1951-1964

• By how much did the population increase?

  5%/2 million 1951-1961
• When was full employment achieved?

  1955 - 200,000
• How much more was Britain importing than exporting in 1951?

  29%
• How many people were employed in service industries by 1960?

  5 million/1 in 5
• Income per head


  Higher than any major country except the US
• What brought inflation?


  Growth in wages outstripping rate of increase in production
• How did Suez impact the economy?


  Started a run on the pound, US threatened to block IMF loan
• What did Thorneycroft Birch and Powell want and why did they resign in 1958?

  Monetarism - cut money supply and limit wage increases, Macmillan overruled Thorneycroft's proposed drastic spending cuts
• What demonstrated the economy had improved by the April 1959 budget?


  Sterling regained value against the dollar, economy expanded, £370 million in tax cuts
• When was the economy at its peak?

  1960-1964
• What happened in 1961?

  Worries about economy overheating, introduced 'pay pause' and asked for a loan from the IMF
• Why did Macmillan reverse stance on Europe?


  Commonwealth trade insufficient, growth in Britain lagging behind that of West Germany for example
• What did Selwyn Lloyd set up as Chancellor?


  NEDC 1961, and NIC 1962
• What was published in Autumn 1963?

  Beeching Report
• What did Reginald Maudling do as Chancellor?

  Pushed economy into a 'go' phase, lowered bank rate to encourage spending, growth rate rose from 4% in 1963 to nearly 6% in 1964
• What was 'dash for growth'?

  Maudling cut taxes £260 million in April 1963, but worsened balance of payments as Britain buying more imports, February 1964 forced to raise bank rate up to 5%, in his second budget in April refused to raise taxes despite admitting balance of payments would worsen
• By how much did imports and exports increase 1961-1964?


  Exports just over 10%, imports remained nearly 20% higher
• What was the Festival of Britain?

  Held a century after the Great Exhibition if 1851, this was intended to mark Britain's recovery from the war and to look forward to the future celebrating new design, culture and industry
• Mens weekly wages in 1951 and 1961

  1951 - £8.30

  1961 - £15.35
• Who outnumbered homeowners in 1950s?

  Renters and council houses
• When was ITV launched?

  1955
• By how much did television ownership increase?

  1957-1959 32%
• How much did car ownership increase?

  25% 1957-1959
• How much of the population had access to foreign holidays?

  2%
• 1951 Election Stats!


  65% of working class voted Labour, 80% Middle Class voted Conservative
• What did the rise of the CND from 1958 do?

  Encourage challenges to authority
• What did the press coverage of the Profumo Affair show?


  Decline in deference
• Satire BOOM!


  1960 - Beyond the Fringe, 1961 - Private Eye, 1962 - That was the week that was
• What provoked criticism of the Establishment?


  Over-emphasis of arts over sciences, blocking talent from beyond the establishment and covering up own failures
• How were the Conservative governments dominated by the Establishment?


  Macmillan's government - heir to a barony, a marquess, three earls and a duke, Douglas-Home - 14th Earl of Home before renouncing title
• Angry Young Men


  A group of British writers in the 1950s and 1960s who demonstrated a particular bitterness in their attacks on outmoded, bourgeois values - Look Back in Anger John Osborne 1956
• How many women worked in 1951?


  1 in 5
• Average age/Marriage Stats


  Average age of marriage for a woman was 21, 75% of all women were married
• How else were women's roles limited?


  Marriage allowance encouraged women to stay at home
• By 1958 how many commonwealth immigrants had settled in Britain?

  210,000 - 75% male
• 1950s inward versus outward migration

  1.25 in 1.92 out millions
• 1962 race stuff


  Commonwealth Immigrants Act
• How much of the population were teenagers?

  Around 10%
• What caused moral panic in 1964?

  Riots of youth in south-coast holiday resorts, went on for 2 days in Brighton
• Changing social attitudes


  Racial tension - Sapphire 1959 crime thriller, gang violence in A Clockwork Orange 1962, A Taste of Honey 1958, Victim 1961 - first British film to mention homosexuality, 1962 - Lady Chatterly's Lover - high profile court case under Obscenity Act - Penguin won - 2 million copies sold