:36:33 > 0:36:37it was the world's very first passenger jet plane.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41And no-one was more surprised than Audrey that she should be on it.
0:36:41 > 0:36:47I got a phone call from BOAC to say, would I go for an interview.
0:36:47 > 0:36:53Which I did. And, to my great surprise, passed it.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57Particularly, as I'd skidded on the floor
0:36:57 > 0:37:02to where the four of them were sitting looking very, very...
0:37:02 > 0:37:06much as people look when you're having an interview.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08And then I saw them
0:37:08 > 0:37:10and they started to laugh and so did I, couldn't help it.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15So, there I was, asking, "Please can I become an air stewardess?"
0:37:15 > 0:37:18And I couldn't keep on my feet.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25Made by the De Havilland company in Hertfordshire
0:37:25 > 0:37:28for the British Overseas Airways Corporation, BOAC,
0:37:28 > 0:37:33the Comet took off from London to Johannesburg on 2nd May 1952.
0:37:33 > 0:37:39The weather was lovely and when we saw the aircraft,
0:37:39 > 0:37:40we just couldn't believe it.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43It looked so smooth and modern,
0:37:43 > 0:37:49made the other aircraft look so old, when they weren't at all.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53What made the Comet really different to other aircraft
0:37:53 > 0:37:56were the Ghost turbojet engines buried in its wings.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59Nobody could see propellers,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02that was the thing that did worry, really did,
0:38:02 > 0:38:08because they just felt if you didn't have a propeller,
0:38:08 > 0:38:13it was never any good, you couldn't do anything without one.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17But the world of air travel changed
0:38:17 > 0:38:21the moment the Comet's wheels left the ground.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25It cut journey times almost in half and flew above the weather,
0:38:25 > 0:38:28eight miles up in the stratosphere.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32It was, kind of, a very fast float.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36You just took off and there you were in the air
0:38:36 > 0:38:39and, of course, going fast, very fast.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43And you just couldn't believe it possible.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47# Straighten up and fly right Straighten up and fly right... #
0:38:47 > 0:38:50The air-conditioned, fully pressurised cabin gave passengers
0:38:50 > 0:38:55a quiet, smooth ride, previously unheard-of in commercial aviation.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58I don't guarantee it every time, you know.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00- I'll try.- Go on.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02Why does it have to be...?
0:39:02 > 0:39:05And, of course, because it was so stable,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09there was no fear that your dinner might end up in your lap.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13With a lot of the other aircrafts, if it was bumpy weather,
0:39:13 > 0:39:18it was a question of getting the food on their plate if possible.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21Sometimes, if it's too bad, you couldn't do that.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26You'd try and it would be disastrous.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30In these golden days of jet air travel,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33only the very rich could afford to fly.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35They expected the best of everything.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39You would ask each passenger what they would like to have a drink.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43Usually champagne and I don't blame them either.
0:39:43 > 0:39:49It just was like having a very, very big birthday party.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53The landing in Johannesburg was a triumph.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55The whole feeling was
0:39:55 > 0:39:59that the Comet couldn't have done better
0:39:59 > 0:40:02for the whole air industry.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07For all the advances, the Comet was still a grand experiment
0:40:07 > 0:40:08and, over the next few years,
0:40:08 > 0:40:12a series of tragic accidents would ground the British jet fleet.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15The future of jet design now belonged
0:40:15 > 0:40:17to the Americans and Russians.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21But that doesn't take away from the fact that, in 1952,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24it was the British-made Comet that was king of the air.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28# Fly right. #
0:40:28 > 0:40:31Well, what a marvellous, little bit of film.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34Makes you proud to be British, well, it does me, I hope it does you.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39It was great, wasn't it, eh? That fabulous plane.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Do you remember your first flight?
0:40:41 > 0:40:45Yes, I think it was when we went to the Lebanon.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49We went to the Baalbeck Festival with the Bristol Vic Theatre Company.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53And, in those days, the pilot used to tell you where you were.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56"If you'd care to look out the window, on the right-hand side."
0:40:56 > 0:40:58And I was sitting there with my friend Maggie Jones
0:40:58 > 0:41:00and a lot the company surged to the side of the plane,
0:41:00 > 0:41:04Maggie and I screaming, "Sit down! The plane..."
0:41:04 > 0:41:06- With visions.- "You're going to wrong the thing." Yeah.
0:41:06 > 0:41:12Well, I must say, I never, ever got on a Comet, that's for sure.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16And I never flew until well into the '60s. Well, we didn't.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20- We went to, we went to our caravan. - Absolutely.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23Didn't we? We didn't fly off to foreign parts,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26exotic ports of call. It was unheard-of.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30I must say, though, when you look at that,
0:41:30 > 0:41:32and how elegant flying was then.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37- Oh, yes.- And how it is now. - Yeah, sardines.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Sardines and you need a cattle prod, really,
0:41:40 > 0:41:42to move you along a bit quicker.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45- Progress.- It's a shame, eh? But...
0:41:45 > 0:41:47It's been lovely to reminisce with you.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50- It's been lovely to be here. - It really has.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53And I've enjoyed reminiscing about the '50s with you,
0:41:53 > 0:41:58- it's been so nice.- Any time, Len. - Oooh, you little saucepot.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02Just as the '50s did, all good things come to an end.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06I hope you've enjoyed our romp through my decade.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11There's no doubt about it, the way we were has made us what we are.
0:42:11 > 0:42:12And do you know,
0:42:12 > 0:42:18there's a tune been running through my head all the time.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Get ready for it, Len's about to sing.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23# There's Teds in drainpipe trousers
0:42:23 > 0:42:26# And debs in coffee houses
0:42:26 > 0:42:30# Oh, fings ain't what they used to be. #
0:42:30 > 0:42:33Calm down, dear.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37Goodbye from all of us on The 1952 Show.
0:42:37 > 0:42:42MUSIC: "Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be"
0:42:51 > 0:42:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd