6. Dee, 15 Aug 1959; Jerry White, London in the Twentieth Century (2001), p 323; East London Advertiser, 14 Aug 1959; Evening Sentinel (Stoke), 21 Aug 1959; Dee, 22 Aug 1959; Manchester Guardian, 22 Aug 1959; Liverpool Echo, 26 Aug 1959, 31 Aug 1959; Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Chronicle (1996 edn), p 13; Chris Salewicz, McCartney (1986), p 79; Liverpool Echo, 31 Aug 1959.
7. Martin, 31 Aug 1959; Turtle, 31 Aug 1959; Michael Cockerell, Live from Number 10 (1988), p 67; New Yorker, 12 Sep 1959; Oxford Mail, 1 Sep 1959; Russell Davies (ed), The Kenneth Williams Diaries (1993), p 154.
8. Times Literary Supplement, 4 Sep 1959; Spectator, 4 Sep 1959; New Statesman, 5 Sep 1959; Times Literary Supplement, 4 Sep 1959; New Statesman, 12 Sep 1959; Dave Russell, Looking North (Manchester, 2004), p 105; Spectator, 11 Sep 1959.
9. Larkin, Ms Eng. c. 7420, 2 Sep 1959, fol 34; Sunday Pictorial, 6 Sep 1959; Radio Times, 28 Aug 1959; Spectator, 18 Sep 1959; New Statesman, 12 Sep 1959; Hackney Gazette, 11 Sep 1959; East London Advertiser, 4 Sep 1959, 11 Sep 1959.
10. David Goodway, seminar at Institute of Historical Research, London, 1 Feb 1994; Daly, Ms 302/3/13, 31 Aug 1959, 2 Sep 1959, 8 Sep 1959; News Chronicle, 8 Sep 1959.
11. Sources for this collage include: Liverpool Echo, 27 Aug 1959; Woman, 20 Jun 1959; Stores and Shops, Jul 1959; TV Times, 20 Jun 1959, 5 Sep 1959.
12. Daily Mail, 25 Jun 1960; Daily Express, 4 Sep 1959.
13. Financial Times, 25 Jul 1959; New Statesman, 5 Sep 1959 (Tom Driberg); Financial Times, 29 Aug 1959; Liverpool Echo, 24 Aug 1959; Financial Times, 29 Aug 1959; Manchester Evening News, 1 Jul 1959; Essex & Thurrock Gazette, 8 May 1959.
14. Jan Boxshall, Every Home Should Have One (1997), p 73; Financial Times, 31 Jul 1959, 15 May 1959, 2 Feb 1960; Guardian, 14 Jun 1961.
15. Manchester Evening News, 15 Jul 1959, 21 Jul 1959; Ian Allan, abc Scooters & Light Cars (1959); Peter Evans, ‘Mario Cassandro’, Guardian, 10 Aug 2011; Frank Mort, ‘Retailing, Commercial Culture and Masculinity in 1950s Britain’, History Workshop (Autumn 1994), p 122; Roger Tredre, ‘Willie Gertler’, Independent, 21 Aug 1991; Spectator, 13 Feb 1959 (Leslie Adrian); Susan Bowden, ‘Sir Charles Colston’, Dictionary of Business Biography, Volume 1 (1984), p 757; Daily Mirror, 28 May 1959; Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon, Advertising in Action (1962), p 82.
16. Giles Chapman, ‘Harry Webster’, Independent, 17 Feb 2007; Daily Mirror, 26 Aug 1959; Simon Garfield, Mini (2009), p 40; The Times, 26 Aug 1959; Garfield, Mini, pp 78–9; Autosport, 28 Aug 1959; Garfield, Mini, p 84; New Yorker, 12 Sep 1959.
17. Catherine Ellis, ‘The Younger Generation’, Journal of British Studies (Apr 2002), p 211; Mark Abrams, The Teenage Consumer (1959), pp 10–22; M. P. Carter, Home, School and Work (Oxford, 1962), pp 284–5, 298–9.
18. Maggie Urry, ‘Woolies Gets into Shape for the 1990s’, Financial Times, 6 Nov 1989; Oxford Mail, 19 Aug 1959; Scunthorpe and Frodingham Star, 2 Oct 1959; Stores and Shops, May 1959, p 47; The Times, 9 Mar 1959; ‘Frank Brierley’, Daily Telegraph, 28 Jul 1999; Mort, ‘Retailing’, pp 122–3; Harris and Seldon, Advertising, pp 304–6; Stores and Shops, May 1959, p 17.
