The 1948 Olympic Games were the first of the postwar era. Britain was still suffering the after effects of the war. Rationing was in operation. Bomb sites remained throughout London & other major cities. Yet London took on the Games & staged them very successfully. There was no election of London as the chosen venue. The idea had first been raised in 1937 by Lord Burghley that London should hold the Games in 1944. The International Olympic Committee decided without any vote that London should have the 1948 Games. ? The Games cost three quarters of a million pounds
- about GBP77 million in todays terms. Compare that to the 2012 budget of GBP3.3 billion! Of course no new facilities were built. This was the make-do-&-mend Olympics. Athletes were housed in barracks & schools & were given tickets for the underground to make their own way to the stadium. Those British athletes who lived in or near London stayed at home. ? The book tells how London came to be awarded the Games how they were managed & their economic political & social significance. Each of the sports are described but this is no endless list of dry statistics.
...

Do you remember Pathe News? Taking the train to the seaside? The violet stains of iodine on the knees of boys in short trousers? Knitted bathing costumes? Then the chances are you were born in or around 1950. To the young people of today the 1950s seems like another age. But for those born around then this era of childhood seems like yesterday. From waking up to ice on the inside of the windows washing in a tin bath by the fire & spoonfuls of cod-liver oil home life was very different to today. This delightful compendium of memories will appeal to all who grew up in this post-war decade whether in town or country wealth or poverty. With chapters on games & hobbies holidays music & fashion the wonderful memories & delightful illustrations will bring back this decade of childhood & jog memories about all aspects of life. ...

* Hundreds of prints from this key decade of fashion design * A unique sourcebook for contemporary designers & students *



...

Whimsical yet reverential captions describe the girls the sets the poses & the props. There are almost 300 photographs. Ammonite Press unveils a series of four picture books compiled from the archives of the classic girlie magazines Fiesta" & " Knave" which celebrates an age when glamour photography strove more for artistic ideals & risque titillation than the sexually explicit top shelf titles of today. Statuesque models of the 1950s adopted the poses of Greek goddesses in elaborately styled sets while their equivalents from the Swinging Sixties displayed a more playful almost naive innocence. A decade later the pin-ups of the 1970s invariably shot in luscious colour & sumptuous sets offered a more seductive appeal while the glamour girls of the 1980s became more sexually suggestive in their poses & attire
- or lack of it. The bevy of beauties that graces the pages of these four books illustrates the changing faces
- & bodies
- of the glamour model over four decades from the demure to the titillating the seductive to the steamy the erotic to the raunchy."


...

The 1950s home presented an exciting new way of living for the generation that moved out of the suburbs. Young couples who had previously rented accommodation in urban centres found themselves able to afford new-build homes with hot running water an indoor bathroom & aerials for the wireless already installed. Some four million houses were erected mostly in cosy semi-detached styles that harked back to traditional cottage architecture. The design elite rejected this Stockbroker Tudor look & opted instead for brave flat-roofed modernist villas. This book introduces the homes that people fell in love with in the 1930s & the fixtures & fittings that went in them. Packed with illustrations & informative chapters on architectural styles gardens furnishings & technology in the home this book is an ideal introductory guide to the houses of the period. ...

? After the privations of the Second World War the British embraced modern design like never before. From spindly-legged furniture to fabrics based on atomic design & quirkily patterned pottery to abstract graphics they wanted everything around them to reflect the bright new post-war world. This book traces the development of modern design in the 1950s from its genteel beginnings at the Festival of Britain to the shops brimming with slick products at the end of the decade. Looking at well-known classics popular favourites the work of famous designers & that of anonymous innovators it is a perfect introduction to the flamboyant & sometimes kitsch style of the decade when we learnt to love the modern. ...

Embarking on motherhood was a very different affair in the 1950s to what it is today. From how to dress baby (matinee coats & bonnets) to how to administer feeds (strictly four-hourly if following the Truby King method) the child-rearing methods of the 1950s are a fascinating insight into the lives of women in that decade. In The 1950s Mother author mother & grandmother Sheila Hardy collects heart-warming personal anecdotes from those women many of whom are now in their eighties who became mothers during this fascinating post-war period. From the benefits of 'crying it out' & being put out in the garden to gripe water & Listen with Mother the wisdom of mothers from the 1950s reverberates down the decades to young mothers of any generation & is a hilarious & at times poignant trip down memory lane for any mother or child of the 1950s. ...

A brand new Agatha Christie omnibus bringing together all four st&-alone novels she wrote in the 1950s
- They Came to Baghdad Destination
...

After ten years of austerity the early 1950s saw rationing draw to an end. Gathered together in this colourful creation of over 1 000 products & images The 1950s Scrapbook conjures up the life & times of the decade. From the Festival of Britain & the Coronation of Elizabeth II to the abundance of toys & television programmes every facet of the era is covered. Memorable & evocative The 1950s Scrapbook illustrates an extraordinary period of British history from rationing to rock'n'roll from Archie Andrews to the Mini Minor. It was a time when self-service shopping was a novelty frozen foods a wonder & detergents like Tide Daz & Omo were the latest whirl for the washing machine. The flowing fashions were styled from nylon or Terylene the space age was full of Dan Dare & children watched the antics of Muffin the Mule Hank or Andy Pandy. Decision time for girls was simpler
- would their hair be in pigtails or a pony tail? Taking the best from the Robert Opie Collection The 1950s Scrapbook adds to the different lifestyles portrayed in the companion volumes of The 1930s Scrapbook & The Wartime Scrapbook.
...

On a stormy evening in January 1953 Peggy Morgan kissed her five-year-old son goodnight blissfully unaware of the impending catastrophe. Before sunrise the next morning the North Sea had destroyed her home & Peggy was a childless widow. There had been no prediction no warning. Men women & children lost their lives in Essex on that fateful night & the lives of survivors were changed forever. The lucky ones awoke when ice-cold seawater burst through their doors & windows. Those not so lucky slept on towards death. This book captures in the words of the survivors the essence of life in the low-lying coastal areas before the disaster. Those who lived tell how with dogged determination they prevailed against unimaginable adversity: their stories of courage & fortitude are told simply & without self pity. & for the first time those who died have their story told. Illustrated with many previously unpublished photographs the awe-inspiring & heartrending stories of survivors & victims of the 1953 Essex floods are told here for the first time. ...