Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26492 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-15
• Binding: Hardcover
• 62 pages

Synopsis
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 and images, The 1950s Scrapbook conjures up the life and times of the decade. From the Festival of Britain and the Coronation of Elizabeth II to the abundance of toys and television programmes, every facet of the era is covered. Memorable and 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, and detergents like Tide, Daz and 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, and 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 and The Wartime Scrapbook.

Customer Reviews

What a fantastic resource!
I am a Year 6 teacher, covering the period from 1948 to the present day with my class in History; and this book has been invaluable to us in our History work this term! The pictures and information hidden in its pages is amazing - particularly for one who was too young to remember the era (I wasn't born till 64!)

One of my class's challenges this term has been to produce a 3D diorama relating to a decade from the 1950s to the 1980s; and this series of books has been an invaluable resource for fashion, toys, produce, sweets and toys of the relative decade.

Thank you, Robert Opie, for your impeccable research!

Whether you were born in this era or not, I am sure you will love the book. Enjoy!

Brill!
A great source for using in reminiscence with residents in nursing homes, many pages of products that instantly takes you back to special times.

Trafficking in the past
"Or is it just the past? Those flowers, that gate, / These misty parks and motors, lacerate / Simply by being you; you / Contract my heart by looking out of date." [Philip Larkin: Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album.] Actually, Larkin's poem Essential Beauty might be more appropriate: the empty but beguiling visions of perfection seen on so many pages in this book - how old, how quaint, but still the sense there is something here which could be touched - even though the land of lost content is garishly painted it still calls to us. Or me, anyway. Most bizarre, though, is a front cover of the magazine Picture Post. Tommy Steele, cadmiumed to the max (Judith Chalmers is pallid by comparison) grins out at us, but the headline is: "CATTLE TRAFFIC THE TRUTH."