19. Coventry Evening Telegraph, 11 Aug 1959; Daily Mail, 11 Mar 1959; Retail News Letter, Sep 1959, p 9.
20. News Chronicle, 10 Mar 1959; The Times, 11 Mar 1959; Gorer, ‘Television and the English’, Box 1, file 1/C1; New Statesman, 21 Mar 1959; Last, 11 Jul 1959; Fowles, EUL Ms 102/1/11, 14–22 Aug 1959, fol 35.
21. Lawrence Black, The Political Culture of the Left in Affluent Britain, 1951–64 (Basingstoke, 2003), p 100; Stefan Schwarzkopf, ‘They Do It with Mirrors’, Contemporary British History (Jun 2005), p 136; Dave Rolinson, ‘“If They Want Culture, They Pay”’, in Ian MacKillop and Neil Sinyard (eds), British Cinema of the 1950s (Manchester, 2003), p 94; Ferdynand Zweig, The Worker in an Affluent Society (1961), pp 9–10, 105–6; Peter Willmott, The Evolution of a Community (1963), pp 99–100; Hampstead & Highgate Express, 21 Aug 1959.
14 Beastly Things, Elections
1. Middlesex County Times and West Middlesex Gazette, 19 Sep 1959; Grimsby Evening Telegraph, 18 Sep 1959; D. E. Butler and Richard Rose, The British General Election of 1959 (1960), p 24; Listener, 1 Oct 1959; New Yorker, 2 Aug 1958; D. R. Thorpe, Supermac (2010), p 447; Julian Critchley, A Bag of Boiled Sweets (1994), p 67; The Times, 9 Sep 1959.
2. Paul Routledge, Madam Speaker (1995), p 77; Listener, 1 Oct 1959; Luton News, 24 Sep 1959.
3. Michael Foot, Aneurin Bevan: Volume 2 (1973), p 622; Daily Herald, 24 Sep 1959; Geoffrey Goodman, From Bevan to Blair (2003), pp 81–2; Foot, Bevan, pp 624–6.
4. Butler and Rose, General Election, pp 124, 126, 138; John Campbell, Margaret Thatcher: Volume One (2000), pp 119–20; Michael Crick, Michael Heseltine (1997), p 89; Joan Lestor, ‘Lord Pitt of Hampstead’, Independent, 20 Dec 1994; Southampton Evening Echo, 25 Sep 1959; Tom Bower, Maxwell (1988), pp 89–93; Grimsby Evening Telegraph, 17 Sep 1959; Daly, Ms 302/3/13, c 22 Sep 1959; Evening Times (Glasgow), 25 Sep 1959; Bernard Bergonzi, No Lewisham Concerto (privately published, 1997; University of Warwick Library), p 240; New Statesman, 13 Feb 1998.
5. Butler and Rose, General Election, p 81; Spectator, 11 Sep 1959; John Campbell, Nye Bevan (1997 edn), p 358; Kensington News and West London Times, 2 Oct 1959; Asa Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Volume 5 (Oxford, 1995), p 249; BBC WA, R9/13/182; Lawrence Black, The Political Culture of the Left in Affluent Britain, 1951–64 (Basingstoke, 2003), p 181; BBC WA, R9/9/23 – LR/59/1597; Michael Cockerell, Live from Number 10 (1988), p 70; Spectator, 9 Oct 1959 (Peter Forster); ‘Never Had It So Good’ evening, BBC Parliament, 10 Oct 2009; The Times, 22 Sep 1959; Benn, p 313; Harold Macmillan, Pointing the Way, 1959–1961 (1972), p 8.
6. David Kynaston, The City of London, Volume 4 (2001), p 243; Butler and Rose, General Election, p 55; Crossman, pp 779-80; Larkin, Ms Eng. c. 7420, 26 Sep 1959, fos 49-50; Spectator, 9 Oct 1959; Philip M. Williams, Hugh Gaitskell (1979), p 526; Macmillan, Pointing, pp 9-10; Williams, Gaitskell, p 526; Butler and Rose, General Election, p 63; Crossman, p 780; Benn, p 314; Butler and Rose, General Election, p 85.
7. The Times, 19 Sep 1959; Last, 18 Sep 1959, 27 Sep 1959; New Yorker, 10 Oct 1959; Ian S. MacNiven (ed), The Durrell–Miller Letters 1935–80 (1988), p 360.
