Description
Book SynopsisThis engaging collection of letters gives a quirky picture of family life in Britain under fifteen years of rationing. Everyone and almost everything was affected, from pets to fashion, corsets and turn-ups, to cigarettes, restaurants, heating and petrol, and the availability of fruit, eggs, vegetables and bread, and much more. Millions of people coped with what they had. With direct candour, they wrote letters when they thought improvements could be made, right from the start of rationing, in 1939, until all restrictions were lifted in 1954. In these amusing, honest, surprising, poignant and occasionally hilarious letters you'll find anything from concerns about socks for the Home Guard, children holding up a banana skin for a refill at the greengrocer's, to fear of pets choking when rubber bands reappeared after the War. Slip back in time and enjoy!
Table of ContentsIntroduction, Esther Rantzen 71 Ration Fashion 13 2 Pet Peeves 28 3 Querulous Queues 354 Hail the Housewives 42 5 Restaurant Roast 60 6 Poisonous Pleasures 67 7 Curdled Milk 77 8 Eggspectations 86 9 Onions and Oranges 97 10 Meagre Meat 107 11 Fish or Fowl 121 12 Sweeter Living 127 13 Light and Coal 139 14 Hitler's Secret Weapon 152 15 Christmas Cheer 161 16 Johnny Foreigner 168 17 Unfair Play 174 18 And Another Thing 186Notes 192
