How times have changed: 65 years of Queen Elizabeth
ON MONDAY the Queen becomes the first British monarch to celebrate a Sapphire Jubilee.
It was 65 years ago on February 6, 1952, that her father King George VI died and she acceded to the throne, aged 25. Life in Britain was very different then – so we look at some of the remarkable changes the Queen has seen.
THE 1950s
Reminders of the war were everywhere – bomb-sites, damaged houses, temporary prefabs. Men from 17 to 21 did two years’ National Service.
Half the population lived in dingy rented rooms and rationing, which had included butter, sweets, chocolate, meat, tea and coal, didn’t finally end until 1954.
Factories, power stations and railway engines belched coal dust and a five-day smog in London killed 4,000 people. Income tax was nine shillings (45p) in the pound.
There were nearly 5,000 cinemas and one billion visits a year were made – today it’s under 200 million.
On nine-inch TV screens we watched the Coronation, Dixon Of Dock Green and In Town Tonight, while for children there was Whirligig, Mr Pastry and Muffin The Mule.
We stayed at the seaside in small guest houses, caravans or holiday camps.
As the decade ended Tory prime minister Harold Macmillan declared we had “never had it so good” as TVs and washing machines became cheaper. Oh, and around 1955 rock ’n’ roll appeared. Parents said it would not last.
Unseen Beatles footage released
THE 1960s
National Service ended in May 1963 and the Swinging Sixties were born. The Beatles were No 1, Mary Quant invented the mini-skirt and the Mini car became affordable.
The Pill was legalised in 1967 and it was the time of Carnaby Street, Mods and Rockers, Flower Power and free love (in your dreams!) Pocket transistor radios were in and we watched TV programmes such as Coronation Street, Steptoe And Son, Double Your Money and The Avengers.
Newspaper sales soared because of the Profumo Affair, a scandalous mix of sex, spies and government in 1963.
Microwave ovens were launched, Concorde had its maiden flight, we saw a man on the Moon and British Leyland produced the ugly Austin Maxi.
THE 1970s
After the Swinging Sixties came the Striking Seventies: a major economic crisis, mass unemployment, a decade of industrial strife.
We had a three-day week to save electricity as the miners went on strike bringing the nation to its knees. Inflation hit almost 30 per cent.
In 1977 we celebrated the Queen’s Silver Jubilee with street parties. The Queen – then 51 – travelled 56,000 miles around the world in celebration and became a grandmother for the first time.
We had the Lib-Lab pact, punk rock and Red Rum winning the Grand National for a record third time. We drank Blue Nun wine, bounced on space hoppers, chewed Curly Wurly bars, listened to David Bowie.
Mull Of Kintyre by Wings was the biggest hit of the decade. On TV we watched Fawlty Towers, The Two Ronnies and Porridge.
British Leyland produced the even uglier Allegro in 1973. We took more than 10 million foreign holidays in 1977. In 1979 after the Winter Of Discontent, Mrs Thatcher became our first woman prime minister.
THE 1980s
The decade of shoulder pads, the Filofax, the Sinclair home computer – and the Royal Wedding. In 1981 Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married with 28 million Brits watching on TV – half the population.
The first gigantic mobile phones appeared, as did the disastrous electric Sinclair C5 three-wheeler. On TV we watched Not The Nine O’Clock News, Spitting Image and Yes Minister.
Saturday afternoon viewing was wrestling but we also had Ian Botham’s 1981 Ashes and the 1985 world snooker final between Denis Taylor and Steve Davis – more than 18 million tuned in.
That summer, 1.9 billion people across 150 countries watched Live Aid, which raised about £30million for starving Africans.
The Band Aid single Do They Know It’s Christmas? was the top-selling single and the biggest fi lm was ET: The ExtraTerrestrial.
In 1989, Sky satellite TV was launched and British scientist Timothy Berners-Lee invented a way to exchange information by computer.
He called it the World Wide Web. The Thatcher revolution saw coal mines closed, state industries privatised, a massive rise in home and share ownership and big cuts in taxes.
THE 1990s
The marriage of Charles and Diana fell apart and on August 28, 1996, they divorced. On August 31 the following year Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris.
Her funeral was watched by 2.5 billion people glob ally. The 1990s were the time of the Nintendo Game Boy, bum bags and groups such as Take That and Blur.
The Spice Girls, epitomised by Geri Halliwell in her Union flag dress, brought us Girl Power and Elton John’s Candle In The Wind (adapted for Diana’s funeral) was the top-selling record.
Saturday night TV starred Jim Davidson. Noel Edmonds and Mr Blobby. Sitcoms such as The Royle Family, Father Ted and I’m Alan Partridge were born and on Sky we saw The Simpsons for the first time.
The biggest films of the decade were Titanic, Jurassic Park and The Full Monty. Slowly, the internet began to take off.
In politics, John Major’s government was kicked out by Tony Blair’s New Labour in 1997. Blair was keen on joining the euro but opinion polls were against it.
THE 2000s
New technology gradually took over our lives. In Britain 40 million people now had a smartphone out of a population of 60 million.
Facebook started in 2004 and is used by 30 million people in the UK today, YouTube was created the following year and then Stephen Fry sent his first tweet.
We celebrated the new millennium with a party at the Millennium Dome at which the Queen was lumbered with the Blairs all evening.
The first Harry Potter book was published, we saw Strictly Come Dancing and the Planet Earth series for the first time. The top comedy was Little Britain.
THE 2010s
The Queen now reigns over a country of 65 million where 100 languages are spoken. In 1952 there were 6.8 million pensioners – today there are 12.5 million.
We are living longer thanks to medical advances and centrally-heated homes. In 1952 just 300 people in England and Wales reached their 100th birthday – 13,420 did in 2011.
In 1952 the average house cost just £1,891, the average wage was £9 a week for men and £5 for women, the state pension was £1.50. But allowing for inflation £1 in 1952 would be worth £24 today.
Or to put it another way, what costs you £1 now would have cost you a fraction over 4p then. Are we better off today? You decide…