8. The Times, 19 Sep 1959; Romford Recorder, 18 Sep 1959; Wikipedia, ‘Gerard Hoffnung’; The Times, 8 Oct 1959; Russell Davies (ed), The Kenneth Williams Diaries (1993), p 155; Radio Times, 4 Sep 1959; Listener, 24 Sep 1959; Larkin, Ms Eng. c. 7420, 10 Sep 1959, fol 36, 23 Sep 1959, fol 46; Hackney Gazette, 18 Sep 1959, 22 Sep 1959, 25 Sep 1959.
9. Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon, Advertising in Action (1962), pp 67–70; Grimsby Evening Telegraph, 24 Sep 1959; Shrewsbury Chronicle, 25 Sep 1959; Martin, 1 Oct 1959; The Times, 7 Oct 1959; Architects’ Journal, 1 Oct 1959; Malcolm MacEwen, The Greening of a Red (1991), pp 213–14; Architects’ Journal, 1 Oct 1959; Liverpool Daily Post, 16 Sep 1959; Candida Lycett Green (ed), John Betjeman, Letters: Volume Two (1995), p 177.
10. Daily Herald, 29 Sep 1959; The Times, 29 Sep 1959; Ian Gilmour and Mark Garnett, Whatever Happened to the Tories? (1997), p 151; Geoffrey Goodman, The Awkward Warrior (1979), p 237; The Times, 30 Sep 1959; Kensington News and West London Times, 2 Oct 1959.
11. Northern Echo, 1 Oct 1959; Harry Mount, How England Made the English (2012), p 190; Daily Sketch, 1 Oct 1959; The Times, 1 Oct 1959; Daily Herald, 1 Oct 1959; Middlesex Independent, 9 Oct 1959; Hampstead & Highgate Express, 2 Oct 1959.
12. Last, 1 Oct 1959; Benn, p 314; Butler and Rose, General Election, p 62; Daily Herald, 2–3 Oct 1959; Spectator, 2 Oct 1959; New Statesman, 10 Oct 1959.
13. Heap, 3 Oct 1959; Grimsby Evening Telegraph, 5 Oct 1959; Benn, pp 312, 314; News Chronicle, 5 Oct 1959; Butler and Rose, General Election, p 66; Crossman, p 785; Butler and Rose, General Election, p 66; Crossman, p 788; Last, 5 Oct 1959.
14. Daily Sketch, 6 Oct 1959; The Times, 7 Oct 1959; Luton News, 8 Oct 1959; Southampton Evening Echo, 7 Oct 1959; Benn, p 316; Butler and Rose,
General Election, p 67; BBC WA, R9/13/182; Daily Telegraph, 7 Oct 1959; Daily Sketch, 8 Oct 1959; Radio Times, 2 Oct 1959; Mervyn Jones, Michael Foot (1994), p 240; Preston, 7 Oct 1959.
15. Benn, p 316; Preston, 8 Oct 1959; Willmott, 8 Oct 1959; The Times, 8 Oct 1959; Butler and Rose, General Election, p 105; Benn, p 316; Hampstead & Highgate Express, 9 Oct 1959; Grimsby Evening Telegraph, 8 Oct 1959; Larkin, Ms Eng. c. 7420, 7–8 Oct 1959, fol 60; Lewis, 8 Oct 1959; Daily Mirror, 8 Oct 1959; Roy Greenslade, Press Gang (2003), p 117; Last, 8 Oct 1959.
16. Last, 8 Oct 1959; George H. Gallup, The Gallup International Public Opinion Polls: Great Britain 1937–1975, Volume One (New York, 1976), p 543; Briggs, History of Broadcasting, p 253; Spectator, 16 Oct 1959 (Peter Forster); New Yorker, 24 Oct 1959; Billericay Times, 7 Oct 1959, 14 Oct 1959; Ben Pimlott (ed), The Political Diary of Hugh Dalton (1986), p 693; David Childs, ‘Geoffrey Johnson Smith’, Independent, 26 Aug 2010; Heap, 8 Oct 1959; Kenneth Williams Diaries, p 156; Grimsby Evening Telegraph, 9 Oct 1959; Margaret Thatcher, The Path to Power (1995), pp 100–101; Roy Hattersley, Who Goes Home? (1995), p 23; Foot, Bevan, p 627; Benn, p 316.
