The House The 50s Built (Thursdays 9.00pm Ch4)

[dutchman]

The House the 50s Built celebrates the science behind the inventions and innovations that transformed the way we lived and made 1950s Britain modern.



Engineer and showman Brendan Walker sets out to discover the ingenuity and life-changing technology behind the inventions that launched drab, black-and-white post-war Britain into a Technicolor-drenched world of the future, under its new young Queen Elizabeth II.

Brendan learns from practical, hands-on experience what it took to bring about the 50s revolution by reconstructing a house. Each programme focuses on a room and fast-forwards it through the 1950s, showcasing how progress in the home triggered a wave of social change.

Professor Brendan Walker begins his exploration of the inventions that transformed drab post-war Britain into a Technicolor-drenched world of the future in the kitchen.

The 1950s housing revolution replaced free-standing units, mangles and larders with fitted units, twin tubs, food processors and refrigerators.

The programme hears from people who lived through the decade, including Maureen Lipman and Fay Weldon, as well as designers such as Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway, and also Kevin McCloud.

Anyone who missed the first episode of the new series can watch it again here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the- ... -built/4od

[dutchman]

It was a reasonably good attempt at showing the changes in the home which took place during the 1950s. There were some glaring anomalies though. As even guests from the Women's Institute immediately pointed out, few homes would have had a hot water tap in the kitchen. If you needed hot water you would either have to boil a ketttle on the stove or else use a geyser mounted just above and to one side of the sink.

Laundry was more likely to be done at the local laundrette than in a twin-tub at home. There would be no point in buying a fitted kitchen as most people still lived in rented accommodation. A house I once lived-in in Willenhall built around that period had sort of "half-fitted" cupboards but with room for free-standing units as well.

A feature not mentioned in the programme but which was common at one time was the "pantry". This was a (usually) cool storage area just off the kitchen. In one place I moved to the pantry had been used to store jars of pickled eggs for so long the stench of vinegar had penetrated the fabric of the building and it was years before the smell finally receded.

[dutchman]

This week's episode concentrated on the living room. For some reason the programme ignored the fact that most houses in 1950s had a separate front room or 'parlour' and living/dining room behind it. The parlour would normally be decorated and furnished to a much higher standard than the living area and used only on special occasions or for receiving guests.

An important piece of living room furniture the programme overlooked was the radiogram. This was the main source of entertainment in the evenings before television became popular with the arrival of ITV (not the Coronation a few years earlier as suggested in the programme). Even after the arrival of television the radiogram remained popular in the daytime as there were not many daytime programmes in those days worth watching. The series did mention cocktail cabinets and its no coincidence that many radiograms incorporated a cocktail cabinet in their design.

There was also a sweeping generalisation that most people preferred the new-style lightweight furniture. Although we had some ourselves my housekeeper absolutely loathed it. She thought it looked cheap and nasty and eventually filled the house with second-hand pre-war furniture, much of which I still use!

If you missed this week's pregramme it can viewed online here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the- ... -built/4od

[dutchman]

This week's episode was ostensibly about how technology affected people's bedrooms. In practice it was more about women's and teenage fashion. To be fair there wasn't very much technology in bedrooms to begin with.

As usual the programme was riddled with anomalies. Nylon was invented in the 1930s even if it didn't see widespread use in the UK until the 1950s. There was no mention of its American inventor {Wallace Carothers) despite his huge contribution to contemporary lifestyles. The presenter rambled-on about transistors even though they had virtually no impact on British consumers until the early 1960s. A miniature radio shown in the programme was quite clearly described as being a "four valve design" and even in the 1960s the Dansette record player relied entirely on a pair of valves for its performance. (One was for the DC power supply and the other amplified the sound). I also resented the implication that records were 'cheap' relative to wages, try telling that to someone who was a shop girl, apprentice or student nurse at the time!

There were few radios in bedrooms in the 1950s and even if there were there were no pop music stations in the UK. The nearest was the English language service of Radio Luxemberg which was available only after dark. There was a brief glimpse of a hand-held plastic hairdryer which was relevant to the discussion on ladies' hairstyles but no actual mention of it. And what about the Goblin Teasmade, could anything be more typical of technology in the bedroom during that period?

As usual if you missed this week's pregramme it can viewed online here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the- ... -built/4od

[dutchman]

If previous episodes have been a bit wide of the mark then last night's was completely off the planet!

Ostensibly about the garden, only the first few minutes were devoted to that subject, the remainder was about transport and travel.

The programme did at least feature a Meriden-built motorbike, a Triumph Thunderbird, but there was litle which was relevant to how ordinary people lived in the 1950s. Hardly anyone owned a car of any kind, let alone a brand new model and the only people I knew who travelled by jet were diplomats, servicemen and their families. The 'package holiday' was not yet common. If someone did holiday abroad it was usually by chartered turboprop airliner, not by sheduled jet service. As the presenter is an aeronautical engineer, you would think he would have known this?

I'm afraid the programme fell into the common trap of portraying the lifestyles of the rich and famous in previous decades as being typical of those enjoyed by ordinary people. I could have lived without the dumbed-down school chemistry lessons as well.

As usual if you missed this week's programme it can viewed online here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the- ... -built/4od