For those of us who miss Food Rationing and STD dialling

[ChrisGreaves]

50+ minute YouTube video "Britain in The 50s".


Chris

[HansV]

STD dialing?

[BobArch2]

STD Dialing

[HansV]

Thanks - I knew that, but I had a different association which I won't mention here...

[BobArch2]

Thanks - I knew that, but I had a different association which I won't mention here...

I suspected as much but elected the safer option.

[BobH]

Quite a compendium of sights and sounds in that video. Thanks for posting it, Chris.

I noticed a couple of things. First, Group Captain Townsend's automobile had a left-side steering wheel, a la American cars. I was also surprised that the de Havilland Comet was featured so prominently because I think it was among the first jet aircraft to be certified as unsafe to fly. I don't recall what the flaw was. IIRC, the American Boeing 707 had a horrible safety record, too. They discovered that the problem was pilot training, that pilots were untrained for high speed take offs and landings thus caused many crashes.

I remember watching a feature film in 1953 of Queen Elizabeth II's inauguration. I a think I was a month or 2 short of my 11th birthday.

I wonder what others of you saw or didn't see. I saw the £500 Mini but didn't see a Hillman, from Rootes Motor Group. A 1960 Hillman was the first car the wife and I owned.

[Argus]

I noticed a couple of things. First, Group Captain Townsend's automobile had a left-side steering wheel, a la American cars.

Since the car's registration letter, country code, is B, for Belgium, and they have had right-hand traffic since the dawn of time more or less, I'm not surprised. Sweden, for example, on the other hand drove on the left until 1967 but have had LHD cars all the time, i.e. from late 19th/early 20th century (some exceptions, for example imported cars from the UK).

(I can only assume that he was stationed in Belgium at the time, and arrived to GB with his Belgian car; loungers in UK probably know a thing or two about this.)

[PJ_in_FL]

Not to, ahem, start a debate, but having driven on the CORRECT side of the road (most of the time) since before I had a driver's license way back when, is there any evidence that one side is better than the other?

[Claude]

Not to, ahem, start a debate, but having driven on the CORRECT side of the road (most of the time) since before I had a driver's license way back when, is there any evidence that one side is better than the other?

The better side is generally in the eye of the beholder

[Argus]

I agree with Claude; so right it is. A follow up (possible hijack) about left-hand/right-hand traffic.
First time(!) we changed to driving on the right was in 1718, but it didn't last very long, in 1734 we were back on the left side. In 1809 we lost Finland to Russia, a great loss since that meant we lost 1/3 of the area and 1/4 of the population. The former eastern part of the country, at the time the Grand Duchy of Finland, moved to right-hand traffic in 1858; now all of our neighbours drove on the right (Iceland changed in 1968, but there's no bridge ...)

There were several motions in the parliament during the 30s and 40s for right-hand traffic, an advisory referendum was held in 1955, around 82 % were against right-hand traffic (but the turnout was very low, around 53 %), and in 1963 a majority in the parliament voted for a change. After the change in September 1967 traffic accidents went down for a year or two, and then they were back to previous levels. (As in many European countries, this was at a time when the number of cars on the roads increased quite a lot.)

As some may know, some traffic signs are different depending on which side of the road the traffic drives on. This means that among other changes one must mirror these signs if changing to driving on the other side of the road. Before the change, when we were driving on the left, we had copied the warning sign for road works from other countries in Europe ... and they were driving on the right.

Before:

Road_work.png

(A similar one, sort of, is used in Ireland, with left hand traffic; so if they change to right-hand traffic they can keep it. )

After (same as in the UK, Cyprus and Malta, all driving on the left):

a20-1.jpg

[Jay Freedman]

Our friend and neighbor, who holds dual US and UK citizenship, drives in both countries on a regular basis. (He's in London this week.) I must ask him whether he has any difficulty switching sides so frequently.

[ChrisGreaves]

Thanks - I knew that, but I had a different association which I won't mention here...

Fair enough.


And we won't ask how you came by that association, to coin a term ...