17. Butler and Rose, General Election, pp 189–90; Kevin Jefferys, Retreat from New Jerusalem (Basingstoke, 1997), p 81; N. Tiratsoo, Reconstruction, Affluence and Labour Politics (1990), p 99; Lewis Baston, Reggie (Stroud, 2004), p 135; Roy Jenkins, A Life at the Center (New York, 1991), p 122; Butler and Rose, General Election, p 216; Routledge, Madam Speaker, p 79; Bower, Outsider, p 93; Butler and Rose, General Election, pp 184–5 (Keith Kyle); Kynaston, City, p 244; Norman Sherry, The Life of Graham Greene, Volume 3 (2004), p 215; Larkin, p 260; Larkin, Ms Eng. c. 7420, 9 Oct 1959, fol 62; Turtle, 9 Oct 1959; Last, 10 Oct 1959; Tom Courtenay, Dear Tom (2000), p 244; Daily Sketch, 10 Oct 1959.
18. Crossman, p 786; Fowles, p 431; David Owen, Time to Declare (1991), p 54; Butler and Rose, General Election, p 201; The Times, 10 Oct 1959; Macmillan, Pointing, p 15; Viewer, 29 Aug 1959.
Acknowledgements
The following kindly gave me permission to reproduce copyright material: Evelyn Abrams (Mark Abrams); The Agency (London) Ltd (extracts from the writing of Arnold Wesker; extract from As Much As I Dare © Arnold Wesker, 1994; extract from Wesker’s piece in Charles Marowitz et al, The Encore Reader © Arnold Wesker 1970; letter to New Statesman © Arnold Wesker, 1959; letter to Charles Parker © Arnold Wesker, 2001, as quoted in Paul Leslie Long, ‘The Aesthetics of Class in Post-War Britain’. All rights reserved); Aitken Alexander Associates (extracts from the diaries of John Fowles © J. R. Fowles Ltd); Lady Diana Baer (Mollie Panter-Downes); BBC Written Archives Centre; Ken Blakemore (Sunnyside Down); Alan Brodie Representation Ltd (extracts from The Noël Coward Diaries copyright © NC Aventales AG 1982); Jonathan Clowes Ltd (extract from Walking in the Shade © Doris Lessing 1997; extract from ‘The Small Personal Voice’ by Doris Lessing in Declaration, ed Tom Maschler 1957; extract from The Four-Gated City copyright © Doris Lessing 1969); John Cousins (Frank Cousins); Virginia Crossman (Richard Crossman); Curtis Brown Group Ltd, London (on behalf of the Trustees of the Mass-Observation Archive, copyright © Trustees of the Mass-Observation Archive); The Dartington Hall Trust Archive; Mary Evans, Centennial Professor, London School of Economics (A Good School); Ray Galton and Alan Simpson (extract from the opening sequence from Hancock’s Half Hour, ‘Sunday Afternoon at Home’); Roy Greenslade (Goodbye to the Working Class); Rachel Gross (Geoffrey Gorer); Pamela Hendicott (Judy Haines); Islington Local History Centre (Gladys Langford); the Liverpool Echo; The Trustees of the Harold Macmillan Book Trust (extracts from the late Harold Macmillan’s diaries); Jamie Muir and Denis Norden (Frank Muir and Denis Norden Archive); News Group Newspapers Ltd Archive (John Hilton Bureau); Allan Preston (Kenneth Preston); The Random House Group Limited (extracts from Years of Hope: Diaries, Letters and Papers 1940–1962 by Tony Benn, published by Hutchinson; extracts from Dear Tom: Letters from Home by Tom Courtenay, published by Doubleday; extracts from Culture and Society 1780–1950 by Raymond Williams, published by Chatto & Windus); Marian Ray and Robin Raynham (Marian Raynham); Rogers, Coleridge and White Ltd (Diaries 1939–1972 by Frances Partridge Copyright © Frances Partridge 1985); The Society of Authors as the Literary Representative of the Estate of Philip Larkin (extracts from the unpublished letters of Philip Larkin); Roxana and Matthew Tynan (Theatre Writings by Kenneth Tynan); United Agents LLP (extracts from The Kenneth Williams Diaries © The Estate of Kenneth Williams); Phyllis Willmott; The Wylie Agency (UK) Ltd (extracts from reviews published in the Spectator of The Uses of Literacy and Family and Kinship in East London, and extracts from Socialism and the Intellectuals and The Letters of Kingsley Amis, all © Kingsley Amis); Toby Young (Michael Young).
Many people have helped to make this book happen, and (with apologies to anyone inadvertently omitted) I am grateful to: Mark Aston; Joe Bailey; Michael Banton; Sophie Bridges; Mike Burns; Nigel Cochrane; James Codd; Nick Corbo-Stuart; Fiona Courage; Helen Ford; John Gold; Adam Harwood; Sir Antony Jay; Helen Langley; Rose Lock; Sandy Macmillan; Duncan Marlor; Nick Mays; Louise North; Jonathan Oates; Stanley Page; Jessica Scantlebury; John Symons; Sue Taylor; Richard Thorpe; Lisa Towner; Jenny Uglow; Karen Watson; Annalisa Zisman (Back to Balance).
In addition, a special ‘thank you’ goes to Amanda Howard (Superscript Editorial Services) for her meticulous transcribing of my tapes, and to four fellow-historians for their generosity and encouragement: Richard Davenport-Hines, Juliet Gardiner, Dil Porter and Andy Ward.
The endgame of any book has its challenges, and I would like to thank: Harry Ricketts (for making helpful stylistic suggestions); David Milner (for running a sympathetic but dispassionate eye over a draft at a particularly valuable moment); Andrea Belloli (for her copy-editing skills); Catherine Best, Patric Dickinson and David Warren (for their careful and constructive proof-reading); Christopher Phipps (for his excellent index). Between them they have done much to improve this book’s quality.
Bloomsbury remains a fine publishing house, combining professionalism with a human touch, and I am especially grateful to my editor Bill Swainson and his colleagues Nick Humphrey and Anna Simpson.
I am fortunate to have Deborah Rogers as my agent, and my heartfelt thanks go to her and her colleague Mohsen Shah.
My deepest debt is twofold: to my family (Lucy, Laurie, George and Michael) for their unfailing practical as well as emotional support; and to the doctors, nurses and staff of the Trevor Howell Ward at St George’s, Tooting, for their care and kindness after my life took an unexpected turn around the time of the Olympics.
New Malden
January 2013
Image Section
The Bradford Empire just before demolition, 1957
Birmingham, May 1957: Aston Villa players and mascot parade the FA Cup at Villa Park
Unrationed sweets: London, 1957
Clarendon Crescent, Paddington, 1957
Notting Hill at night, 1958
Fishermen carry coracles to the River Teifi in Cardiganshire, March 1958
Cherry-picking: West Malling, Kent, July 1958
Redevelopment in Everton Heights, Liverpool, 1959
Youth club float, New Malden, Surrey, July 1959
St George’s Day parade, St Helier Estate, South London, 1959
Hugh Gaitskell (left) at the Midland Area Miners’ Gala, June 1959
Harold Macmillan (right) in the north-east, January 1959
Election night, October 1959
Picture Credits
The Bradford Empire just before demolition, 1957 (Picture courtesy of Telegraph & Argus, Bradford)
Birmingham, May 1957: Aston Villa players and mascot parade the FA Cup at Villa Park (photographer unknown)
Unrationed sweets: London, 1957 (Popperfoto/Getty Images)
Clarendon Crescent, Paddington, 1957 (Mary Evans Picture Library ROGER MAYNE)
Notting Hill at night, 1958 (Getty Images)
Fishermen carry coracles to the River Teifi in Cardiganshire, March 1958 (Getty Ima
ges)
Cherry-picking: West Malling, Kent, July 1958 (The Times/NI Syndication)
Redevelopment in Everton Heights, Liverpool, 1959 (Courtesy of the Liverpool Echo)
Youth club float, New Malden, Surrey, July 1959 (Courtesy of the Kingston Heritage Service Picture Collection)
St George’s Day parade, St Helier Estate, South London, 1959 (Photo taken by a photographer from the Croydon Times, now incorporated in the Croydon Advertiser. Image courtesy of Sutton Local Studies & Archives Service)
Harold Macmillan in the north-east, January 1959 (Jim Pringle/AP/Press Association Images)
Hugh Gaitskell at the Midland Area Miners’ Gala, June 1959 (Mirrorpix)
Election night, October 1959 (Copyright BBC Photo Library)
By the Same Author
King Labour: The British Working Class, 1850–1914
The Secretary of State
Modernity Britain Page 49
